Spanish Department Faculty Profiles
MAGDALENA ANDRADE
Education:
Ph.D. Spanish American Literature and Critical Thinking – UCI
B.A. Spanish and French – San Diego University
B.A. English – San Diego University
Prof. Andrade has taught elementary and intermediate Spanish at San Diego State and the University of California, Irvine, where she also taught Spanish for Heritage Speakers and Humanities core courses. She also taught in the Calexico Unified School District Bilingual Program for several years. Upon receiving her Ph.D. she continued to teach there for several years and also at California State University, Long Beach. Professor Andrade is co-author of the Spanish textbook Dos mundos and two short readers: Cocina y comidas hispanas and Mundos de fantasía, fábulas, cuentos de hadas y leyendas and is developing two other language books.
To contact Professor Andrade, e-mail her at mandrade@ivc.edu
| JEANNE EGASSE
Education:
- M.A. and B.A. Spanish Linguistics - UCI
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Prof. Egasse was born and raised in Southern California and spent much of her childhood interacting with Spanish-speaking friends and neighbors. After graduating from UCI, she spent four years as a teacher-trainer for K-12 teachers in both Bilingual Education and Foreign Languages before coming to Irvine Valley College. Professor Egasse has also taught French and Spanish at the secondary level and Spanish and Linguistics at the university level. Professor Egasse’s academic areas of interest include sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, dialectology and language acquisition. She enjoys teaching Spanish at the Community College level because of the variety of students and the chance to participate in the language acquisition process with students. She is the co-author of a university level Spanish text: Dos mundos and two short readers: Cocina y comidas hispanas and Mundos de fantasía, fábulas, cuentos de hadas y leyendas. She has traveled in Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica and is very interested in the folklore, folk music and art of Latin America as well as native plants of the Americas. In her free time, Prof. Egasse enjoys gardening, swimming, reading and theater.
To contact Professor Egasse, call (949) 451-5338 or e-mail her at jegasse@ivc.edu
Professor Jeanne Egasse's Website
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CARITA GARCIA
Education:
- MAT in Spanish – UCI
- California Teaching Credential in Spanish – National University
- BA in Spanish/bilingual education - UCI
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Professor García was born in Helsinki, Finland, and raised in Stockholm, Sweden. She has traveled extensively in Europe, Mexico, Ecuador and Costa Rica, both leading student trips as well as a working as a flight attendant for many years. After moving to California in 1988, she decided to pursue a career in teaching. While at UCI, she received the prestigious
Humanities Graduate Teaching Award as well as another
Teaching Award at the Spanish and Portuguese Department in 1999. Since finishing her graduate studies and California Teaching Credential, she has been teaching at Saddleback College, Irvine Valley College and as a high school teacher. She is also a table leader for the College Board, supervising and grading the Advanced Placement compositions in the Spanish language each year. Professor García has been teaching at Irvine Valley College since 2007 and thoroughly enjoys the Spanish program. She is passionate about Latin American culture and the Spanish language. She has been known to motivate even the most reluctant learner, through upbeat music and interactive games to emphasize what is being learned in class. Her personal interests include traveling, spending time with family and friends, jogging on the beach, reading, music, movies and theater.
To contact Professor García, e-mail her at cgarcia@ivc.edu
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DEANNA GARCIA
Education:
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| Professor Garcia was born in Cuba and raised in southern California. She heard and spoke Spanish at home and began to study Spanish in high school. She spent her first summer after college in France and Spain, with a one month study program in each country. She lived in Paris and studied at the Sorbonne University for one semester, eventually graduating from UCLA with a BA in French. She worked as a marketing assistant at IBM for a few years while completing a Master’s Degree in Communications at USC. After several more visits to Spain, she decided to pursue a graduate degree in Spanish, receiving her MA in Spanish from UCI. Having been awarded the Rotary Club Student Ambassador scholarship, she spent one year in Spain where she met her future husband. She has been married and living in Salamanca, Spain for five years now. She has taught special university courses in English and currently works as a translator for a research group from the Department of Computer Science and Automation at the University of Salamanca.
