Course Listing - by Instructor
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| Genevieve Bardwell | |
| David Beaumier | |
| Zachary Beckhusen | |
| Noelle Beecrot | |
| Matthew Boudousquie | |
| Jennifer Bryan-Goforth | Jennifer Bryan-Goforth bio |
| Chris Byrd | |
| Nancy Lou Canyon | Nancy Canyon loves to encourage people to begin a personal creative adventure. She has been teaching writing practice since 1998, and has been teaching art since the 90's, when she worked as an illustration instructor at NW College of Art. She is an idea person and loves to inspire her students to try new things. She has been teaching at Whatcom Community College, Community & Continuing Education, since 2008. She works as a writing coach for The Narrative Project. Nancy Canyon holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University. She also earned a fiction certificate from University of Washington in 1999. She keeps an art/writing studio in Historic Fairhaven where she works and holds classes. Her novel, Celia's Heaven, is currently launching at Village Books. She also has a book of poetry, Saltwater, and an eBook of fiction short-shorts. She is working on a memoir: Struck Nancy loves to garden and together with her husband they raise tomatoes, potatoes, kale, lettuce, peas, beets, and onions. They also love to hike and paddleboard when the weather is good. They have three children and two grandsons. They also have two pets: a dog Olive and a cat Sid. Both are nearing their 14th birthdays. |
| Karina Davidson | Karina Davidson bio |
| Patrick Dixon | |
| Annalee Dunn | Annalee Dunn bio |
| Jessica Gigot | |
| Melissa Johnson | Melissa has been successfully teaching all across the humanities and social sciences since 2007. She finds tremendous joy and fulfillment working with students, exposing them to ideas and topics for the first time or helping them become experts in their field. Her enthusiasm and knowledge are contagious and inspiring. She approaches every classroom, course, and student with openness and a keen interest in meeting people where they are, building community, and working together to engage the whole person in the process of learning and applying skills. She is most at home when teaching. Melissa began her journey into higher ed as a student at Central Washington University, where she earned both a B.A. History and an M.A. English Literature. Her time at CWU opened the door to teaching and sparked a lifelong passion for education. While working at CWU, Melissa was able to make connections with English, Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, a Great Books program, Communications, Film, Continuing Education, the Center for Student Empowerment, and more. Her work with these departments/programs and professional organizations like The Society for Cinema Studies and The National Women’s Studies Association in part led to further graduate work at Southern Connecticut State University where she earned an M.A. Women’s and Gender Studies and University of Southampton where she is a doctoral candidate in Film. She is an accomplished, creative, and successful educator, academic, filmmaker, and writer. But mostly, she is passionate about teaching and learning. Melissa lives in Bellingham where she loves the rain, the trees, and the easy access to water and mountains. She likes to be in nature, amongst the trees, whenever possible and does her best to eat, breath, and sleep movies. When not watching movies she enjoys experimenting with mixology and baking, reading interesting books of all sorts, engaging with weird history, playing board games, revisiting Conan clips, and spending as much time as possible with her delightful offspring. |
| Shoshana Kerewsky | Shoshana has led writing workshops and related groups and classes for elementary schoolers to post-doctoral graduate students and professionals, as well as community members. She is a retired psychotherapist, community college instructor, and faculty emerita. In addition to her social sciences and psychology teaching and presenting, she has taught a range of classes related to academic, professional, and creative writing in multiple genres. She has presented, led workshops, and read her work nationally and internationally. Her writing has appeared in numerous creative writing publications, newspapers, professional journals, professional handbooks, and even a guidebook to ethical travel. Her first memoir received a Firebird Book Award. Locally, she is a Sue C. Boynton Merit Award Winner whose poem currently appears on bus placards. Shoshana enjoys helping writers to learn and then break writing "rules." Students describe the feedback she provides as warm, helpful, centered on the writer's intentions, and sensitive to culture and diversity. She loves to be part of new and experienced writers' joyful exploration and self-expression. Shoshana was a licensed psychotherapist and certificant in human services. She holds degrees in linguistics, writing, counseling, and professional psychology. She was nationally recognized as an educator in her specialty area. She was a board president of the Oregon Psychological Association and Friendship with Cambodia, as well as holding other board roles in those organizations and the National Organization for Human Services. Shoshana loves to read and write. Her creative and professional writing has been published since she was in high school. She has walked the Camino de Santiago 4 times and recently volunteered in a pilgrim welcome center in Spain. Shoshana loves to attend talks and readings, walk, cook, garden, and travel. She recently visited Japan and is working on her own haibun about that experience. She has seen seven of the world's penguin species in their own ecosystems, and hopes to see an 8th soon. |
