Stockton General Studies

Frank Cerreto, Professor of Mathematics, Ed.D., Rutgers, The State University

Frank A. Cerreto has been a member of the faculty of General Studies at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey since 1976. His doctorate, completed at Rutgers University, is in mathematics education. His research interests include problem representation in mathematics education, connections between mathematics and other disciplines, and technology and mathematics education.

For most of his career at Stockton, he has coordinated and taught in the College's Basic Studies program, while designing and teaching mathematics courses for liberal arts students and for prospective teachers. He has been instrumental in developing and implementing the college’s Quantitative-Reasoning-Across-the-Disciplines (QUAD) program.

Contact Frank at X4631, visit his office at G241 or email him at Frank.Cerreto@stockton.edu

G.Jan Colijn, Dean of General Studies and Professor of Political Science, Ph.D., Temple University

Jan Colijn (Kandidaat, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Ph.D. Temple University) has served as the division’s dean since 1988. Earlier he chaired the college’s Social and Behavioral Sciences division (1982-1985). He was a visiting fellow in the departments of politics and international relations at the University of Warwick in 1986-1987, the second time he lived in England, where he had run a hotel in 1968.

Jan has been at the college since 1974 when he joined the political science faculty for what was envisioned to be a one-year appointment. While on the faculty, he taught international relations, foreign policy, comparative politics, and a variety of General Studies courses. His scholarly interest and publications during the past fifteen years have focused on genocide, a central area within the college’s liberal arts curriculum. He serves on boards of a variety of professional organizations.

Born in the Netherlands, he counts marathon speedskating and soccer among his avocations. He resides with his wife Sarah, a college alumna, and his daughter Cory in nearby Port Republic (though their dwellings are ruled by beagles Mack and Vince).

Jack Connor, Professor of Writing, Ph.D., University of Florida

As a member of the Writing Program, I’ve been teaching at Stockton since 1984, mostly W1 courses such as College Writing, Rhetoric & Composition, and Writing About Nature. I also teach W2 courses in natural history, including Stockton’s Natural World (a freshman seminar), The Pine Barrens, Ornithology, and Evolution, Religion, & the Natural World. All my courses include electronic conferencing, multi-step drafting, and student-to-student reading and editing. The nature courses also incorporate the world outdoors, especially Stockton’s beautiful campus, my favorite classroom.

I have written about nature, especially birds, in a variety of publications and two books, The Complete Birder and Season at the Point. My wife and I live in Port Republic and have three children. Besides worrying about them, my current obsessions include long-distance swimming, digital photography, and the flora and fauna of the Pine Barrens.

Contact Jack at X4446, visit his office at C148, or email him at Jack.Connor@stockton.edu

Judy Copeland, Assistant Professor of Writing, M.F.A., University of Iowa, J.D., University of Oregon

I teach creative nonfiction. Before I joined the Stockton faculty in 2005, I did a variety of jobs, including lawyer, waitress, circus laborer, editor, and women’s rights organizer. During my legal career, I served as editor-in-chief of the Oregon Law Review, clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and worked as a corporate attorney in Japan in the 1980s.

Now my favorite passion is storytelling. I love helping students shape their own life-experiences into stories.

My creative nonfiction has won prizes from the Florida Review, Water~Stone Review, and New Millennium Writings, and has been shortlisted in Best American Essays 2004 and Best American Travel Writing 2004. Travelers’ Tales featured one of my stories in Best Travel Writing 2006.

Judy Copeland spent fall 2008 as the Jack Kerouac Writer-in-Residence in Orlando, Florida, working in the house where Jack Kerouac wrote Dharma Bums. For information about the project and to view Judy’s online journal during her stay, see http://kerouacproject.org.

Contact Judy at x4862, visit her office at J232, or email her at Judith.Copeland@stockton.edu.

Pam Cross, Developmental Education Specialist/Coordinator of Writing Center, M.A. Georgetown University

As Writing Center Coordinator, I recruit, train, and supervise some of Stockton’s brightest and most creative students. I also teach in the Basic Studies, Writing, and EOF programs. My involvement in the BASK program gives me an opportunity to help students gain confidence as college thinkers and writers. In my work with the tutors, I stress the importance of understanding the learning differences among all students and building on students’ strengths. In coordination with the Community of Scholars, I regularly present workshops on writing, researching, and studying.

A 1982 Stockton graduate with a B.A. in Political Science, I earned my master's degree in English at Georgetown University and returned to Stockton to run the Writing Center in 1986. I consider myself blessed to have a job I love. I am also happily married with one son and two sweet mixed-breed dogs.

