Meet the SNFS Faculty

Helen Burn is an instructor in the department of mathematics at Highline Community College and director of the Curriculum Research Group. She has served as chair of the Pure and Applied Sciences Division at Highline and as mathematics department coordinator. For more than a decade, she has been significantly involved in the reform of pre-college mathematics both within her own department and as part of the Transition Mathematics Project and Rethinking Pre-college Mathematics Grants. Her current research and evaluation projects focus on transition pathways and persistence of basic skills students to college courses, the effectiveness of the online modules to remediate mathematics in introductory geoscience courses, and the influence of part-time faculty on department-wide change effort in mathematics. Helen has taught college students for over 15 years. She holds an M.S. in mathematics from Western Washington University and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan Center for the Study of Higher and Post-Secondary Education. (Helen teaches the SNFS course The American Community College.)

Paul Marshall was born and raised in northwest Washington. He was the first of his family to attend college and graduated from The Evergreen State College and University of Oregon. Paul recently retired after 30 years at Everett Community College. During his tenure he was a Counselor, taught Psychology/Sociology and for the past ten years he created and coordinated the Teaching and Learning Cooperative. He has been recognized as a student advocate, diversity ally, mentor to many teachers and an innovator in the use of instructional technology and classroom design. His interest in using Faculty Learning Communities to increase the depth and breadth of faculty development earned Paul the 2010 Anna Sue MacNeill Award for Assessment Teaching and Learning. Paul continues to create research using ten years of student comments about teaching and learning (using SGID data) that will offer teachers useful information about what classroom activities help students learn. (SNFS course: Adult Learning)

Alan Waugh has worked in faculty development in the Washington community and technical college system for 23 years. He was a staff member and then director of the ABLE Network for 11 years, serving ESL, ABE and GED prep faculty in colleges and non-profit organizations across the state. Most recently he was Director of Planning & Professional Development at Tacoma Community College for 12 years, focusing on faculty development for new and part-time faculty, organization development activities for all employees, and strategic planning. Prior adult ed responsibilities included serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in arts administration in Honduras, and working as a trainer of VISTA Volunteers and local supervisors in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. Mixed in were Army service in personnel management, recruiting Peace Corps & VISTA Volunteers, and administrative direction of a non-profit senior center and food bank . . . as befits an English major with a masters in Organization Development, who is now semi-retired, still working with new and part-time faculty at TCC. (SNFS course: Course Design)