Office and People Directory

Isabella Jeso

Biography

PROFESSIONAL GOALS

Teaching:
In her continuing research and writing as a scholar, Dr. Isabella Jeso’s primary goal is to harness the intellectual resources provided by her education, training, and extensive experience in the humanities; along with knowledge from her recently completed Master of Business Administration studies, to apply her expertise toward helping in the creation, and maintenance, of learning environments that nurture diverse and inclusive learning communities.

Dr. Jeso has a history of excellence in teaching and wishes, at various levels of higher education, to continue to cultivate engaging and progressive learning experiences for all her students. Of particular interest to Jeso are learning models and best practices that bring together, for the student: academics, and professional development, that nurture the following learning competencies (skills and traits) in students: Analysis; Collaboration; Diversity and Inclusion; Global and Cultural Understanding; Creativity (and Communication); Inquiry (asking deep/meaningful questions, to help students become a self-guided learners); and Integration (of ideas).

Dr. Jeso has enjoyed many years as a college professor, lecturer, researcher, as well as in academic advising. In addition to her current role teaching part-time at Champlain College; Jeso has also taught at the University of Vermont, the University of Zimbabwe, the University of Texas, Arlington, the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and at St. Michael’s College, Colchester, Vermont. She spent a memorable year in San Diego, California, preparing new Americans for employment in the United States.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Areas of Expertise in the Humanities:
Literature: World Literature in Translation, and Literature in English from Commonwealth Regions

Literary Theory: Introducing students to theoretical perspectives in these areas Deconstructionism;
New Historicism; Colonization/Post-Colonialism; Feminism; and Justice.

Intellectual History, focusing on the classics and how those ancient viewpoints dialogue with modern mindsets.

A Trained Teacher, with expertise in education theory, knowledge that makes her exceedingly at home with
undergraduate college students in the classroom.
Writing and Communication: Jeso is a published author of creative writing.

Scholarly Research and Writing:
Basing her research on multi-disciplinary studies of the theory of the mind, Dr. Jeso has developed expertise in advanced intellectual explorations that position Africanist imaginative writing as a potentially effective translator of how African spiritual traditions function as the watershed of knowledge systems that are uniquely African in nature, in as far as these knowledge systems are significant determinants in the distribution of political, economic, and social power. Jeso thus explores how the same systems could be utilized as important resources for creative writers and artists who wish to give a more original voice to the African character. This research, for our Champlain students’ experience and learning, has evolved and translated into courses that Jeso offers, COR-104: Making Garments/Doing Justice, and COR-202: Philosophical Ways of Knowing.

Creative Writing:
Jeso has written and published poetry, informed by her experience growing up in rural Zimbabwe. From her education and training as an elementary school teacher in Zimbabwe (then, Rhodesia), Jeso has also written a children’s literature book series for K through 8th grade. Together with her son, she currently develops and maintains a digital Children’s Newsletter for the series.

EDUCATION

Dr. Jeso’s educational background includes a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; a Master of Arts from the University of Vermont; a Master of Business Administration degree from Champlain College, Vermont; a Bachelor of Arts from St. Michael’s College, Colchester, Vermont; an Associate of Arts degree from Cottey College, Nevada, Missouri; and Teacher Certification from Mt. Silinda Teacher’s College, Chipinge, Zimbabwe.

PERSONAL:

Jeso has one son, who earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Champlain College, where he is continuing his education as a Cyber Security student; while working full-time. The Jesos reside in South Burlington, Vermont.

Publications & Abstracts

Bitney Adventures Book Two: Bitney on the Island of the Mists

Zimbabwean Collectibles

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Erik Kaarla

Biography

Erik Kaarla has been a lifelong educator who started from doing professional writing within a nonfiction context in the Boston area to becoming a writing educator with a special emphasis on rhetoric and composition and business communication. Erik has also remained an avid music and tennis educator. He has provided writing and research instruction at a number of New England colleges including the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Pine Manor College, Mass Bay Community College, Burlington College, Saint Michael’s College, Community College of Vermont and here at Champlain College. Erik considers himself to be a constructivist teacher placing a persistent emphasis on the compilation and exploration of new knowledge within the classroom. He is also licensed in English 7-12 in Vermont and in all states that support reciprocity in high school credentialing.

