Office and People Directory

Erik Esckilsen

Biography

Erik Esckilsen came to Champlain College from the publishing industry, where he worked as a writer and editor. Today he teaches writing-intensive courses in a range of subjects, emphasizing art and digital culture, and remains active as an essayist, fiction writer, journalist, and scholar.

Curriculum Vitae

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Valerie Esposito

Biography

Valerie Esposito has been at Champlain since July 2010 and is the Director for the Applied Sustainability and Environmental Studies and Policy programs. She teaches courses on Sustainability, Environmental Justice, Women’s Leadership, Place-based Sustainability, Ecological Economics, Mindfulness, Becoming Part of the Creative Economy and the Capstone.

Valerie attended American University, earning a B.A. in Justice. She received an M.A. from Brown University in Environmental Studies. She obtained her Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Ecological Economics from the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics and the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. Prior to coming to Champlain she served as the Executive Director of the Vermont Earth Institute.

After college Valerie spent two years living abroad in Costa Rica and Chile, where she participated in environmental volunteer work and taught English. She pursued her international interests in her doctoral work, conducting research and working with local non-profit and non-governmental organizations in Costa Rica, Peru and the Dominican Republic. She is very interested in bringing this experience to the classroom, to ensure relevant local, national and global issues are addressed. Her research interests include ecological literacy, education for sustainability, service learning and ecological economic policy implementation.

Valerie enjoys spending time with family and friends and taking advantage of Vermont’s natural and cultural playground, through skiing, hiking, biking, canoeing, camping, theater visits and seeing live music. Sustainable travel, gardening, cooking, reading and cultivating her inner yogini also keep her busy.

Distinctions & Awards

John Lavalle Innovation Award, 2019
Academic Innovation Award, 2023

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• US Society for Ecological Economics
• International Society for Ecological Economics
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• Association for Environmental Studies and Science

Curriculum Vitae

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Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Kimmerer, R.W. Braiding Sweetgrass
  A beautiful and poetic exploration of how humans can reimagine a holistic, inclusive relationship with the environment and all living beings based on indigenous wisdom and ways of knowing.
• Kaza, S. Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking
  Explores Buddhist ideals of reducing harm, being with ecosystems and taking a deep systems view to implement the green practice path.
• Eisler, R. The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating A Caring Economics
  Explores the impact of the caring economy to give visibility and value to the socially and economically essential work of caring for people and the planet.

Favorite Quote

“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”

—Robin Wall Kimmerer

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Sinyoung Evans

Biography

Sinyoung Ra Evans is a born-in-Japan, Korean-American instructor. She started her career teaching English in Japan, and currently teaches Japanese in a high school, in an online program, and at Champlain College.

From the beginning, her teaching philosophy has remained the same: teacher as a learner, teacher as an entertainer! In other words, she tries not to forget to see the lesson plans, materials, and activities from the learner’s point of view. She says, “Probably I am lucky to be a non-native speaker of English who needs to keep monitoring English language use consciously and subconsciously in my daily life.” She tries to find something interesting “such as songs, games, films, products, and such” so that students can connect their target language to the real world naturally. As she travels nationally and internationally, as she teaches in the classrooms, as she guides and translates for exchange programs in Japan and in the U.S., she truly believes connecting knowledge to actual successful communication brings genuine smiles to the students and contributes significantly to their achievement of the learning.

Sinyoung Ra Evans has an MA in TESOL from Saint Michael’s College and a Vermont State K-12 educator’s license for ESL and Japanese.

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Jenny Evans First

Biography

I have been a Family Nurse Practitioner for almost 15 years in Burlington, at the Community Health Centers of Burlington and Champlain College. I received my nursing license and degree at the University of Vermont. I love working with young people – learning their stories and particular interests, strengths and challenges and helping them learn to care for themselves. I love to play outdoors with my family and friends, particularly mountain biking, skiing and hiking. I also love to read, fiction mostly, spend time in museums, fresh grapefruit and bodysurfing. I am learning to play pickleball.

What are your hobbies?

I love to read, ride my bike, play in the ocean, hike and hang out with my family and friends.

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Honey Road and Gray Jay restaurants; play in Lake Champlain

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Christopher Ewing

Biography

Professor in business and psychology, consultant and Six Sigma Black Belt. Leader of healthcare teams and call centers. Author and researcher on Cultivated Leadership™.