| Sarah Lane | Sarah Lane is an artist, following the call to honor and illuminate life through art. Whether she is painting landscapes, rendering anatomical-botanicals in mixed media or creating portraits, Sarah is moving through painting and prayer simultaneously, offering gratitude for what is before her. Sarah's educational background is pretty diverse! She began studying art at the Cleveland Institute of Art's Lacoste School of the Arts (where her father taught) when she was in high school. Because she always loved service, and at 17-years-old, wasn't sure if she would be able to serve others well through art, she chose to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point and graduated with a BS in English Literature. While serving as an Army Engineer, she earned a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Oklahoma. Finally, she earned a Master of Arts degree in English Literature from National University. Through all of this, she continued to pursue art and her own art education on the side. She's attended the University of Alaska Anchorage, Art Institutes online and many workshops. The greatest gift that education has given her? A continuous yearning and opportunities to grow and share. When she's not making art, she's outside with her family and best buddy, Oakley the Springer Spaniel; gardening and making things with natural materials; and doing her best to serve others. She has a particular passion for herbs and mushrooms and aspires to travel and sketch and get to know this beautiful and its many rich cultures through textiles and art. |
| Virginia Lang | Ginny Lang is a veteran management consultant who has worked for decades in the corporate sector and the nonprofit community as an advisor on all aspects of community affairs. As the founding director of Lang Consulting, she consults, teaches, speaks, and coaches on topics ranging from public speaking and interview skills to fund development, board effectiveness and volunteer management. She specializes in helping to create win/win relationships between business leaders and mission-driven community organizations. |
| Alice Ledbetter | |
| Miranda LeonJones | |
| Charles Lindsey | Lin's career has spanned more than 40 years as both an atmospheric scientist and product management consultant and mentor. He's been consistently praised for the passion and knowledge he is able to share with colleagues and students. He's an active sailor and serves as the weather advisor for a local charter sail and power boating company. Lin received his B.A in Political Economy from The Colorado College, his M.S, in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, and his MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business. He has been an invited speaker for professional organizations and has published a number of papers and reports throughout his career. He has served as a judge for UW business school competitions and is an invited speaker and mentor on careers in product management for upcoming business school graduates. Lin and his wife Susan moved to Bellingham in 2020 following long careers in the Seattle area, northern California and southeastern Washington. They have three adult children and greatly enjoy spending time together as a family. In 2023 they spent 10 days sailing in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the kids are hounding them to take them back again! |
| Debra Olberg | Debra Olberg finds teaching to be a wonderful experience and a great tool to test one's own knowledge. It challenges the individual to improve upon what is already known and to search into new areas. Being able to share what she knows with a room full of people who want to be there makes Debra smile. Her strengths as an instructor include enthusiasm, organizational skills, practical experience, a down-to-earth attitude, and a willingness to share with others. Debra has spent 23 years in the retail nursery/landscape industry as a certified horticulture technician. She is currently owner of Secret Garden Designs, a landscape design and consulting business specializing in one-on-one consultations with homeowners to solve their garden problems.
Debra's leisure interests include teaching, "puttering around in the yard making messes and hoping the garden fairy will clean them up (never happens though)," and playing with her two live-wire dogs, Violet and Sky. She also enjoys visiting her parents (very special people), reading horticulture books, going to movies, and watching TV programs on interior, exterior, and garden design. |
| Scott Opsahl | |
| Marisa Papetti | |
| Heather Qualey | |
| Katelyn Schneider | |
| Ali Segersten | |
| Laura Smith | |
| Lisa Spicer | |
| Gavin Stewart | |
| Michele Sweeney | |
| Magdalena Theisen | |
| Jennifer Wilhoit | |
| Rika Wong |