“Globalization dictates that the nations that succeed will be those that bring out the best in people and their potential”
--Gordon Brown, British PM, 2008

Unlocking the talents of my students and empowering them to achieve their maximum potential is what has kept me in the education profession for almost three decades. I have taught agri-science and advanced science at Homestead Middle School, a Title 1 school in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) since 1993. My journey into the education profession began in 1979 on the African continent where I earned a first class honor Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural education from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I earned my M.S. from Iowa State University in 1990, and Ph.D. from Ames Iowa in 1993, majoring in Agricultural & Extension Education with an interdisciplinary international development minor in Technology & Social Change.

I have extensive experience and expertise in technology integration in education. I have conducted training sessions for teachers in Trinidad and carried out several research projects to analyze issues and constraints integrating information and communication technology into K-12 curriculum in Trinidad, Japan, and the United States. I was a member of the Aerospace Travel & Technology team, which implemented a $1.5 million federal magnet grant program to integrate technology into workforce development education at my current school. I currently serve on the MDCPS Math in CTE (Career & Technology Education) project, whose goal is to close achievement gaps in the STEM area by teaching math concepts within the framework of career education curricula including agriculture, culinary arts, business, and technology education. My professional accomplishments include being selected for the Rockefeller Foundation dissertation fellowship at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in 1990, winning the Japanese Fulbright fellowship in 2005 and 2007, earning National Board of Professional Teaching Certification (NBCT) in 2005, being named a finalist in the MDCPS Region 6 Teacher of the year 2005, and recently being selected as one of the twenty recipients of the 2009 USDA de La Garza fellowship for Hispanic-Serving Institutions. I have also served as test writer for the Florida K-12 Teacher Certification Test in agriculture.

I belong to several professional associations including the Association for International & Extension Education (AIAEE), and the Florida Association for Agricultural Educators. I serve on the editorial board member of the Journal of International Agricultural & Extension Education and have published over 30 peer-reviewed professional conference and journal articles. I am the founder and volunteer executive director of ADPED, Inc., a 501 3© organization committed to promoting sustainable development in South Florida and sub-Saharan Africa.