About Me

Professionally:

I graduated with my undergraduate and graduate degrees from California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). I am a voracious reader, researcher, and rhetorician, and it is my belief and desire to cultivate an appreciation of and awareness for literacy and self-reflexivity, especially since the Ancient Greeks implored the people to “know thyself.” Therefore, my teaching and educational interests traverse multiple disciplines: literature, composition, and logic as well as the social sciences, life sciences, and history. I believe in a well-rounded education and refining the skills of critical thinking, problem solving, and communication.

My teaching experience at the collegiate level started at my alma mater, CSUSB. From there, I taught for Central Texas College (CTC) and the United States Navy. For a number of years, I sailed around the world offering college courses to our U.S. sailors aboard various naval vessels. I was also the lead General Education Instructor for Platt College, a private college in Riverside, California. Now I am a full-time, tenured English Professor at Truckee Meadows Community College (TMCC) with the hope of contributing to the northern Nevada community.

I have high expectations for myself and my students, and I steadily hold them to those expectation. I want everyone I work with to succeed, but success only comes through hard-work, persistence when that work gets to be hard, and humility once that work finally pays off.

Personally:

I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. As such, I am a big fan of the Chiefs, the Royals, BBQ, bass fishing, country music, and jazz. I have spent, however, the last 26 years of my life in the Inland Empire region of Southern California. That also makes me a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Lakers, Mexican food, and beach volleyball. I'm half Hispanic (on my mother's side) and half Anglo (on my father's side), so like my tastes in sports and food, I am a mixed bag of flavors and culture.

I'm also an avid outdoorsman. I enjoy fishing, hunting, camping, and climbing, but my preferred outdoor activity is hiking. I have hiked mountains and trails all around the world, from Mt. Fuji in Japan to the Outback of Australia to the Pacific Crest Trail along the West Coast of the United States. More times than I can recall, we have spent nights in the woods or blazed a trail up a mountain side. I am also an avid traveler, explorer, and adventurer. I've been to places like Singapore, South Korea, Bahrain, Italy, Greece, Hong Kong, Thailand, and more. Last, but certainly not least, I am a family man. With my wife, Natalie, our son, Jameson, our daughter, Presley, and our Chihuahua, Rico, I enjoy a quiet evening at home, cooking, watching a Netflix drama, or enjoying the starry night sky.

My professional education coupled with my personal travels, trials, and life experiences help me bring to my classes a richer understanding of and appreciate for a multitude of cultures, communities, and ways of viewing in the world.