BC Foundation Faculty & Staff Excellence Awards

Janis Juarez, Arts & Humanities

Janis started her time at Bellevue College in 1989 in the Campus Operations department where she oversaw the organization of crew assignments for custodial, maintenance and Public Safety Officers, on top of her daily office tasks. She then transferred to the Arts & Humanities department where she works today as a Communications Consultant managing English course placements, division communications, and website management. Before coming to BC, she worked as a receptionist for a family law office in Bellevue and brought the skills learned there to her work at BC. She looks forward to interacting with her co-workers and watching BC students grow and move on to achieve their personal goals. She lives with her husband in Redmond, loves gardening and spending time with her grandson, Jackson.

Carmina Cruz, Radiologic Technology, Radiation Therapy, and BAS/Certificate Medical Dosimetry

This November, Carmina will be celebrating 15 years at BC. She is currently the Program Manager for the Radiologic Technology, Radiation Therapy, and BAS/Certificate Medical Dosimetry programs. She guides current and prospective BC students through their programs and administers the operations for the programs she manages. Prior to her time at BC, she has monitored volcanoes and earthquakes, been a homemaker and worked in retail. She loves working at BC and appreciates the diversity of our student population and staff. She values the support and friendship extended to her by the entire BC community. On weekends, she and her husband like spending time with their son and his wife. She enjoys traveling and visiting family and friends abroad. When home, she usually likes to work on crafts or home improvement projects around the house.

Rama Shivashankara, Diagnostic Ultrasound

Rama has been working at BC in different capacities for the past seven years. She teaches Vascular Ultrasound as well as a Small-Parts Sonography class. She was a lead sonographer at Evergreen Hospital while teaching at BC, but eventually decided to give more time to the college by scaling back to part-time at the hospital. One of the reasons she still works at the hospital is to bring her experiences from direct patient care to the classroom. She enjoys interactions with coworkers and students. It is immensely gratifying for her to see a student transition from basic to no knowledge of ultrasound to getting job offers at prestigious hospitals and clinics at the end of their academics. She is married with two adult children and two adorable grandkids but saves time for new adventures of traveling, trapeze classes, and mountain biking.

Jen Townsend, Mathematics

After a short stint working as a software engineer in San Francisco, Jen joined the Math Department at BC in 2013 as an Associate Professor of Mathematics. She is proud to be part of the BC community of dedicated faculty and staff, but most of all, the students that inspire her. Jen received her master’s degree in Math and Statistics from the Georgia Institute of Technology and now serves as the current co-chair of the Math department. She enjoys cycling, reading, strategic board games, and cooking. This summer she plans to spend time as a visiting researcher at Microsoft on Data Science and Experimentation.