Contact Pam at X4899, visit her office at J105, or email her at Pam.Cross@stockton.edu

Emari DiGiorgio, Assistant Professor of Writing, MFA NYU.

Like the quick brown fox, Emari DiGiorgio jumps over the lazy dog. Native to the South Jersey area, she subsists on a diet of fruits, berries, seaweed salad, yoga, poetry, and long walks through the woods.

She completed her MFA in Poetry from New York University in May 2003 and was both a Goldwater and Starworks Fellow while a graduate student. She has taught poetry and creative writing to disabled adults at Goldwater Hospital and to children at Weill-Cornell University Medical Center.

Besides stalking the Writing Center, Emari teaches Rhetoric and Composition, College Writing, Creative Writing, and Why Poetry Matters. Outside of the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Emari is also a visiting poet-in-the-schools through the New Jersey State Council for the Arts.

Contact Emari at 626-3463, visit her office at E224a, or email her at Emari.DiGiorgio@stockton.edu

Penelope Dugan, Professor of Writing, D.A. State University of New York at Albany

Penny Dugan has taught at Stockton since 1976. She teaches courses in writing, women’s studies, and African-American studies. As founding director of the college-wide writing program, she envisioned and nurtured the kind of program she wanted to teach in. She looked for and found faculty who are writers themselves—poets, essayists, journalists, and fiction writers—who know the struggles and sweat good writing needs and the pleasures of seeing their work in print.

Penny has published numerous personal essays, articles on teaching and writing, and book reviews. She serves on the editorial boards of Radical Teacher and Puerto del Sol and was one of the founding editors of The Journal of Lesbian Studies. Currently, she is working on a collective biography of abolitionist John Brown’s daughters.

Penny is a fan of Stockton’s theatre program and auditions for roles requiring age, experience, and courage. Her picture is from the spring 2003 presentation of Lee Blessing’s Eleeomosynary, where Penny played the role of an eccentric grandmother.

During vacations, Penny returns to the Adirondack Mountains of New York state, where she hosts writers and people who fish at her home on the shore of Lake Champlain.

Contact Penny at X4313, visit her office at G243, or email her at Penny.Dugan@stockton.edu

Marcia Fiedler, Instructor in Jewish Studies, M.A. New York University

Marcia Fiedler, Coordinator of Jewish Studies and instructor of Jewish Studies, earned an MA in Jewish Education from New York University and a BA in both Elementary Education and Early Childhood Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Marcia has been involved in Jewish Education for over 20 years. Her teaching experiences range from Early Childhood Education through Adult Education. Marcia has held a variety of positions in the field of education: teacher (grades N-12, and adult education), Religious School Administrator, Instructor of Jewish Studies and Coordinator of Jewish Studies at Stockton College. Marcia believes that anyone can learn and be successful if taught in the proper fashion. It is important not to just teach the material, but to teach the student. The teacher needs to teach students and incorporate all the different modes of learning.

Marcia teaches a variety of Jewish studies classes including Hebrew I, II, and II, Women in the Bible, Bible as Literature, and Old Testament and Film. Marcia is very involved in the Holocaust Resource Center (located on the second floor of the Library). She can often be found working on a variety of projects and programs in the center. If Marcia is not in her office, she can most likely be found in the resource center.

Contact Marcia at X6087, visit her office at K210, or email her at Marcia.Fiedler@stockton.edu

Wondi Geremew, Assistant Professor of Developmental Mathematics, Ph.D., Wayne State University

I received a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Wayne State University on August 27, 2005. I hold a MSc. in Industrial Mathematics at University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, and a MSc. in Mathematics, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. As a graduate teaching assistant at Wayne State University, from September 2000 to August 2005, I taught courses ranging from beginning Algebra to Calculus. I have also been a lecturer at Alemaya University, Ethiopia, for two years.

I came to Stockton in Fall 2005, hired as an assistant professor of developmental mathematics. I have taught GNM 1125-Algebraic Problem solving, College Algebra, and Quantitative Reasoning. My research interests are on Variational Analysis, Optimization and Applications.

Contact Professor Geremew in his office, B108, at x 4546, or at wondi.geremew@stockton.edu

Carra Hood, Associate Professor of Writing, Ph.D., Yale University
Dr. Hood holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Yale University, an M.A. in African and African-American Studies (Yale University) and a B.A. summa cum laude in Black and Puerto Rican Studies (Hunter College). Dr. Hood has extensive experience teaching composition, writing and rhetoric, and cultural studies in a variety of institutions. She has a growing research record; has made numerous conference presentations; has organized several conferences; and she is experienced using technology in her teaching. Among her honors and awards are: Dissertation, Teaching and Graduate fellowships (at Yale), a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship, Scholarship and Welfare Fund Award, a Black and Puerto Rican Studies Department Award, and the Charlotte Newcombe Scholarship (at CUNY). Her interests include expository writing, visual rhetoric, and digital composing.

