Students learn best when they feel a sense of belonging, feel safe, and when their participation is encouraged and valued.

My role is to create a learning environment that is accessible, safe, and welcoming for all students.  I like to share my own passion for the subject matter in a manner that is accessible to all students, and in an organized, exciting, and relatable way that encourages exploration and curiosity.

I teach the way I do because my past experiences with teachers when I was a student were not all the same.  And, I remember how I felt when I was in a class with a teacher who created a safe, inclusive learning environment while teaching in an exciting and engaging way — instilling a desire in me to want to learn the subject matter.

A method of teaching that I rely on frequently is interactive lectures with visualizations and hands-on activities.  I use these methods to explore elements of Geography that are important to develop spatial literacy, while engaging students with a relatable topic that they may have limited information about when they first approach the class.  These methods develop interest, curiosity, and connections with their own lives.  These methods engage and stimulate.  And, they provide the opportunity for students to connect with each other and develop a community learning environment.

I want my students to develop knowledge, skills, and abilities in spatial literacy while exploring how “location is everything”.  Geography is “The Science of Where”, and can be applied to any topic that has location — which is practically everything.  As such, Geography is broadly applicable to a diverse range of student interests.  I want my students to understand the importance of Geography in their lives, and relevance to their degree and career pathways.  I know my goals for students are being met when they are engaged in the material, asking relevant questions, connecting with each other to learn, and succeeding with assignments and assessments.

I have a broad set of academic interests in education related to the natural environment woven together by a common thread of place-based, process-driven, and systems-approach oriented multi-scale thinking.  

My background is in Physical Geography, Remote Sensing, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).  Hydrology and watershed science, meteorology and climate change are also areas of study I have focused on that are fascinating to me.  I've expanded my knowledge in geology as well as biogeography as it relates to the natural ecosystems in California, and especially focused on San Diego County native plants, native pollinators, and the ecosystems they occupy, and the natural history of the Eastern Sierra including the High Sierra, White Mountains, Owens Valley, Long Valley Caldera, and Mono Basin.

As the climate destabilization crisis has become the defining issue of our time, I have directed considerable focus on developing knowledge and curriculum on the multi-scale impacts and considerations of our changing climate on humans and the natural systems that sustain us.  I have given talks about climate change to statewide leaders, local community college boards, faculty, and staff, and integrated the topic into all of the courses I teach.

As a University of California Certified California Naturalist instructor, I'm able to provide students with an opportunity to develop a stronger relationship with their natural environment -- the first step to understanding the importance of our ecosystems to our own sustainability, to minimize climate change anxiety, and to transform buds of curiosity into blooming efforts of activism and engagement that contribute to conserving and sustaining our California.

Other things I have interest in...

• Bicycle commuting and travel -- I pedaled a bicycle across the united states from Astoria Oregon (near Portland, OR) to Portland Maine.  I routinely use the bicycle as a primary mode of transportation to/from work and around town, or while on vacation to explore new places.

• I like being in nature, and the various activities that get me there, such as hiking, skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, backpacking, camping, teaching in the field, growing native plants, finding native pollinators and birds, travelling to new places, rock climbing, swimming in natural lakes and streams, nature photography astrophotography, and responsible foraging.

• Growing food is a budding passion that I have developed in an effort to live more sustainably.  I'm growing fruit trees including avocado (fuerte, GEM and Reed), peach, lemon, finger lime, apple, cherry, pear, olive, fig, apricot, and pomegranate.  I also have a vegetable garden plot in a community garden and I have given talks on "healthy soil".  I keep backyard hens that provide fresh eggs and I maintain a worm composter (vermicompost bin).

• Beekeeping.  I typically have around 80,000 - 120,000 honeybees in several hives foraging the natural and irrigated landscape of San Diego.  They produce a lot of honey!

• Sourdough Breadmaking -- I keep a starter and make bread all by hand using flour, water, and salt.

• Social justice activism -- I am a member of my faculty union, and I work on social justice issues in a variety of capacities. For example, I serve as a member of the Labor and Climate Justice Education committee of the California Federation of Teachers (CFT).

• March 2024: Pollinator Steward Certification
  Pollinator Partnership

• October 2023:  California Naturalist Instructor Certification
  University of California Environmental Stewards Program

• November 2017:  Certificate of Completion: Teaching in Canvas
  Grossmont College and @One

• Fall 2015: Certificate of Completion of the Citizens Water Academy
  San Diego County Water Authority

• December 2011:  Certificate of Achievement Program in Weather Forecasting
  Pennsylvania State University Department of Meteorology

• August 2011:  Certificate of Completion -- Integrating Satellite Data and Products into Geoscience Courses with Emphasis on Advances in Geostationary Satellite Systems
  University Corporation for Atmospheric Research's COMET Program

• February 2009:  Certificate of Completion in Online Teaching
  Cerro Coso Community College

• February 2007:  Certificate of Completion -- Teaching Institute
  The Academic Senate for California Commnity Colleges

• January 2006:  Master of Arts Degree in Geography  with Emphasis in GIS
  San Diego State University

• July 2004  Certificate of Completion -- Field Water Quality Methods for Ground-Water and Surface-Water
  United States Geological Survey (USGS) National Training Center

• July 2003:  Certificate of Completion -- Revised Guidelines for the Operation and Computation of Continuous Water-Quality Monitors
  United States Geological Survey (USGS) California Water Science Center

• May 1998:  Bachelor of Arts Degree in Geography with Emphasis in Physical Geog.
  San Diego State University

• August 1997:  Associate Degree in Science
  Grossmont College

• May 2016:  Certificate of Recognition in Teaching Excellence
  Grossmont College

• May 2016:  Granted Rank of Professor
  Academic Senate, Grossmont College

• May 2014:  Innovator of the Year Award -- Drought-Tolerant Landscape Education Zones
  Grossmont College

• April 2014:  Innovation of the Year Award -- Grossmont College Outdoor Education Native Plant Landscaping Zones
  League for Innovation in the Community College

• May 2012:  Granted Rank of Associate Professor
  Academic Senate, Grossmont College

• May 2010:  Certificate of Recognition -- Full-Time Faculty Tenure
  Grossmont College

• May 2010:  Granted Rank of Assistant Professor
  Academic Senate, Grossmont College

• May 2005:  Certificate of Recognition in Teaching Excellence
  Grossmont College