In the process of collecting degrees, I have accumulated a B.A. in Communication Studies (Theatre Arts), an M.S.Ed. in Higher Education Administration, and an M.S. in Adult Education with a focus on instructional design. I am currently working on a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology through Indiana University, Bloomington.

After a stint in professionally managed theater and property management I returned to school for my master's in higher education. I worked in academic/career counseling and event coordination for a few years and then began the MS in Adult Education, which I completed a few months before joining the Department of Adult Education as the Program Coordinator in 2002.

Adult education was a natural progression in my career. I enjoyed working with adult students, helping them learn how to navigate higher education and how to find the resources they needed to make informed decisions about their academic and career plans. I enjoyed developing resource materials (both paper and online) for them. The Adult Education program provided an opportunity to combine my interests in adult learning and instructional design.

After completing the Adult Education program I took a few years off before beginning the doctoral program in Educational Psychology and my husband and I welcomed our daughter Brenna into our lives. I dived back into graduate study 6 months after she was born with a goal of completing my Ph.D. before she began kindergarten.

Life intervened, as it often does, and she will begin kindergarten while I am collecting and analyzing data for my dissertation. My dissertation topic is role identity and if/how it differs between online and face-to-face teaching.

Wearing my Program Coordinator hat I manage student records, class scheduling, commencement, and general cat herding. Wearing my Lecturer hat I have been developing and teaching Research, New Student Orientation, and our non-credit Distance Education Certificate course. Recently I have begun teaching Adult Education Planning and Development and Adult Learning through the Lifespan.

To keep my sanity in the midst of a preschooler, dissertation research, and teaching I knit, crochet, and cook - all with the "help" of two cats.

Jeani teaches New Student Orientation, ACE-D 505, 506 and 620.

One of the resources Jeani has created for the department is the ACE Student Resources website: