Faculty and Staff

The PIESL faculty and staff are highly-qualified and dedicated professionals. All of the faculty have advanced degrees in language-related fields, and many have overseas teaching experience.

Mike Harpending, Associate Professor
mharpending@unl.edu

* Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Education, Texas A&M University
* M.A., English/TESL, San Francisco State University
* M.A., English, University of San Francisco
* B.A., English, University of Arkansas

Mike has been the Coordinator of Programs in ESL and Director of the Intensive English Program since March, 1999. His professional interests include membership in NAFSA: Association of International Educators (presently ATESL Representative for Region 2) and TESOL, and service (as a Site Reviewer) to CEA (Commission on English Language Program Accreditation). Courses regularly taught include TESL Methods and Language Acquisition. Mike has taught at universities in Saudi Arabia and Japan as well as in California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. His research interest is in Intensive English Program standards and accreditation.

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Sharon Frederick, Office Assistant
sfrederick1@unl.edu

 

 

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Julie Abo, Lecturer
jyabo2000@alltel.net

* M.A., Teaching, University of Puget Sound
* B.A., English, Whitman College

Julie has taught English (composition and literature), English for the International Baccalaureate, English as a Foreign Language and English as a Second Language for students ages 9 through 50 in Japan, Switzerland and in the United States (Washington, California and Illinois). Currently, she is a part time lecturer in the Intensive English Program at UNL. She has two daughters, Maya and Aiko. Her professional interests include multilingual tutoring for young students and teaching composition. She enjoys cross country skiing, hiking, camping, traveling and most recently, dancing Mexican ballet folklórico with her husband and daughters.

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Natalie Baskin, Lecturer

 

 

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Ann Bouma, Lecturer
Bouma2grp@aol.com

 

 

 

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Brenda Friedman Ingraham, Lecturer
bfriedman1@unl.edu

* M.Ed., Linguistics & Language Disabilities, Loyola University of Maryland
* B.S., University of Virginia Charlottesville

Brenda has been teaching at UNL for almost 20 years. Professional interests include language acquisition and use as well as the ways in which creative forms of expression such as poetry and music can facilitate language use. Including her time with the Learning Disabilities Project at UNL and PIESL, Brenda has published and presented widely. Married with three children and three grandchildren, Brenda enjoys listening to classical and indigenous folk music, playing piano, cooking, gardening, reading, writing poetry, and camping (a newly-discovered pursuit).

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Cathy Gabell, Lecturer
cgabell@unlserve.unl.edu

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Emily Herrick, Lecturer
eherrick@unl.edu

* M.A., TESL, Northern Arizona University
* M.A., History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
* B.A., History, Nebraska Wesleyan University

Emily has taught at UNL for 15 years. Idioms and American Culture are professional interests. Emily serves as the Textbook Coordinator for PIESL and is a regular lecturer in the Institute for International Teaching Assistants. She is listed in Who's Who Among America's Teachers, and she has several publications to her name as well as overseas experience in Costa Rica and the Philippines. Emily has one daughter, and she likes to garden, bike, read, travel, camp, watch movies, and volunteer in the community.

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Richard Ingraham, Lab Specialist

 

 

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Tim Janda, Lecturer
tjanda1@unl.edu

* M.A., TESOL, University of Arizona
* B.A., University Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Tim has been at UNL since 1993. Areas of professional interest include composition/rhetoric and the Institute for International Teaching Assistants, for which he is a regular lecturer. He has multiple publications, including a chapter in Virtual Connections. He taught for the Asociación Cultural Hispano-Norte Americano in Spain for several years before joining the PIESL faculty. Tim has two children, and in his free time he enjoys creating graphic art and music, gardening, and many outdoor sports.

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Katherine Nashleanas, Lecturer
knashleanas2@unl.edu

 

 

 

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Carol Ochsner, Lecturer
coschner1@unl.edu

* M.A., English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
* B.S., English Education, University of South Dakota

Carol began teaching at UNL in 1989. Areas of professional interest include ESL in Higher Education, IEP program and curriculum development, academic language, and standardized testing. She oversees all TOEFL and SPEAK testing at UNL, works with the ITA workshop, and serves as Interim Coordinator of the IEP in the Coordinator's absence. Carol has several conference presentations in the U. S. and Canada to her name. When not being a teacher, she is a cross-country skier, an angler, gardener, world traveler, reader, and orienteer.

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Dawn Rammaha, Lecturer
ravenna_74@yahoo.com

* M.A., Applied Linguistics (TESL), Indiana University
* B.A., Spanish, Kent State University

Although Dawn may be relatively new to PIESL, she is not new to the field of ESL, having taught ESL for more than 17 years including 11 years as an intensive English program adminisitrator. Professional interests include Comparative Linguistics, Phonology, Anthropological Linguistics, and Second Language Acquisition. She especially enjoys teaching grammar and phonology. Dawn is an animal lover and advocate for saving endangered wildlife. She enjoys traveling, flower gardening, drawing & oil painting, listening to American & ethnic music, and spending time with family and her own "zoo" of five cats.

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Stacie Swinehart, Lecturer
sswinehart2@unlnotes.unl.edu

* M.A., French, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
* B.A., English & French Education, South Dakota State University

Stacie started teaching at UNL in the Department of Modern Languages & Literature in 1992; she's been with PIESL since 1997, and she lists language acquisition, American culture, and reading comprehension among her areas of professional interest. Married to an ESL teacher with Lincoln Public Schools, Stacie is also the mother of two beautiful young daughters. In whatever spare time she can find, Stacie likes to read, listen to music, attend cultural activities, antique, and learn other languages.

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