Course Listing - by Instructor
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| Jennifer Bryan-Goforth | Jennifer Bryan-Goforth bio |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Scott Opsahl | |
| Lisa Spicer | |
| Gavin Stewart | |
| Magdalena Theisen | |
| Robin VanHyning | Robin VanHyning loves to encourage people to develop careers in long-term care settings. She works to inspire people to become leaders of caregiving teams who provide compassionate care for clients and each other. She has been teaching long-term care workers since the '80s. She is a Community Instructor for the DSHS and teaches caregiver and administrator certifications and trainings. Robin VanHyning holds an MSN in Nursing Education with a focus on Distance Learning from Grand Canyon University. She is licensed as a Registered Nurse and Nursing Home Administrator. Robin is credentialed as an Adult Family Home Administrator and an Assisted Living Administrator and owned and operated an Adult Family Home (AFH) for 8 years. Robin's mother currently resides in an AFH where Robin is the consulting RN and Nurse Delegator. Robin loves to travel with her husband in their RV. She lives on Lopez Island and enjoys the laid back life that island living brings. She is a "serial entrepreneur" and currently runs two online training companies. Robin enjoys knitting, sewing, reading, community service projects, and riding her electric bike around the island! She has one grown daughter and son-in-law, and a cat named "Ziggy" who adopted her by moving in one day. |
| Jennifer Wilhoit |