Office and People Directory

Rachel Lavallee

Biography

Rachel joined Champlain College team in 2017. She is a Graduate of Champlain College with an Accounting degree. Prior coming to Champlain, she worked at Vermont Student Assistance for almost 30 years.

She works with both the Housing and Residential team and the Counseling team. She enjoys working with students and making them comfortable in both areas.

What are your hobbies?

Reading and Sewing

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Papa Franks in Winooski

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Dean Lawson

Biography

Dean Lawson has worked in the Games Industry for nearly 30 years, primarily as a Programmer but also as a Designer, Project Lead, and Director of Programming.

He has worked on 14+ shipped titles, including SimCity Societies, Caesar IV, Majesty, Risk: Global Domination, a number of online board game conversions for Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, and World of Zoo and Club Penguin: EPF: Herbert’s Revenge on the Nintendo DS for THQ and Disney Interactive, respectively. Throughout his career, Dean has focused on game AI and how it helps shape the player experience.

Dean’s other main passion in games is Game Architecture; how to engineer flexible technical frameworks for games. Dean advises at the EMC at Champlain College, as well as working as a contract programmer for a number of game and educational companies. Dean has been teaching at Champlain College since 2010: he previously taught Game Programming and Design at Savannah College of Art and Design.

Dean Lawson earned a BS in Computer Science from Union College in Schenectady, NY and an M.Ed in Secondary School Mathematics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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Erika Lea

Biography

Erika’s career in social work has spanned supervising after-school programming for high school students, home visiting for vulnerable families, teaching parenting classes for incarcerated fathers, directing the counseling program at a boarding school, and now co-coordinating both the Champ 101 Program and The InSight Program’s wellbeing theme. She joined Champlain College in 2019 and enjoys the innovative and supportive community, including the many student leaders who are the “special sauce” of the work she gets to do. She enjoys spending time with her family, dogs, and chickens. She also serves on the Champlain Valley School District Board of Directors.

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Heidi Lebrun

Biography

Heidi Lebrun proudly serves as the Director of Annual Giving and Engagement. With more than two decades of work in Higher Education and Advancement, Heidi brings a wealth of expertise to her role.

Throughout her tenure, Heidi has become synonymous with excellence in advancement work, embodying a passion for fostering meaningful connections within the Champlain community. As the Director of Annual Giving and Engagement, she holds the reins to the institution’s advancement communications, ensuring that every message resonates with authenticity and purpose.

Heidi’s commitment extends beyond crafting compelling narratives; she is also a key player in donor relations and stewardship activities. Her innate ability to cultivate lasting relationships has not only strengthened ties with supporters but has also fueled the college’s mission to empower students through transformative educational experiences.

What are your hobbies?

Cooking, Traveling, Gardening

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Felipe Lega

Biography

Felipe Lega is the Director of the Animation Program at Champlain College and holds an MFA in Fine Arts with a focus on 3D Animation and Special Effects from Lynn University, USA. Felipe has designed educational models for Champlain College and has taught several classes for the animation and video game programs. He is also currently advising the projection mapping project at the Emergent Media Center, which is being developed in collaboration with the Vermont Symphony Orchestra.

His teaching methodology is based on motivation, self-realization, and compassion. His work with students always involves mentorship, fostering the development of individuals with strong human and professional capacities. The success of his method is attributed to his faith and motivation in his students and in understanding them as individuals to support them in achieving their desired results.

He was an associate professor at UDEM – Universidad de Monterrey, where he developed and taught several classes in the master’s program in video games and the bachelor’s program in 3D animation and visual effects. He also participated in significant academic projects for this institution, such as the Experience 360 “Lamentos Encontrados” project developed in collaboration with Breda University in the Netherlands. Additionally, he served as an advisor for several award-winning thesis projects and short films.

Felipe was involved for approximately four years in the design, production, and creative direction of animated content for various projection mapping shows across Europe. Notable projects include: the HCA Hans Christian Andersen Festival show in Haderslev, Denmark; the Taastrup Library projection mapping show in Denmark; and the Christmas show at the Vilnius Cathedral in Lithuania, among others.

