About Me

Greetings! Welcome to my website.

As you’ve probably figured out, I’m a writer. I write mostly about higher education, fundraising and philanthropy, and the nonprofit sector. Thrilling, right? I’m also a humorist, funnily enough.

More specifically, I wrote for The New York Times Magazine for a few years and became a columnist with The Chronicle of Higher Education, where I conceived and wrote “The Fund Raiser” column for about eight years. After leaving The Chronicle, I wrote a humor column, “Special Edification,” for Inside Higher Ed. Now I write for BestColleges.com.

My humor has also appeared in the Baltimore Sun, Hartford Courant, New Haven Register, Pennsylvania Gazette, Salon, Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop (humorwriters.org), Points in Case, Defenestration, and True Humor. I’m a member of the Humor Writers of America.

On the “day job” side of things, I’ve worked as a fundraiser, communications officer, and magazine editor at several colleges, and I’ve been a consultant to numerous nonprofit organizations. I’ve also taught writing, communications, higher education, and nonprofit management, and I'm currently a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University.

I was born and raised in Massachusetts, went to college at the University of Pennsylvania (go Quakers!), and earned a master’s degree and doctorate in higher education at Harvard University. Now I live in the South and don’t miss snowy winters.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​