McMinnville Campus Faculty Profiles

Gary Jones is a Spanish instructor with our campus and in Salem.  He teaches our Conversational Spanish courses (SPN 111, 112, and 113) and is our Student’s Choice Instructor of the Term for Winter l 2009.  We were able to catch up with him and ask him a few questions.  

What interested you in teaching Spanish?

I grew up in the Santa Clara Valley of California and often came into contact with Spanish language and culture. This sparked my interest. Much later, as a grad student, I found I enjoyed sharing my knowledge with others who wanted to learn the language.

Are there any things that are unique to the classes you teach?  Do you have a particular style to your instruction? 

Generally, I try to involve students as much as possible from day one in using the language. We do a lot of group work. I also do a fair amount of focused grammatical exercises because adults generally want to understand why a thing is so and also because there are many similarities between English and Spanish which English speakers can draw from.

What subjects do you teach at the McMinnville Campus, and which terms? 

Mostly I teach Beginning (and occasionally) Intermediate Spanish Conversation.

How long have you been teaching at Chemeketa?

19 years

What brought you to Chemeketa? 

I came to the Willamette Valley from the Chicago area where I had done my graduate work and had been teaching. My family was living in this area and I was lucky enough to find work at Chemeketa as well as PCC and WOU.

What do you like about the students here?

I really enjoy the diversity of ages and backgrounds. All the different life experiences really add a lot to the classes.

Do you have any good stories about your teaching experience here?

There have been many over the years. I think of one student who started as a beginner with me here, went to Honduras for a year working with a church mission, then came back and majored in Spanish at WOU. By the time he graduated, his Spanish was near-native level and he graduated with honors. Another student I had years ago was a 90 year old lady whose career had been that of librarian. She was far and away the best student in the class -- in all 4 language skills!

For incoming students, what is the best way to know which Spanish Class and which Level is right for them? 

Talk with an instructor. The quality of high-school and even post-secondary instruction varies widely. Four years of high-school Spanish in one school may be the equivalent of less than one year in another.

Thank you, Gary, for taking the time answer our questions!

Trinity Minahan is an advisor and now an instructor at our outreach campus in Grand Ronde.  She recently branched out and taught our Effective Learning (SSP 112) class and won the Student’s Choice Instructor of the Term for Fall 2008.  We were able to catch up with her and ask her a few questions.  

What interested you in teaching Effective Learning?

As an Academic Advisor, I saw a need for students to further develop their effective learning strategies.  By doing this they are able to improve such things as their note taking, time management skills, textbook reading strategies, and memorization.  These are the main tools students need to be successful in college courses.  Also, I work with a lot of first generation college students that really benefit from a course such as Effective Learning in that it enables them to discover their own learning style preferences and therefore find better ways to manage their college coursework and life outside of college .  A Chemeketa adjunct faculty member, mentor, and co-worker of mine, John Harp, encouraged me to apply to teach the course and I am very thankful for his guidance and encouragement. 

What’s unique about teaching a effective learning class? 

Students get to participate in learning about their own learning style preferences and learn strategies for them to be successful in college such as time management and reducing test anxiety, and they are able to apply these skills in their life outside of college. 

How long have you been teaching at Chemeketa?

Fall term was my first time teaching for Chemeketa.     

What interested you in teaching? 

I went to college interested in teaching and received a Master’s degree in education.  I was hired as an Academic Advisor almost four years ago but decided to teach Effective Learning to see students in another capacity and help them in other ways and to have an opportunity to teach tribal students, as I am a member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and work for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

What brought you to Chemeketa? 

The fact that Chemeketa offers classes in Grand Ronde was appealing to me to work there and it made a lot of sense to teach and advise students here.  We have great support in Grand Ronde from Chemeketa’s administration and the McMinnville campus staff. 

What do you like about the students here?

The students have very diverse backgrounds and the stories and experiences they share make teaching here fun. 

Do you have any good stories about your teaching experience here? 

I really enjoyed seeing students go from taking one class to making the decision and commitment to go on and enter into a full degree program, which happened with a few students in my class.  It’s really rewarding to hear their stories of where they came from and where they are headed now.  It is especially rewarding to see first generation college students make that decision to seek out a college degree and carve the path for the next generation to follow.     

Thank you, Trinity, for taking the time answer our questions!

April Kinney is a writing instructor at the McMinnville campus.  She teaches primarily Writing 115 and 121.  She was recently the student choice's award winner for instructor of the term, Spring 2008.  We caught up with her during the Summer Term and she was able to answer a few questions.

How long have you been teaching here?

I started teaching for Chemeketa this past Fall (2007), and I love it more each term. I had the privilege to teach a class on the Salem campus, but most of my classes are in McMinnville.

What interested you in teaching?

