I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA (Duquesne University) and my MA and PhD degrees in psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York, NY (New School). I also did post-doctoral work at the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO (Institute for Behavior Genetics). From 1974 to 1999 I was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (UVic). In 1999, I returned to the United States and assumed the positions of Professor of Psychology and Director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Penn State Erie (PSU). In 2005-2006 I spent a sabbatical as the visiting Senior Scientist in the Science Directorate of the American Psychological Association (APA-Science). I returned to the American Psychological Association from 2007-2009 and served as the Associate Executive Director for Graduate and Postgraduate Education in the Education Directorate (APA-Education). I am currently Professor Emerita of Psychology, Penn State University, and Academy Professor in the Penn State Emeritus Academy.

I am a fellow of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 1 and 3), the Canadian Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science and the Eastern Psychological Association. While in Canada, I served on the Board of Directors of the Canadian Psychological Association and the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. I also served as a member-at-large on the Executive Committee of Division 3 (Society for Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Science) of the American Psychological Association and on the APA Council of Representatives as a member representing Division 1 (Society for General Psychology) and Division 26 (Society for the History of Psychology). I am a member of the Psychonomic Society.

I was a co-author on the first two editions of the textbook, Sensation and Perception. However, it was my lead authorship on the book, Lateral Preferences and Human Behavior, that established my international reputation as a researcher in the field of human lateral preferences including handedness. I have authored or coauthored 63 research articles and presented 66 conference papers on my human laterality research; I have an additional 55 publications and 50 conference papers on other topics. In Canada, I received grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council  of Canada, the University of Victoria, and the Dorothy and David Lam Endowment to support my work. In the United States, my research was supported by funds from Penn State University. I currently serve on the editorial advisory board of a major journal dealing with human laterality, Laterality: Asymmetries of body, brain, and cognition (Laterality).

I have lectured on human lateral preferences at universities in the United States, Canada, the UK and New Zealand. My media interviews have appeared in Canadian outlets such as The Edmonton Journal, The Calgary Sun, and The Globe and Mail. In the United States, interviews have appeared in USA Today, Toledo Blade, The Detroit News, the Erie Times-News, National Public Radio, KHOW, Denver, Colorado, on the podcast, Critically Speaking, and on Katie Couric Media. Internationally, interviews have appeared on BFM Radio, Malaysia, and on the Association of Left-handers India.

My most recent publications are the book, Laterality: Exploring the enigma of left-handedness, published in 2016, my first novel, In strange places, published in 2021, and the sequel to my first novel, Is this my place, published in 2024. My four books on Amazon