During his industry experience, Felipe has worked as a visual effects artist and 3D animator in different areas of TV post-production and production, including Hasbro toy commercials for Avengers, Spider-Man, and Transformers. He also created special effects for Latin American international series such as Kdabra, Sikis, and Mentes en Shock, and developed 3D animations for Nat Geo and Discovery Channel.

In 2014, he was awarded the YCE (Young Creative Entrepreneur) Award by the British Council in the Broadcasting category, representing his visual effects studio, Entertainment & Visual Arts, at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Distinctions & Awards

Rising Star Award – Champlain College, YCE – Young Creative Entrepreneur Award, 2014 British Council.

Favorite Quote

“Imagination is Everything, It is the preview of life’s coming Attractions.” – Albert Einstein

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Kathleen Legg

Biography

After graduating with an Economics degree from Harvard University, Kathleen fell into a career of teaching and has never looked back. Kathleen earned her Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction in Secondary Mathematics from University of Colorado, Boulder. She’s taught mathematics to children since “93 in Colorado, Vermont, and internationally in London and the Hague. She also teaches science and in 2014 was recognized as VASE Science Teacher of the year.

Kathleen moved from teaching children in the classroom into a K-8 coaching role for Champlain Valley School District. This experience renewed her passion for math education and the importance of making mathematics meaningful and accessible for all learners. Kathleen has a passion for supporting teachers to be the best teachers of mathematics that they can be, regardless of their own mathematical journey.

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Joel Lenoir

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Amy Letinsky

Biography

Amy has lived in the Pacific Northwest for most of her life, growing up near the Canadian border in Washington State, in a small farming community. Her love of teaching college classes developed when she taught Journalism and ESL courses at her local community college. She moved to Vermont and taught writing at UVM, and she’s been an instructor at Champlain College since 2005. In 2006, she returned to the Northwest with her husband for his work as a family practice doctor in the Seattle area. She have two daughters, with whom she’s thrilled to be sharing the love of reading and writing.

She enjoys writing for many different circumstances. She’s done a lot of writing for the web (especially blogs), newspaper and magazine articles, and research based essays. Personal essays are her favorite form of writing, but she also writes some short stories, is working on a few non-fiction book projects, and she’s written a couple of novels, including one she wrote several years back for NaNoWriMo (The National Novel Writing Month).

I’m passionate about reading and count among my favorite authors John Milton, Jane Austen, and Neil Gaiman.

When I’m not reading a good book or writing my humble attempt at one, I’m volunteering as an art teacher at a local elementary school, painting with watercolors in my sketchbook somewhere out in nature, tent camping in the woods, running for fun and competition, swimming with my family, fishing for salmon on one of the many majestic Northwest rivers, or kayaking on one of our local lakes with the kids.

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Joseph Letourneau

Biography

A Champlain College Alumni, Joseph Letourneau has worked on various projects in Managed Security Services Consulting, from Incident Response, Vulnerability Assessments, PCI Investigations, Security Training, and Malware Analysis.

Recommended

https://thecrashcourse.com/topic/computerscience/
https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_feynman_physics_is_fun_to_imagine
https://nnedi.com/

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

—Carl Sagan

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John Levee

Biography

John Thomas Levee is an artist, composer, and educator working at the intersection of a variety of mediums. His work often examines notions of human interaction with the environment and with technology. Often site-specific, Levee’s work strives to ask of the viewer: “How does this work relate to its surroundings? To you? By extension, how do you relate to your surroundings?” These questions are meant to drive dialogue regarding humanity’s influence on the natural world and on ourselves, specifically in regards to industrialization and technological advancement.

Obsolete technology, field recordings, and found objects are all integral to Levee’s work. For him, all of these components are evocative of specific places and times, and function as transportive tools. In regards to obsolete technology, his video work tends to use VHS tapes, CRT TVs, and cameras which record to outdated media formats. Not only do these provide constraints to the process of artmaking, which is integral to Levee’s artistic production, but also point to technology as a thematic element of the work.

Levee believes that using obsolete, recycled, often landfill-bound technology in the production of the work draws connection to the relationship between ever-advancing technology and human destruction of natural spaces. They currently teach at Champlain College, where they are the Assistant Program Director of Game Sound Design. They have studied at Columbia University in the City of New York, where they received their MFA in Sound Art, and at Stetson University, where they received their BS in Audio Technology & Industry and their BA in Digital Arts.

