Honors Faculty Profiles
- Jeffrey Borrowdale
- Kathleen Caprario
- Marge Helzer
- Stacey Kiser
- Caroline Lundquist
- Sarah Lushia
- Gerry Meenaghan
- Katie Morrison-Graham
- Ce Rosenow
- Eileen Thompson
Jeffrey Borrowdale
This is my 13th year at Lane as full-time faculty and coordinator for the Philosophy and Religion program. Before coming to Lane, I lived on the Central Coast of California and taught as part time at several colleges and universities, including U.C. Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, Allan Hancock College and Cuesta College. I grew up in Sacramento and received my B.A. in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Sacramento State and an M.A. and C. Phil from U.C. Santa Barbara.
My academic interests include arguments for and against the existence of God, the foundations of ethics, political philosophy, philosophical issues surrounding science and technological progress, Western religion and epistemology. I'm also the Faculty Advisor for LCC Students for Liberty, an on-campus club dedicated to individual rights, limited government and promoting the ideals of a voluntary society guided by the ideals of reason, freedom and compassion. In my spare time I pursue filmmaking, screenwriting and digital music production. I'm a big scifi and fantasy geek and love technology and Apple products.
Besides philosophy and religion, I'm fascinated by psychology, history and economics and enjoy reading about these subjects. I won the Ninth Grade chess championship at Albert Einstein Junior High. I used to play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons type games. I qualify for Mensa but have never been a member. I've studied Tae Kwon Do, Sport Karate and Ninjutsu. I haven't had a haircut since 1999. I'm a big fan of Aristotle, Zeno, Epicurus, Locke, Bastiat, Mises, Rothbard, Ayn Rand, Anthony Robbins, Thoreau, Michael Shermer and John Mackey. I eat a whole foods, plant-based diet. I have lots of other interests - check out my Facebook profile if you're interested. I believe in lifelong learning - in fact, you may see me sitting at the desk next to you as a student in one of your classes!
Kathleen Caprario Ulrich
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University of Oregon - Zelij Design Course with Jean Marc Castera - New York Studio School - Painting with Elaine deKooning and Wayne Theibaud, Drawing with Nicolas Carone, Sculpture with George Spaventa
- Art Students League of New York - Painting with Theodoros Stamos
- New School of Social Research, New York
- Newark School of Fine & Industrial Arts - Textile Design Certificate, Painting with Mary Abbott
- Newark Museum School, New Jersey
In the late 1970's I moved to Oregon from New York City and began my professional career as a studio artist and art educator. The experience of studying with artists such as Wayne Theibaud, Mary Abbott and Theodoros Stamos, as well as a semester abroad through the New York Studio School has informed both my artwork and my teaching approach. That approach focuses on exploration, analysis and application through studio work to give the student a well-rounded sense of the concepts presented and the opportunity to authentically realize those ideas creatively in their work. Critical thinking combined with media and art-making is the process through which the student will grow and demonstrate the necessary learning outcomes. The late American design icon, Milton Glaser is quoted as saying that the purpose of art is to "inform and delight." I whole-heartedly agree!
Marge Helzer
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Ph.D. Anthropology, University of Oregon - M.S. Anthropology, University of Oregon
- B.S. Anthropology with honors, University of Oregon
- A.S. Forestry, Pennsylvania State University
Marge Helzer studied forestry at Penn State University and anthropology at the Universityof Oregon. She has worked as a professional archaeologist for the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History and has taught at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Central Oregon Community College, and Lane Community College. Marge has been a full time anthropology instructor at LCC since 2005. Her work as an archaeologist and paleoethno botanist is on going and frequently involves collaborations with researchers at the UO, Bureau of Land Management, US Forest Service, and private archaeological firms.
Marge admires Jane Goodall for her inspired leadership and commitment to environmental conservation and social justice. She states the best advice she received was from a friend who told her to get a broad, liberal arts education when she was trying to decide what to study at the University of Oregon. Her hobbies include gardening, hiking, reading, and spending time with her family.
Stacey Kiser
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M.S. Ecology, University of Oregon - B.S. Zoology, Oregon State University
I started teaching as a graduate student and got hooked through a biology education grant. Improving biology education turned out to be my passion that continues today. I will serve as the president of the National Association of Biology Teachers in 2014. Community colleges play a vital role since at least half of all college students in the U.S. take their only science courses at a two-year school.
