Office and People Directory

Alex Hernandez

Biography

Alejandro (“Alex”) Hernandez was born to a family of public educators in Stockton, CA. His parents journeyed from Mexico and the Philippines, and, at each step of the way, education brought opportunity-through skilled trades, nursing certificates, education credentials and degrees. These experiences shaped Alex’s belief that career-focused education can change lives and help communities thrive.

Hernandez comes to Champlain College from the University of Virginia, where he served as the Dean of the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS) and Vice Provost of Online Learning. At UVA, Hernandez championed access, affordability, and opportunity through its bachelor’s completion, professional certificate, and graduate programs. Alex helped SCPS enroll its largest undergraduate class in school history, launch its first master’s degree, and pursue a strategy that combined in-demand digital skills with the human skills needed for long-term career success. He also taught undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship (SCPS) and education innovation (School of Education and Human Development).

Before joining UVA, Hernandez worked for the Charter School Growth Fund, a national education foundation, where he built the nonprofit’s Innovative Schools practice, one of the largest efforts in the country focused on personalized learning and career readiness. Hernandez began his education career teaching high school mathematics in South Los Angeles. He later became an administrator for Portland Public Schools in Oregon and then an area superintendent for Aspire Public Schools in California. Prior to entering the field of education, he worked at Steamboat Ventures, Disney’s venture capital arm, and at J.P. Morgan. Hernandez has an MBA and MA in Education from Stanford University and a BA from Claremont McKenna College. He is a moderator for the Aspen Global Leadership Network and a Pahara Institute fellow.

Alex is married to Michelle Moore Hernandez and is the proud father of twin boys, Akari and Mekhi.

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Felix Hernandez

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Kenneth Heskett

Biography

In addition to his role as an adjunct lecturer, Ken is the IT Internal Audit manager for Ensemble Health Partners RCM and brings the lessons of more than 8 years experience in internal auditing and 20 years of working in various roles in information technology from network administrator to IT department manager into the classroom. He holds a Master of Business Administration specializing in project management, and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and Certified Internal Auditor. He currently serves on the board of the ISACA New England chapter and formerly served on the board of Richmond Rescue. He is author is several articles in professional journals including the AHIA 2021 New Perspectives Article of the Year award for his writing about auditing data centers. A veteran of the US Marine Corps, Ken continues service to his community as an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America and serves as Scoutmaster for his sons’ scout troop. He is married to Jennifer, a high school biology and environmental sciences teacher, and has 4 boys (two of whom are Eagle Scouts)Miles, Collin, Jeremy, and Alden, 4 cats, a dog, and a bearded dragon.

Distinctions & Awards

New Perspectives Article of the Year Award Issued by Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors · Sep 2021

Publications & Abstracts

• Audit the Remote Worker’s Toolbox – Test Endpoint Security
• Defense-in-Depth Cybersecurity Strategy – Consider the adequacy of layers
• Third-Party Risk to Information Systems – Protect from Threats Beyond Cybersecurity
• Business Continuity Planning – Assess the Process
• Data Center Audits – Ensure Equipment Availability
• Fight Identity Fraud – Audit Use of the Limited Access Death Master File

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

ISACA New England Chapter

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Mindwalk (1990) – A conversation between a physicist, a politician, and an artist about science, politics, and society each bringing a different perspective, shot on location at Mont Saint-Michel.
• Any episode, but especially “Spider” from the HBO Miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998) – The encapsulation of a project management and leadership into an engaging story of the development of the lunar module during the Apollo program in the 1960s.

Favorite Quote

“Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.”

—Omar N. Bradley

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Ellen Hewett

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Steven Hickey

Biography

Adjunct Professor for 18 years at Champlain. He is a Champlain Graduate.

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Jim Hoag

Biography

Jim has taught Computer Science and Technology related courses for over 30 years. He was the Chair of the Department for CNCS, Forensics, and CIT until his retirement in 2017. He continues to teach occasional classes.

Publications & Abstracts

• Evolution of a Cybersecurity curriculum
• An Analysis of Academic Background Factors and Performance in Cyber Defense Competitions
• College student novice spreadsheet reasoning and errors

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Michelle Hobbs

Biography

Michelle Hobbs has over 25 years of experience creating design that inspires engagement and impact for corporations and brands in a variety of sectors. Through her career she has managed her own design studio, built national brands, and managed creative teams. Michelle has taught design off and on over the past 10 years including Champlain College, the University of Vermont and the Community College of Vermont.

Currently she is a partner at ReFrame Lab, a strategy and consulting firm in Burlington, Vermont, where she is working to meet organizations and businesses in times of transition and help them recognize and visualize opportunities for greater alignment, creativity, and impact. She does this through design-centric workshop facilitation, strategic planning, and product design workshops.

