Teacher Talk is back this Spring starting on January 31st. It will be on Tuesdays from 11:30 to 12:30 in the Center for Teaching Learning and Engagement. Teacher Talk is an informal meeting that is open to all teachers. It allows teachers to discuss and share their ideas on the craft of teaching.

Several of our new Residential Faculty (Click on a picture below to see its larger version.)

Meet new residential faculty Jignasa Desai

Gina Desai was born in Fort Collins, Colorado. She primarily grew up in Tucson, Arizona, where she attended University of Arizona to receive her degree in Media Arts. Her undergraduate degree and interest in screenwriting led to her receiving a Master's Degree in Media-Film, Television, and Radio. At the University of Arizona, she taught Film History as a graduate teaching assistant. She received two meritorious awards for "teaching excellence" from both the Media Arts Department and the College of Fine Arts in 1997. In the Fall of 2000 she became an adjunct at GCC and started teaching journalism, mass communication, humanities, and reading.

Immediately after completing her Master's Degree, Gina joined Teach for America to serve and teach in underprivileged schools in Phoenix, Arizona. This led to her becoming a Mentor Teacher, Reading Specialist, and an Assistant Principal for Phoenix Elementary School District No. 1. She spent last year working in Cartwright School District as an Assistant Principal for Estrella Middle School. She was in charge of the 6th Grade Center and the Honors/Gifted/ESL students in the school. Gina is happy and ready for the new possibilities which come with her current position as a reading faculty as she has always enjoyed working with GCC students. Phong Chau is Gina;s Flame.

Meet new residential faculty Loren Schwarzwalter

Loren comes to us from the University of Wisconsin. He was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. After three years he moved to Fergus Falls, MN--40 miles east of Fargo. He has two older brothers who have had diverse experiences and been very successful.

Loren earned all three of his degrees: BA, Masters, and PhD from the University of North Dakota. Between earning his degrees he held a number of positions; beyond teaching, he also worked for the Boyscouts of America. He teaches in the Communications Department. An interesting fact about Loren is that he is an accomplished stage magician. Loren's Flame is Phillip Roderick.

Meet new residential faculty Dorothy Elrobeh

Dorothy (better known as Dee Dee) was born and raised in Arizona; she went through the same elementary and middle schools where Gina was vice principal, and after high school, took classes at GCC. Her bachelor's and first master's are both from ASU, while her second master's (the library degree) is from University of Arizona. She taught ESOL for several years and worked for the Phoenix Public Library. Now she gets to indulge in both of her passions as the Instructional Coordinator in the library and as an instuctor with the ACE Plus program teaching research skills.

Dorthy speaks Spanish fluently. Her family (her husband and four sons) enjoys camping, hiking, cooking and movies. Her Flame is Dean Wheeler.

The year long new residential faculty orientation program continues each month with our group meeting and on-line discussions in Blackboard. The January FYRE meeting included a visit from President Kovola, a welcome greeting from VP Ron Natale, the introduction of new Dean Eric Leshinskie. Additionally there was a tour of the Library and David Grant, GCC's Athletic Director discussed student athletes and the considerations.

The next FYRE meeting is Friday, February 3rd in A-146 at 1:00.

A.T.O.M.S.

    ATOMS - Acronyms Terms and Other Maricopa Stuff    
If you have been puzzled by the alphabet soup of acronyms that you hear and have wondered what a few of them might stand for, then A.T.O.M.S. is for you.

Try A.T.O.M.S. out at http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/facdev/atoms/

(A.T.O.M.S. was created by and is maintained by GCC Faculty Development).