LSC Faculty and Staff
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Elise West ejw3@cornell.edu Director 420 CCC 255-6310 |
| Elise West earned her PhD and her Master of Science degree in Educational Psychology from Cornell University. She also earned a BS in Biological Sciences from Cornell. Elise became the Learning Strategies Center's director in 2008, after serving as the Center's academic associate director since 2005. She supervises lecturers who provide tutoring and supplemental courses, and co-directs the planning and implementation of Cornell's Prefreshman Summer Program. Prior to joining the LSC, Elise was Assistant Director of Academic Affairs for Cornell's Division of Nutrition Sciences, where she initiated and implemented changes to the curriculum and the academic advising program to enhance student outcomes. | |
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Jen Bokaer-Smith jcb13@cornell.edu Assistant to the Director 420 CCC 607-255-5844 |
| Jen Bokaer-Smith received a B.S. from U.C. Berkeley in Natural Resources, and a M.S. in Nutrition from Cornell University. She continued for several years as a National Institutes of Health trainee before leaving research to teach. She is especially interested in issues of content area literacy and sustainability education, and has developed a sustainable agriculture education program at her family's farm. Jen has taught the Learning Strategies Center’s Critical Reading and Thinking course, and has provided individual study strategy support to students. She also manages the Learning Strategies Center’s Reading Laboratory, and assists the Director with the overall management of the Learning Strategies Center to enhance the learning and academic achievement of Cornell Students. | |
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Patty Alessi pa31@cornell.edu Mathematics, Statistics 212 Malott 607-255-8637 |
| Patty Alessi earned a BA and MS in Mathematics Education at SUNY Brockport and continues doctoral studies at Syracuse University. In addition to being a senior lecturer, Patty supervises mathematics instruction in the Prefreshman Summer Program and coordinates the LSC Statistics Lab, which provides free tutoring for selected undergraduate statistics courses. Patty has also instituted online evaluation in the Prefreshman Summer Program and developed a new fall course, Math 1000, Calculus Preparation. Prior to her employment at Cornell University in 1995, Patty taught mathematics at Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland, Tompkins Cortland Community College and Maui Community College. Patty has presented articles concerning alternative teaching methods at the University of Hawaii and the Heald College Instructor Training Workshop in California. Patty has conducted workshops in the ACE and Liberty Partnership Programs, Homework Helpline at CU and Industrial Electronics Training in New York State industries. Patty was the recipient of the Mathematics: Excellence in Teaching Award in December 2006. | |
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Albert Alexander awa2@cornell.edu Economics 420 CCC 607-255-3464 |
| Albert Alexander earned an MA from New York University and a BA from University of Illinois in economics and has taught economics as an adjunct instructor and an assistant professor at Ithaca College and at other colleges in the Ithaca, New York area for the last twenty-three years. He has been providing instruction for the supplemental economics courses, professional tutoring and program development for economics courses since he joined the LSC staff. | |
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Michael Chen msc7@cornell.edu Study Skills Coordinator 421 CCC 607-255-0553 |
| Mike Chen has a BA in English from Yale and an MFA in creative writing from Cornell. Much more importantly, he has been helping Cornell students with their study skills since the turn of the century. He teaches HE1100, a study skills course, as well as its summer equivalent, HE1110, as part of the Prefreshman Study Program. Mike coordinates LSC study skills services, and consults one-on-one with students on their time management, note-taking, test preparation and other issues related to their studies. | |
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Caitlin Cunningham cc487@cornell.edu Asst. Coordinator, Statistics 421 CCC 255-6284 |
| Caitlin Cunningham earned her B.A. at the University of Notre Dame in 2004, with a major in History and a second major in Mathematics. She worked for two years as an actuary for a personal insurance company, and passed four of the actuarial exams necessary for certification. In 2006, she enrolled at Cornell to pursue a Ph. D. in Statistics. She joined the staff of the LSC in the fall of 2008 as the assistant director for the statistics lab. In addition, she is a TA for BTRY 6100, a graduate level introductory statistics class for science students. She has significant experience both tutoring and TAing statistics and calculus for both undergraduate and graduate students. | |
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Lindsay Goodloe lg32@cornell.edu Biology G-24 Stimson 607-255-0974 |
| Lindsay Goodloe earned an AB in zoology from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University. His thesis research concerned orientation mechanisms of homing pigeons. Prior to joining the LSC in 1988, Lindsay taught biology courses at SUNY at Binghamton, the University of Maryland University College (European Division), the University of Maine, and Ithaca College. Now a senior lecturer, Lindsay's responsibilities include teaching a support course for students enrolled in introductory biology for majors and assisting students taking general genetics. Since joining the LSC, he has co-authored study guides for several introductory biology textbooks and developed a laboratory exercise on the feeding behavior of slugs that is now widely used in secondary schools. | |
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Mark Jauquet maj29@cornell.edu Mathematics 420 CCC 607-255-8269 |
| Mark Jauquet earned an MA in Teaching (Mathematics) from Cornell University in 2004 and an Executive Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Buffalo in 1997. Mark has been a lecturer with the Learning Strategies Center since 2002, in which time Mark has specialized in teaching support classes for the first year Calculus classes. His other responsibilities include developing the undergraduate course assistant training program and supervising undergraduate tutors. Prior to joining the Learning Strategies Center, Mark was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Africa from 1991-1993 and most recently he co-founded a successful Internet startup company specializing in on-line auction software. | |
