I came to California to teach nursing by a rather circuitous route that started in the Midwest and wound its way through New York. I grew up in Minnesota and entered a Benedictine monastery in the mid 50's. When I was eventually ordained a priest, I was assigned to parishes in Minneapolis and then the Bronx. Always interested in health care, I seized an opportunity, while remaining in the priesthood, to earn a BS in nursing thanks to federal funding of the Nurse Training Act. Federal funds for nursing education continued and I went on to NYU for a masters and PhD with an emphasis on family health care, picking up a certificate in advanced family therapy along the way. I did clinical nursing at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, and taught at CUNY and the College of Mount Saint Vincent.

UCSF brought me to California to teach in their newly minted family nurse practitioner program. There I met Mary Alice Miller, my wife-to-be. I migrated to Sonoma State University in 1983 to form a critical core of doctorally prepared faculty to develop their masters program in nursing. Having taught in the face-to-face classroom for many years, I was approached by a group of students in the early 90's, asking why they couldn't learn as well (or even better) on the computer what we were teaching in the classroom. At that time I was also directing the university's faculty development center. Because several non-nursing faculty had approached me with the same question, I sprang into action and figured out, with the help of a savvy university librarian, how to put my first course completely online. Encouraged by the excellent learning outcomes achieved by students while learning together via the Internet from a distance , I took on a central role in our department for developing many Web-based courses. To solidify a foundation in the field, I earned a master of science in education specializing in online teaching and learning.

I retired from teaching at Sonoma State in 2004, but not before initiating development of their online, accelerated direct-entry-into-nursing MS program. In my post retirement career I am a consultant for educators at the secondary and higher ed levels with respect to online teaching and learning, and do much of my online work at home. In Fall 2006, I re-tooled some of my dormant clinical skills and gave several thousand flu shots in our local Kaiser flu clinic. I'ved also worked in the Mohs micrographic cancer surgery clinic, assisting with procedures, doing pre-operative patient and family teaching for those about to undergo surgery, handling the telephone advice line in the surgery clinic, and pulling out a few sutures. More recently I'm doing memory and cognitive testing in the neurology clinic.

My wife Mary Alice, also a nurse, is Director of the Department of Medicine at our local Kaiser clinic. We have an 18-year-old daughter who is a college freshman. Our household "zoo" includes a Golden Retriever and a Sun Conure parrot.

Academic Degrees

• 2000 MS Education (Online Teaching and Learning); California State University, Hayward
• 1980 PhD Nursing (Research and Theory Development; Family Health Care); New York University
• 1979 Post Graduate Training and Certificate, Advanced Family Therapy; Center for Family Learning; New Rochelle, NY
• 1974 MA Nursing (Adult Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing); New York University
• 1972 BS Nursing; Cornell University
• 1968, 1969 (Summers); Institute of Pastoral Studies; Loyola University; Chicago, IL
• 1965 MDiv Theology; Saint John's University; Collegeville, MN
• 1961 BA Philosophy; Saint John's University; Collegeville, MN
• 1956 HS Diploma; Saint John's Preparatory School; Collegeville, MN

Professional History

• 1983-2004 Sonoma State University, Professor of Nursing, and Director of the Center for Teaching and Professional Development
• 2000 California State University, Hayward (now California State University, East Bay): Adjunct Professor, Online Teaching and Learning
• 1980-83 University of California, San Francisco: Assistant Professor of Nursing
• 1979-80 Saint John's University, Collegeville, MN: Researcher in Residence
• 1977-79 College of Mount Saint Vincent, New York: Assistant Professor of Nursing
• 1975-77 City College of New York: Assistant Professsor of Nursing
• 1974 Teachers College, Columbia University, New York: Lecturer in Nursing
• 1974 Pace University, New York: Lecturer in Nursing
• 1973-74 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York: Clinical Instructor in Mental Health Nursing
• 1972-73 Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York: Medical-Surgical Nursing
• 1969-73 Saint Benedict's Parish, Bronx, NY: Associate Pastor
• 1965-69 Saint Bartholomew's Parish, Wayzata (Minneapolis), MN: Associate Pastor
• 1958-82 Saint John's Abbey: Member of the Order of Saint Benedict