Publications & Abstracts

Living Your Leadership: Grow Intentionally, Thrive with Integrity, and Serve Humbly

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• Horizon Research Publishing Corporation, Peer Editor
• Mensa, Member

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and Performance beyond Expectations. New York: Free Press.
• Greenleaf, R.K. (1977). Servant Leadership. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.
• George, B. (2003). Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Favorite Quote

Humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak, but of the strong.

—Pope Francis

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Samara Fantie

Biography

Samara Fantie is a game developer and artist currently based in Vermont. Her robust background in the sciences includes an MA from American University in Mathematics and a BA with distinction from Amherst College in Psychology and Mathematics.

Leveraging a lifelong love of art, games, and interactive narratives, Samara has accumulated over a decade of experience helping people tell their stories. Her portfolio spans a wide array of projects including visual development, comics, 3D modeling, illustration, and many other flavors of game-related art and design. She has collaborated with a diverse range of clients including neuroscientists, indie developers, and Unity, showcasing her versatility and expertise in both technical and artistic domains. Her passion for the craft and innovative adaptability have enabled her to consistently deliver compelling creative solutions that resonate with audiences.

As co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of game studio Glossbird, Samara brings a unique blend of analytical rigor and creative vision to the gaming industry. Prior to teaching at Champlain College, she taught graduate-level courses at American University’s Game Lab for their Master of Arts in Game Design program.

Distinctions & Awards

• a16z TxO f’23 Accelerator Cohort
• PocketGamer- Most Innovative Mobile Game of the Year Finalist
• SmithMicro- The Avatar Challenge Design Contest

Publications & Abstracts

A Burlington Game Developer Hopes to Hit It Big With ‘Fitment’

Professional/ Scholastic Affiliations

Recommended Reading

Mrs. Davis

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Nick Faulk

Biography

Nick Faulk leads Champlain College Library’s in-person and online instructional programs. These initiatives develop students’ skills in information literacy and digital scholarship methods through in-class sessions and online learning objects. He is particularly interested in helping faculty and students explore techniques for integrating computer programming and geospatial methods with more traditional library research methods. Additional interest areas include motivation and communication in online learning scenarios and the development of digital collections and interactive spaces to teach sociocultural topics. He has been connected with libraries for his entire life as a third-generation library employee.

Publications & Abstracts

• Faulk, N. & Crist, E. (2020, Apr.). A mixed-methods study of library communication with online students and faculty members. College & Research Libraries, 81(3), 361-377.
• Faulk, N., & Carbery, A. (2019). Using motivation theory and research when teaching information literacy online. In S. Steiner & M. Rigby (Eds.), Motivating students on a time budget: Pedagogical frames and lesson plans for in-person and online information literacy instruction. Chicago, IL: ACRL Press.
• Faulk, N. (2018). Bringing scale and structure to the online information literacy program. Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning, 12(3-4), 198-208.
• Faulk, N. (2018, Apr.). What faculty have to say about library outreach. College & Research Libraries News, 79(4), 193-196.

Favorite Quote

“Time exists in order that everything doesn’t happen all at once”¦ and space exists so that it doesn’t all happen to you.”

—An “old riff” as interpreted by Susan Sontag

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Fay

Biography

Fay obtained their bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saint Michael’s College and an MFA in Emergent Media from Champlain College where they worked as a project management fellow for two years. While pursuing their education, Fay also worked as a YouTuber, Twitch.tv live streamer, & esports commentator. In January of 2018, Fay moved to Akron in order to design, implement, and manage the new esports program at the University of Akron as well as serve as the head coach of their newly formed varsity teams. Fay also built, opened, and managed the Esports Center at Rutgers University from 2019 until 2021. In 2022, Fay sought to bring their passion for student development to bear for Champlain College and its Esports Living Learning community.

What are your hobbies?

Dungeons & Dragons, League of Legends, & Valheim

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Cooper Fellows

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Larraby Fellows

Biography

Larraby is an award-winning Instructional Designer who has worked in higher education for 20+ years. She has a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Bennington College, a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree from Simmons University and a M.A. in Leadership Studies from Northern Vermont University.

She has worked as an academic librarian, instructor, or instructional designer at Bennington College, Union Institute & University, the Community College of Vermont and the Vermont State Colleges system.

Larraby has taught online for the Community College of Vermont and Vermont State University for 10+ years, including CCV courses: Dimensions of Self & Society, Technical Writing & Research, World Mythology, and VTSU Leadership Studies/graduate capstone course Scholar-Practitioner Inquiry.

