My Story

Design by Sue Spargo, 2016.

I have recently retired from my work as a professor of education for many years at Mount Saint Mary's University in Los Angeles, California. Although I had previously earned a Ph.D. in Education, after much frustration at how our schools have become so test oriented, I felt that my questions were not being answered by my field of study. Thus, I completed a Ph.D. in Depth Psychology in 2004. For those who are not familiar with the field, it is grounded in the work of Carl G. Jung. I will talk about that more on another page but suffice it to say, I am convinced that until education in the USA re-focuses on students as individuals, rather than on their test scores, we are doomed to continue to lose children who should be welcomed, even if they do not fit the stereotype of "Star Student."

I began my career as a secondary science teacher in both public and private schools in Southern California. My areas of research are multi-disciplinary.

Recent conference presentations include:

My Emerging Shadow: A Challenging Guest to Invite to Play
Paper presented to the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies,
June 27-30, 2018 Portland, Oregon

Field Notes from an Exploration of Evil
Presentation of a Paper to the Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, June 22-25, 2017, Arlington, VA

The Archetype of the Whore: The Challenge for Women in Science
Presentation of a paper at the Eighth Joint Meeting of the BSHS, CSHPS, and HSS, 22-25 June 2016, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Early Recipe Books: Evidence of Non-traditional Alchemy

A paper presented to the History of Science Society, November 20, 2009, Phoenix, Arizona.

Searching for the Soror Mystica
A Paper Presented to the History of Science Society, Washington, D.C., November 3, 2007.

Recent publications include:

Fieldnotes from a Depth Psychological Exploration of Evil: From Chinggis Khan to Carl Jung, Routledge, 2019.

Searching for the Soror Mystica: The Lives and Science of Women Alchemists. Lanham, Mass: University Press of America, 2013.

“Finding the philosopher’s stone: An essay on teaching.” In D. Slattery & J. Selig (Eds.) Ensouling Education. New Orleans, LA: Spring Journal Books, 2009.

“My encounter with the women alchemists.” Alchemy Journal, 10(2), pp. 26-33.

“Making use of story to teach science and mathematics.“Ladder, 10-13, 2007

My other interests include needlework, Goldwork embroidery, and travel.