Bernadette came to Chapel Hill in 1975 to study at UNC and received her Ph.D. in Sociology in 1980. Bernadette’s career focused on the evaluation of mental health programs in community and prison settings. She first spent five years in research and evaluation at the Durham County Community Mental Health Center. She subsequently became Chief of Research at the Federal Correctional Institution in Butner and retired in 2006. She directed a multi-center national project evaluating drug treatment programs. She served on eight boards and commissions before her election to the Orange County Board of Commissioners in December 2008.