Dolly Litvak, Ph.D., Coordinator

Rob Baranello, B.A.

Kathy McHale, M.A.

Cece Blake, M.A., A.B.D.

Fran O'Brien, M.A.

Tom D'Angelo, M.A.

Lillian Polak, M.A.

Adele Fisher, Ph.D., TESL Certificate

Dolly comes to the Writing Center with a multilingual/multicultural background, for she was born and raised in Mexico City where she became fluent in Spanish, English, Hebrew and Yiddish. In addition to holding a B.A. in American and British literature from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, she attended New York University where she received an M.A. and Ph.D. in TESOL. Dolly's thirty-four year experience in ESL ranges from teaching in a high school in the South Bronx, running the ESL and literacy programs at the Adult Learning Center in the Flushing Library, to teaching at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tel Aviv University, Hofstra, New York Institute of Technology and Queens College. Having lived in three countries and being learning disabled has made Dolly very sympathetic to ESL/LD students.

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Johanna Mastrototaro, a graduate of Nassau Community College, holds a Bachelor of Social Science from Adelphi University, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Queens College/CUNY. In addition to tutoring, she teaches English 101 and 001 and Introduction to Women's Studies (WST 101). Johanna has developed two creative writing courses for Lifelong Learning here at Nassau (Introduction to Creative Writing & Creative Writing Workshop), which she teaches each semester. Beside her teaching career, she works as an assistant to the coordinator of the NCC Women's Studies Project and is a member of the Long Island Writing Project. Johanna is in the process of completing her chapbook, Mourning Song and is working on a creative writing workbook.

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Adele has her Ph.D. and her ESL certificate from University of Toronto; she is a full-time faculty member in the Writing Center. Adele teaches English 101, ESL, Business Writing and English 105; she frequently leads Writing Center ESL and 105 groups.

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Kathy holds a B.A. in English and an M.A. in English Literature from Adelphi University where she was a member of the English Honor Society and the Department's Round Table. In addition to tutoring in NCC's Writing Center, she teaches freshman composition and literature courses. Before coming to NCC, she wrote copy for Adelphi's Public Relations and counseled in the ABLE Program.

Kathy's special interests are mythology, folklore (especially Native American) and poetry.

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Professor Tom D'Angelo is responsible for maintaining the Writing Center's Web site and managing the WCenter's E-Tutoring service. After receiving his B.A. in English Literature and M.A. with a concentration in Creative Writing from Queens College/CUNY.

In addition to his interest in the Writing Center, Tom specializes in grammar, Biblical literature and creative writing and has extensive experience in basic skills and ESL instruction.

Tom is now a tenured assistant professor in his sixth year at NCC.

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Fran also teaches writing classes at NCC and she has been tutoring in the Writing Center for three years. Students are blessed by her quiet spirit and her wonderful sense of humor.

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Lillian has been a tutor at the Writing Center since 1989, and a classroom instructor at NCC since 1992. She is equally at home teaching ESL, literature, research or basic composition, with or without a computer.

Lillian completed her B.A. in English with a minor in History at Hunter College, CUNY, and her M.A. in English at Brooklyn College, CUNY, where she studied Research with Karl Beckson. Her Master's thesis, directed by Maurice Kramer, involves the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the legal and literary background of Stowe's second slavery novel, Dred, and the infamous Dred Scott case.

Lillian maintains an interest in the visual arts. She frequently uses her WebCT site to introduce her students to a variety of paintings about which they enjoy writing.

Additional graduate work includes Judah Stemper's course in the Tragedies of Shakespeare at Stony Brook University (SUNY) and courses at Boston University, Columbia University and Hofstra University.

Lillian has presented talks about Stowe and Dred at conferences sponsored by the American Literature Association and the New York College English Association.

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Robert Baranello has been a tutor at the Writing Center since 1997. He worked as an editor at New York Nightlife magazine from 1989 to 1997 and has written for a number of regional and national publications including the New York Times, Newsday, and the Village Voice. He has been a columnist/general contributor at Distinction Magazine since 1998. He holds a B.A. in non-fiction writing.

