Before ENMU Dr. Bratcher worked as a contract speech-language pathologist. She did therapy in schools, nursing homes, home health and in a private practice.

She decided to pursue her career in speech-language pathology because she has always been goal-minded and from an early age wanted to go to college and become successful.

“Really it was seeing that knowledge is power and I wanted to have that,” said Dr. Bratcher.

She is a speech-language pathologist by trade but transitioned to that route from public speaking because she “really wanted to be in the health care field and make an impact in the lives of others.”

She is constantly following new studies and publications in her profession.

Dr. Bratcher’s most memorable moments through her career have been firsts.

“The first time I saw a patient go from a non-communicative state to a communicative state. The first time I saw a patient beam with joy after mastering his goals. The first time I saw students graduate and the first time I had a student call me after graduating and thank me for all I had done to help her become a SLP (speech-language pathologist),” explained Dr. Bratcher.

Besides the thrill of teaching, she loves making a difference in the lives of people all over the world when her former students join the workforce.

She considers Sandy Smith, an ENMU instructor when she was a student, her mentor.

“She was so enthusiastic about the profession and about her students learning to be creative professionals,” said Dr. Bratcher.

She enjoys snow skiing, golfing, watching football (Denver Broncos and the LSU Tigers), running the occasional half marathon and spending time with her family and friends.

“I have a wonderful husband of 20 years, Matt who is my best friend and constantly challenges me to ski harder slopes, literally and figuratively,” said Dr. Bratcher.

They have two children, Matti, 13, and Bodee, 9.

“Matti loves photography and has an amazing artistic eye. Bodee’s passion is freestyle skiing and is on the Angel Fire ski team and competes nationally. They all keep me pretty busy with their activities and interests,” said Dr. Bratcher.

A fun fact about Dr. Bratcher, according to her daughter, is she is good at annoying her kids, and her son says that she’ll make up silly songs about everything.

“When I asked a friend, she said that I can reverse a large vehicle with a trailer on the first try,” said Dr. Bratcher.

“I grew up in a town not too far away, Tucumcari,” said Dr. Bratcher, “When I lived there it was full of industry, jobs and was a thriving community. It is much different today, and, unfortunately, much like what you see on “Cars” the movie, dried up and trying to stay alive.”