Falcon Day - Biographies - Cerritos College

Falcon Day - Biographies

SESSION A

In 1993, Janet began teaching at Crenshaw High School. LAUSD's District Internship program set the foundation for her pedagogy which focuses on equity, humanizing, and supporting the development of student voice. She taught and wrote curriculum for their credentialing program as well as created a Teachers Helping Teachers retention program. In 2002, she began teaching at the community college level. Besides teaching faculty Canvas courses and creating online English curriculum, she presents regularly at conferences, including MLA, NADE, CADE, CAP, and OnCourse. She is also passionate about multimodal composition and African-American literature. In addition to teaching English and working as lead DE Coordinator, she teaches for @ONE.

Lynn Serwin is an English Professor with 20 years of online teaching experience. In her discipline, Lynn is often helping students bring out the best of themselves. Her work on sabbatical in 2020/21 was focused on helping online students build community with other students and campus services outside the classroom. The lessons learned about building community, and sustaining relationships online have translated to Lynn’s classes. Lynn is also the Distance Education Coordinator of Student Engagement and Support. Lynn holds a graduate certificate in Teaching Writing Online, has taken several @ONE courses to enhance her online teaching, and was awarded by Calbright College for developing Success Squads to connect students to the campus.

Nick Matthews has been a full-time faculty member in the Communication Studies department at Cerritos College since 2016 and began serving as a distance education coordinator for accessibility and general DE support in Fall 2021. He holds an M.A. in Communication Studies and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, both from California State University, Long Beach. His dissertation, “Accessible Instructional Materials and Disabled Student Success,” resulted in a first-of-its-kind measure of perceived accessibility in DE courses. He has won multiple awards in the CSU system for his accessibility research, including a first place Grad Slam award at his campus and a finalist award in a CSU system wide research competition. Nick is continuing his research on accessibility via a postdoctoral academic scholar appointment at CSULB for 2021-2022.

Alva Santiago, Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). Born in New York City. Moved to Southern California in 1984. Fully bilingual in English and Spanish. Alva has been a business consultant and corporate trainer for 30 years. As a MCT, her clients include, but not limited to, Oracle, Oakley, Pentel, Nestles, Lisi Aerospace, GCS Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, United Way of New York City, U.S. Army Hospital in Colorado, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, SpaceX, AEG Live, Hilton Worldwide, GlaxoSmithKline, Foss Maritime, Behr Paint, Marine Corp in Miramar, and Kaiser Permanente. Remote trainings included clients in Hong Kong, Singapore, Jakarta, Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Chile, Denmark, Dublin, and new locations open up each year. As a consultant, hired by corporate clients to design and create business intelligence tools in Excel. Clients include Columbia University, Apollo Insurance, and Santa Monica Seafood. Also, designed and built two Access databases for the Marine Corp in Miramar to register and monitor trainees and their families. Experienced in Microsoft Excel, Word, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project, Business Intelligence for Excel, and Power BI for Desktop. And, continually upgrading to newer software skills.

Pamela Sepulveda is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who is new to the Cerritos College campus. Starting college at a local community college, she received her Master's in Social Work from the University of Southern California. As the new Case Manager of the Falcon's Nest, she has experience with the public child welfare system, school based social work, emergency youth shelter management, and community organizing. She is excited to join the Falcon family to ensure no basic need prevents a student from reaching their academic goals.

SESSION B

Veronica Herrera joined the Counseling Department over 15 years ago. She enjoys serving students by providing student development opportunities in and out of the classroom. She was recently appointed as one of the Distance Education Coordinators to provide professional development support in
Accessibility. Veronica views the training process as a collaboration where she sees herself as a partner and coach. It is her goal to create training that provides a supportive learning environment, so that faculty and staff feel comfortable approaching her for assistance throughout the process. She fundamentally believes that when we support our faculty and staff with ongoing quality professional development opportunities, the better served our students will be.

SESSION C

Dr. Humberto Hernandez is a licensed psychologist and currently works in Student Health at Cerritos College. He earned his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at Washington State University. Dr. Hernandez utilizes a culturally informed and integrated approach to psychotherapy, staying cognizant of current research and evidence-based practices. He has worked several Hernandez years in higher education settings, as he enjoys supporting college students’ emotional development as they reach their academic and life goals.

Dr. Dilcie Perez currently serves as the vice president of student services and assistant superintendent at Cerritos College in California. Prior to this role, she served as the dean of student life and judicial affairs at
MiraCosta Community College District. She also served as the dean of students at California State University San Marcos. Dr. Perez’s research and career experience has been centered on breaking down organizational silos to support student success. Dr. Perez earned a bachelor’s degree from CSU San Marcos in political science, a master’s degree in administration from
Central Michigan University, and a doctorate in educational leadership from San Diego State University.

SESSION D

Vanessa Salas joined Cerritos College in September 2015 as an Administrative Clerk II in the Counseling Department. As an entrepreneur, she learned to navigate and utilize Instagram, creating engaging content and building an active following. She is a UCLA graduate and is currently attending Pepperdine University for Clinical Psychology. She was handed the reins for managing the Counseling Department's Instagram account @cerritoscounseling at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and has grown the account following from 300 to 1,243 followers. What is better than having students know we care? How about the opportunity to engage with them daily? Her objective is to inform, build community, provide resources, and present opportunities for students to engage on Instagram.

Natalie Gordon joined the Cerritos College community in June 2020 as a Program Assistant II in Financial Aid. As an undergraduate at UCLA, she interned for KROQ and Jack FM within their Social Media department and has continued to use Social Media as a way to engage with students. Since UCLA, she has been committed to a career in education and strives to help students reach their potential and maximize their financial aid in the process. During the COVID pandemic, she has been able to grow the @Cerritosfinaid Instagram from 300 to 800 followers within a year and make virtual connections to Cerritos College’s high school and community partners by fostering a virtual community on Instagram.