Larraby grew up in Southern Vermont and now lives in Worcester, Vermont with her two daughters, husband, and unruly flock of cats.

What are your hobbies?

Cinema, painting, pottery, knitting, furniture restoration, crafting of any kind, and baking with my daughters.

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Bakery hopping around my beautiful state: from Red Hen Bakery in Middlesex, to Bohemian Bakery in Montpelier to King Arthur Flour in Upper Valley and everyplace in between!

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Jonathan Ferguson

Biography

Jonathan Ferguson, Assistant Professor, Game Design and Game Production, Division of Communications and Creative Media at Champlain College is a Game Designer and software freedom advocate. Prof. Ferguson has over 27 years of technology development experience, spanning careers in Cybersecurity, Software Development, Game Development, and Teaching. Prof. Ferguson maintains particular interests in free and open source software, game technology, game history and game preservation and access. Prof. Ferguson holds a Masters of Science in Managing Innovation in Information Technology from Champlain College.

Prof. Ferguson is the creator of the Game History Collection at Champlain College. The mission of the Game History Collection is to preserve and provide access to historical games for study and play. This requires ongoing preservation and maintenance of game software, hardware and online platforms needed to replicate the experiences of historical games. Providing access to past experiences drives the preservation efforts of the Game History Collection in The Game Studio at Champlain College. The GHC offers access to thousands of games for students to study and play, providing direct access to original hardware, emulated games, and hardware-reimplementation.

Since 2009, Prof. Ferguson has served as the Faculty Advisor for the 3 hours weekly project-based Free and Open Source Technology Club (FOTC) at Champlain College, offering weekly opportunities to explore and discuss software and hardware freedom. Over the 2022-2023 academic year, students built a small-scale (Beowulf) compute cluster, and learned about Amateur Radio and Electronics.

Prof. Ferguson also supervises the Games Testing Lab in The Game Studio at Champlain College. Games Testing Lab typically runs five sessions of Games Testing per week, supporting testing options for Personal Computer, Mobile, Virtual Reality and physical prototypes.

Prof. Ferguson is also the Faculty advisor for the Juggling Club and the Destiny 2 Club.

Distinctions & Awards

2021 John Lavallee Innovation Award

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• ACM
• IEEE
• AAAS
• IGDA

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Jennifer Ferrara

Biography

Gin considers herself a “multimediator” — a person who helps folks use media to tell their own stories and connect to their communities. She has taught video-making to young people and community members for most of her life. Gin co-founded Baltimore’s Wide Angle Youth Media and was the Executive Director for 10 years, building an organization from the ground up. In Vermont since 2011, she was the host of The Upside VT radio show and co-founded the Burlington story community Storytelling VT. Currently Gin is the Community Engagement Manager at Media Factory, a community media center. She is also a visual artist and

Distinctions & Awards

UVM Community-Engaged Learning Award 2022
Wide Angle Youth Media Leadership Award 2010
OSI Baltimore Community Fellowship 2002

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Scott McCloud, “Understanding Comics” —My film teacher at UMBC suggested I read this, and I still look at wall outlets and see little surprised faces in them. A great breakdown of the elements of sequential storytelling.
• Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, “This Is How You Lose the Time War” —A story told in letters, each chapter is its own little world.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Jessica Fischer

Biography

Jessica Fischer teaches a section of Biology of Nutrition & Fitness. She attended University of Rhode Island for Nutrition & Dietetics with a focus on Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems. She then attended UVM to complete her graduate studies in Dietetics. She is also a Clinical Dietitian at UVM Medical Center where she counsels a variety of adult populations with chronic diseases. She is passionate about nutrition and overall wellness through movement and time spent connecting with nature. In her free time she is an avid gardener, skier, and trail walker accompanied by her dog.

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Scott Fleishman

Biography

Scott Fleishman is a seasoned professional in the broadcasting industry with over 20 years of experience behind and in front of the camera. He spent 11 years as a multimedia journalist and anchor at WCAX-TV in Burlington. With his versatile skill set, he has excelled in producing, anchoring, live reporting, and award-winning feature photography, covering all aspects of the newsroom.

In 2021, he embarked on a career transition, delving into the field of marketing. Initially serving as a Communications Specialist for Gifford Health Care in Randolph, Scott effectively utilized his extensive background to enhance the organization’s communication strategies.

