A California native, Grace's love of the outdoors developed at a young age, shaped by experiences as varied as working on her family's citrus ranch to spending time in the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains. Growing up in an agricultural community and exploring the national forests and parks of Central California fostered some of her lifelong hobbies: gardening and cooking, hiking, and backpacking. In college, Grace worked for UCLA's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, gaining experience as a tutor for student-athletes and eventually as the liaison between the university athletic director and professors, roles that now feel foundational to her work at JHSC. She continued to learn about the D1 student-athlete experience while a graduate student at the University of Illinois, where three of her cousins were members of the wrestling team during the same years. She spent two decades in education, during which she worked in research, writing and editing, admissions, and organizing academic conferences, and she has taught literature, history, and writing courses from the high school through university levels. She is a lifelong learner and an enthusiastic teacher who enjoys helping student-athletes realize their academic and athletic goals. In her spare time, Grace enjoys backpacking and river time in the summer, skiing in the winter, and reading any time she can.
Education
B.A. History, American Literature and Culture, UCLA
M.A. English, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Ph.D. English, University of California, Davis
