Brand, Ashlee
Associate Professor
(216) 978-5843
Department: English, Women and Gender Studies
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SLT 226F
Education: M.A. in English, Slippery Rock University
B.A. in Literature, Slippery Rock University
B.S. in Writing, Slippery Rock University
A.S. in Math/Science, Genesee Community College
About: Ashlee Brand began teaching at Tri-C’s Metro Campus in 2006 and earned tenure in 2011. She currently teaches English and Women’s & Gender Studies courses at the Westshore Campus. She holds a national credential in Effective Online Instruction and Inclusive Teaching for Equitable Learning through the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) and has been recognized for her teaching through multiple awards including Tri-C’s Excellence in Teaching Award in Honor of Ralph M. Besse (2010), the NISOID Teaching Excellent Award (2011), and is a three-time nominee for the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges Teacher of the Year Award (2011, 2012, and 2023). She was recognized in 2016 as a Woman of Professional Excellence by the YWCA of Greater Cleveland. Her research interests include inclusive teaching practices, online and multimodal instruction, writing assessment, feminist pedagogy, and contemporary literature.
Chandra, Neeta
Associate Professor
(216) 987-4542
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 323R
Education: B.A., Osamania University, India
M.A., Osamania University, India
M.B.A., Cleveland State University
ACUE Credential in Effective College Instruction
ACUE Micro Credential in Inclusive Teachin for Equitable Learning
Completed 30 doctoral credit hours towards an EDD in Community College Leadership
About: Neeta Chandra has over 25 years of experience teaching English to high school, community college and undergraduate students. She is passionate about teaching and learning. It is her firm belief that education levels the playing field and is the one thing that cannot be taken away from the learner. She encourages equity and inclusion and strives to create a student centered, collaborative and inquisitive environment which leads to and fosters student success.
Cruickshank, Amy
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5496
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B219
Education: M.A. in English, John Carroll University
B.A. in English, John Carroll University
About: Amy Cruickshank began teaching at Tri-C in 2000. The courses she teaches include College Composition I and II, Honors College Composition I and Creative Writing. In addition to her work on multiple committees, she supports and participates in the Tri-C Honors Program and volunteers at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank as part of Tri-C's Helping Hands. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her husband, son and dogs, cooking, reading and volunteering and the Cuyahoga County Animal Shelter.
DiGiampietro, Lorrie
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-2317
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2109
Education: B.S., California State University
M.A., San Francisco State University
Fabrizi, Rhonda
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4541
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 323-N
Education: M.A. in English, Louisiana State University
B.A. in English, Baldwin-Wallace College (now Baldwin-Wallace University)
About: Rhonda Fabrizi has worked as an assistant professor in the English department at Tri-C since 1999. Her academic areas of study and interest include reading, developmental education and the impact of trauma upon learning — the latter of which she developed into a 160-page tool kit for educators on her 2019-2020 PIL.
Fales, Valerie
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4532
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 323N
Education: Master's degree, John Carroll University
Bachelor's degree, John Carroll University
Associate degree, Lakeland Community College
Fuller, Sara
Associate Professor
(216) 987-3932
Department: English
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SLT 226C
Education: Ph.D. (ABD) in Curriculum and Instruction: Educational Technology, Kent State University
M.A. in English, John Carroll University
B.A. in English, Xavier University
About: Sara Fuller taught seventh through 12th grade English before joining Tri-C in 2014 as an adjunct professor and in 2015 she became a full-time faculty member. She is currently the faculty development coordinator for the Westshore Campus and sits on the Common Reading Committee.
Her research interests are focused on culturally responsive and sustaining education, accessibility and educational technology, as well as online writing instruction. She enjoys teaching writing, African American literature, world literature, British literature and introduction to fiction courses. Outside of Tri-C, she sits on the board of directors for Family Nature Summits.
Gromek, Theresa
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5930
Department: English, Humanities
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SLT 229A
Education: M.A. in English Literature, John Carroll University
B.A. in English and Communications, John Carroll University
About: Theresa Gromek grew up in a west-side suburb of Cleveland and migrated to the east side to attend John Carroll University. Graduating amidst a national recession, she decided to stick around for another degree, which led her to teaching. In addition to teaching at the Westshore Campus, she is heavily involved in the College's Common Reading program, Faculty Senate and the Mandel Scholars program.