Erik’s research interests include the study of practices and methodologies that lead to success in the writing process. He is also active in applying cutting edge music theory applications within classrooms that involve exploration and movement through music curricula.

Erik is a native Finnish speaker and he has also performed translation work and given language lessons for extensive periods of time. He continues to offer instruction in bass and guitar applications.

Favorite Quote

Wherever you go, there you are.

~ Thomas à Kempis, a precursor appeared in a spiritual work composed by Kempis in the 1400s. This comical saying was circulating by 1955 when it was attributed to Jim Russell within a student publication at Pennsylvania State University in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

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Michael Kelly

Biography

Mike Kelly is Rhetoric professor turned Interdisciplinary Studies expert whose classroom teaching style aims to serve as a bastion of respectful inquiry and relationship-building amidst a global backdrop of bad-faith discursive practices and people being otherwise horrible to one another. As a Lyman Professor award-winner in 2022-23, Mike is a lead faculty in Champlain’s Degree Design Lab and teaches an assortment of courses in the Core Division as well.

While the subject matter of Mike’s courses range from horror movies to the rhetoric of professionalism, they all offer students a variety of academic experiences that sit on the edge of disciplinary boundaries that prepare students to be adaptable thinkers who can move fluidly across a variety of academic and professional contexts.

Outside the classroom, Mike has held a series of leadership positions at Champlain, including Faculty Senate President, academic program review committee chair and NECHE accreditation specialist. He lives in South Burlington with his wife Jamie, three teenage sons and two rescue mutts.

Distinctions & Awards

2022 Edward Phelps Lyman Professor, Champlain College, $5000
2017 Perry Innovation Fellow, Champlain College, $5000

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• The Wire – This show works because it forces the viewer to understand Baltimore’s civic problems as inherently interconnected. People who appreciate this show tend to do well in my courses because they are able to see how pieces of an interdisciplinary puzzle fit together.
• The National – this band’s songs illustrate the unique complications of what it means to be human in original ways.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Fred Kosnitsky

Biography

Fred’s academic background is in the biological/ecological sciences and the environmental studies realm. He has an undergraduate degree in Biology from Williams College, has studied Ecology at the graduate level at Dartmouth College, and has a Masters degree in environmental law and policy from the Environmental Law Center of Vermont Law School.

For the past four decades he has been involved in the environmental arena as a Board member of groups such as Vermont Earth Institute, the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, 350vermont.org, and the Voice of the Potash Brook Watershed. He has written columns on nature and the environment for the Vermont Times, The Other Paper in South Burlington, and the Saint Albans Messenger. He is currently a member of the South Burlington Energy Committee. Fred has taught at Community College of Vermont since 1983, and has joined Champlain College as an adjunct in 2023.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
• Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
• The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

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Michael Lange

Biography

Michael Lange is an anthropologist and folklorist, specializing in narrative, food, and identity. He has done ethnographic fieldwork in Scotland, Morocco, Norway, the US, and Canada. His books include Norwegian Scots and Many Meanings of Maple.

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Robert Mayer

Biography

Robert Mayer holds a BA and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Georgia, and a MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. Robert has worked in the defense intelligence industry, in the USA and abroad, as well as in journalism as both a writer and an editor in the computer entertainment sector. He worked on the Papers of James K. Polk at the University of Tennessee, and has done freelance work supporting the design, promotion, and marketing of video games as well. His research interests include antebellum America, race and slavery, military and security issues, computer games, pop culture, cars, and Standard Poodles. Robert has been teaching at Champlain College since 2000, serving in numerous roles supporting the development and delivery of courses across the Champlain curriculum. He lives in Jericho, VT with his wife and three dogs.

Distinctions & Awards

Finney Chair 2020-23

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

Go read Moby Dick. Go listen to anything that makes you happy.