Not having a local Trader Joe’s or Gelsons Market in Spain, she has spent extensive time in the kitchen learning to make home-made versions of everything she used to buy at the grocery store, and has come to appreciate the joy of cooking. She enjoys her summers in California where in addition to teaching at IVC, she spends quality time with her family and friends.
To contact Professor Garcia, e-mail her at dgarcia@ivc.edu
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| RICHARD GARRETT
Education:
- M.Ed. Education - UCLA
- M.A. Latin American Studies - UCLA
- B.A. Spanish and B.S. in Elementary Education - Eastern Illinois University
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Prof. Garrett is from a small town in the midwest but has always loved the Spanish language and Latin America. He pursued this interest academically by earning a B.A. in Spanish as well as an M.A. in Latin American Studies. He has taught for over 20 years in the lower elementary grades, mostly bilingual and Spanish Immersion classes in public and private schools around the U.S. and South America. At IVC, Prof. Garrett has been teaching Spanish 1A and 1B at IVC since 1995 and enjoys the beginning levels very much. "It is rewarding for me to work with beginning students, to give them a boost of confidence, to see a second language being born within them, and to make the experience interesting and fun."
To contact Professor Garrett, e-mail him at
rgarrett@ivc.edu
| ANA LUISA HORTON
Education
- M.A. - Spanish - UCI
- B.A. - Spanish and French - UCI
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Prof. Horton's interest in the Spanish language and literature began at an early age growing up in the South of Portugal, within proximity to, and in constant contact with the Spanish culture. She has lived in Southern California since 1976 and have returned several times to travel extensively throughout Western Europe, particularly Spain and Portugal. Prof. Horton's academic and personal experiences permeate her teaching style, and she enjoys bringing Spanish literature, history and culture into the classroom. Over the last several years, she has taught first, second, and third year Spanish at various colleges in Southern California. While at UCI, she received the "Outstanding Teaching Award" from the Spanish and Portuguese Department. She has been responsible for building a comfortable, creative, and productive atmosphere in which her students can improve their comprehension and communication skills. Prof. Horton's personal interests include: traveling abroad, reading good literature, most kinds of music, especially jazz, classical, and Latin American, fine cuisine from all over the world, theater, and cinema. For physical activity she enjoys dancing, going for long walks and riding her bike.
To contact Professor Horton, e-mail her at ahorton@ivc.edu
| MERCEDES JULIAN
Education:
- Ph.D studies (ABD) - UCI
- M.A. Spanish - San Diego State University
- B.S. Math and B.A. Spanish - University of Georgia
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Prof. Julian was born in Cuba, raised in Puerto Rico, spent her adolescence in Atlanta, Georgia, and became an adult in California. She has taught Spanish at San Diego State University and UC Irvine prior to coming to Irvine Valley College in January 1984. She enjoys traveling abroad, walking, playing tennis, reading (fiction and non-fiction, in Spanish and English), watching foreign films, and spending time with her friends and family. The variety of students and quality of people at IVC is the main reason why she continues to thoroughly enjoy her assignment after more than 20 years.
To contact Professor Julian, e-mail her at mjulian@ivc.edu
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ADRIENNE MERLO
Education:
- M.A. Spanish Literature and Linguistics – U.C. Los Angeles
- B.A. Latin American Literature – U.C. Berkeley
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As a native of Orange County, Professor Merlo was first introduced to the Spanish language while growing up in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. Her passion for the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures flourished during her various travels abroad. During the summer of 1988 she spent six weeks in the northern, Basque region of Spain living with a host family through the exchange program Youth For Understanding. Then in the summer of 1994 she spent two months helping build latrines in Felix Perez Cardoso, Paraguay, with Amigos de las Américas, a non-profit organization that does social service projects throughout Latin America. She later studied at the University of Costa Rica for a year as part of the Education Abroad Program during her Masters at UCLA. Lastly, she lived in Guatemala for four years while working as an Import/Export Agent in the apparel industry. She has also traveled to various parts of Mexico along the west coast and Yucatan Peninsula.
