Faculty and Staff
The highly qualified faculty and staff for the English Language Institute at Bellevue College (BC) bring a diverse selection of experiences suited for the international community. Click on the names below for more information.
Faculty
Jay Aller
Jay has taught at Bellevue College since 2001. Before coming to BC, he spent two years getting his master’s in the MATESOL program at the University of Washington, where he taught in the Intensive English Program. He also taught math and science for two years in Malawi as a Peace Corps volunteer, and English for three years in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Between Malawi and Mexico, he spent several years at Caltech in Pasadena, California, where he was the science writer in the Public Relations Office. He has a B.A. in physics-astronomy from Whitman, and a certificate in science writing from UC-Santa Cruz. When not grading papers, he often reads or watches TV, sometimes goes running, occasionally cooks, and has even been known to go hiking and biking a few times a year.
Katie Austin – Miranda
Kaustin-miranda@bellevuecollege.edu
Teaching has always been my passion, and I have over 12 years of experience teaching. Growing up in southern California, it seemed natural for me to study Spanish. I later combined this second language with my love of English to earn bachelor’s degrees in English and Spanish/Bilingualism from the University of California at Irvine. I started my career as a teacher in middle school and high school teaching English Literature, Creative Writing and ESL. My students were 90% Latino, and I felt an especially close bond with the most recently arrived ESL students. It was such a thrill to be able to open students’ minds and help them explore new worlds of possibility with English.
After a few years of teaching ESL, I decided to earn my Master’s Degree in TESOL from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. I then added teaching adult ESL to my resume, first in adult education schools and then in community colleges. I now teach adults exclusively for the English Language Institute (International Student Program) at Bellevue College, where I thoroughly enjoy my time with the bright, enthusiastic students that I have.
My hobbies are reading, going to the movies with my husband, and taking long walks with my dog, Bailey. In the future, I would also like to travel the world. For now, I enjoy learning about many different countries from my students while I teach them the English skills they need to succeed.
Rebecca Banset
rbanset@bellevuecollege.edu
Rebecca started teaching at Bellevue College in 2006. Prior to that, she worked as the Reading & Writing Lab Coordinator at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, Illinois and taught English at a number of community colleges in the Chicago-area. She has a Master’s degree in TESOL/Applied Linguistics from Indiana University and a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, reading, and playing with her new puppy.
Ivan Breen
Trisha Brink
Trisha Brink is passionate about teaching ESL and connecting with her students. She creatively and critically invents new ways of teaching English that make the learning process more fascinating for her students. Trisha has been a faculty member at Bellevue College since 2008. She has also taught ESL and TOEFL preparation at the University of Washington where she received her Master of Arts in Teaching (ESOL). In addition to teaching in Washington, Trisha was the Instructional Supervisor at Berlitz Language School and taught ESL to business professionals in Chicago. From 2002-2003, Trisha had the rewarding experience of teaching English in Ulsan, South Korea. She not only learned how to teach English in creative and energetic ways to young children, but also learned a lot about the Korean culture, food, and language. Trisha enjoys immersing herself in other cultures and has traveled to Spain, Ireland, Australia, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, and Mexico. In her free time, Trisha likes to kayak, sail, and/or hike around the beautiful northwest, scrapbook her traveling photos, and watch movies with her husband and cat.
Sally Cocco
Sally, an ESL instructor, started teaching ESL in 1979 after completing a bachelor’s degree in French at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a TEFL Certificate at the Royal Society of Arts in London, England. In 1981, she moved from the United Kingdom to Italy where she taught ESL at private schools until becoming an English instructor at the University of Udine (Italy) from 1985 to 1991. She moved to the Seattle area in 1992 where she completed a master’s degree in TESL at the University of Washington. Since that time, she has taught at BC in the University Preparation and Community Programs, and in the Immigrant/Refugee program. Her present classes include Grammar Review 1, 2, and 3, English Through the Media, Reading and Writing for Pleasure, and Cultural Orientation for Women. Ms. Cocco speaks Italian at home with her husband and has two children.
Caroline Crolley
Donna Cowan
Donna Cowan is a native of Washington State, almost. She started her international career in Germany, where she was born, but she moved to Seattle as a child and has lived here most of her life. She got her BA and an MA in Political Science from UCLA and latter got another MA in teaching English from the University of Washington. Along the way she has lived and taught in Colombia (one year), Mexico (two years) France (six months) and Los Angeles (four years). She has taught at the University of Washington (eleven years) and several local community colleges before coming to Bellevue College in 2006. In her free time she enjoys attending ballet performances, movies, and concerts. Donna is an avid reader and loves to cook.
Rob Fieser
Rob was born and raised in Seattle. He has a Bachelor's degree in Slavic Languages and Linguistics and a Master's degree in TESL, both from the University of Washington. He has taught ESL since 1983, and spent a year in the JET program in Kobe, Japan in 1988. He has a spent more than a year in Taiwan, and in 2004, studied Chinese for 3 terms (9 months) at Shi-Da in Taipei. He has been an instructor at Bellevue C since 1989. Rob enjoys traveling to foreign countries, learning foreign languages, and watching track and field competitions. Rob no longer does kung fu, but he still savors watching good martial arts movies. He peruses old Dave Barry columns sometimes, and is passionate about digital photography (ask his colleagues!). Largely because of his experiences abroad, Rob is familiar with many of the problems that foreign students face when studying ESL in the US. Rob believes that students learn best when they are relaxed and so he tries to create a classroom atmosphere in which nobody is afraid to make a mistake in using English.
