Bell, Rachel. Professor of English and Reading. B.A. English, University of California, Santa Barbara; M.A. English, San Diego State University; E.S.L. Certificate, San Diego State University; Reading Certificate, San Francisco State University.

I have taught and continue to teach a range of writing classes from developmental writing, college-level composition, advanced writing courses in critical thinking, introduction to literature, and English as a Second Language (ESL). Before becoming a full time writing instructor at Skyline College, I taught part-time at several community colleges in and around the Bay Area as well as at San Diego State University. I have also taught English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Madrid, Spain at the university level. Currently in my writing classes at Skyline, I tend to design lessons around areas that I’ve found are of interest both to students and myself. In my classes, we tend to explore issues relating to advertising, the media, pop culture, current events, gender, and race.

Beringer, Connie. Dean, Language Arts (B.A. Ohio University; M.A. Kent State University; Learning Handicapped Credential, San Francisco State University).

Dean Beringer has been at Skyline since 1986, where she began as composition and literature teacher. In 1992, she initiated the Puente Project on Skyline's campus, along with her Puente counselor partner, Carla Campillo. In 2000, she became the first director of the Honors Transfer Program. She served two terms as Academic Senate President and two terms as District Academic Senate President. In February 2006, she became Interim Dean of the Language Arts Division, and assumed the permanent position in November 2006.

Bowsher, James. Professor, English B.A., Denison University, Granville, Ohio M.A., San Francisco State University

Castro, Luciana. B.A. in Linguistics (University of São Paulo, Brazil); M.A. in Linguistics ( UCLA); Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures (UCLA), started to teach Spanish 110, 120 and 140 at Skyline College in Spring 1998. In addition to Spanish and French, she speaks Portuguese and English fluently.

Professor Castro's Ph.D. dissertation is a contrastive analysis between Twentieth Century Mexican and Brazilian literatures and cinema's use of oral tradition manifestations such as the Mexican corrido and Brazilian repente.

Very interested in both research and teaching foreign language techniques and cultural manifestations, she has been a simultaneous translator at Citicorp Center in South America. In the United States, she has taught all levels of Spanish, Portuguese and French including commercial courses and Latin American literature at the UCLA Department of Spanish and Portuguese, American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird), Mesa Community College (Arizona), and College of Marin at Kentfield, (California).

Fascinated with the use of technology in language instruction, Professor Castro always uses multi-media devices in her classes, videos, CD-roms, the Internet and music.

Favorite off-campus activities include listening to music of all kinds, hiking, dancing, foreign cinema appreciation, reading, writing and traveling.

Eadus, Dennis. Professor of English. B.S., M.S., M.A., J.D., Wake Forrest University.

Dennis Eadus comes to Skyline College with a wealth of experience in teaching literature and composition. He has taught English classes at every level from 6th grade Language Arts through high school to graduate level classes at major universities. Asked about his reasons for wanting to be employed at Skyline rather than the universities he was working at, he responds: "I like the students at the community college level. They remind me of myself when I was starting college. Like me, they really want to learn. Simply put, I feel better teaching Skyline students than any other students I have taught." Asked to summarize his educational philosophies and approaches to his classes, Professor Eadus says, "I try to combine learning with fun. I believe it is possible, necessary perhaps, for my students and me to laugh while we learn--or learn while we laugh. Both are almost equally important to me. Certainly, I will go to whatever length is necessary to help a student learn--I'll just smile while I help. And maybe, the student will too."

Erepelo, Liza. Assistant Professor English/Coordinator Kababayan Program. B.A., San Diego State University; M.A., San Francisco State University

Feinblum, Kathleen de Azevedo. Professor, English. B.A., San Francisco State University; MFA, University of Washington, Seattle.

Fitzpatrick, Kathy. Division Assistant.

Floro, Nina. Professor, English. B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A.T., University of California, Berkeley.

Harer, Katharine. Professor, English and Creative Writing. (B.A., M.A., San Francisco State University)

Katharine is a poet and the author of four books of poetry. She is currently writing a nonfiction book about baseball. Faculty editor of Talisman, the annual magazine of student art and writing, Katharine loves to swim, read, write, hike, and listen to jazz.

Irigoyen, Fermin. Professor, Speech Communication. B.A. M.A., California State University, Hayward.

Kaplan Biegel, Nancy. Professor, English, Journalism. (M.A. in English Literature along with a Certificate in the Teaching of Composition from San Francisco State University).

