Meet Our Faculty

When he graduated from Gaylord High School, John Koss opted to spend a few years exploring the American Southwest and Florida, never knowing what to expect around the next mountain or marshland. Good training for a job that requires staying on top of a moving target like cloud computing.

“It is constantly evolving,” says Koss, Macomb’s lead professor in its Information Technology (IT) – Cloud Computing program. “Cloud computing is a real shift in the way things can be done. Resources are infinite, and you can do whatever it is you want with it.”

Koss didn’t start out aiming for the cutting edge of the computing field. In fact, he was on track toward an engineering career after earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronic Engineering from the University of Michigan – Dearborn.

“After college, I was doing software development for a small firm and fell in love with it,” relates Koss, who also earned a master’s degree in business administration from U of M. “I like to make things, and I loved the creativity in it.”

Encouraged by his wife, Janet, and his mother to corral his innate ability “to explain things” into a teaching position, Koss attended an adjunct faculty fair at Macomb.  He was hired to teach an intro IT class in 2003 and was persuaded by the experience to switch fields. He began teaching full time at Macomb in 2004.

“There is nothing more rewarding then helping someone. It really is true that we can change lives,” says Koss. “I can’t even tell you the number of emails that I receive from former students who tell me how much happier they are, how much more money they are making and how grateful they are that I helped them navigate through (cloud computing’s) rapidly changing maze.”

Despite his years up north and in the South and Southwest, Koss is no stranger to Macomb County. He grew up in Mount Clemens and Richmond before moving with his family to Gaylord.  Likewise, despite graduating from U of M, he is no stranger to community colleges.

“I started at Valencia Community College in Orlando,” relates I Koss. “I had a great experience there. The faculty were very enthusiastic and it propelled me to continue on for several more years in school.”

Somewhere between his travels and his studies, Koss took up snowboarding, and motorcycle riding and customization, with a machine shop of his own accommodating the latter. He also regularly supplements his formal studies with online learning so that he remains current with all the trends and developments in cloud computing.

“It is an enormous field,” says Koss, who believes Macomb’s Cloud Computing program is the only one in the nation offered at a community college. “Most are grad programs, but the structure of Macomb’s classes gives our students a practical edge.”

If he were a character in a novel, that Dickensian top hat and volume of Chaucer tucked under his arm would clearly indicate to readers that Clark Iverson is a professor of English. But it’s his ability to show students what it takes to craft a meaningful verse or sentence and the wider implications of such labors that has endeared him to them.

“Do not be afraid to take chances and make mistakes,” extols Iverson, a writer of poetry and prose whose work has appeared in such anthologies as Abandoned Automobile. “It may not feel comfortable, but it is enormously useful for learning and development, not just as a writer but in any discipline.”

Iverson grew up in working-class neighborhoods on Detroit’s east side and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wayne State University before realizing, “I didn’t want to make psychology my life’s work.” Then, a class in urban folklore encouraged him to give literature “another try.” He earned a master’s degree in English at Wayne State, with “friends and poetry” leading him to Macomb 23 years ago.

“I believe in undergraduate education,” says Iverson. “I most enjoy seeing the veil lift from my students’ faces when they grasp something new.”

A member of the Liberal Arts Network for Development’s planning committee and a co-founder of Macomb’s annual Day of Poetry, Iverson served as faculty advisor to an on-campus writers’ club a few years back. But as students’ interests changed, membership waned.

“If a core group of motivated students wanted to establish one again,” pledges Iverson, “I’d help them in a heartbeat.”

To refresh after an academic year, Iverson enjoys “arguing, cuddling cats, reading, eating sweets and surrealism.”  And his trusty top hat?  “I wear it for professional work, never for basketball or gardening.”

This summer, however, has not been quite as refreshing as those past, with the specter of COVID-19 casting uncertainty on most everything. For his part, Iverson has been practicing social distancing at home with “a completely wonderful woman named Karen,” with whom he has been married for 39 years and shares two children and a granddaughter. And, although he would prefer to interact with students in a classroom this fall, he has taught online since March and will continue to do so until it’s safe to return to campus.

“Public health has to take priority over pedagogical preference,” he notes. “I’m just trying to think carefully about teaching in a time of pandemic and upheaval.”

During his career at Macomb, Iverson has taught first-year composition, creative and advanced creative writing, poetry, fiction, American literature and Shakespeare. But more telling is the number of former students with whom he still corresponds.

“I could fill a year’s worth of classes,” says Iverson, “with students who have kept in touch.”

If a hobby is what gives one their greatest sense of joy, Carol Plisner’s is making a difference in her students’ lives. She is a professor/faculty coordinator in Macomb’s Physical Therapy Assistant (PTA) program and continues to work with patients for a community health organization, ensuring that her classroom instruction is infused with real-life versus textbook scenarios.

“I’ll come into class after working over the weekend and ask, ‘Who can help me with this case?’” says Plisner. “Some students come up with really great ideas. It makes teaching easier.”

