quick links
Gayl Bowser, MA, recently retired as the coordinator of the Oregon Technology Access Program. She provides consultation, training, and technical assistance in the area of assistive technology throughout Oregon and the United States.
Janet Breckon, MS in library media, began her career in the Beaverton School District as a district cataloger. She worked as library media specialist at the elementary level from 1976-1985. She was involved in the planning and opening of Conestoga Middle School, where she served as the librarian for the next six years. In 2001, Ms. Breckon became the instructional technology specialist for library media support. In that position, she provided central support for 46 libraries, including administering the automated library system and online databases, conducting inservices for library staff, advocating for library services, cataloging, and troubleshooting day-to-day issues in libraries. She retired in June 2003 and has continued to work with library support, including doing special projects in various schools and cataloging materials.
Paige Battle, MA in English from North Carolina State University, MEd from Portland State University, was the librarian at Jefferson High School until 2007 where she worked in partnership with the North Portland Public Library and the Portland Community College Cascade Campus Library to provide internship and college credit opportunities for Jefferson students. She is currently a librarian in Evergreen School District in Washington.
David Bullock,
EdD, is director of Portland State University's Metropolitan Instructional
Support Lab (MISL) and an assistant professor in curriculum and instruction.
His experience includes 14 years as a classroom teacher and media specialist,
five years in communications training, and eight years at the university level
in educational media.
Deanna Draper, MA, is a former high school librarian who also has experience
in public libraries and has taught for many years in the Portland State University Library Media program.
Matthew Gilley, MS, has been an instructor of media arts, film, video production, yearbook, and technology at the middle school level for over ten years. He is the co-founder and coordinator of the Portland Middle School Film Festival.
Carolee Harrison, MA, has worked as a technician for the Portland State University Library since 1998. Her work includes repair of circulating materials, archival treatment and custom enclosures for special collections, and conservation training. She has presented book repair workshops throughout Oregon and Washington.
Merna Ann Hecht, MLS, is a literary arts and arts educator, writing specialist, social justice advocate, and storyteller. She served as the co-director of the School Alliance Program at the Richard Hugo House, has taught at the university level, and worked with PreK-12 students on a variety of projects. Ms. Hecht has been invited to teach story/drama and creative writing symposia and institutes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. She has been a presenter at a variety of museums and national conferences.
Dolores C. Johnston, MA, is a retired library media specialist from the West Linn/Wilsonville School District. She managed technology in her school and collaborated with teachers to integrate technology, information skills, and literature into the curriculum. She now teaches and shares her love of children’s literature at Portland State University.
JoAnn Klassen, MEd, is a retired school library media specialist from the West Linn Wilsonville School District, where she collaborated with teachers to integrate technology, literature, and information skills into their assignments. She served as the school's technology manager and webmaster, helping teachers use their web presence as a part of their instruction. She also directed a weekly live in-school student-directed television broadcast. Currently, she manages several websites, creates video segments as a hobby, and teaches library and technology classes at community colleges in the area and George Fox University. Ms. Klassen also maintains the membership and conference registration database for Oregon Association of School Librarians (formerly OEMA), the professional organization for school library personnel in Oregon.
Robert F. Kuest, MS, began his teaching career as a science teacher in Salem and Beaverton School Districts. He then moved to an audiovisual media specialist position in Beaverton School District, which he held for 20 years. He also taught in a computer classroom and completed his career as a library media specialist. After retiring, he worked part-time, providing technology support for several schools in the Beaverton District. Recently, he has spent time volunteering technology support in Beaverton and Hillsboro schools, and in manufacturing electronic classroom competition systems used in Battle of the Books competitions. He also enjoys digital photography and teaches basic digital photography classes.
Leigh Morlock, MAT, MS, holds a bachelor's degree in English and master's degrees in both teaching and library/media education and a graduate certificate in children's and young adult literature. In addition to her teaching role at PSU, she also teaches in California and is the librarian and technology facilitator for Beaverton School District's Health and Science School. Ms. Morlock is the chair for the intellectual freedom committee for the Oregon School Library Association.
