Honors Faculty

Corey Adler has taught Sociology and Women’s Studies at Leeward CC since 2009.  She holds a BA in sociology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MA and PhD in Sociology from the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa.  Her areas of interest include gender, intersectionality, deviance, crime, and incarceration.  Prior to teaching at Leeward CC she worked at various local community organizations serving at-risk and adjudicated youth, sexual assault survivors, and provided sexual assault awareness and prevention education.  She enjoys being outdoors, swimming, and spending time with her husband, two rambunctious kids, and aging-but-still-mischievous dog.

I grew up on Oahu and went to public school (Ala Wai Elementary, Kailua Intermediate, Kailua High).  I got my bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in Religious Studies.  I was a maternal and child health care volunteer in the Peace Corps in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (Sahara Desert, West Africa).  I returned home and got a masters in public health from UH Mānoa and did STD and HIV/AIDS work for twelve years at the Waikiki Health Center and Life Foundation.  Next I did violence against women prevention work (sex assault, rape, stalking, domestic violence) for five years at the UH Mānoa Women's Center and went back to school where I got a Masters in sociology and a graduate-level certificate in Women's Studies.  For three years I worked at Windward Community College (WCC) on a grant to increase Native Hawaiian access to higher education and lectured on the side at WCC, UH Mānoa, UH West Oahu, and Leeward CC.  In August 2011 I was hired as a full-time, permanent instructor at Leeward CC where I am very happy to be!!!  I love my pets, husband, and son.  I like to hike and do yoga.  I have a wicked sense of humor, tend to swear a lot, and I can't spell or do math well.

Lexer Chou (she/her) is an educator who strives to "be the change she wishes to see in the world" (Gandhi).  She was blessed to have grown up in the Bay Area as a huge 49ers fan.  She graduated with her Master's Degree in Higher Education from the University of California, Sacramento, and is currently a forever doctorate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in Education Administration.  She is passionate about nurturing future leaders with the intent of helping them develop skills that will allow them to create positive change in their communities.  She currently serves as the Student Life Director and Student Services Coordinator at Leeward Community College, a campus located in Puʻuloa on the island of Oʻahu.

Michael Oishi teaches courses in American, British, and world literatures, as well as specialized courses in science fiction, children's literature, multiethnic American literatures, Asian American literatures, and the literatures of Hawai'i.  He has taught at and is a graduate of the University of Washington, UH Mānoa and, most importantly, Leeward Community College.

Aloha mai kākou!

I am a community college graduate; it took me five years to earn my AA degree in Mathematics while I attended school part time and worked full time.  I eventually earned my BA and MA degrees in religion, where I specialized in South Asian religions (primarily Hinduism and Buddhism). I have been teaching at Leeward Community College since Fall 2011 and have enjoyed every single semester.

My hobbies include hiking and gardening; I read books about lāʻau lapaʻau in my free time.  I am quite the nerd: I am obsessed with rewatching my favorite films and recently watched the anime Your Name about ten times!  I have an Aussiedor fur baby named Pualena who loves to hike mountains and I'm married to a local Filipino guy from Pearl City who has two teenagers and an addiction to the ocean. 

Rain Wright received her Ph.D. in English with a focus on creative writing, life writing, and critical ethnic studies theory from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.  She currently teaches at Leeward, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and the University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu.  Rain enjoys teaching creative writing (both creative nonfiction and fiction), culture & literature, literature & history, and Indigenous and Afrofuturism--as well as many other courses.  She is a committee member and moderator for the First Year Writing Symposium committee, which takes place every year in March.  Rain is the author of The Language of Mothers (2025), from Running Wild Press, a hybrid memoir grounded in the power of prose and poetry.  It is an imaginative tapestry of women’ s storytelling that punctures narrative craft to illuminate the inheritance of domestic trauma and the voicing of familial stories that are healing spaces.  Rain is the Prose Editor for Antipodes Journal and a board member and editor for Ho’olana Publishing.