I received my Ph.D. in Sociology from the American University in December of 1991. My first academic appointment, 1992, was in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at Central Michigan University (CMU), Mt. Pleasant Michigan. In 1995, I left CMU to become a post-doctoral research fellow at the Health Research and Policy Centers at the University of Illinois @ Chicago. This National Institute on Drug Abuse-sponsored position provided expert training in the public health and social aspects of substance use and abuse. After successful completion of the post-doc in 1998 and two additional years of work on federally-funded drug abuse grants in Chicago, I accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware, Fall of 2000. In May of 2003, I was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure.