Office and People Directory

Ken Howell

Biography

Ken Howell is an Associate Professor in the Division of Communication & Creative Media, where he teaches in multiple programs. He started teaching at Champlain as an adjunct in 2006, having previously taught at the New York University Steinhardt School and New Jersey City University.

Ken has been working with Champlain’s Emergent Media Center (EMC) since 2008. He has worked on an array of projects, including the UNFPA Game to Prevent Violence Against Women and IBM Virtual Worlds project. Along with support from the EMC, Ken recently served as Faculty Advisor for the Sandbox team, a group of students exploring new and novel forms of human-computer interaction. Work from that team has been exhibited at the Chicago Design Museum, the Game Developers conference, and many other venues internationally. He also works with a group of artists called the Illumination Collective, exploring digitally controlled lighting as a means of art making.

In addition to teaching, Ken has been an independent Interaction Designer and Developer for over twenty years, and has worked on such broad-ranging brands as Urban Outfitters, Rossignol, Pantene, and Skittles. He is also active in the Maker Movement, and is a founding board member of Generator Makerspace

When he is not working or teaching, Ken enjoys drawing, painting, tinkering in his laboratory, taking care of his Bonsai trees, and all things outdoors.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Maggie Hunter

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Matt Huwiler

Biography

Matt Huwiler is a seasoned web developer with over two decades of experience at Champlain College, currently serving as a senior-level Web Developer in the Information Systems department. His work spans SSO management, custom reporting, cloud infrastructure, React Native development, and online payment forms.

Matt is also an Adjunct Professor for Champlain College Online, teaching courses in JavaScript, iOS development, web media, and animation. Passionate about online education, he enjoys empowering students with practical skills.

Based in Michigan, Matt remains closely connected to the Champlain community, with aspirations of returning to Vermont. In his free time, he explores emerging technologies like AI and DLTs and enjoys physical fitness, chess, and skiing.

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Benjamin Jelter

Biography

Ben Jelter is an illustrator, game designer, and instructor. He has created a large number of independent comics and video games over his career. His last release was The Machine, published through Incube8 games. His next published game will be Unearthed, an expanded version of the game that won GBCompo21. It will be published through Limited Run Games.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Shadow of the Colossus (PS2, 2005)
• Ikaruga (Arcade, 2001)
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS, 2013)

Favorite Quote

“If the professors of English will complain to me that the students who come to the universities, after all those years of study, still cannot spell “friend,” I say to them that something’s the matter with the way you spell friend.”

—Richard Feynman

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Sarah Jerger

Biography

Sarah Jerger is a Faculty Instructor of Human-Centered Design and Communication and has been at Champlain College since 2008. To her classroom teaching, she brings a career of hands-on experiential education forging over 100 project-based collaborations between students and industry partners in a studio environment. Jerger is passionate about empowering students to design solutions for positive social impact through “real-world” experiences.

Jerger holds a Master’s degree from Champlain College in Emergent Media. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business and two Associate’s degrees in Multimedia & Graphic Design and Public Relations & Media Communications.

Jerger’s previous experience includes communications, operations, graphic design, and media-buying in the advertising, beverage, and real estate industries. She is a multi-disciplinary artist with a passion for analog making and craft which she explores intertwining with digital means of expression. Her work spans (for now) textile art, digital storytelling, mixed-media collage, video, and wearable electronics. She also operates and curates a Free Little Art Gallery, a community-driven project to make art more accessible and nurture creativity.

What are your hobbies?

Mixed media art, hiking, nature, cooking, taking classes & learning new things, procrastinating folding laundry

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

Devil Takes a Holiday, Kate’s Food Truck, Jericho Cafe & Tavern, Spot on the Dock // Palmer Lane Maple for creemees, hikes around Indian Brook Reservoir, South End Art Hop in September, shows at the Monkey House, Vermont Comedy Club, concerts at Snow Farm Vineyard in South Hero

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Mark Johnson

Biography

Mark Johnson has had a 40-year career in Vermont journalism as a reporter, editor and talk show host. Johnson has worked at the Eagle Times in Springfield, the Burlington Free Press, the Vanguard Press, VTDigger.org and Seven Days as a reporter, editor and columnist. For 25 years, he hosted an influential political and general interest two-hour daily talk show on WKDR and WDEV radio stations. He also served as a regular panelist and guest host on Vermont Public Television’s weekly roundtable news show “Vermont This Week.” He and his wife, Lauren-Glenn Davitian, the founder of Town Meeting Television, and their daughter, Stella Rose, live in Burlington.

Distinctions & Awards

Vermont Association of Broadcasters Distinguished Service Award 2012

Favorite Quote

“Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

—Steven Covey

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Max Johnson

Recommended Reading

• The Sound Effects Bible by Ric Viers
• The Foley Grail by Vanessa Theme Ament
• Aaron Marks’ Complete Guide to Game Audio

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Eric Jollymore

Biography

Eric is an enthusiastic digital forensics instructor who is passionate about exploring how technology works and discovering the information that can be extracted from it. With a strong commitment to research and testing, he brings an enthusiastic and hands-on approach to his teaching.