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Steve Johnson skj29@cornell.edu Chemistry 154 Baker 607-255-2753 |
| Steve Johnson earned a B.A. in chemistry from Augustana College in South Dakota in 1991, and he earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Iowa State University in 1998. Steve taught chemistry at colleges in West Virginia and New York before becoming joining the Cornell Learning Strategies Center in 2008. Steve’s research interests involve chemistry education, such as using technology, quizzes, and other learning strategies to teach chemistry. Steve is a chemistry lecturer and the instructor for Chem 1007 and 1008. | |
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Elizabeth Lawson ewl4@cornell.edu Writing 234 Goldwin Smith Hall 607-255-3428 |
| Elizabeth Lawson graduated with a BA in English from Bryn Mawr College and then, after working at Kew Royal Botanic Garden for a year and serving as a Botanical Instructor at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden for two years, earned a Master’s in Botany from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in Plant Biology from Cornell. She edited for the Ecological Society of America and for the Botanical Society of America for a number of years before starting a career in teaching writing at Ithaca College, where she has taught Professional Writing, Academic Writing, Technical Writing, Personal Essay, Writing as a Naturalist, and Science Writing during the academic year and for three summers taught for the Office of Multicultural Affairs in their prefreshmen programs. As Writing Liaison for the Learning Strategies Center and the Knight Writing Program, she meets one on one with students for writing consultation. | |
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Bob Lieberman rhl10@cornell.edu Physics B14 Rockefeller 607-255-7451 |
| Robert Lieberman is a Senior Lecturer in Physics. Recipient of the Clark Award for Distinguished Teaching, he has been running the LSC Physics Center since 1980. Prior to that he was a professor in Cornell’s College of Engineering and before that he held positions at a number of institutions as a professor of mathematics. A member of Cornell’s Class of '62, he completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at Polytechnic Institute in New York City as part of their Accelerated Honors Program. He returned to graduate school at Cornell and received a Masters Degree in the field of Biophysics & Neurophysiology. In addition to his work in science, Robert Lieberman is a best-selling novelist with six published books including “The Last Boy” and “Baby.” He has made films for PBS and has completed feature films including “Green Lights” and "Last Stop Kew Gardens" (www.ithacamovies.com), which have been shown in theaters around the country. Mr. Lieberman has held Fulbright Lectureships to both the Philippines and the former Czechoslovakia. | |
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Allen MacNeill adm6@cornell.edu Biology G-24 Stimson 607-255-3357 |
| Allen MacNeill earned a BS in biology from Cornell in 1974 and an MA in science education from Cornell in 1977, and has taught the support course for introductory biology at Cornell University since 1976. As a senior lecturer for the Learning Strategies Center, Allen works with students taking both majors and non-majors introductory biology. In addition, he organizes and carries out in-service training for teaching assistants in biology and related fields. Allen also teaches evolution for the Cornell Summer Session, and has taught the introductory evolution course for non-majors at Cornell. He has served as a Faculty Fellow at Ecology House and as an honorary member and faculty advisor for the Cornell chapter of the Golden Key International Honour Society. He has served on numerous advisory committees and editorial boards at Cornell and in the Ithaca community. | |
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Helene Selco hs29@cornell.edu Study Skills 420 CCC 607-255-6122 |
| Helene Selco earned a bachelor’s degree in English Education and a master’s degree in the Psychology of Reading from Temple University and a Ph.D. in Education from Case Western Reserve University. In addition, she holds Reading Specialist and Educational Media Specialist certificates from Temple University. Helene has taught at the middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate levels in the School District of Philadelphia, at Mercyhurst College, at Gannon University, and at The Pennsylvania State University. Prior to coming to Cornell, Helene taught at Oberlin College. Before returning to the classroom fulltime to teach HE1100, a study skills course she created at Cornell along with HE1101, Helene was Director of Cornell’s Learning Strategies Center, Prefreshman Summer Program and, most recently, Center for Learning and Teaching. Helene has devoted her teaching career to helping students excel academically. | |
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Jane Walcott jtw8@cornell.edu Chemistry 156 Baker Lab 607-255-4529 |
| Jane Walcott earned a BA in Biology from Beloit College in Wisconsin, an MA in Neurobiology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and teaching certification from the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. Her professional experiences include research in the Department of Surgery at the University of Wisconsin, working with the ACTION Program for Great Lakes Intertribal Council and teaching high school biology and chemistry. Before joining the LSC as a lecturer in Chemistry in 2000, she was on the Advisory Board of the Alternative Community School in Ithaca, a research support specialist in Entomology and a Teaching Associate in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell. In 1999 she was a recipient of the Clark Teaching Award. | |
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Helen Ann Yunis hay8@cornell.edu Reading Lab Coordinator 420 CCC 607-255-8269 |
| Helen Ann Yunis earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Denver College of Law. She has been licensed to practice law in Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, the Navajo Nation and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. She practiced poverty law with a focus on indigenous rights for over a decade in Navajo and with different tribes in Michigan. She is the Reading Lab Coordinator at the Learning Strategies Center. She runs the Reading Lab, where students work on their reading speed and comprehension, and she consults one on one with students to help them read more efficiently. | |