Professor Merlo utilizes her many experiences living, studying and working abroad to make her classes more interesting and engaging, helping to bring to life various countries studied during the course. She hopes to inspire a greater interest in and passion for the Spanish language and Hispanic cultures in her students. Professor Merlo feels blessed teaching at the community college level because of the positive influence she can have not only on her students, but on the community she serves.
To contact Professor Merlo, e-mail her at amerlo@ivc.edu
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MARIAM SAADA
Education:
- C.Phil. Hispanic Languages and Literatures - UCLA
- M.A. Spanish– California State University, Los Angeles
- B.A. Spanish– California State University, Los Angeles
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Prof. Saada has always adored the Spanish language, music, and culture. She has studied and travelled through Spain and Latin America. Her passion for Spanish was the reason she pursued this academic interest. She has earned her B.A. and M.A. in Spanish linguistics and Literature and is a PhD. candidate at UCLA. She has taught elementary and intermediate Spanish since 1999 in several universities and colleges; California State University in Los Angeles, UCLA, Irvine Valley College and Orange Coast College.
To contact Professor Saada, e-mail her at msaada@ivc.edu
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BEATRICE TSENG
Education:
- M.A. Spanish Literature - UCLA
- B.A. Spanish and Portuguese - UCLA
- Graduate Certificate: E-Learning and Online Teaching - University of Wisconsin @ Stout
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Prof. Tseng was born in Taiwan but lived in Brazil and Colombia until age ten and spent the next eight years in Panama, where she attended Junior and Senior High at an American school in the former Panama Canal Zone. Prof. Tseng came to California in 1984 when she began her studies at UCLA. During her junior year, she studied in Madrid and has traveled extensively in Europe. She has been teaching Spanish at Irvine Valley College since 1991. In 2003, Professor Tseng was selected IVC's 2004 Teacher of the Year and was awarded a "Model Online Course" grant by the California Virtual Campus for the exemplary design of her Spanish 4 Online course. She is the co-author of the "Instructors' Resource Kit" which accompanies the Spanish textbook Dos mundos and has presented numerous workshops on the "Natural Approach", Dos mundos, and the usage of technology in foreign language classes. In 2007-2008 Professor Tseng completed a series of graduate courses through the University of Wisconsin @ Stout and earned a certificate on E-Learning and Online Teaching.
Prof. Tseng enjoys traveling, gardening, spending time with her family and friends, volunteering at her children’s school, and dining at ethnic restaurants. She breaks the stereotype of a "typical" Spanish teacher by bringing into her lectures her passion and knowledge of both of her heritages: the Hispanic and the Chinese.
To contact Professor Tseng, call (949) 451-5343 or e-mail her at btseng@ivc.edu
Professor Beatrice Tseng's Website
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DAN WHITESELL
Education:
- M.A. and B.A. Latin American Literature and Linguistics – CSULB
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Prof. Whitesell was born in Florida, where he first came in contact with the Spanish language and Latin American culture at an early age. As an adult he decided to study the language at the college level after working a number of years in the richly diverse culture of Los Angeles. He then went on to study Linguistics and Latin American Literature at California State University, Long Beach and at the University of California, Irvine. Prof. Whitesell has traveled extensively in Latin America and in February of 2002, he took his first trip to Havana to meet and work with author and intellectual Leonardo Acosta on the translation of his book "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop: One Hundred Years of Jazz in Cuba" (Smithsonian Press, 2003). Prof. Whitesell also worked with Dr. Raúl Fernández to translate another work by Acosta, an essay titled "On Generic Complexes and Other Topics in Cuban Popular Music" ( Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 17, # 3, 2005). Prof. Whitesell has taught Spanish at the college level since 1997 and is animated by a desire to see students expand their linguistic competence and thereby experience a different culture: "To be integrally involved with students in the process of language acquisition is very rewarding work".
To contact Professor Whitesell, e-mail him at dwhitesell@ivc.edu