Hall, Brian
Associate Professor
(216) 987-3292
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 101
Education: B.A., Mount Union College
M.A., Youngstown State University
M.F.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison
Heer, Sunita
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5181
Department: English, Women and Gender Studies
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B141
Education: B.A., Baldwin Wallace College
M.A., Cleveland State University
Hill, Kimberly
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-2386
Department: English, Women and Gender Studies
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2217
Education: B.A., Cleveland State University
M.A., Kent State University
Kanieski, George
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5146
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B232
Education: B.S., John Carroll University
M.A., John Carroll University
Kazmier, Rachel
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5648
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B218
Education: B.A., California State University of Fullerton
M.A., California State University of Fullerton
Kriner, Bridget
Professor
(216) 987-5801
Department: English, Women and Gender Studies
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SLT 226A
Education: Ph.D., Urban Education, Cleveland State University
M.A., English, Cleveland State University
B.A., English, Cleveland State University
Graduate Certificate, Philosophy (Bioethics), Cleveland State University
Graduate Certificate, Urban Studies (Nonprofit Management), Cleveland State University
Graduate Certificate, Women's and Gender Studies, University of Toledo
About: Bridget Kriner is a professor who is passionate about community college teaching, as she began her college education at Lakeland Community College. She has been teaching at Tri-C since 2010 and earned tenure in 2022. Dr. Kriner teaches a variety of courses in the disciplines of English and Women’s & Gender Studies. Her recent scholarly publications have focused on feminist pedagogy in online classrooms, reading in academic disciplines, and placement in two-year colleges. She actively participates in NWSA (National Women’s Studies Association), where she serves as the Community College Caucus Chair. In addition to her scholarly work, she is also an actively publishing poet whose work has appeared recently in Rattle, Thimble Literary Magazine, and Variant Literature. She is an alumna of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project and the Sewanee Writer’s Conference.
Laferty, Matt
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5587
Department: English, Humanities
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B218A
Education: M.A., Radford University
About: Matt Laferty teaches a broad range of composition, literature and humanities courses. He teaches often in the Mandel Scholars Academy. He has ongoing interests in art, travel, literature (both traditional and experimental) and in a broad spectrum of recorded popular music since the 1920s.
Lowell, Jeffrey
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5242
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B112
Education: B.A., Gettysburg College
M.A., The Ohio State University
Mericsko, Athena
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5813
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, B-139
Education: M.A. in English Literature, Cleveland State University
B.A. in Writing, University of Mount Union
About: Athena Mericsko always says the two best aspects of her job are that she’s never been bored a day in her career, and every year, she has the opportunity to get to know about 200 more individuals through her classes.
Mericsko has been a proud full-time member of the English department since 2008. During that time, she has taught a variety of courses, from 0960 through upper-level literature classes. Each semester, she enjoys seeing students connect with a variety of texts. She especially finds it gratifying when a student tells her that they were not initially excited about taking a particular course, but to their surprise, they were inspired by the readings and discussions.
Aside from teaching and grading, she also enjoys running in charity races with her family. Her favorite season is fall.
Milam, Lindsay
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4544
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 223Q
Education: M.A. in English Language and Literature, University of Toledo
B.A. in French and English, Baldwin Wallace University
About: Lindsay Milam has been teaching at the Metro Campus since 2004. Her main concentration as a student at the University of Toledo was on Ernest Hemingway, but Jane Austen, Langston Hughes, Edgar Allan Poe and Alice Walker also top her long list of favorite authors. She mostly teaches ENG-1010 and ENG-1020, the ALP (co-requisite with ENG-1010), American Literature II and Introduction to Drama.
Milam loves engaging students in the classroom and schedules as much time as she can in Metro’s Studio 101. In 2019, she won the Excellence in Teaching Award in Honor of Ralph M. Besse. She serves on a number of committees, including the English Placement Committee and the Collegewide Green Team. She also volunteers once a month at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank with a group of Tri-C faculty. She lives in Willowick with her husband, teenage son Nathan and rescue dog Molly.
Morgenstein, Ben
Assistant Professor
benjamin.morgenstein@tri-c.edu
(216) 987-5440
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B223
Education: M.A. in English, University of Tennessee
B.A. in English and Psychology, University of Michigan
About: Benjamin Morgenstein started teaching as an adjunct in 1997, as a lecturer in 2002, and tenure-track in 2002 and enjoys class discussions (both in person and online) and helping students with writing. He was part of the Mandel Leadership Development program during the 2021-2022 academic year and was nominated three times for a Ralph M. Besse teaching award. Morgenstein coordinates the Western Campus Writing Center and sometimes fills in. Morgenstein finds one-on-one writing assistance gratifying and especially helpful for students.
