Associate Dean of Admissions
Degree: B.A., Hampshire College
Originally from: Burrillville, RI / Rutland, VT
Email: debAD@hampshire.edu
AIM: DevonHampshireAD

Reason I love working at Hampshire:
I’m a Hampshire graduate, and I really fell in love with the school during my four years as a student. I’m continually impressed by the caliber of our students, but also by our complete dedication to a different approach to college education. I would talk about Hampshire’s power to change lives even if I wasn’t an admissions counselor here; getting paid for it is just an added bonus.

Title of my Division III Project:
Bridging the Gap: the New Left, the Counterculture, and Abbie Hoffman

Piece of advice for prospects in the college search process:
The sticker price for private liberal arts colleges might make your heart pound or your stomach drop. Keep in mind that many private schools offer very good financial aid: it might be affordable after all!

Favorite books:
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson; Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate by Michael Yates; The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; and Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon.

Favorite TV Shows:
Veronica Mars; Gilmore Girls; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; The X-Files; Freaks and Geeks; and any VH1 reality show.

Favorite way to travel:
Car! Why would you get on a plane when you could drive somewhere and get to see all the interesting stuff between your origin and your destination?! I’m the person in the admissions office who would rather drive for eight hours by herself than get on a plane and fly. This propensity has led to my random fact (see below).

Favorite way to procrastinate:
Reading, reading, reading. Always reading. (But sometimes watching Rock of Love.)

Favorite places to spend time in the Pioneer Valley:
Cafes in Northampton, the UMass library (the higher the floor the better), Mi Tierra Restaurant in Hadley (they have the best Mexican food around).

The one thing I want to accomplish in the next several years:
I really want to live in Rachel, Nevada, for a few months and write a book about the people who visit there. Rachel has a population of 98 people, and is located right next to Area 51. Lots of people who think the government is involved in a massive cover-up of alien life visit Rachel, and I am interested in why they hold these beliefs. I think it would make an awesome book.

A random fact about me:
I have been to all of the lower 48. I think South Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico are my favorites.