In 1991 she took a 25-year break from acting to focus on her education. She later became an associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. In 2009, she was awarded two new grants from the National Science Foundation.
She received a PhD in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2007.
Has three children with husband James Bradford Conley.
Received a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California @ Berkeley in 2000.