I became interested in teaching during my undergraduate years at Western Oregon University. I was impressed by how caring my writing teachers were, and they taught me to be passionate about supporting students and showing them what they can do if they just believe in themselves. Many people come to my writing classes with bad memories of writing assignments they’ve had in the past and discouraging feedback they received. Some even tell me they can’t write. Actually, I love it when they say that, because then I get to show them that they can. At the very least, I want to teach my students not to hate writing; the best is when they leave my class telling me that they have learned to love it.

Where did you teach before, and what brought you to Chemeketa?

Last year, I taught WR 121 at Oregon State University as a graduate teaching assistant. In the English Department there we don’t actually assist anyone—we run our own classes. OSU is a huge campus—very different from Chemeketa. I applied to teach here because I thought that community college students might need me more than big university students. When I was first hired, I was warned that many students arrive feeling unsure of whether they belong in college. I enjoy having the chance to show them that they do indeed belong here!

What do you like about the students here?

I love my students. The Chemeketa student body is just amazing, very diverse, and very committed to working hard in their classes. It’s a pleasure to teach people who want to learn. I am so impressed with how they balance their busy home lives, kids, jobs, with school.

What terms do you teach or do you instruct year-round?

I teach year-round for Chemeketa… of course, I haven’t quite been here a whole year yet, but I’m looking forward to the classes that they have already assigned me to this fall. Speaking of fall term, I’m getting married in August, so my name will change to Carothers, if anyone is looking to sign up for my classes…Just look for April in McMinnville.

What are your degrees in and where did you attend school?

Right now, I am getting ready to defend my master’s thesis at the end of July. That is the last step before I graduate with my Master of Arts in English/Rhetoric and Writing from OSU. I have a bachelor's degree in Writing with a minor in Linguistics from Western Oregon University. At first, I worried that I had studied too close to home, but then I realized that students here are often getting ready to go to a local college, so my knowledge of these universities and their requirements is valuable.

Do you have any stories about instructing here, or positive memories about your work here?

Each term I collect new memories. What I dislike the most: that last day of class when I know that I may never see my students again. I’m always glad when my WR 115 students decide to take WR 121 with me, so I get a little more time with them. What I love: when I see a student break through their fear and really begin to express themselves in writing. I remember one gentleman who kept telling me he didn’t belong in my class, kept insisting that he couldn’t write. He was extremely stressed and believed what he was saying. He almost had me convinced, but then one day, after I kept refusing to let him off the hook, he turned in a beautiful essay and scored full points. I believe that anyone can write with power and grace, but first they have to believe in themselves. My job is to start them on that path.

Thank you, April, for taking the time answer our questions!

Gordon Fultz is a psychology instructor at the McMinnville campus.  He teaches various psychology classes but primarily PSY101, or Psychology of Human Relations.  He was recently the student choice's award winner for instructor of the term, Spring 2007.  We caught up with him and asked him a few questions.

How long have you been teaching here?

I started teaching at Chemeketa in 1974 at the Salem campus and have been teaching at the McMinnville campus for 10 years.  I also taught at the University of Oregon and Portland State University.  

What interested you in psychology?

In high school I was barely a "C" student, I had low self-esteem and I changed schools frequently.  Once I enrolled in junior college and was out on my own, I played baseball, had a circle of friends, I enrolled in an influential speech class and found a different atmosphere for learning.  I hardly spoke in high school but became student body president in college.  I attribute this to a shift in my self-awareness, self-esteem and human relations, and later became very interested in the topics and psychology in general.  I later went on to do research in the area of self-esteem and human relations with Erich Fromm and the Coro Foundation in San Francisco. 

What do you like about working at Chemeketa's McMinnville campus?

There is a family-like atmosphere here, the office staff take good care of you and are very helpful.  Teaching here is rewarding because class sizes are small and students can get more personal attention. 

What do you like about the students here?

I really appreciate teaching both students that are on an academic path as well as ones that attend my classes for their personal interest and enrichment.  It makes for a great mix of students in my classes.  I also appreciate that more experienced students are more than willing to help out students that are new to the school and college in general.  It makes for a good learning atmosphere.

Thank you, Gordon, for taking the time to learn more about you!

Katie LeCoe - Sociology Instructor

Hello, my name is Katie LeCoe. For the last ten years, I have been teaching sociology at the McMinnville Campus, and at Portland Community College for the last seventeen years. I guess you could say I love to teach.

As my students and I have pondered the diverse world of people (different cultures, socialization, inequities, and social deviance), I have found immense satisfaction in being able to facilitate the process. I have also enjoyed very much the diversity within the classroom — from the younger to the older student, from the poor to the more well-to-do, from the small business owner to the single parent — all of these individuals, and many more, have made my teaching experience a sheer joy.

But there was a time when I was rather unsure of what I was going to do. As a single parent with two children and a GED, I decided to come back to school. I attended two community colleges where I earned three associate degrees and then pursued the goal of becoming a sociologist at Portland State University, where I earned my bachelor's in 1982 and my Master's in 1989. I now do what I truly love to do.

For more information, call 503.472.9482 or visit us at 500 NW Hill Road in McMinnville.