Who is Dr. Jen?
As a successful former entrepreneur, and one of the country's leading female skydivers, I am frequently invited to share the lessons and experience of skydiving and years in business, drawing analogies to the field and history of skydiving, in venues small and large, from summer children's program to municipal conferences to the state of Kansas Capitol building. My expertise earned me the position of guest speaker multiple times for the National Drop Zone Owner’s Conference as well as the International Parachute Industry Association Expo. In addition, I often write articles for skydiving and non-skydiving publications, regularly contributing to some, such as United States Parachute Association magazine Parachutist and the Kansas Rural Water Association magazine Lifeline.
Teaching is my passion. Since earning my Bachelor’s degree in Education, I have taught in public schools and at the University level. In October 1995, I opened Skydive Kansas, the longest running commercial drop zone in Kansas, located in Osage City, which was known nationally for its educational offerings. My reputation and credentials as a skydiving instructor and examiner afford me opportunities to travel and teach seasoned instructors how to facilitate their own courses and perform duties of leadership in their own areas. In the USPA Safety & Training rewrite of educational courseware, I have co-authored material to train skydivers how to teach beginners. In 2023, I earned my PhD in Education specializing in teaching and curriculum from National University.
After developing several technological support solutions for skydiving education for my own drop zone, I repackaged it and gave to the United States Parachute Association. The quality of my work, the consistency of my support, and the vision of my solutions led to USPA hiring me as the first ever Director of Technology, where in my first year, I migrated over 2 million records to a new database, as well as rebuilt their two major websites, adding many features to support instructors and students.