Contact Carra in her office, J202, 626-5580, or at Carra.Hood@stockton.edu.

William Jaynes, Professor of Social Work, African American Studies, M.S.W., Temple University

A member of the Stockton faculty since 1977, Professor Jaynes has demonstrated a broad interest across a number of disciplines and subjects. He has taught most of the major content areas in Social Work as well as offering a number of courses in General Studies and Gerontology throughout his career.

Since stepping down as Dean of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Professor Jaynes has focused his current interest in the areas of Ethnic and Minority Relations, Ethnic Relations, and African-American Studies.

Contact Professor Jaynes at X4512, visit his office at H210c, or email him at Will.Jaynes@stockton.edu

Aaron Krauss, Visiting Specialist in Jewish Studies, D.D., Jewish Theological Seminary of America

Contact Aaron at X4793 or email him at Aaron.Krauss@stockton.edu

G.T. Lenard, Associate Professor of Writing, Ph.D., Temple University

I'm an Associate Professor of Writing; I was hired here in 1984--before some of you were born! Here's some stuff about me:

Turn-ons: 18th Century British novels; American Literature; satire

Turn-offs: bad grammar; poorly developed ideas; failure to sustain a logical argument

Favorite novel: Tristram Shandy, by Laurence Sterne

Favorite poem: "The Snow Man," by Wallace Stevens

Now you know the important stuff about me.

Contact G.T. at X4443, visit her office at G232, or email her at Georgeann.Lenard@stockton.edu

Heather McGovern, Associate Professor of Writing, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

My professional life has three primary strands: my devotion to environmental advocacy, curiosity about websites, and desire to help students adjust to college and develop skills to succeed in college and as professional members of society after college. These interests led me from the high mountain desert of rural Idaho to a double major in biology and English for my BA from The College of Idaho, a small liberal arts school. I followed that with graduate degrees in English at Clemson University and technical communication and rhetoric at Texas Tech University.

I share my passion for environmental rhetoric in a GIS course, Voices and Visions on the Environment. This class explores the natural environment through paintings and photography, scientific articles, fiction, film, nonfiction, and music. I also share my knowledge about editing and document design in Editing and Design, a 3000 level course. In addition, I teach college writing and rhetoric and composition to help start students off well in college and professional writing and design, a class that includes writing resumes, brochures, and newsletters and making graphs and charts, to prepare students for success in the professional and civic world.

I have an infant, Grace, and a toddler, Sarah.

Contact Heather at X5575, visit her office at J105, or email her at Heather.McGovern@stockton.edu

Betsy McShea, Associate Professor of Developmental Mathematics, Ph.D., The American University

In 1997, I received my PhD in Mathematics Education from American University in Washington, D.C. Currently, I am an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and I teach a variety of courses including Developmental Math, Quantitative Reasoning, Algebraic Problem Solving, Sports and Math, Foundations of Math, and Math for Elementary School Teachers.

I have a wide range of interests in the field of mathematics especially the integration of mathematics across other disciplines. I have presented several papers/workshops on integrating sports, games, the Harry Potter books, politics, and business into the math classroom. I also have done a variety of pedagogical/curriculum work with local school districts and K-12 teachers.

My main interests other than teaching include my family (my husband and 3 kids), animals including my two dogs (Max and Clifford), sports/exercising (I was an assistant coach of the Stockton women's basketball team for several years), the outdoors, movies, and music.

Contact Betsy at X4568, visit her office at J105, or email her at Betsy.McShea@stockton.edu

Francis Nzuki, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Ph.D., Syracuse University

Francis was born in the eastern part of Kenya (many years ago!) and earned his BS in Mathematics at the University of Nairobi before getting his MS in Mathematics at the same institution. In fall of 2002 Francis joined Syracuse University in New York as a teaching assistant as well as a doctoral student in mathematics education. In August 2008 he completed his Ph.D. program and in the same year he was hired as an assistant professor of developmental mathematics at Stockton.

His research interests revolve around issues of equity in mathematics education with a focus on students' construction of mathematics identities and use of technology in the mathematics classroom.

Contact Francis in his office C-145, 626-6881, or at francis.nzuki@stockton.edu.