Currently, he holds the position of Director of Social Media at DCD Automotive, overseeing the social media accounts of more than 25 prestigious auto dealerships. Demonstrating a deep understanding of digital marketing trends, Scott employs his creativity to engage audiences and spearhead impactful online campaigns.

Scott has showcased an exceptional ability to adapt to diverse professional environments throughout his career. His wealth of experience in broadcasting and marketing grants him a unique perspective, enabling him to create compelling narratives and deliver targeted messages that resonate with audiences.

Scott’s unwavering commitment to excellence continues to leave an indelible mark on the industries he explores. His passion for storytelling, nurtured through years in broadcasting and his innovative marketing acumen, positions him at the forefront of his field.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Scott remains dedicated to staying abreast of industry trends, exploring new technologies, and embracing creative challenges. His pursuit of personal growth and unwavering commitment to excellence fuel his continued success.

Scott Fleishman is an exceptional professional with an unparalleled skill set, leaving a lasting impact on both the broadcasting and marketing industries.

Distinctions & Awards

New England Emmy Award/5 Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards

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Tarn Foerg

Biography

Tarn Foerg’s identity is as a Social Worker. She holds a BSW, MSW, and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LICSW). Tarn is an Associate Professor and the Social Work Program Field Education Coordinator at Champlain College. Tarn began her full-time appointment in 2011 after serving as an adjunct for 4 years. Her professional practice experience spanned 12 years prior to teaching. Tarn’s clinical practice experience included extensive case-management and clinical support for children, youth and families as a direct service clinician in school social work with The Baird Center for Children and Families.

In addition to her active memberships in BPDonline, CSWE and NASW-VT. Tarn has provided many years of volunteer service including as a Executive Board member of the National Association of Social Workers-VT Chapter, the Nominations Committee of the Baccalaureate Program Directors, as a crisis volunteer for the Women’s Rape Crisis Center, fundraising efforts for the Committee on Temporary Shelter, and as an event coordinator for Lake Champlain Waldorf School. She was a Board president and volunteer for the Women’s Rape Crisis Center, served the older adult population at the Champlain Valley Agency on Aging, as community outreach educator regarding access to benefits and services, was co-director of a state-wide Senior Help-line and a quarterly columnist for local papers regarding issues for seniors and those who qualify for disability benefits. She has supervised MSW level interns as a field instructor for the University of Vermont and was a supervisor of school social work clinicians working in the largest mental health agency in Vermont. Tarn co-developed the Trauma Response Protocol for children and families to be implemented in crisis events in the largest county in Vermont and was a consultant to a local school district regarding anti-bullying and pro-social skills development for elementary aged children and held teacher in-services regarding implementation. Tarn has served as a Research Fellow for the Center for Community and Social Justice at Champlain College in 2021 and is currently embarking on a new project in 2023.

She has taught Ethics in Human Services, Practicum I and II and the accompanying seminars, Crisis Intervention, Survey of Community Agency, Community Experience, Social Welfare Policy, and Human Sexuality, and Practice II. Tarn has been active in her service to the college and in strengthening the Social Work Program. She has held positions on the College’s Women and Gender Center and the Student Conduct Review Board, Curriculum Committee, Library and Academic Resources Committee, United Way Fundraising Committee, Service Learning Planning Committee, Faculty Club advisor for YarnForGood and the Social Work Phi Alpha Honor Society. Tarn is also engaged in collaborative work with co-conspirators of NEW (Naming Educational Whiteness a group of colleagues whose guiding philosophy centers our work toward more equitable systems within education broadly, and within our individual disciplines more specifically.

Publications & Abstracts

Exploration of an alternative emergency response system: Vermont

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

Check out the various Social Work Associations to learn more about social work:

• IFSW
• NASW
• NABSW
• Demystifying Social Work: Dr. Geetanjali Ted Talk
• The Danger of A Single Story-Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi Ted Talk, Listen to this TedTalk to inspire you too think more deeply about how you see, truly see others as whole beings and how you to want to be seen.
• (divorcing) White Supremacy Culture-Coming Home to Who We Really Are by Tema Okun, Understanding the pervasive systemic behaviors, policies and practices that are imbedded in our institutional settings provides insights to disrupt and make necessary changes to achieve justice.

Favorite Quote

“If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping in a room with a mosquito.”

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