Professor Kaplan has taught a variety of English classes at Skyline since 1994. She is advisor to the school's newspaper, The Skyline View. Her favorite thing about teaching is watching students realize their potential. When she's not teaching, she's realizing her own potential by performing in an Afro-Haitian dance troupe called Alafia.

Lachmayr, Lucia . Assistant Professor, Reading. B.A., M.A., San Francisco State University.

Nicol, Garrett. Professor, English, ESL. B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz; M.A., University of Washington.

Sippel, Leigh Anne. (B.A. Drama, San Francisco State University; TEFL/TESL certificate, Transworld Schools; M.A. TESOL, School for International Training; certificate in Teaching Post-Secondary Reading, San Francisco State University)

Leigh Anne has taught English to speakers of other languages in the Czech Republic, Morocco, Vermont, and California. She has taught in community colleges, private language schools, and in executive and industrial settings. Leigh Anne has taught and tutored extensively in learning centers and has developed curriculum for developmental readers and writers, second-language speakers, generation 1.5 students, students with disabilities, and for tutors of English and the humanities. Leigh Anne’s favorite thing about teaching ESL is creating a variety of extra-curricular arenas for students to practice language and explore culture. In her spare time, Leigh Anne enjoys fishing, riding horses, kayaking, hiking, and bellydancing. Her interests also include traveling, listening to world music, and watching independent films.

Taylor, Phyllis. Professor, Speech. M.A., San Francisco State University; Graduate Studies in Linguistics, U.C., Davis).

I have also worked for 5 years in the private sector as a Speech consultant and trainer. My special areas of focus are Intercultural Communications and Speech training for the Non-native Speaker of English. I am a former full-time faculty member from Peralta CCD and was a part-time faculty here at Skyline from 1992-1996.

Vogel, Linda Carol. English and Reading Professor. (M.A. Ohio State University; Reading Credential. San Francisco State).

Professor Vogel teaches all levels of reading and English, but currently teaches Reading 836 and English 846. She teaches writing as a process and takes her English class and uses technology-mediated instruction. When not teaching, she can be found cooking, hiking, reading, listening to music, painting, watching movies, or dozing off under the fig tree in her garden.

Westfall, Jeff. Professor, English (B.A., Hobart College: M.A., University of Iowa, ABD)

Professor Westfall has been teaching composition at Skyline since 1997 and is always available to teach a course on Whitman or American literature, and will read contemporary writing with interested students. He is also interested in the sister arts of poetry and painting, and in translation theory and collaborative practice. When not reading students' papers, he might be found on his yellow sailboat, Ch'quita, spelled with just seven letters for salty good luck on the water.

Addicted to the Internet, he is an advocate for freedom of information and expression in cyberspace and culture. He has taught courses on the issue of cyber-censorship and has joined students in national presentations on censorship, student access, and other cyber-issues.

The ENGLISH 100 and 165 composition courses Jeff Westfall teaches for transfer credit approach writing as a process of reading, thinking, discussing, thinking, writing, thinking, and revising . . . then revising again. Readings and papers tend to address contemporary social issues that matter. The most important thing to bring to his classes is a willing effort to enjoy success.

Wong, Karen. (B.A., Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1991; M.A., English Composition, San Francisco State University, 1995; Certificate in Teaching Post-Secondary Reading, San Francisco State University, 1994).

English 801, English 800, English 875, English 100/105, English 165.

A native of the Bay Area, I was lured to UC Santa Cruz once I heard that the trees were populated by poets. After a serious attempt at majoring in Math, I eventually switched over to Literature. I thrived on studying literature as a reflection of certain historical periods, peppering my analysis of these literary works with the knowledge that I acquired from my other coursework in Sociology and American Studies.

At UCSC, tutoring individual students and facilitating writing workshops awoke the latent teacher in me. I entered the graduate program in English Composition at San Francisco State University, and for three years taught writing, reading, and study skills to undergraduates.

Fortunately I was hired full time at Skyline in the Fall of 1996. Today, my goals as a teacher remain much the same as they did when I was a graduate student. I am not interested so much in teaching you what to believe as how to engage in your own process of inquiry, and of course, to write well.

When not teaching, you can find me completely absorbed with a book, strumming my guitar and causing havoc with my singing, traveling, and biking to promote "alternative" transportation.

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