Faculty

J. Engel Szwaja-Franken Picture

J. Engel Szwaja-Franken

World Language Chair/Full-time Spanish Instructor

Biography:

I have been a full-time Spanish professor at BC since 2014. When the opportunity arises, I teach French and courses in the English department as well. I am a literary scholar by training. I completed a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of California, Irvine and a B.A. in history and comparative literature at the ...more about J. Engel Szwaja-Franken


Archana Alwar Picture

Archana Alwar

Adjunct Spanish Instructor

Biography:

¡Bienvenidos! I am originally from Puerto Rico. I received my B.S. Degree in Business Administration with a major in Organizational Studies from the University of Puerto Rico. I went on to earn an M.A. Degree in Romance Languages with a concentration in Spanish Literature from The University of Memphis. I have been a part-time faculty ...more about Archana Alwar


Anne Matsumoto Stewart Picture

Anne Matsumoto Stewart

Full-time Japanese Instructor

Biography:

Anne Matsumoto Stewart was born in Washington D.C. and was raised in Hiroshima and Honolulu. She received an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Hawaii, completed two years of graduate studies in Japanese pedagogy at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan, and then taught Japanese at the elementary, high school, and college ...more about Anne Matsumoto Stewart


Eva Norling Picture

Eva Norling

Full-time French & German Instructor

Biography:

For more than 30 years I have been teaching German & French first at a Gymnasium in Germany and then in the United States. My first American teaching experience was in a High School in the High Desert in California, and then at the International School in Bellevue before joining Seattle Central Community College and ...more about Eva Norling


Placeholder Image

Mari Brunson

Full-time Japanese Instructor

Biography:

I was born and raised in the Tokyo area but briefly lived in the US when my father was transferred to Rochester, NY, for his job. Upon arrival in the United States as a teenager, I was surprised to learn how ignorant I was about my own country. This fueled an urge to learn more ...more about Mari Brunson


Hiroki Danshita Picture

Hiroki Danshita

Adjunct Japanese Instructor

Biography:

Hiroki Danshita was born in Osaka, Japan. After graduating from a Japanese high school, he worked full-time for two years and applied at Brigham Young University, Hawaii. He earned his BA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and minored in Music and (EIL) English as an International Language. Following college and getting ...more about Hiroki Danshita


Melissa Massie Picture

Melissa Massie

Full-time Spanish Instructor

Biography:

In high school, I took Spanish because I had to take something. Why not Spanish? In college, I majored in psychology, but because my minor was Spanish, I spent a semester living with a host family and studying in Costa Rica. There, my Spanish moved from theoretical to practical. I earned a B. A in ...more about Melissa Massie


M. Renatta Fernández Picture

M. Renatta Fernández

Adjunct Spanish Instructor

Biography:

I was born, raised, and educated in Mexico City. I received my B.A. degree in Cultural Anthropology at the Universidad Intercontinental, and an M.A. degree in Teaching Spanish as a foreign language at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). I began teaching at Bellevue College in 2006. I love teaching, and especially enjoy creating ...more about M. Renatta Fernández


Placeholder Image

Peggy Hardt

Adjunct Japanese Instructor

Biography:

I became enamored with Japan at a very young age through a family friendship that grew out of a sister city exchange between Everett, WA and Iwakuni City in Yamaguchi Prefecture. I took three years of Japanese during high school and majored in Cross-Cultural Studies at Whitworth University. After teaching for two years in Tokyo ...more about Peggy Hardt


Rick Mangan Picture

Rick Mangan

Full-time ASL Instructor


Rosanna Militano Picture

Rosanna Militano

Adjunct Italian Instructor

Biography:

I was born and raised in Italy. In 2003 I obtained my master’s degree in Languages and Literature at the University of Messina. I obtained my post graduate teaching degree in 2006. After that I moved to the States to join my Seattleite husband. I started teaching Italian at the Seattle Language Academy, and I ...more about Rosanna Militano


Tomoko Nakaone Picture

Tomoko Nakaone

Japanese Instructor

Biography:

I  was born and raised in Tokyo. I earned my B.A. in English Literature from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and moved to Seattle in the early 90s.  After moving to Seattle, I studied at the University of Washington and received an M.A. in Japanese Applied Linguistics and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. I started ...more about Tomoko Nakaone


Valentino Vasquez Picture

Valentino Vasquez

Adjunct ASL Instructor

Biography:

Valentino grew up with Spanish-speaking families and his grandparents were from Mexico.  He used Mexican gestures to communicate with existing families and was educated in a mainstreaming school that had a program for hard of hearing and deaf students.  He learned to speak English and used Seeing Essential English during school years until he attended Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. where ...more about Valentino Vasquez


Placeholder Image

Weihong Geiger

Full-time Chinese Instructor

Biography:

你好Nǐ hǎo (‘hello’ in Chinese), my name is Wei Geiger. Thanks for checking out the BC World Language Department webpage! I would like to take some time to tell you a little bit about myself and our Chinese program. I left China more than 30 years ago and went to graduate school in Japan. I ...more about Weihong Geiger