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• AIGA
• Vermont Business for Social Responsibility

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Latoya Hogg

Biography

Latoya S. Hogg holds a Ph.D. in Social Work from Howard University. Her research focuses on the Impostor Phenomenon in Black social work doctoral students attending historically Black colleges and universities. Dr. Hogg received her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Texas at Tyler and her Master of Social Work from Stephen F. Austin State University. She has had accepted presentations at the Council on Social Work Education’s Annual Program Meeting, the National Association of Social Worker’s National Conference, the Society for Social Work and Research Annual Conference, and the Network for Social Work and Management Annual Management Conference. Dr. Hogg works as a full-time Analyst at the United States Government Accountability Office. In addition, she also virtually mentors emerging social work undergraduate and graduate students across the country and hosts virtual accountability spaces for doctoral students on the weekend. She also serves as an adjunct faculty member in social work at Howard University and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Distinctions & Awards

Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Inductee, 2023

Favorite Quote

Veni, vidi, vici.

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Rebecca Holt

Biography

Becky began her career in journalism, where she was an award-winning newspaper and online editor for 20 years. She then spent a decade as a nonprofit development and communications director. Since 2016, Becky has helped nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals (youth and adults) learn how to share their stories through interactive workshops, personalized trainings, and one-on-one coaching. She also writes creative fiction for young adults. Becky has a Bachelor’s of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Distinctions & Awards

Gannett Supervisor of the Year (2008)
Missouri Lifestyle: National Award for General Excellence, First Place (2008)
Vermont Press Association: Outstanding Website, Daily (2008)
Gannett Chairman Award (2007)
Missouri Lifestyle: National Award for General Excellence, Second Place (2007)
Missouri Lifestyle: National Award for General Excellence, First Place (2004)

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• Member of Griffiths Leadership Society for Women, University of Missouri Alumni Association
• Church Street Marketplace Commissioner, City of Burlington, Vermont (2019-present; current Vice Chair)

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“The sun will rise and set regardless. What we choose to do with the light while it’s here is up to us. Journey wisely.”

—Alexandra Elle

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Connor Holtkamp

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Rachel Hooper

Biography

As a Creative Media Faculty member at Champlain College, Rachel Hooper teaches a range of courses including Human-Centered Design, Creative Media, and Video Game Production. She empowers students to seek patterns, connect dots, and imagine new futures by using data and empathy to uncover and define problems worth solving.

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Carrie Houlihan

Biography

Carrie brings over a decade of experience managing graphic design teams and projects for print, events, and online products. Carrie’s background includes everything from brand identity to large-scale production.

Hobbies

Anything art-related!

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Amy Howe

Biography

Amy Howe has been an interdisciplinary educator for 20+ years. Her experience includes designing and teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in gender studies, general education, critical theory, American studies, and the study of religion at Harvard, Brown, Middlebury, Smith, and now at Champlain College. Before her graduate studies and teaching career, she held a nonprofit career managing California- and nationally-based youth-led community organizing projects for underrepresented communities. In 2019, she earned her doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in the study of religion (religion, gender, culture). She also serves as the Academic Director of Women, Gender, and Representation for Smith’s summer Precollege Programs.

Over the last five years at Champlain, Amy Howe has taught widely across the Core Division. Her leadership in innovative curricula and classroom design and leadership, student support, and involvement in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice issues earned her the Francine Page Teaching Excellence in 2021. Centered on experiential learning techniques, she regularly engages students in community partnerships in rural humanities, digital humanities, and racial and gender social justice issues.

Amy Howe not only remains incredibly proud of being the first in her family to pursue higher education, but she is also a relentless advocate for students who navigate first-generation lives. In her free time, Howe loves spending time with her two dogs, growing house plants (too many these days), crafting, exploring new outdoor spaces, and enjoying circus arts.

Favorite Quote

“The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which one is being educated.”

—James Baldwin

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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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Jimena Huaco

Biography

Jimena is a member of the Institutional Research team at Champlain under the Provost Office. Jimena provides analysis for institutional metrics and data reporting. She’s been part of the Champlain family since 2008 when she joined as an undergraduate student. After receiving her bachelor’s degree, she later became a Financial Sophistication Specialist educating Champlain students on personal finance topics. Before joining the IR team, Jimena managed Champlain’s extracurricular career education program called InSight. During this time, she discovered her passion for data, and data-driven decision-making. She completed her MBA from Champlain College in 2018, and in 2024 she completed a graduate certificate in Data Science.

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy mountain biking and gardening. In winter, I like to winter hike or to pick up a new craft.

Favorite local eateries and things to do in Vermont:

My new favorite local spots are the Mini Factory in downtown Bristol, and lulu’s ice cream in Vergennes.

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