Favorite Quote

“If I was an artist, and I was in the studio, then whatever it was I was doing in the studio must be art.”

—Bruce Nauman, 1978

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Michael Levy

Biography

Michael Levy lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He uses a holistic approach during the Web creation process. Consideration is given to accessibility, search engine optimization, and usability throughout the course of Web site construction. He works with non-profit and corporate clients from around the country, helping them achieve their strategic needs.

He programs backend applications using PHP with MYSQL databases, focusing on reusable, bug-free code. Emphasis is placed on efficient administration that is easy to use.

For front-side design, he is proficient with HTML and CSS, as well as interactive development with Javascript and React. All front-side coding is done with semantic markup that is optimized for search engine visibility and accessibility to handicapped users.

As a fine artist, he has shown in venues in New York, Boston, Providence, and Vermont. Working in photography, and mixed media his work explores formal harmonies using traditional and non-traditional techniques.

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Veronica Lewis

Biography

Veronica holds degrees in psychology and anthropology from the College of William & Mary. She started at Champlain in 2012 in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and easily fell in love with this special place and the wonderful students. Veronica is a proud Champlain College Online graduate and received her MBA in 2016. She loves working in Advancement as it enables her to secure funding support for scholarships and all of the innovative projects that are happening on campus. She is the mother of two young boys and can often be found outside enjoying the Vermont wilderness.

What are your hobbies?

Is being a mother to two young boys a hobby? I love baking and cooking. I also enjoy most outdoor activities ranging from biking, hiking, swimming to skiing.

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Honey Road on Church Street; Hiking around the Sugarbush & Warren Area with a visit to Mad Taco

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Sheila Liming

Biography

Sheila Liming, PhD, came to Champlain in 2020 and settled into teaching an array of classes in writing and publishing. She is the author of three books: What a Library Means to a Woman (University of Minnesota Press, 2020), Office (Bloomsbury, 2020) and, most recently, Hanging Out (Melville House, 2023), and the editor of one, a new version of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence (W.W. Norton, 2022). Her writing has appeared widely in venues like The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The New York Review of Books, Lapham’s Quarterly, The Globe and Mail, LitHub, and elsewhere, while her work has been reviewed and featured in People magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She received her PhD from Carnegie Mellon University and, in her spare time, she continues to play the Scottish bagpipes (just as she did as part of the Carnegie Mellon University pipe band).

Distinctions & Awards

Maryland Humanities — State-wide Common Read finalist (HANGING OUT / 2023)
Reader’s Digest Most Anticipated Book of 2023 (HANGING OUT / 2023)
LitHub Most Anticipated Book of 2023 (HANGING OUT / 2023)
Teaching Excellence Award (North Dakota University System / 2018)
Whiting Foundation — Fellowship Finalist (2018)

Publications & Abstracts

• Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time (2023)
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (2022)
• Office (2020)
• What a Library Means to a Woman (2020)

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• Modern Language Association (MLA)
• Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP)
• Edith Wharton Society (EWS)
• Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Reading: I wrote my first book about the author Edith Wharton, who was a chronicler of Gilded Age privilege in America. People often ask me where to start with Wharton’s oeuvre and I like to recommend her short novel SUMMER (1917), which is page-turner dealing with rural politics, sex, gender, and class inequality.
• Reading: One of my specialties is gothic fiction and gothic storytelling. Some outstanding recent work in this genre comes from the Vermont writer Melanie Finn. Her novels THE HARE (2021) and THE UNDERNEATH (2018) blend a feminist perspective with classic features of the gothic genre.
• Reading: When you get serious about studying writing, you come into contact with other writers, and some of those connections turn out to be long-ranging. For instance, I went to college with the Asiya Wadud, a powerhouse poet whose collections SYNCOPE and CROSSLIGHT FOR YOUNGBIRD will challenge and provoke any aspiring writer.

Favorite Quote

“Sit as little as possible; give credence to no thought that is not born in the open air and accompanied by free movement in which the muscles do not also celebrate a feast.”

—Friedrich Nietzsche, ECCE HOMO

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Susan Lindberg

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Maryann Lisak

Biography

Maryann Lisak is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Champlain College Student Health Center. She has past experience working with children, adolescents, and young adults in a crisis setting, intensive outpatient program setting, and in primary care.

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