I didn't attend a community college as a student. I discovered Lane during grad school and set my sights on getting a job here. I taught a semester at a private liberal arts college in Wisconsin during a sabbatical and could not wait to get back to my classes here at Lane. The diversity of students and the help I can give them is a true joy.
Personal hobbies: baking (especially cheesecakes), sailing trips in the San Juan Islands, cheering on my Beavers
Caroline Lundquist
Where it all began: Central Oregon Community College and Linn-Benton Community College
Bachelor’s: Southern Oregon University- Philosophy and Art History; Churchill Scholars Honors Program
Master’s: University of Oregon- philosophy
PhD: University of Oregon- philosophy
Caroline Lundquist knew she had found her calling when, as a college freshman, she learned that there were professors of philosophy. “Wait,” she asked her new philosophy professor, “do you mean to say that I could actually teach this stuff someday?!” It seemed too good to be true. The rest is history…
Caroline’s specialization is ethics, and her major philosophical influences are Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Dewey, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir and (that great philosopher) George Carlin. Her research is diverse in content but always focuses on the moral significance of daily habits of thinking and acting. In her most recent work, she explores the link between kindness and the attitude of entitlement.
In her teaching, Caroline emphasizes critical thinking, practical problem-solving and sustained reflection on the moral significance of “little things” like daily choices (since those “little things” are shaped by and can shape “big things” like social and political institutions). She asks a great deal of her students, because she knows they are capable of great things. Her passion in life is sharing big ideas- including the ideas of historical philosophers- with her students.
Caroline has too many hobbies, and she loves them all. These include: fashion design, gardening, writing, cooking and baking, watching boxing, fixing anything that needs fixing, and playing pretty much any video game with a dragon in it.
Caroline lives in Eugene with her husband, who studies and teaches science, and her two arrestingly charming and decidedly philosophical children.
Warning: If you talk with Caroline for more than a few minutes, she will almost certainly mention Aristotle (because, you know, he’s relevant to just about everything worth talking about).
Sarah Lushia
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M.A. and Ph.D. English Studies, Illinois State University - B.A. English, SUNY Plattsburgh
I have a Bachelor's degree in English from SUNY Plattsburgh (with a year of National Student Exchange study at Cal State, San Bernardino), a Master's in English from Illinois State University, and a PhD in English Studies from Illinois State University. My dissertation focused on Black American women's life narratives as they appear in picture books, allowing me to combine my favorite areas of literary study: women's, Black American, and children's literature and life narratives. I also have a strong background in Minority Rhetorics and a passion for teaching.
As an undergraduate, my participation in the Honors Program at SUNY - which began when I accidentally registered for an honors course - transformed my life in many wonderful ways, and is the reason I decided to pursue graduate school. My ability to participate in the Honors Program at LCC is a privilege and offers me a way to "pay forward" the gifts that my own honors teachers gave to me so many years ago.
I enjoy riding carousels, hiking, camping, the cliched long walks along the ocean, reading, hanging out in bookstores and coffee shops, spontaneous adventures, road trips, yard work, and the quickly disappearing art of composing and sending snail mail. My favorite animals are giraffes and turtles. I hope to someday visit Alaska, Ghana, and Ireland.
Gerry Meenaghan
- B.A. University of Oregon: Russian Area Studies and Chemistry
- M.S. Kansas State University: Academic Advising Administration
As an undergraduate, I tutored international students attending the University of Oregon's American English Institute for over a year. I then spent over a year in the Kyrgyz Republic teaching high school students English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. After that, I spent six years in Japan teaching high school students EFL through the Japan Exchanges in Teaching (JET) Program and on a private contract. In the interim of my time in Central Asia and Japan, I worked as a Job Coach, placing clients with developmental disabilities in employment sites throughout the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon.
Returning from Japan in 2009, I secured employment at Lane Community College, where I worked in the Counseling Department as an Academic Advisor for Science, Math, Engineering, and Computer Information Technology for three years. In 2012, with my teaching, job placement, and higher education experience, I secured a position as a Cooperative Education (Co-op) Coordinator for Science, Math, Engineering, and Computer Information Technology. Since that time, I have worked with hundreds of community college students in a number of degree programs, and hundreds of human resources and hiring managers in a wide variety of industries. I have learned a great deal about what employers are looking for in entry-level professionals, and what makes community college graduates successful at obtaining gainful employment.
