English Faculty

Wendy Barnes

Faculty

English

B.A., Sarah Lawrence College
M.F.A., Mills College

N325 1-413-775-1283

Wendy Barnes is Korean. Her Korean name is Hyung-Soon Lee, but she goes by her adopted American name, Wendy Lee Barnes. She earned a Baccalaureate from Sarah Lawrence College and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Mills College. Wendy teaches developmental, composition, literature, and women’s studies courses at GCC; she is also the faculty co-adviser for the Queer Straight Alliance and coordinates the Ben Drabeck Composition Award.

Scott Herstad

Faculty

English

B.A., The College of Saint Scholastica
M.A., Illinois State University

N322 1-413-775-1250

Scott comes from the land of the ice and snow, from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow. He attended a college staffed by beer-drinking nuns. Almost by chance he ended up in a town called Normal surrounded by the humid corn and soybean fields of central Illinois. One day he drove a twenty-four foot U-Haul truck seventeen hours straight until he ended up in New Hampshire. Scott loves teaching and working at GCC. He especially likes his English 090 and 101 classes. He’s also involved in the College Orientation series of classes, and has helped create two new literature classes, ENG 212: Graphic Novel and ENG 210: Creative Nonfiction. Stop by his office sometime and talk with him about his love of country blues and The Price Is Right and his fascination with Lyndon Johnson and Kathy Lee Gifford. All of this is true.

Trevor Kearns

Faculty

English

B.A., University of Wisconsin
B.S., University of Massachusetts
M.F.A., Cornell University

N320 1-413-775-1264

An Air Force brat, Trevor Conan Kearns has lived on four continents, swum in two oceans and a handful of seas, hiked scads of mountains, and met a number of largely well-mannered bears. He holds a B.A. in English and Japanese from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and an M.F.A. from Cornell University. His teaching interests include poetry and poetics, environmental literature, ecocriticism, film, and science fiction. He lives with his wife Robin and son Cirdan, along with sundry companion species, in Wendell.

Christine Monahan

Faculty

English

B.A., Salem State University
M.A., University of Massachusetts

N316 413-238-1510

Christine Jones Monahan stepped foot in GCC’s Main Building in 2003, found her people, discovered her calling, and decided that she never wanted to leave. She holds degrees in English Literature from Salem State College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. You can bend her ear about Renaissance and Restoration poetry and drama, feminist, gender, and queer studies in general, contemporary memoir, the art of narrative, developmental reading and composition, and teaching and technology. Christine lives in Hatfield with her wife, Aileen, their sons, Adam and Andrew, and their little fuzzball, Izzy.

Stephen Poulin

Chair

English

Certificate, University of Washington
B.A., University of Massachusetts
M.A., Western Washington University

N326 1-413-775-1233

Steve Poulin has been an Instructor of English at GCC since 2005. He received his Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his Master’s degree in English from Western Washington University, in Bellingham, Washington. Before returning to the Pioneer Valley, Steve taught at Bellingham Technical College and at City College of San Francisco, California. Steve has worked extensively with disenfranchised populations and has developed English curriculum for severely emotionally disturbed adolescents and incarcerated adults. Steve enjoys hiking and biking and lives with his son, Zachary, and wife, Kim, in Amherst, MA.

Lillian Ruiz

Faculty

English

B.A., University of Rochester
M.A., University of California–Los Angeles

N328A 1-413-775-1236

Lillian Ruiz, Professor of English, began teaching at Greenfield Community College in 1993, chairing the English Department from 1999-2005, and co-chairing from 2008-2010. In addition, she founded and coordinates the Liberal Arts English degree option and the Inclusion and Diversity Center. She holds a B.A. (magna cum laude) in English with a minor in psychology from the University of Rochester, an M.A. in English from UCLA, and 30 graduate units in education from UCLA. Her areas of academic interest are composition and literature, most particularly, Gothic literature and Shakespearean drama. She also teaches public speaking and communications courses. In her spare time she enjoys watching horror films, and is an avid dog lover. Originally from New York City, she now resides in Greenfield, MA, with her husband Dane and their pug Biscotti Cappuccino.