I’m an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at UNC Greensboro, a Faculty Director and Visiting Scholar with the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill. I am also a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University to support its AY23-24 focus on Financial Resilience recently served as Chairperson of the Academic Research Council of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

I conduct research on financial wellbeing among lower-income people and households, with a current focus on precarious employment, financial determinants of health, fintech and financial exclusion, student debt, and social policy (e.g., Child Tax Credit).

I also teach and advise in both the joint MSW and PhD social work programs of UNC Greensboro and N.C. A & T State University. Previously, I was a faculty member with the Schools of Social Work at UNC-Chapel Hill (2006-2015) and University of Michigan (2015-2017). Before joining academia, I practiced for 16 years, mostly in management and community practice positions with nonprofit organizations serving lower-income people. 

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