Favorite Quote

“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”

—Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

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Kerry Noonan

Biography

Kerry Noonan holds a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in Folklore & Mythology from UCLA, and her research focuses primarily on new religious movements, and women’s roles in various religions; she has published articles on Catholic Charismatic women, online religious communities, feminist witchcraft, Goddess spirituality, and New Age religious folk art, and is also a specialist in Celtic folklore, and Chinese vernacular religions. Kerry often incorporates these topics into her Core classes, and twice led a travel course about Harry Potter. She also co-teaches the FLM capstone. Kerry was a professional actor in theater, TV, & film in Los Angeles, appearing in Friday the 13th Part VI, The New Twilight Zone, China Beach, Knot’s Landing, Mr. Belvedere, Family Ties, and Taxi, plus on stage with the Los Angles Theater Center, South Coast Rep, Arizona Rep, the Grove Shakespeare Festival, and co-founded City Stage. She was part of the Irish traditional band The McGuffins. For Champlain Theatre, Kerry directed Rough Magic: A Shakespeare Compilation, Sweeney Todd, The Lion in Winter, and Blue Stockings, as well as appearing as Gertrude in Hamlet, and is now the adviser for The Champlayers. She has been a contestant on Jeopardy! and Win Ben Stein’s Money.

Distinctions & Awards

Champlain College Diversity Award: International 2013; Faculty Internationalization Initiative Grant (Champlain College) 2009

Publications & Abstracts

Publications & Abstracts

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• American Folklore Society
• American Academy of Religion

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

One of my favorite books is The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin. I’m also a Tolkien nerd, and a Jane Austen fanatic. I could go on and on …
A movie that I love is Fanny & Alexander, directed by Ingmar Bergman.

Favorite Quote

“The idea is like grass. It craves light, likes crowds, thrives on crossbreeding, grows better for being stepped on.”

—Ursula LeGuin, The Dispossessed

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Craig Pepin

Biography

Craig Pepin is Lead Faculty in the Degree Design Lab and also teaches in the Core Curriculum. He earned a Ph.D. in European Intellectual History from Duke University, with a special interest in Modern Germany and the History of Higher Education. Teaching interdisciplinary inquiry-driven courses at Champlain led him to the importance of integrative learning in developing students who can think broadly and synthetically, and in particular, to the intersection between integrative thinking and learning assessment. Most recently his research and praxis has focused on competency-based education, particularly in a general education context, and on the history of General Education in the United States.

He served as Assistant Dean for Assessment at Champlain for 12 years, and four years as President of the New England Educational Assessment Network. He has also consulted with other institutions on general education and assessment, and has served as an accreditation reviewer for the New England Commission of Higher Education. He has presented often at assessment conferences and at the Association for Interdisciplinary Studies. As chair of the College Competency Committee since 2014, he has facilitated the development of the Champlain College Competencies.

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• New England Educational Assessment Network
• Association for Interdisciplinary Studies

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

Watchmen (the novel). Ground breaking in its time, (I read the original comics when they came out in 1986), it holds up exceptionally well. It inverts and explores many of the tropes of superheroes and vigilantism, of conspiracy theories and power. The writing is razor sharp and the images are densely allegorical and intimately interwoven. The HBO miniseries of the same name (2019) is also great, transposing issues of race and policing in ways that again challenge our beliefs about what it means to be a hero. Both are brilliant.

Neal Stephenson’s Anathem is a work of science fiction that renders a richly drawn alternate reality that simultaneously steps through the most interesting thickets of classical Greek philosophy, and mashes it up with quantum mechanics. It is a novel of big ideas wrapped up in adventure, and appeals to everything I love about science fiction.

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Flavio Rizzo

Biography

Flavio Rizzo has a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and an Italian Laurea in Cinema Studies from Roma Tre University. Before joining Champlain College, Flavio was an Assistant Professor in the Center for Global Communication Strategies at the University of Tokyo where he was part of its faculty in the Japan in East Asia Program. He also taught Comparative Literature and Film Studies at the City University of New York.

