91ÁÔÆæ

Faculty Mentors

As part of the institute, a select group of faculty from all colleges will participate as faculty mentors. These faculty will complete online faculty mentor training in preparation to facilitate a cohort.

• José Aguiñaga

  • Hello, I am José Aguiñaga, part-time lecturer with the School of Information. I joined 91ÁÔÆæ in spring 2020. The past year plus has been an enriching and learning experience as an online educator. Besides being a part-time lecturer, I am a full-time tenured librarian with Glendale Community College in Arizona. I have been an academic librarian for the past 27 plus years and have enjoyed working in higher education. My breath of higher education experiences has facilitated my development as a professional, but more importantly it has provided me the opportunity to inspire individuals that are pursuing their education. This is what drives me to be engaged within the academy. Encouraging and mentoring current and future students who become our future. Also never forgetting where I came from prompts me to remain humble but also resilient in contributing to the development of higher education for all pursuing their goals, but also enhancing my own online pedagogy with the evolving technology tools that we have available. A final thought, as a native San Diegan, I will always be a San Diego Padres fan! Go Padres!

• Rachel Bryant-Anderson

  • I’m Rachel Bryant-Anderson, and I have been teaching sociology classes at 91ÁÔÆæ for about ten years. Since moving back to my home state of Washington in 2016, all of my 91ÁÔÆæ classes have been online. Some of my favorite classes in graduate school were on topics like feminist and radical pedagogy and teaching writing, and the opportunity to take classes on online teaching before and after my transition to this modality greatly shaped my online and face-to-face teaching practices. I’m excited to work with faculty colleagues this summer on subjects that I’m passionate about, like effective and equitable teaching practices!

• Amir Armani

  • Amir Armani is an Assistant Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, San Jose State University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 2017 from Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly known as the University of Missouri, Rolla), and his M.S. and B.S. degrees in 2012 and 2009 from Sharif University of Technology, all in Mechanical Engineering. Amir's research has been centered on Additive Manufacturing, Structural Ceramics, Functionally Graded Materials, Smart Structures, and Sheet Metal Forming. He is the author/co-author of two books, one US patent, and 35 peer-reviewed papers (19 journal articles and 16 conference papers). These publications have received more than 500 citations thus far (according to Google Scholar).

• Megan Chang

  • I am an associate professor in Occupational Therapy department in CHHS. I have been teaching online and hybrid courses for a number of years. I am a certified Quality Matters reviewer. My research involves in using behavioral and psychophysiological measures to understand sensory process, stress and sleep. In my free time (if I get any), I love hiking, swimming, yoga, and playing music. I play double bass in our university orchestra. 

• Denise Dawkins

  • I am a registered nurse, healthcare simulationist, and educator. I completed my master’s degree at CSU Bakersfield and completed my Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at California State University Northern California Consortium.
    Education is my passion, and I enjoy teaching. I have been a nurse for over 30 years and a nursing educator for 20 years for the hospital and academia. I have taught online for ten years. The best part of teaching; I learn a lot from students, and they keep me current. Teaching allows me to fulfill what I believe to be a fundamental responsibility of a nurse educator: to prepare and mentor competent future nurses, strengthen the nursing workforce and improve healthcare for the community.

• Michelle DeCoux Hampton

  • Michelle DeCoux Hampton, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, joined the The Valley Foundation School of Nursing in 2018. She has more than 10 years of online and hybrid teaching experience with undergraduate and graduate students, teaching writing intensive research courses at each level. For research interests and publications, see: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michelle-Hampton/research 

• Steven Lin

  • I'm a professional classical guitarist. I have been a lecturer at 91ÁÔÆæ since 2009 and I have taught online for 6 years. I grew up buildling PCs and playing video games, so the whole internet and computer thing just fits me like a glove. In many ways, I find that I am more productive and effective because I have the entire internet right in front of me. If you have trouble with computers, fear not -- I'm patient and have walked many people through complex apps, menus, folders, and clicks. If, by chance, you enjoy hiking, perhaps we should pick a trail this summer and meet up! Here's me, performing a Taiwanese folk song on a $50,000 guitar. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wknziJJOcI

• Matthew Love

  • Hello everyone! My name is Matt Love and I am an Assistant Professor in Special Education. My research and work focus on how we make all learning environments accessible to all learners. Key levers of change in my work are universal design for learning and assistive/instructional technology. My hope is that I can highlight how planning for students with the most extensive learning needs helps us develop systems that work for all students. I hope to highlight how design, pedagogy, and planning for your and your students' social emotional well being can be achieved in an online space in an effective and accessible way. 