Chris Hall
chall@bellevuecollege.edu
Chris Hall has been teaching English as a Second Language at B.C. since 1984. She received her undergraduate degree in English/Education from Eastern Michigan University. She also has a Masters Degree in English Education with a specialty in Linguistics from New York State University College at Buffalo. During her sophomore year in college, she was a foreign student at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. After college, she taught for a year in the inner city in Lackawanna, New York, as part of the Teacher Corps program. She then spent two years in Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan, as a Peace Corps volunteer, where she taught English to secondary school students and trained English teachers. In her free time, she enjoys being in the outdoors walking, hiking and gardening; literature; and spending time with her family.
Fiona Jackson
I received a Masters in International Business Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. After a career in International Business, I have been teaching in the IBP program at Bellevue College for the last several years. I really enjoy teaching, and especially enjoy the IBP students. I live with my husband, Jim and a teenage son, Ian, in Seattle. We also have a pug dog and two cats. I enjoy traveling, gardening, reading and cooking.
Russell Johnson
My name is Russell Johnson. I have been an ESL instructor for 13 years. I got my start as a conversation partner and an in-class facilitator at the University of Washington in 1995. After graduating, I moved to Japan where I taught English for 13 years at conversation schools, businesses, and a nursing college. Since moving back to Seattle in 2006, I have taught at various community colleges and conversation schools. Recently, I have enjoyed incorporating technology into my lessons as I have been studying technology in education for a year now.
In my free time, I enjoy street photography, drawing, wine tasting, reading, and using the internet.
Shannon King
Shannon King is a committed and passionate instructor who values the transformational power of education. She has a BA in Linguistics from the University of Kansas and an MATESOL from Seattle University. Shannon has worked with English language learners in various contexts and in different capacities since 1994. She has worked at Bellevue College since 2005. Before coming to Bellevue College, Shannon taught international students in academic contexts including a language school, community college, and university. She also taught ESL in the community to immigrants and refugees. She worked overseas teaching ESL in Mexico and volunteering with the US Peace Corps in the Kingdom of Tonga. In between teaching jobs, Shannon worked in the corporate sector. She has studied abroad and worked in non-ESL jobs overseas as well. This experience helps her understand her students and empathize with their struggles. Challenging assumptions and broadening students’ perspectives are two areas of emphasis in her classes. In addition to building linguistic competence, Shannon’s teaching style focuses on helping students to develop learning strategies that will lead to success in higher education and beyond. In her free time, Shannon spends time with her son, reads, dabbles in fiber arts, and goes to movies.
Nance Koike
John McAlvay
John teaches business and international business in International Business Programs. He also teaches business, international business, legal foundations, business Law, marketing, customer relations and advertising in the Bellevue College Business Division where he has worked both as a full-time and an adjunct faculty member. He received his undergraduate degree in history from the University of Wisconsin, and a Law degree from Southwestern University School of Law. In addition to teaching, John has worked as an attorney and has managed a variety of businesses, including a small corporation in Hong Kong. He loves travel, language study, and relating to people from different cultures. He also enjoys spending time with his family, camping, fly fishing and working on habitat restoration projects.
Carol McKee
Carol graduated with a B.A. in French and an M.S. in Language Education from Florida State University. She has been a teacher for 37 years. She taught ESL/EFL at Marin Community College in California, Jacksonville Community College in Florida, and Edinburgh College in Geneva, Switzerland. In addition to teaching abroad, she has traveled in 15 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Central and South America. At Bellevue College, she prepares international students for college credit classes and is the college’s study abroad coordinator. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, kayaking, gardening, and cooking foods from different countries.
Kristi Middleton
kmiddleton@bellevuecollege.edu
Kristi has been a part-time faculty member at BCC since the fall of 2004. Prior to that, she worked as an ESL teacher in the Bellevue School District and also as an ESL consultant for the Bellevue School District. Before working in the public schools, Kristi taught overseas in Taiwan from 1994-1997. During that time, she worked directly for China Airlines as an English Instructor teaching English to the pilots of China Air in a program that was mandated by the FCC. She worked to found the English Language Training Program for the pilots and wrote much of the material that would be used in the training manual. After spending three years in Taiwan, she returned to the States and worked at different community colleges in the area. She worked full-time as an ESL teacher for over ten years and after the birth of her second daughter in 2002, she started working part-time. She has over ten years of teaching experience and this includes the public schools and the community colleges. She received her Masters of Education from Seattle University and when she’s not teaching, she can be found playing with her two daughters who are age 3 and 5
Alex Ozanich
Alex has been teaching ESL at Bellevue College since 2006. She received her undergraduate degree in European Studies, Linguistics and Music from the University of Washington in 2000 and her master's degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Seattle University in 2006. Alex has been teaching ESL in different capacities since 1999, when she tutored Italian students in English while living in Siena, Italy. She served as a volunteer with Literacy AmeriCorps in which she helped to manage the ESL and Talk Time programs in the King County Library System. She teaches primarily in the University Preparation program, but has taught courses in the Community ESL program and for a variety of short special programs for BC students and students visiting BC. Her favorite thing about teaching English is that it gives her the opportunity to get to know people from a variety of cultures and countries and help them reach their goals. In her free time, Alex likes dancing, traveling, cooking, singing, playing bass guitar, spending time outdoors and relaxing with friends and family.