His other activities at Tri-C include — or have included — being part of the Common Reading program (including presenting about the program in Fall 2022 for the Community College Humanities Association), the Gateway Courses committee and teaching honors and FYE classes. His academic interests include creating textbook-free courses using widely available resources, visual analysis, contemporary drama and trauma-informed learning. He enjoys creating and listening to music and going to concerts.
Mullin, Jason
Associate Professor
(216) 987-2182
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus
Education: B.A., Cleveland State University
M.F.A., Cleveland State University
Neel, Paul
Associate Professor
(216) 987-5490
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, C215
Education: B.A., Towson University
M.A., Case Western Reserve University
Ph.D., Kent State University
Okocha, Christie
Professor
(216) 987-4539
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 223
Education: B.Ed., University of Ibadan, Nigeria
M.A., Cleveland State University
J.D., Cleveland Marshall College of Law
Panza, John
Associate Professor
(216) 987-2047
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2125
Education: M.A. in Creative Writing, University of Hull in England
M.A. in English Language and Literature, John Carroll University
B.A. in English Language and Literature, John Carroll University
About: John Panza has been a full-time professor at Tri-C since 2000 and has been with the College since 1997. He teaches courses in honors composition, poetry and British literature. He currently serves as the honors coordinator at the Eastern Campus.
An academic and writer by trade, his creative outlet is music. He plays drums in multiple projects, owns a recording studio, produces albums for other bands and is president of a local music foundation. When not working or playing music, he enjoys spending time with his wife, daughter and their two cats.
Pegman, Andrew
Professor
(216) 987-2360
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2122
Education: Ed.D., Community College Leadership Program of the Roueche Graduate Center, National American University
M.A. in English, Cleveland State University
B.A. in English, John Carroll University
Post-Graduate Certificate in College Teaching: Kent State University
Executive Leadership Program: League for Innovation in the Community College
AACC Roueche Future Leaders Institute
Mandel Leadership Program
About: Andrew Pegman worked as a journalist before receiving his master’s degree in English and earning a doctoral degree in Community College Leadership and a certificate in College Teaching.
Pegman is an award-winning outdoors writer whose stories reflect a lifelong passion for fishing, birding and exploring the wilderness. He has been a contributing writer for National Geographic, Field and Stream, Outdoor Life, American Angler, The Drake, In-Fisherman, Kayak Angler, Paddling Magazine, The Plain Dealer, Outdoor News, The Ohio Cardinal and many other publications. He is the author of Outdoor Tales of Northeast Ohio.
He was recognized nationally with a Distinguished Faculty Award in 2021 by the American Association of Community Colleges. Pegman also won the Excellence in Teaching Award in Honor of Ralph M. Besse.
In addition to his teaching duties, Pegman was the district director of Leadership, Enrichment and Development (LEAD) and served in many other leadership roles at Tri-C.
Piero, Michael
Professor
(216) 987-5401
Department: English
Office Location: Westshore Campus, SLT 229B
Education: Ph.D. in English, Old Dominion University
M.A. in English, John Carroll University
B.A. in Secondary Education: AYA Integrated Language Arts, University of Akron
Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts, Tri-C
About: Mike Piero teaches courses in writing, literature, game studies and the humanities. He studies how popular cultural forms like video games, literature and film deploy dominant ideologies at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, class and religion. He is author of Video Game Chronotopes and Social Justice: Playing on the Threshold (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) and is co-editor of Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (McFarland & Co., 2021). His academic work has appeared — or is forthcoming — in The European Journal of American Culture, CEA Mid-Atlantic Review, Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture, The Popular Culture Studies Journal, Transnational Literature, MediaTropes and elsewhere. Piero’s short fiction and poetry have appeared in Moveable Type, Midway Journal, Oak Tree Journal and Impost: A Journal of Creative and Critical Work. Learn more at mikepiero.org.
Rankins, Michelle
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4124
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2221
Education: B.A., Kent State University
M.A., Cleveland State University
Reyes, Suzanne
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4573
Department: English
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 323P
Education: M.A. in English, John Carroll University
B.A. in English, John Carroll University
About: Suzanne Reyes has taught college English for over 30 years, beginning as a teaching assistant in her M.A. program at John Carroll University and as a full-time faculty member at another college for 17 years before joining Tri-C as an assistant professor in 2008. She has taught a range of composition, literature and business/technical writing subjects over the years. She has also served as the Metro Transitional Reading and Writing coordinator, Metro Honors Program coordinator and will serve as the Metro English coordinator beginning in the 2023-2024 academic year.
Rodriguez, Ryan
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5216
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B150
Education: M.F.A. in Creative Writing, Kent State University
M.A. in English, Iowa State University
B.A. in English, Hiram College
About: Ryan Rodriguez is a student and instructor of language arts. He has a background in environmental education, documentary film work and creative writing. He is married and the father of two children. He is passionate about teaching and forwarding conversations in the creative arts and humanities.
