He earned his PhD in Geography from the University of Cincinnati, his MS in Geography from the University of Alabama, and his BS in Political Science from Towson University. He has published research in various academic journals including Antipode, Regional Studies, Journal of Urban Affairs, Growth & Change, and Southeastern Geographer. He has taught Political, Economic, and Urban Geography for over twenty years.

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy after high school and deployed to the Philippines, Japan, Guam, the Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii during the last years of the Cold War. After the Navy, he used the GI Bill and worked his way through college and graduate studies.

An avid surfer, you might find him on any given day amid the breaks off Delmarva in Maryland or Delaware when he probably should be at work.