When I was asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up,” my varied responses never once included “college professor.” Unable to afford a direct path to graduate school after obtaining a B.A. in politics from Cornell College, I worked for several years, saved money and eventually enrolled in a master's program in public administration. My goal at the time was to obtain a management-level position with a government agency or nonprofit organization. While working on my M.P.A., I attended classes at night and worked full-time as a Continuing Education Program Coordinator at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Nearing end of my master's program, I accepted a part-time position as a teaching assistant for the UIC political science department. I viewed that position as simply a means to an end—a way to help finance my last semesters of graduate school. That “means to an end,” however, soon became my life's passion.