Schlueter, Luke
Associate Professor
(216) 987-5501
Department: English, Humanities
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B225
Education: Ph.D. in English, Kent State University
M.A. in English, University of Dallas
B.A. in English, Franciscan University of Steubenville
About: Luke Schlueter is an associate professor of English, specializing in literature, creative and academic writing and the humanities. He is the coordinator of the Honors Program at the Western Campus and is deeply involved with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Humanities Center at Tri-C.
Schlueter earned his Ph.D. in 2000 after writing his dissertation on the ecological and domestic visions of two contemporary American poets, Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry. He continues to present on these poets and others and is a published poet himself. In his teaching and speaking engagements, Schlueter addresses the role of the humanities in human existence and the importance of reading, writing and civil discourse for engaging with the most challenging problems facing individuals and societies in today's world.
Sierk, David
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-2209
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2218
Education: B.A., Cleveland State University
M.A., Cleveland State University
Skop, Jennifer
Associate Professor
(216) 987-5039
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B218E
Education: M.S. in English, Youngstown State University
Literature for Children and Young Adult Graduate Certificate, Youngstown State University
M.F.A. in Creative Writing, North Eastern Ohio MFA Program/Kent State University
About: Jennifer Skop has taught a full range of English courses over the last two decades of her career. Her specialties are developmental composition, creative writing and children and young adult literature. All of her courses emphasize critical and creative thinking.
She has served as a faculty advisor for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, the Creative Writing Club and Breakwall, Tri-C's literary journal.
Stansberry, Patrick
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-4279
Department: English, Humanities
Office Location: Metropolitan Campus, MLA 223E
Education: M.A. in English, Cleveland State University
B.A. in English and Anthropology, Cleveland State University
About: In 1999, fresh out of grad school and searching for his second career, Pat Stansberry came to the Tri-C Metro Campus to talk about teaching a class. He was in the classroom a week later. He mostly teaches English courses, from college composition to technical writing to literature, and sometimes teaches humanities classes for the Mandel Scholars Academy.
Between working on comma splices and sentence fragments, Stansberry also does a little writing. His short plays have been performed at the Ingenuity Festival and the Eight-by-Eight Festival of Short Plays. His writing has appeared in Pivot Magazine, Whiskey Island Magazine, The Plain Dealer, Strange Horizons, Potomac and Daily Science Fiction.
Mostly, though, he teaches in an office 10 feet away from where he sat for that first interview.
Coin-Sweeney, Casandra
Associate Professor
(216) 987-2140
Department: English
Office Location: Eastern Campus, ESS 2123
Education: Ph.D. candidate in Cleveland State University's Urban Education program, with a specialization in Adult, Continuing and Higher Education
M.A. in English, DePaul University
B.A. in Psychology, Cleveland State University
About: Casandra Sweeney's passion for teaching and learning is contagious. She enjoys learning with her students and seeing them grow into stronger academics and citizens. When she isn't working or studying, she is co-chair of the Northeast Ohio Climate Reality Project and enjoys time outdoors with her family, practicing yoga and petting her many cats.
Williamson, Gayle
Associate Professor
(216) 987-5035
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, B143
Education: B.A., Adrian College
M.F.A., Bowling Green State University
Wilson, Kenneth
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5148
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WBT C209
Education: B.S., Slippery Rock University
M.A., Slippery Rock University
Yates-Konzen, Kirsten
Assistant Professor
kirsten.yates-konzen@tri-c.edu
(216) 987-5188
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WBT C222
Education: A.A., William Rainey Harper College
B.A., University of Iowa
M.A., University of Cincinnati
Zagata, Melissa
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5502
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, B145
Education: M.A. in English, John Carroll University
B.A. in English, John Carroll University
About: Melissa Zagata joined the Tri-C English department as an adjunct in the fall of 1997 and then became a full-time faculty member in 1999. In addition to teaching college composition courses, she also enjoys teaching Introduction to Fiction, Creative Writing, and American Literature. She is currently on the Mandel Faculty Advisory Committee for Mandel Scholars and serves as a mentor to Honors Program Fellows. She has also participated as a judge in the League for Innovation Literary Contest for the past few years. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, running, and reading. Her favorite types of books are contemporary literary fiction and memoirs.
Zeleznik, Theresa
Assistant Professor
(216) 987-5368
Department: English
Office Location: Western Campus, WLA B111
Education: M.A. in English, Cleveland State University
B.A. in English, Cleveland State University