Ruth Murray, MS in library media from Portland State University taught English and theater for 20 years before becoming a library media specialist in the Gresham-Barlow School District in 1993. From 1995 through 2008, she served as the library media specialist at Athey Creek Middle School in West Linn. She taught in Portland Community College’s Instructor for Library Assistant Program. Currently, she teaches and advices in Portland State University’s Library Media Program. She is a board member of the Oregon Association of School Libraries and has been awarded the Library Media Specialist of the Year and Teacher of the Year.
Connie Pappas, MEd, has worked as a teacher-librarian at the elementary, middle and junior high school levels for over a decade in the Camas Public Schools in Camas, Washington. She has a master’s degree in education, an electronic publishing certificate, and recently completed National Board certification. She was Washington Library Media Association Teacher-Librarian of the Year in 2002 and is a Microsoft Technology Peer Coach. Connie enjoys creating video, podcasts and anything new and exciting that will keep kids reading.
Reba A. Parker, MS, has taught in Portland Public Schools for 27 years as a special educator, has worked in the PPS teacher support center, and has been a library media specialist at Jackson Middle School since 1989. For many years, she has promoted multicultural literature through her reading promotion program, World Travelers. Ms. Parker’s special interests include incorporating the arts and music into the library curriculum.
Susan Ray, MA in library media, is a recently retired an elementary school library media specialist from the Beaverton School District. She has also been a high school language arts teacher and an ESL teacher.
Cindy Reed, MS in library media, is district media coordinator with North Clackamas School District, teaches students K-6, and manages six libraries. She was formerly librarian at Linwood Elementary in the same district. In addition, she consults with a local private school, works at Lake Oswego Public Library, and has presented curriculum design ideas at OEMA and Portland State. She has long-standing involvement in media and the arts.
Barbara J. Ruben, EdD, works with preservice teachers in the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) at Portland State University. Earlier in her career, she worked with adults in environmental policy and became convinced environmental education needed to start with young people. Dr. Ruben started teaching sixth grade in Portland Public Schools in 1980 and has taught every grade from kindergarten through eighth. Her career includes working as a math consultant for Centennial School District, a science teacher for Portland Jewish Academy and OMSI, a reading tutor in Beaverton schools, and a volunteer in eleventh grade American history at Jefferson High School. Her doctoral work examined whether a teacher education program can influence the development of teachers as change agents.
Tracy Russell, ME in library media from Portland State University, has been a library media specialist in a variety of schools in the Portland Public Schools. She is currently the library media specialist at Lincoln High School. Ms. Russell has taught in the Educational Media/Librarianship program at Portland State University for many years.
Stephanie Thomas, MS in Information with a specialization in School Library Media from the University of Michigan, is currently the district and high school teacher librarian for the Parkrose School District. She was formerly a library media specialist for Livonia Public Schools in Michigan. She is active in the Oregon Association of School Librarians (OASL), assisting with membership, serving as guest editor for the journal Interchange, and regularly submitting articles and giving presentations. In addition to OASL conferences, she also presented at the Northwest Council for Computing in Education conference. As a librarian, she has a penchant for technology and its practical use in education. Her interests include podcasting, open source solutions, web 2.0 for use in the classroom and beyond, and screencasting tutorials. She owns a small web development business and is an educational consultant for the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory and the Oregon University System.
Phillip L. Walker, MA, has been teaching in Portland Public Schools since 1999. He currently works at Jackson Middle School where the Leonard Bernstein Artful Learning Method is emphasized. This is a style of teaching where students learn through the study of master works of art. It is within this Artful Learning Method that he has developed a unit of study based on movies. Students study old movies learning about all aspects of film; production, editing, directing and filming. Students then produce short films. Film is now a part of the school's core curriculum. The student work is amazing!