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


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Mari Brunson

Full-time Japanese Instructor

Biography:

Mari Brunson was born and raised in the Tokyo area. At 17 she moved to Rochester, New York, with her family and spent two and a half years attending an American high school and college before moving back to Japan. Upon arrival in the United States as a teenager, Mari was surprised to learn how ...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


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Mae Sellers

Full-time ASL Instructor


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


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Peggy Hardt

Adjunct Japanese Instructor


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

Adjunct Japanese Instructor

Biography:

Tomoko Nakaone was born and raised in Tokyo. She earned her B.A. in English literature from Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and moved to Seattle in the early 90’s.  She received her M.A. in Japanese applied linguistics and M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from University of Washington. She started teaching Japanese in 1996 and has taught at ...more about Tomoko Nakaone


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Valentino Vasquez

Adjunct ASL Instructor


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Weihong Geiger

Full-time Chinese Instructor

Biography:

Ni hao (‘hello’ in Chinese), my name is Weihong 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. I was born and raised in Beijing, China. Beijing has a population of more than 20,000,000, and it is a ...more about Weihong Geiger