Flavio is also a writer and filmmaker. Among other works, he has a documentary on Pier Paolo Pasolini (recognized with the Cinema Avvenire Award during the 53rd Venice Film Festival) and a documentary on the Coca Wars in Bolivia.

His research is currently focusing on cinematic and literary representations of seclusion; it concentrates on exploring contemporary forms of seclusion by putting the radical act of retreating from the world into the larger context of contemporary hyper-connectivity, networked and narcissistic digital narratives, and both commercially motivated and sincere forms of neo-spiritualisms. As part of this study, he has been tackling the Hikikomori phenomenon in Japan; he focuses on the juxtaposition of what he sees as postmodern hermits and the hyper-connected container in which they live. He is interested in analyzing the very specific iconographic space that emerges from this encounter-collision.

His areas of concentration rotate around interdisciplinary approaches and include:

He is a staunch supporter of Lazio, the team that in 1900 brought football to the city of Rome.

Publications & Abstracts

2021 “Re-inventing isolation, Imagining the other in seclusion” Essays in Otherness – Aarhus University, co-author

2019 “Unlocking Hikikomori: an Interdisciplinary Approach“Journal of Youth Studies, Volume 22, No 06, Taylor & Francis, co-author

2018 “Migrant Crisis: One Day We Will Have a Language for This“Africa is a Country, May 2nd

2016 “Hikikomori: the Postmodern Hermits of Japan“ Warscapes, June 14th

2016 “Student-Centered Teaching: Writing Through Passion“Komaba Journal of English Education, Volume 7, University of Tokyo, co-author

2015 “The New Paladins of the Humanities: A Warning“ Warscapes, June 28th

2013 “Toward a Loss of Language“ Huffington Post, Oct 2nd

2013 “Thoughts in Exile: Beyond Berlusconi’s Sex Trial“ Huffington Post, August 6th

2013 “Minister Kyenge and “Good’ Colonialism“ Warscapes, July 31st

2013 “Navigating Italian Shame“ Huffington Post, July 21st

2013 “The Story of Wikileaks?“ Warscapes, June 30th

2013 “Shipwrecked in Whole Foods“ Warscapes, June 1st

2013 “Holding America Hostage“ Huffington Post, February 8th, co-author

2012 “On Ignorance and Prankumentary: Adrift in the Central African Republic” Warscapes, October 15th

2012 “Filming the Green Wave: a Delicate Space of Brutality“ Warscapes, October 3rd

2012 “Compromising Iranian Cinema“ Warscapes, May 29th

2011 In Danger, San Francisco: City Lights Books Translator of literary essays by Pier Paolo Pasolini

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Frank Robinson

Biography

Who his Frank Robinson? He is the son of Frank Robinson and Ruth Jackson, the brother of Janice and Jack, the father of Teresa, and the grandfather of Kendra and Ethan. He has graduated several times, including a B.A. in history, a M.S. in journalism, and a Ph.D. in Inter-Disciplinary Studies (history, education, English, and women’s studies) from Ohio University. He has taught high school history and been a basketball coach. He completed the Boston Marathon, kayaked Lake Superior’s Isle Royale National Park, and rafted the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He bikes and swims regularly; one of his all-time favorite bike rides was the Ride the Rockies Bike Tour in Colorado. He is an amateur landscape photographer. As much as he as been blessed with life since 1965 as an administrator or professor, he thinks he could have been happy as a 3rd grade teacher, constitutional judge, newspaper columnist, geologist, or operating a backcountry guide service in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming. He once played most sports (except skiing which he failed) and especially enjoy the basketball season (high school, college, and Boston Celtics). He likes mountains more than beaches, books more than movies, and interesting class discussions more than lectures. He likes preparing for class. He likes teaching because he likes learning. He learns before class when he prepares and he learns during class from his students’ feedback, comments, and questions.

Favorite Quote

“Certain questions which grown-ups deem unanswerable begin as answers which children find unquestionable.”