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Matthew Posillico acquired his B.S. in microbiology from Cornell and his M.A. in cultural anthropology from Duke. As a graduate student, he began designing and teaching writing seminars for Duke freshmen using social and cultural issues to prompt discussion and composition. His pedagogy introduced students to the concept of "reader expectation," where students train themselves to write from the reader's perspective. He persuaded students to embrace the habit of interrogating their own compositions just as they would course texts. Some of Matthew's course titles included "The Cultural Construction of Illness" and "Campus Culture."

He has written frequently on cultural production and social reproduction, education and the working class, language and gender role formation, culture and advertising, college student drinking, exchange theory and discourse analysis. He treats the composition as a personal, meaning-making enterprise rather than an obligation to identify certifiably correct answers. He takes pride in building a student's confidence through gentle rapport, tender correction and constant, positive appraisal.

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When she is not tutoring in the Writing Center, Cece is often teaching composition classes at NCC. Be sure to ask her about her fascinating musical career.

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Marie Robinson joined the Writing Center after a thirty-seven year career as a high school English teacher in the Massapequa School District. She taught courses at all grade levels and spent many years teaching in the Honors English program for sophomore, junior and senior students. Her years of experience enable her to work with students of many different abilities. She enjoys working with college students and is impressed by how hard many of them are striving to achieve their goals. She finds working with the ESL students particularly rewarding.

Marie still enjoys teaching at the high school level and frequently serves as a substitute teacher or tutor. She went back to teach full-time during the spring 2003.

Her degrees include a B.A. in English education from SUNY Albany and an M.A. from SUNY Stony Brook, plus sixty credits from various colleges, including Columbia University, Hofstra University and C.W. Post College.

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Professor Finneran has worked as a tutor for the NCC Writing Center since 1989 and as an instructor for the NCC English Department since 1996. She holds a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts with specializations in English, Italian and Psychology from Hofstra University, as well as an M.S. in Education and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics from the same institution. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, where she has completed 52 credits toward a degree in Applied Linguistics.

Professor Finneran has also taught writing to international students at the Language Institute for English at Adelphi University and the English Language Program at Hofstra University. She currently teaches English as a Second Language, remedial writing, Children's Literature and Linguistics at NCC, and is a volunteer advisor for the NCC Future Teachers Initiative.

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Eric Schramm: Eric comes to the NCC Writing Center will decades of tutorial experience. He has worked at the Queens College Writing Center since 1985, continuing to serve as that center's evening supervisor.

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Charlotte Hoffmann is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hofstra University, earning a B.A. in American History with minor in English and Psychology, an M.A. in English Literature and an M.S. in Reading. For more than 20 years she has been a tutor in the Writing Center at NCC.

By virtue of her own ESL background, she has an affinity with Nassau's foreign students.

Her published works include poetry, children's stories and numerous op-ed pieces.

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Eileen Leff comes to the Writing Center with a B.A. in American Literature and an M.S. in Special Education, both from Hofstra University. For the past 18 years, she has been teaching English at W. TRESPER Clarke High School in Westbury, New York. She was selected to be the Academic Intervention Specialist to work with students at risk. Prior to working at Clarke, she worked in a Special Education class at J.F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore for five years.

Eileen is very attuned to students with varied learning styles because of her background in Special Education and work with ESL students. At NCC, she continues in her role as a mentor of students' writing.

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Barbara Levy, J.D., M.P.S.

Barbara takes a somewhat Socratic approach to tutoring, asking students questions to help them develop their own understanding of the writing process. She guides them from her experience in research and writing as a civil rights lawyer, a private tutor and an author of short stories and non-fiction articles.

In addition to her law degree, Barbara holds a master's degree in Creativity Development from Pratt Institute and is currently working toward an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College.

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Elisa Powell, M.S. Ed.
Elisa is a graduate of the Canisius College of Buffalo, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Science in Education. During her ten years in Buffalo, Elisa specialized in teaching preparatory writing skills and ESL to incoming freshmen, refugees and immigrants.
Most recently, Elisa coordinated the tutorial program at Queensborough Community College/CUNY, where she still teaches preparatory writing classes. Additionally, she teaches composition, literature, ESL and preparatory writing for the New York Institute of Technology, as well as her work here at Nassau.

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