Clinical experience, Plisner believes, is what sets Macomb’s PTA faculty apart from those at other colleges and universities. All were practicing physical therapists before they became instructors or professors, with most still working in the field.

“We are one of the only schools that can say that,” says Plisner.

Plisner grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. But “vibrant” Boston is where she was drawn after graduating from high school. It offered the promise of tens of thousands of likeminded college students attending one of the city’s 50+ colleges and universities, the most in any U.S. urban area. Plisner decided quickly upon Boston College, but choosing a major took a little more time.

“No one guided me, and women were still being encouraged to go into what they called the ‘helping professions,’” relates Plisner. “I didn’t want to be a nurse or (at the time) a teacher, but physical therapy appealed to me, even though I had no idea what to expect.”

She earned her bachelor’s degree and began working immediately at a large medical center in the New York area, discovering she had found a profession that meshed with her values and interests.

“I learned early on about the struggles of the elderly and the disadvantaged,” says Plisner, who went on to earn a master’s degree in adult education from Central Michigan University. “Community health has been a passion of mine ever since.”

Plisner and her husband, Bruce, retired military who now manages a medical practice, were brought to Michigan in 1983 by his work. The couple’s children, Amanda and Evan, are University of Michigan graduates with careers in Los Angeles. Amanda is an attorney with the California Department of Justice and Evan is associated with a private equity firm.

Taking just a year off when her oldest child was born, Plisner has continued to work in community health for more than 25 years. But because of her colleagues, her students and the “high bar” the college sets for its programs, Plisner considers her faculty position at Macomb to be “the best job in America.”

“In (career and technical education), we have tangible evidence of the difference we make in the lives of our students. There are a number of them who never had anyone believe in them. When they get that degree and pass that exam, you have given them a sense of independence,” relates Plisner. “I have a former student of mine, a single mom, who was hired as a PTA after graduating. She called to thank me recently because she could finally afford to get her 12-year-old braces.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While attending Macomb’s faculty academy several years ago, Betsy Jenaway made an important discovery about herself. She was a “visual” learner, which helped explain the twisting path that took her from a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan to a master’s degree in Information Systems from Lawrence Technological University and a teaching position at Macomb.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do starting out,” says Jenaway. “But mom and dad said, ‘You are going to college.’”

Jenaway took business classes first, but was more interested in history. After earning her degree, jobs were scarce and she worked in a bank, as a credit counselor, in a sales department and for the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit, before deciding to return to the classroom. Deciding to try something new, she took programming and coding classes and finally found her passion.  Which, she now understands, was attributable to her learning style. She relates best to charts, maps and graphs, as many of her current students do.

“I love the problem solving that is involved in IT,” offers Jenaway. “When I’m coding, I lose all track of time. My family has to remind me when it’s time for dinner.”

Jenaway joined Macomb’s IT faculty in 2006 and teaches programming and database design classes. During her summer vacation, she develops her class assignments for the next school year. This year, however, she finds herself a visual learner once again.

“I do teach some classes online, and that helped when we had to adapt all our classes to online,” says Jenaway, referencing the last part of the winter semester after COVID-19 shut down the campuses. “Now, I’m trying to be the best Zoom teacher that I can be so I can keep my students engaged.”

Jenaway prefers to work at a community college versus a university because, she says, “I am a teacher, not a researcher.” She also appreciates how much she learns from her students, many of whom started out like she did, not sure of what career they wanted to pursue.

“This is incredibly rewarding work,” says Jenaway. “I love it when I hear from prior students and they let me know where they are now.”

Jenaway grew up in Detroit and dated her husband, Len, an aerospace engineer, when they were attending Regina and Notre Dame high schools, respectively. But the couple went their separate ways and didn’t meet again until both were U of M students in Ann Arbor. An avid hiker (shown here at Yosemite), Jenaway has lately been sheltering in place with her husband and their daughter, Julia, 21, a civil engineering student at Michigan Technological University.

“Each of us have our own zones in the house,” says Jenaway. “And all three of us take turns making dinner.”

Jenaway is excited about the start of the fall semester, regardless of what format classes will be offered in. One thing that will never change, however, is the reward she gets from her work.

“Few people can say that they have a direct impact on another person’s life,” relates Jenaway, “but that’s what we do.”

There are no firefighters in Joel Higuchi’s family and when he enrolled at Macomb right after high school, he thought he would become an electrical engineer. A grateful community is benefitting today because he decided otherwise.

“I was good in math and science, but the thought of sitting in a cubicle all day wasn’t appealing,” says Higuchi, who has been with the Roseville Fire Department since 2002. “In revaluating what I wanted to do with my life, I realized that what you do every day as a paramedic/firefighter has an immediate impact.”

A Chippewa Valley High School graduate, Higuchi followed up his Associate of Applied Science Degree in EMT: Paramedic/Firefighter from Macomb with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Paramedic Technologies from Sienna Heights University. He now teaches part-time in Macomb’s Fire and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Technology program and is taking the necessary training to teach online, another aspect of his life that has been challenged by COVID-19.

