Rachel moved to Wayne in 2004 and is currently an associate professor of education at Villanova University. A Canadian transplant, Rachel came to the USA in 2003 via Bermuda, where she lived for two years. While there, she worked in museum education at the Bermuda National Gallery. After starting a family in 2004, Rachel earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. In 2017, she joined Villanova University.
Prior to moving to the USA, Rachel had earned an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island. This degree led her to a research position in Canada’s central bank, where she met her spouse. She left international banking for graduate school (communications) at Carleton University (the one in Ottawa, not Minnesota), which led her to a position as a marketing manager for a business research firm in Toronto. In 2001, her now husband was offered a position in Bermuda. It was late March and snowing heavily in Toronto, so the lure of palm trees won them over. In 2003, they were transferred to the Main Line, and they started a family. Their two children attended Radnor schools (the youngest graduated in 2025).
Rachel’s academic interests are children’s literature and literacy education. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses, focusing on sociocultural and critical literacy practices in K-12 classrooms and higher education. She has published her research in various academic journals, such as The Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Culture; The Journal of Children’s Literature; English Teaching: Practice, and Critique; and Bookbird, among others. She has been actively involved in professional and local communities, serving on the board for The Children’s Literature Assembly (2020-2022), and in leadership roles for AERA’s Literature Special Interest Group (2018-2023), Villanova’s Faculty Congress (currently treasurer), and has been actively involved in committees in Radnor Township School District. Rachel has served on the REF grants committee since 2021, and she is excited to continue supporting REF as a board member.