I love working at Lane Community College because I wouldn't be where I am today were it not for the amazing American institution of the community college. My Irish father and English mother arrived in the in 1961 with the equivalent of an 8th grade education and a nursing certificate from a trade school, respectively. By enrolling in San Mateo (Junior) College, my father was able to work his way through a GED and an A.S. degree, and then transfer to a university, where he earned B.S. and M.P.H. degrees. I see my father's grit, determination and bravery in LCC students every day, and work hard to ensure that they have the opportunity to achieve the American Dream the way my father did.
When not teaching, I enjoy the outdoors, especially hiking, backpacking, identifying and collecting medicinal wildflowers and edible mushrooms, and increasing my knowledge of the natural world through reading and study. I am also very active. I love to run, bike, and swim, and have completed numerous long-distance endurance events, including an Ironman-distance triathlon on the Japanese island of Sado. Learning and goal-setting are important themes in my life, and I hope to model these themes to my students.
Katie Morrison-Graham
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Ph.D. Neuroscience, UCLA - B.S. Biological Sciences, UC Davis
As the daughter of an Air Force Pilot, I was born in Fukuoka, Japan and lived in Washington State, Alaska and California. I received my B.S. and Ph.D in California and then moved to Eugene to be a research fellow in the laboratory of Jim Weston in the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon. Jim's lab worked on neural crest cell development - these are the cells that give rise to the peripheral nervous system as well as pigment cells, craniofacial cartilage and bone! When Jim went on a sabbatical eight years later I ran the lab and taught his classes (majors Cell Biology and non-majors Reproduction and Development). I discovered that I thoroughly enjoyed teaching but found I was not fond of the large classes and chose to explore teaching at Lane. After one term as a part-time instructor at LCC I was hooked! The camaraderie and enthusiasm for teaching present in the Science Division and the wider college community coupled with Lane's student diversity and the interactions afforded by the small class size makes Lane a great place to work. A position for a full-time Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology instructor opened up later that year and I decided to apply. I joined the faculty at LCC full time in Fall 1993.
Coming from a research background I sought opportunities to learn more about clinical applications. Over my years at LCC I have had internships at McKenzie Willamette Hospital (twice, once in the microbiology lab and once on the floors), Sacred Heart Hospital, Lane County Public Health and most recently with the Infection Prevention team at Riverbend during Summer 2010. In addition, I had the opportunity in 2003-2004 to further my research background through a sabbatical research project in the laboratory of Dr. Karen Guillemin at the University of Oregon. Dr. Guillemin studies bacterial pathogenesis. I used genomic approaches to investigate the interactions between helicobacter pylori and human gastric cells.
Personal interests and hobbies: hiking and camping/backpacking, gardening, jewelry making, baseball and family road trips
Non-academic goals: Stay in all the national park lodges and see a baseball game in all the MLB parks
Ce Rosenow
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Ph.D. English, University of Oregon - M.A. English, Portland State University
- B.A. English, Santa Clara University
Ce Rosenow has taught at the college level since 1996, holding positions at Portland Community College, Mt. Hood Community College, and the University of Oregon's English Department and Clark Honors College. Her research focuses on American literature with an emphasis on American modernisms, poetry, and the relationship between American poetry and Japan. Ce's articles, essays, reviews, and translations have been published in the U.S. and abroad, and she is the author of six poetry collections. She is also the co-editor with Bob Arnold of The Next One Thousand Years: Selected Poems of Cid Corman. Ce has served as president of the Haiku Society of America and as co-editor of Northwest Literary Forum and Portlandia Review of Books. She is the publisher of Mountains and Rivers Press in Eugene.
Ce's ePortfolio and blog, The Honor Roll: An Inquiry into Honors Education
Eileen Thompson
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Ph.D. English, University of Oregon - B.A. English, University of Puget Sound
I've been an instructor at Lane Community College since 1994 (as an adjunct for over 10 years before being hired as a contracted faculty member), teaching in the English Department of the Language, Literature and Communications Division. In my tenure at Lane, I have taught both composition and literature courses and have served as project coordinator for a number of college-wide interdisciplinary instructional initiatives, including the Strategic Learning Initiative, Learning Communities and Reading Together.
I completed a PhD in English at the University of Oregon with a specialization in Modern British Literature. My dissertation explored the influence of W.B. Yeats as a literary predecessor in the work of three contemporary Irish women poets.