“The EMS dynamic has changed drastically,” relates Higuchi. “Prior to the pandemic, our Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) was a set of gloves. Now, it takes several minutes to get on an isolation gown, booties, respirator, goggles, head cover and two pairs of gloves prior to leaving the station for an emergency call. We are getting quicker at it though.”

The Roseville Fire Department consists of two stations, which (pre-pandemic) respond to over 8,000 EMS and fire calls annually. Higuchi, like most paramedic/firefighters, works a 24-hour shift with five days on/four days off. Everyone on duty, he notes, “learns how to fall asleep and wake up very quickly.” COVID-19, however, has impacted how this normally close-knit crew interrelates in their close living quarters.

“It is not uncommon to see firefighters wearing masks around the station,” says Higuchi, “and not sitting together as a family.”

Regarding his instructors at Macomb as “extremely influential role models,” Higuchi hopes to follow in their footsteps by “helping students realize their dreams.” Teaching at Macomb since 2003, he finds himself working with more and more of those he has taught.

“I look out at each new class and know I may be looking at a future partner,” says Higuchi. “The perseverance they have shown completing their classes online this year tells me they are ready for the job.”

In the beginning of the pandemic, Roseville’s fire chief and other administrative personnel, says Higuchi, made sure first responders had the PPE they needed to reduce their risk in the field or, worse yet, of bringing the virus home to their families. For Higuchi, that family includes wife Karen and sons Scott, 12, and Matthew, 10. With a template provided by L’Anse Creuse Schools, the couple have homeschooled their sons during the stay-at-home order with mom, a pre-school teacher, taking on English and social science courses, while Dad handles the math and science.

“They are great kids and handling the change well. Of course, they are bummed they can’t see their friends or go anywhere, but they understand,” says Higuchi. “We normally live such a busy life that, in an odd way, it has been nice to spend so much time together.”

Julie Lambert’s first intimation that she might be destined for a career in art was noticing how her kindergarten classmates weren’t coloring within the lines like she did. Despite that young nod to convention, Lambert’s art actually digs deep down past any surface aesthetic.

“A lot of my work has to do with aspects of feminist ideals. After all, I am a woman and a mother,” says Lambert. “But my work also identifies with the human condition. We are all flawed. We are all broken.”

Her recent series of paintings is a case in point.  A runner with several marathons to her credit, Lambert trains on a regular route that is often lined by road kill. It struck her one day that there was a connection between the risks taken by these ill-fated animals who dare to cross the road and hers as a woman who dares to be out running alone. She started photographing the remains before rendering the images in oil on canvas. The painting that she is currently working on (shown behind her in the photo) is titled “Turtle: We Were Warned.”

“Encountering road kill on the pavement versus in a car is totally different, the image stays with you much longer,” says Lambert, who might have become a social worker if not an artist and teacher. “I make decisions about my safety that male runners, like my husband, don’t have to make. The dead animals act as a warning that running as a female is ‘dangerous,’ while serving as a larger metaphor for life as a female in academia, parenthood and all stations of life.”

Lambert, a native of Cleveland, joined Macomb’s art faculty in 2018 after teaching at several other institutions, including Henry Ford College, College for Creative Studies, and University of Michigan- both Dearborn and Ann Arbor. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Toledo and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, where she met her husband, David Lambert. A native of Kentucky, David is the media manager in the art department at Oakland University, where he also teaches new media and digital photography.

“One of the Cranbrook mergers,” muses Lambert, indicating how common marriage is between students who meet in the tightknit artists’ community. At Cranbrook, which she likened to a “monastery,” Lambert majored in print media and minored in ceramics, but is equally comfortable with other mediums, including oil painting. Her and David’s oldest son, however, prefers to draw.

Dennison, nine, is a competitive swimmer with a knack for rendering the lake freighters he has seen on vacation with his mom and dad. His younger brother Waleis, six, is a budding scientist who loves to tinker with his hands. The family’s home is in Berkley, where Lambert “loves to cook.” Her art work, however, is never far from hand and is currently featured in two exhibits: Gilda Snowden Memorial Exhibition at the Scarab Club in Detroit and the Women’s Work international show at the Old Courthouse Art Center in Woodstock, Illinois. She also participated in the recent faculty exhibit in the reopened Art Gallery on Center Campus.

“As a whole, I have felt the most supported here at Macomb, which is directly attributable to working with Todd Mitchell (Macomb art professor),” says Lambert. “We share a similar vision for the department.”

That vision includes development of an Associate of Fine Arts Degree and securing accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Among Macomb’s art department’s points of pride, notes Lambert, is its foundry for bronze and aluminum casting, only one other community college in the country has one, and its large and well-equipped studios, where Lambert is thrilled to spend time with her students.

“Our art students are so capable, intelligent and hard-working,” says Lambert. “I love forming relationships with them and seeing them develop over time.”