Luis Peña, Math Center Coordinator, M.S., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Since 2004 I have been the Math Center Coordinator here at Stockton. I have a staff of very talented student tutors that help students in a wide range of topics including math, the physical sciences, statistics, and computer science. I also teach introductory level college mathematics and a course about humanity's role in space. All of this combines into a very interesting and rewarding job in particular when I am able to help build a student's confidence and see that light smile that comes with enlightenment.

My background is a bit diverse academically and culturally. I was born in Ecuador where I spent most of my childhood. A Stockton alumnus, I graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics in 1995. I then went on to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where I received an M.S. in Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering.

Contact Luis at X4897, visit his office at J107a, or email him at Luis.Pena@stockton.edu

John Quinn, Associate Professor of Mathematics

Carol Rittner, Distinguished Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Dr. Carol Rittner is Distinguished Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. A graduate of College Misericordia (1967), The University of Maryland (1972), The Pennsylvania State University (1978), and St. John's Seminary (1991), she also holds three Honorary Doctorates (College Misericordia, 1990; King's College, 2000; and Monmouth University, 2002). Her many publications include The Courage to Care: Rescuers of Jews During the Holocaust (New York University Press, 1986); Elie Wiesle: Between Memory and Hope (New York University Press); Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust (Paragon House, 1993); The Holocaust & the Christian World (Continuum, 2000); and Will Genocide Ever End? (Paragon House, 2002). A recent book, published in 2004 by SCM Press (London) is The Church & Genocide: Rwanda 1994).

Dr. Rittner also is the Associate Editor of The Genocide Forum (1998-) and the Editor of the Aegis Review of Genocide (2003-), both of which are published quarterly.

Besides her many scholarly involvements, Dr. Rittner is actively involved in Christian-Jewish Dialogue in the USA, serves as a Consultant to Holywell Trust in Derry, Northern Ireland, and serves as Senior Advisor to Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre and to Aegis Institute in England. She is a member of the Executive for Aegis Trust (UK), a member of the Board of Trustees at College Misericordia (Dallas, PA), and the Chairperson of Mercy Global Concern (New York).

Dr. Rittner is the Coordinator of the Undergraduate Minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

Contact Carol at X4553, visit her office at C104, or email her at Carol.Rittner@stockton.edu

Richard Trama, Visiting Instructor of Writing. M.A., Drew University.
Rich taught part time for Stockton’s Writing Program for over 20 years before joining us as a full-time visiting faculty member in September 2009. Rich has taught Rhetoric & Composition, Argument & Persuasion, Writing for Many Roles, College Writing, and a Readings Freshman Seminar. He has a background in foreign languages and linguistics and is presently working on his doctorate in Literature at Drew University, with an emphasis on modernist culture. He has many years experience working on the high-school level as teacher, curriculum developer, guidance counselor, administrator, and educational consultant.

Samuel Totten, Visiting Ida E. King Holocaust Scholar

Samuel Totten is a genocide scholar based at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He earned his doctorate at Teachers College, Columbia University (1985). In 2008 he served as a Fulbright Scholar at the Centre for Conflict Management at the National University of Rwanda. He is also a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Conflict Management at the National University of Rwanda. In July and August of 2004, Totten served as one of 24 investigators on the U.S. State Department's Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project whose express purpose was to conduct interviews with refugees from Darfur in order to ascertain whether genocide had been perpetrated or not in Darfur. Based upon the data collected by the team of investigators, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell declared on September 9, 2004, that genocide had been perpetrated in Darfur, Sudan, by Government of Sudan troops and the Janjaweed. Since 2003, Totten has served as the managing editor of a series of volumes entitled Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review Since 2005, he has served as one of the inaugural chief co-editors of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, which is the official journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS). Among the books he has written, edited and co-edited on the Holocaust are: Teaching and Studying About the Holocaust co-edited with Stephen Feinberg (US Holocaust Memorial Musuem). Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000; Teaching About Holocaust Literature edited by Totten. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000; and Holocaust Education: Issues and Approaches by Totten. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. Among the books he has written, edited and co-edited on genocide are: Dictionary of Genocide (Greenwood Publishers); Century of Genocide: Critical Essays and Eyewitness Accounts (Routledge); and Genocide in Darfur: Investigating Atrocities in the Sudan (Routledge).

PROFESSORS EMERITI

Stephen Dunn

M.A. (Syracuse University), Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing: creative writing (poetry and fiction), contemporary world poetry, 20th century American literature.

Mimi Schwartz

Ed.D. (Rutgers, The State University), Professor Emerita of Writing: creative nonfiction, memoir, literary journalism, literature of the Holocaust.