Mark Paulson
mpaulson@bellevuecollege.edu
Mark graduated with a B.A. in German and an M.S. in Education with an emphasis in TESOL from California State University, Fullerton, where he also taught ESL. He lived in Germany for three years and he spent three years teaching English in Japan. He has also taught ESL at Green River Community College and the University of Washington. Mark has been teaching in the English Language Institute and in Developmental Education at Bellevue College since 1999. In his free time, Mark loves to travel and has been to over 30 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. He also enjoys golf and bowling.
Wendy Pickering
wpickering@bellevuecollege.edu
For Wendy, teaching international students is a natural and rewarding extension of her life long love of learning, language, travel and culture. As a result of living and traveling extensively overseas from a young age, she has always considered herself to be a "global citizen" who values making connections and relationships that transcend national and cultural boundaries. Her educational background reflects her passion for knowledge of the world and asking the big questions about life. She has a Bachelors Degree in Humanities and Fine Arts (CSU Chico, 1977), a Masters Degree in Religious Studies (Regent College, 1983), and a Masters Degree in Adult Education and ESL (Seattle University, 1992). She has been teaching ESL and Intensive English in the greater Seattle area since 1991 and joined the full-time faculty at BC in 1997. When not teaching, Wendy is happiest spending time in the outdoors, exploring the world, doing yoga, or simply relaxing with her family and friends.
Steve Raskin
My personal interests include theater, poetry, cinema, photography, and travel. I have thirty years E.S.L. (T.E.F.L) experience in the U.S., Japan, Spain, and most recently in the Czech Republic. My main focus is on helping students find ease in learning English, so that the learning process is seen as an interesting challenge.
I have been lead TOEFL instructor at Bellevue Community College (now Bellevue College) for over 10 years.
Jason Surendranath
jsurendranath@bellevuecollege.edu
This is Jason Surendranath. He graduated with a degree in Psychology from W.S.U. in 2001, and went to Seattle University to pursue his Master's degree in TESOL. He was living abroad for the past 4 years teaching writing to eager university students in Thailand, Taiwan, and Vietnam. He enjoys traveling and was fortunate enough to also stay in Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines during this time. Other than traveling and learning new languages, he enjoys playing golf about 4 times a week, basketball, tennis and he practices Muay Thai kickboxing and jujitsu when he isn’t injured!
When he’s not outside exerting himself, he spends his hours writing poetry and attempts to sing songs, much to the dismay of his wife GenevieveJ His favorite book is Catcher in the Rye, and his favorite movies are Glengarry Glenn Ross and Reservoir Dogs. He is currently writing a philosophy book on living abroad, and trying to break 70 on the golf course!
Cynthia Weintraub
cweintraub@bellevuecollege.edu
Cynthia Weintraub attended high school in a French lysee in Switzerland.
Her undergraduate work was completed at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.
She later received her Masters in TESOL Education from Seattle University.
She comes to teaching as a later career after working as a corporate presenter and spokesperson for such companies as Microsoft, Real Networks, and Boeing. She also teaches in the International Executive Business Program at the University of Washington, as well as the Summer Intensive Program of the International English Language Department at Harvard University.
She has two sons, Sam and Cooper, ages thirteen and twenty, whose many adventures provide her with colorful stories to share with her classes.
Peter Youngs
Susan Jamieson
Susan.jamieson@bellevuecollege.edu
Susan has been with the English Language Institute at BC since 1984. She received her undergraduate degree in English from Miami University and then joined the Peace Corps and spent four fantastic years as a volunteer in Brazil. Her M.A. is from Washington University in St. Louis where she worked for many years before moving to Seattle. She has traveled extensively in South America, Central America, Europe, and parts of Africa. Susan enjoys ethnic cuisines (eating!), traveling, gardening, reading (literature and trash) and spending time with her family. She is currently an instructor and the Director of the English Language Institute. Meeting so many wonderful students and other teachers is what makes everything worthwhile!
Staff
Bernadetta Titus
btitus@bellevuecollege.edu
Bernadetta was born in Poland. She immigrated to the United States in 1979. She attended an ESL program in Wilmington, Delaware. Bernadetta received a BA degree in International Studies with emphasis on Russia and Eastern Europe from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. For five years she worked for an engineering and consulting company. She has been working as Program Coordinator for the English Language Institute at Bellevue College since 2000. She is fluent in Polish and Russian languages. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, traveling, and gardening.