Fall 2024
Section 0990 of HUMAN24
California Culture -- : Aug 19 - Dec 13 2024
This section has no scheduled meetings.
Section 2560 of HUMAN26
Friendship -- : Aug 19 - Dec 13 2024
This section has no scheduled meetings.
Spring 2024
Section 4564 of HUMAN26
Friendship -- : Jan 16 - May 17 2024
This section has no regularly scheduled meetings.
Section 8616 of HUMAN5
World Humanities: Arts, Ideas, Values -- : Jan 16 - May 17 2024
This section has no regularly scheduled meetings.
Master of Science in Communication Disorders with an emphasis in Speech-Language Pathology.
California State University, Northridge
PhD scholar of Education with an emphasis in Language, Literacy, Culture, and Technology.
Stanford University, California, Completed 44 units.
Second Bachelor of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Multicultural Education.
College of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Master of Arts in Latin American Studies with an emphasis in History, Literature and Sociology.
University of California at Los Angeles
Study Abroad Scholar: year-long student-abroad program with an emphasis in Latin American History.
University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Bachelor of Arts in Spanish with an emphasis in Spanish 20th Century Literature.
San Francisco State University
I am a breast cancer survivor who underwent a double mastectomy and chemotherapy in 2013. From these experiences, I learned first hand what accessibility and disability are like and what literature and works speak to me as a human, a wife, a mother of a child with special needs, a mother of a child who has died, and life-long learning student.
I have been teaching the humanities with the focus on accessibility and disability long before having cancer and have felt that there is no other experience that connects us more. We all know what is like to have something accessible to us -- and not. We all know someone, first hand or through others' experiences, who has experienced a stroke or other neurological challenges, cancer, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), hearing loss, to name a few, and learn what is accessible for them -- and not. Through these experiences, we also have beautiful stories recorded or documented in various formats -- in film, in music, in art, in literature, in health news or medicine, in information technology, in architecture or inventions -- that inform us all.
Professionally, I have been teaching at Santa Rosa Junior College for 16 years. I am also a Speech Language Pathologist with a strength in not only helping people regain speaking abilities lost from stroke and traumatic brain injuries (TBI), but also helping people understand how the brain works and how to increase cognitive skills in executive function, memory, attention, planning and organizing. I've used these same skills with children in early intervention who have never previously verbally spoken, signed or communicated in a way intelligible to others -- and are now making connections, belong to communities, feel human. That is what the humanities is to me -- it is about making connections and being a part of various communities including the larger one, the human community. In my class, we look at these connections while also applying the theoretical lens of traditional and current thinkers of this human community.
The fall of 2014 will be my first term back teaching and I look forward to this experience.
Humanities; Interdisciplinary Studies; Freirean philosophy; Linguistics; Applied Linguistics; Speech Language Pathology; all languages -- including American Sign Language (ASL); culture; accessibility and disability; receptive and expressive communication; neuroscience especially cognition -- attention, memory, planning, organizing, executive function; Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); information technology; online education; tele-health; education, homeschool organizations; sports; equity and status in group collaboration;
Conference Presentations and Workshops
2015 American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA), Autism presentation: Competing in the Zones for communication and social emotional regulation;
2014-present First Lego League (FLL) Robotics Coach;
2014 Signing For Communication, Social, Emotional Development, and Literacy, Pediatric Populations;
2014 Homeschool Lego Robotics;
2009 ASHA Conference: LENA Conversation Turns Study;
2008 American Speech and Hearing Conference: Language Minorities; Signing With Babies;
2006-present LB Parks and Recreation, signing with babies;
2003 National Magnet Conference, Teaching and Technology Strategies;
2003 Using iMovie in Teaching, Elliott Elementary;
2002 SRJC PDA online teaching tools
2001 American Education Research Association (AERA), Defining Privilege and Oppression;
2001 National Two-Way Immersion Conference, Teaching and Technology Strategies for Second-language classrooms;
2001 Teaching with Webpages, Elliott Elementary;
1998 American Education Research Association (AERA), Status Interventions
Associations
Lego FLL; American Speech Hearing Association (ASHA); National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA); American Education Research Association (AERA); American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA); American Speech and Hearing Association; Graduate of the Minority Student Leadership Program, 2008; California Speech-Language-Hearing Association (CSHA); Signing Time; LENA___ЕЅ█А_К__Ѕ█А_К____Л______ын__хтх_тх__┤
Publications
Access and Advocates, tba fall 2015; Competing in the Zones, tba 2015; My Cancer Trail; ASHA Sphere 2012; Signing Time: Homeschooling 2011; LENA 2009; National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association 2008
Languages
Fluent in English and Spanish; competent in ASL; undergraduate and graduate work in Italian and Portuguese.
Athletic Accomplishments___ЕЅ█А_К__Ѕ█А_К____Л______ын__хтх_тх__┤
2004 Olympian, Athens, Greece; 1996 USA Track and Field Olympic Trials Qualifier, 5,000 meters Track; 1995 USA National Teams to China and Japan (Ekiden); 1995-2004 USATF member and Elite Athlete; 1997 Central American champion, 5,000 meters.
World Travel
South Africa, Japan, China, Spain, France, Andorra, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, England, Korea, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Cuba, Venezuela, Switzerland, Canada, Greece