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Meg Jones

Biography

Meg Jones joined Champlain College having received their PhD in Education from the University of Rhode Island. Meg’s research interests include preservice teacher education, social justice & inclusion in PK-16 education, literacy for PK-16, and qualitative research methods. They have over ten years of experience in education including as an elementary and early childhood classroom teacher, district level technology integration coach, professional development facilitator, college course instructor for literacy courses and qualitative methods, and international research fellow.

Meg was the recipient of a Fulbright Finland Foundation grant (2021-2022) and American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship (2022-2023), which combined supported two years living and researching in Finland. Meg brings these experiences to Champlain to connect local and global communities while ensuring future teachers are ready for diverse classrooms.

Meg’s educational philosophy is rooted in critical approaches to teaching and learning, drawing from the works of bell hooks, Judith Butler, and Paulo Freire. In the classroom, Meg practices “engaged pedagogy” (hooks, 1994) which prioritizes the wellbeing and empowerment of students.

Publications & Abstracts

• Disrupting cisheteronormativity in STEM through humanism
• Unpacking Anti-femininity Among Masculine Identifying STEM Students with Minoritized Identities of Sexuality and Gender
• “You Assumed That Everybody Was…”: Hermeneutic Injustice and Cisheteropatriarchy in STEM Coursework
• Embodied Literacies of Sexuality and Gender of College Students
• Using Digital and Media Literacies to Expand Global Perspectives

Recommended Readings

• Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Jennifer Jorgenson

Biography

Jennifer Jorgenson is the Director of the Vermont Child Welfare Training Partnership (VT-CWTP). In her role, she serves on statewide workgroups and leadership teams, providing input and recommendations for practice and policy change across the greater child welfare system. In 2017, she was one of the co-developers of the iTIPS curriculum and more recently was an integral part of the final revision of the NCTSN (BPC) Breakthrough Parenting Curriculum: Navigating Trauma Across Generations; in collaboration with both the Vermont team and the Chadwick Center for Children and Families.

Previously, she served as the Co-PD for the treatment and services strand on the ACF Placement Stability Project grant, rolling out screening, assessment, progress monitoring, treatments and services for youth in custody impacted by trauma. In this role, she led the statewide roll out of the RPC+TIPS for caregivers. Prior to her current role, Jennifer served as Director of Treatment Services for a child abuse prevention and treatment agency, an outpatient therapist, a therapeutic residential center therapist and Membership Director for the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence where she oversaw the provision of evidence-based trauma treatments in Kentucky and Ohio. A Licensed Independent and Clinical Social Worker, Jennifer obtained her BSW at Ball State University and her MSW at Indiana University. She is a Certified Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) therapist and Level 1 trainer, and Certified Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TF-CBT) therapist and trained in CARE.

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Erik Kaarla

Biography

Erik Kaarla has been a lifelong educator who started from doing professional writing within a nonfiction context in the Boston area to becoming a writing educator with a special emphasis on rhetoric and composition and business communication. Erik has also remained an avid music and tennis educator. He has provided writing and research instruction at a number of New England colleges including the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Pine Manor College, Mass Bay Community College, Burlington College, Saint Michael’s College, Community College of Vermont and here at Champlain College. Erik considers himself to be a constructivist teacher placing a persistent emphasis on the compilation and exploration of new knowledge within the classroom. He is also licensed in English 7-12 in Vermont and in all states that support reciprocity in high school credentialing.

Erik’s research interests include the study of practices and methodologies that lead to success in the writing process. He is also active in applying cutting edge music theory applications within classrooms that involve exploration and movement through music curricula.

Erik is a native Finnish speaker and he has also performed translation work and given language lessons for extensive periods of time. He continues to offer instruction in bass and guitar applications.

Favorite Quote

Wherever you go, there you are.

~ Thomas à Kempis, a precursor appeared in a spiritual work composed by Kempis in the 1400s. This comical saying was circulating by 1955 when it was attributed to Jim Russell within a student publication at Pennsylvania State University in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

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Robert Kane

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Joseph Kanser

Biography

Joe has over twenty years of experience in Cybersecurity, mostly spent in the defense industry, and over six years teaching our students at Champlain College Online. He has several cybersecurity certifications such as the CISSP, CISM and Security + to name a few and has a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems from Florida Institute of Technology.

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Amy Kaufman

Biography

Amy is a seasoned Accounting Director currently working for an art museum in eastern Ohio with over 20 years of experience and enjoy bringing these real-world concepts of accounting and business to my classrooms. She is honored to teach for Champlain College and looks forward to listening to and working with her students to achieve a great learning experience.

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Robert Kayl

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