• Raji Lukkoor

  • I'm a lecturer with civil engineering and a contributing writer at medium.com. A graduate of the 91ÁÔÆæ Summer 2020 Resilient Course Design Institute, I learned how to re-design a course using pedagogical strategies and inclusive frameworks that are student-focused, customizable, and effective. The desire to support student success drives my passion for teaching. Feel free to check out my experiences implementing course re-design measures during the recent academic year at https://raji-lukkoor.medium.com/

• Allison Martin

  • Hi everyone! My name is Allison and I teach in the Department of Justice Studies. I have taught online courses for 7 years now, so I'm hoping I will be a great resource for you to help improve your online courses! It is my goal, as we work through this course together, that you feel more confident in teaching online and become more aware of the multitude of resources available to you and your students. Let's have fun these next few weeks and learn from each other's successes and challenges in online teaching!!

• Anamika Megwalu

  • I am Anamika Megwalu. I am the Faculty Director of Library Instruction & Assessment at the University Library. I also serve as an instructor for the department of Extended Engineering Studies. Since joining 91ÁÔÆæ in 2016, I have had a number of opportunities to pursue my passion for teaching and learning. As a librarian, I have been conducting one-shot library instruction sessions. I also taught a graduate hybrid course called Computer Engineering Seminar, and now teaching a graduate course, Engineering Research and Reports. 

    I have been a teacher for over fifteen years – initially as an elementary and middle school educator, and then as an instructor in the higher education system. I believe that over the years, I have learned and applied a number of teaching methods that focus on fostering student engagement through metacognitive, peer-review, and self-reflective activities. I had opportunities to participate in multiple training programs that have broadened my perspectives on active learning, flipped classroom methods, and approaches for removing barriers to accessibility, equity, and inclusion in classrooms. I have been fortunate to have colleagues and mentors who I continue to learn from, and I look forward to continuing conversations on teaching and learning with this cohort. 

• Tanja Nathanael

  • Tanja Nathanael currently teaches Children’s Literature and Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature online for San Jose State University. An alumni of 91ÁÔÆæ, she earned her Bachelor's in 2005 and Master's in 2010. She received her doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2019. She formerly served on the international committee for the Children's Literature Association (2015-2018) and continues to support its goals as co-editor of the ChLA International Committee Blog to encourage interest in international children’s literature [https://childlitassn.wixsite.com/intlcommittee]. Since she began teaching online in Fall 2019, she has been refining her online courses using gamification techniques to improve navigation and increase engagement with her students. She also completed a workshop on Active Learning in Spring 2020. She enjoys teaching online and hopes to share her enthusiasm and experience in the 91ÁÔÆæ Resilient Course Design Institute.

• Jada Patchigondla

  • Jada Patchigondla has been teaching at 91ÁÔÆæ as a lecturer in the English Department since 2016 and has taught university writing for the past 10 years. Her passion is reaching students of all levels to meet their writing needs especially those of different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Her passions are teaching writing using rhetoric to contextualize various writing situations. 

• Carol-Lynn Perez

  • Carol-Lynn Perez has been a lecturer in the Communication Studies Department for the past 15 years, 14 years of which have been spent teaching exclusively online. She has served as a mentor for the 91ÁÔÆæ Teach Online Summer and Winter Certificate Programs multiple times, and is now the co-coordinator for the same program. Her interests are in developing an inclusive and equitable classroom environment for her students, and she has worked over the years to achieve this goal. Carol-Lynn is Quality Matters certified, and has revised her courses endlessly to meet the changing the goals of a quality online course, and to meet the ever-evolving needs of her students. 

• Shawn Vecellio

  • Shawn Vecellio, PhD, is an itinerant lecturer in teacher education programs throughout Silicon Valley. He has served as faculty at The National Hispanic University (from 2001 until its closure in 2015), Santa Clara University, the University of San Francisco, National University and San Jose State University. He teaches a range of credential and master’s courses such as sociology, cultural diversity, social justice, assessment, and educational / action research. As a facilitator certified by the Center for Courage & Renewal, his research focuses on the effective use of facilitation strategies in the classroom. He has published articles in The Teaching Professor, Schools: Studies in Education, Multicultural Perspectives, and Multicultural Education. Shawn continues to enjoy the challenge of co-creating a courageous space where students are invited to bring their selves and lives into the learning community.