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Sonja Tanner completed her Ph.D. in Philosophy at the New School
for Social Research. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Philosophy
at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. A member
of the Humanities Department at LaGuardia for the last six
years, Sonja taught Philosophy and Critical Thinking courses. During
her time at LaGuardia, she was an active participant in a number
of learning communities and helped lead learning community
workshops at regional conferences.
Melinda Thomsen teaches vocational ESL in the Center for Immigrant
Education and Training. Her article, “Writing for an Audience:
Interviews of Working New Yorkers,” is forthcoming in the
TESOL Perspectives on Community College ESL Series. Melinda’s
poetry has been published in journals such as The New York Quarterly,
Rattle, Main Street Rag, Spitball: Baseball Literary Magazine, and
the anthology Blues for Bill: A Tribute to William Matthews.
Ting Man Tsao teaches composition and literature in the English
Department. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the State University
of New York at Stony Brook. His dissertation “Representing China
to the British Public in the Age of Free Trade, c. 1833–1844” examines
the intersections between Britain’s popular representations of
China and its foreign policy during the Opium War. His scholarly
and creative work appears in Victorians Institute Journal, Writing
Macao: Creative Text and Teaching, Peer English (in press), and The
History Teacher.
Phyllis van Slyck is a Professor in the English Department with a
Ph.D. in Comparative Literature. She has published essays on Henry
James in The Henry James Review, Criticism: A Quarterly for Literature
and the Arts, and in literature anthologies. She has published on
the pedagogy of learning communities in College English, Change
Magazine, and AAHE Monographs. At LaGuardia, she has designed,
taught in, and coordinated liberal arts clusters for more than a
decade. She is currently coordinating a pilot liberal arts assessment
project.
Francine White is an Assistant Professor in Cooperative Education
where she teaches classes related to the internship experience. She
has a Master’s in Business Administration from Dowling College.
She has been researching and experimenting with teaching civic
engagement. She is interested in social justice and community
issues and is currently working on a number of projects in this area.
68 • In Transit