Faculty

COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO

Instructor: Janet Black
Dr. Janet Black is a professor of art history at College of San Mateo. She received her Ph.D. in art history from Boston University and her master's degree in art history at Ohio State University. She also has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Botany from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Prior to coming to CSM she taught at Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and the University of Hartford. As a recipient of numerous research grants and awards, she has lived in France (and later in the Netherlands) and traveled extensively through out the rest of Europe, and especially to Italy. The study of art is her passion and she looks forward to sharing her knowledge and love of art with her students as they explore Florence and the surrounding cities of Italy. This will be her fourth study abroad program.

Instructor: Rebecca Alex
Rebecca Alex, M.F.A., is a practicing artist and adjunct faculty member at College of San Mateo and Cabrillo College. She teaches drawing and painting. Rebecca received her B.A. with distinction in English Literature at Colby College, followed be a fellowship at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. She studied drawing and painting for 6 years at The New York Art Students League and The National Academy of Design. She received her M.F.A. from John F. Kennedy University and has been teaching at the college level for ten years. She has lived in various countries in Europe and visited Florence many times. In Fall 2005, Rebecca taught the Study Abroad program in London, which was the experience of a lifetime! She loves to teach drawing and painting and is looking forward to working with students in such a culturally rich city.

COSUMNES RIVER COLLEGE

Instructor: Alanson (Lanny) Hertzberg
Lanny Hertzberg is a full-time faculty member in the Anthropology department at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California. He attended (and took classes at) Diablo Valley College, California State University-Sacramento, University of San Francisco and University of La Verne. He has a BA in Social Science, an MA in Cultural Anthropology from CSUS, a credential in Educational Technology, and a credential for grades 6-12 in Social Science and Humanities. He has taught in high school (both standard and alternative ed), junior high, university, community college and at Folsom Prison (as a visitor, not inmate). He has taught in California, Malaysia and Singapore. Hertzberg’s specialty in Anthropology is religious belief systems, having a particular fascination with end-of-the-world movements. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Distinguished Teacher Award from the University of California-Santa Cruz. In his alternate job world Hertzberg has also taught computer science, primarily programming. He was an educational technology columnist for eight years in the national magazine “Electronic Learning”. He and his wife, Jane Hansjergen, have their own educational technology consulting firm, operating since 1985. His background in anthropology and technology provide him with an interesting outlook on things; causing him to ponder questions such as: Are online communities real sub-cultures? What happens when virtual reality becomes more real than actual reality? Does electronic communication make racial and religious divisions worse or better?

Instructor: Carolyn Seefer
Carolyn Seefer has been teaching for over 19 years and has been a full-time business professor at Diablo Valley College since 1996. She earned her B.B.A. in Industrial Relations from the University of Georgia in 1984 and her M.B.A. in Financial Management from JFK University in 1996. In addition to teaching, she is extremely active on campus, where she serves as Faculty Advisor for the DVC Business Club, is a member of the Scholarship Committee, and chairs the Distance Learning Task Force. She is also a textbook author, with several published textbooks and teaching materials in the business communications and business English areas. In addition to her love of business, Carolyn is passionate about art, history, literature, and culture. She plans to integrate all of these areas into her business classes in Florence to ensure that students get a full and rich experience. She is especially excited that business students have been given the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, where they will gain the skills necessary to be strong and effective business leaders in the global marketplace. For more information, see http://voyager.dvc.edu/~cseefer/dvc-in-italy.htm

Instructor: Antonia Fannin
Antonia (Toni) Fannin is a full-time faculty member at Diablo Valley College. She has taught literature, composition, and critical thinking for twenty years, four of those years at DVC. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe and speaks both Italian and Spanish, having taught ESL for two years at a language institute in Madrid. As a student at U.C. Berkeley, she majored in English literature and Italian, spending her junior year abroad at the Universita di Padova., a year she considers transformative. Since then she has looked forward to the opportunity to return to Italy with a group of students who are motivated to study and enjoy the life, culture and language of Italy. Her courses, particularly Creative Writing, Shakespeare, and Critical Thinking, will provide students with extensive opportunities for observing, interacting with, understanding and making their own meaning of Italian culture.

SANTA ROSA JUNIOR COLLEGE

Instuctor: Bob Duxbury
Bob Duxbury, English instructor at Santa Rosa Junior College since 1981 was educated in England and Wales, and has an M.A. in English from Leicester University, England. A playwright, his work has been performed on the West Coast and in New York. He has taught the semester abroad program in Paris on four previous occasions. He has traveled widely in Europe, including many visits to Italy. He firmly believes that museums, galleries and cathedrals can be truly fabulous classrooms and is looking forward to exploring and sharing the rich cultural experience of Florence with students who are perhaps overseas for the first time.