—Walter Kirn, Lost in the Meritocracy: The Undereducation of an Overachiever (2009)

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David Rous

Biography

David Rous has taught history and interdisciplinary studies at Champlain since 2006, specializing in firstyear courses such as Concepts of the Self, Concepts of Community, and the Firstyear Inquiry: Reading, Writing, and Gender in Pop Culture. He attended Colorado College and the University of Vermont. His research includes popular culture, post-war American history, the Civil Rights Movement, the Cold War, and European Colonialism. His interests include reading, hiking, soccer, modern languages, and arguing.

Distinctions & Awards

Francine Page Excellence in Teaching Award 2016

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Gary Scudder

Biography

During his 20+ years at Champlain Professor Scudder has taught classes on topics such as history, literature, art, evil, film, and a variety of classes dealing with the Islamic world. He initiated and ran Champlain’s award-winning Global Modules program. In addition, he has created, taught, and led student classes with trips to Jordan, India, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, Spain, and Portugal.

Distinctions & Awards

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Vermont Professor of the Year, 2010.

Community Contribution Award, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), 2010.

Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education for Internationalizing the Curriculum, 2008-2009.

Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship, Champlain College, 2007-2008.

Teaching About Islam and Middle Eastern Culture Seminar, CIC Grant, Amman Jordan, January 2005.

Georgia Board of Regents Distinguished Professor for Teaching and Learning, 1999-2000.

Outstanding Award for Teaching, Georgia Perimeter College, 1997-1998.

Most Appreciated Faculty Member Award, Georgia Perimeter College, 1993-1994.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Charles Dickens, Bleak House
• Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
• Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

Favorite Quote

“It was in vain that I lingered before the hawthorns.”

—Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

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Erik Shonstrom

Biography

Erik Shonstrom is the author of several nonfiction books, including Wild Curiosity, The Wisdom of the Body, and I Probably Should’ve Brought a Tent. He has an MFA from Bennington College.

Publications & Abstracts

• Wild Curiosity
• The Indoor Epidemic
• The Wisdom of the Body: What Embodied Cognition Can Teach us about Learning, Human Development, and Ourselves
• I Probably Should’ve Brought a Tent

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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William Stratton

Biography

Bill has been teaching at Champlain for 5 years now, and enjoys the classes, students, and faculty he is lucky enough to interact with.

Publications & Abstracts

I have scores of poems published, and two books in print.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

I am perhaps biased, but I enjoy reading a lot of poetry, science fiction, fantasy, and CNF. It’s hard to recommend only one or two, but I’m happy to expound given more space and time.

I also quite like audio books, where the performers make a big difference. Ray Porter is a favorite, as is Steven Pacey.

I’m pickier with my movies and TV shows, but I recently re-watched Mr. Robot and enjoyed it even more on a second viewing.

Favorite Quote

“In a minute there is time For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.”

—T.S. Eliot

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Stephen Wehmeyer

Biography

Steve Wehmeyer has been teaching in the Core Division at Champlain since 2008. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA in Folklore and Mythology, and a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Wehmeyer’s research and teaching interests are diverse and wide ranging – with particular specialization in the ethnographic study of vernacular religion, the material and ritual arts of Africa and the African Diaspora, Western Esotericism, and Indigenous American narrative traditions. His academic work has been published in several anthologies and museum catalogs, as well as a number of academic journals including “Western Folklore”, “New York Folklore”, “Southern Quarterly”, “Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft” and “Gnosis: The Journal of Gnostic Studies”. Outside of his academic work, Wehmeyer is a professional Celtic musician and songwriter, with credits that include motion picture and television soundtracks, and 13 albums to date (11 of which have reached the top 10 on Billboard’s charts for World Music). With a passion for globally engaged, experiential learning, Dr. Wehmeyer teaches or co-teaches a variety of courses across the Core Curriculum, including several involving travel to and service learning in places like Zanzibar and India.

Publications & Abstracts

PUBLICATIONS & ABSTRACTS

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

American Academy of Religion

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“In the beginning was noise. And noise begat rhythm. And rhythm begat everything else. This is the kind of cosmology a drummer can live with.”

—Mickey Hart

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