Meet the Chastain Campus ASC Staff
Staff
Elaine graduated from Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in elementary education. After teaching young children for several years, she was hired by Indian River State College (IRSC) and discovered that she had a true passion for teaching adults. Elaine has held several positions at the Chastain Campus. Since 2002, she has taught in the General Education Development (GED) lab, served as the lead instructor in the English as a Second Language office, and worked as a clerk in Student Services. In 2005, Elaine was promoted to Developmental Education Specialist at the Chastain Campus, managing the English as a Second Language program, the GED and Adult High School programs, the Assessment Center, and the Academic Support Center. She now serves as the Academic Support Center manager.
Elaine loves living out in the country on five acres with her donkeys, goats, dogs and cat. She also enjoys riding her ATV on trails through the woods. |
English & Reading Tutors
After graduating with honors from St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, social studies, and education, Jean taught 7th grade math in a inner-city school and, subsequently, taught third grade in Mineola, Long Island, while working on her master's degree. At the age of 25, she became reading supervisor and was responsible for reading instruction in 5 schools (population over 2,000) and 154 teachers. In addition, she taught methods classes to teachers at Hofstra University and was chief diagnostician at their reading clinic. After her marriage, Jean moved to New Jersey and held a similar position for 23 years for the Haddonfield Public Schools.
Her diverse background experiences include expertise in diagnostic and standardized testing, learning disabilities certification, grant writing, Chapter I coordination, demonstration lessons, curriculum writing, and reading prescriptions. She won a large grant from the state of New Jersey for research on perceptual training and established the first non-profit reading clinic in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She also served on the Board of Directors of the International Reading Association. When Jean came to Florida, she taught developmental reading courses at IRSC, methods courses at Florida Atlantic University, and supervised student teachers in four counties. Her interests include nutrition, exercise, yoga, dance, and church activities. She has two grandchildren who bring her much joy. SUBJECTS TUTORED: English Reading Writing |
Donna Crary
A fifth-generation Floridian, Donna Crary is a writer for Indian River Magazine, where she enjoys informing readers about noteworthy people, places, and happenings on the Treasure Coast. She is a two-time Charlie Award recipient from the Florida Magazine Association that recognizes journalistic excellence.
Donna graduated Magna cum laude with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of North Florida, where she studied English literature and Communications. She received her training in broadcast journalism from the ABC-affiliate in Jacksonville. Donna made Martin County her permanent home in 1983, after she married local attorney Rick Crary. She and Rick have two grown sons, Ricky and Chris. Donna thrives on intellectual stimulation and in 2001, co-founded a book club of 20 women who still regularly meet to socialize and discuss contemporary literature. She loves to prepare gourmet meals for husband Rick, dance in Zumba classes, meet her friends for coffee, and spend quiet time in devotionals to get recharged. When she and Rick are not attending local events on the weekends, they are likely driving along backroads, discovering hidden gems of Florida. SUBJECTS TUTORED: English Reading Writing |
Melissa Fetzner
Ms. F, as her students often call her, was born and raised in Atlanta and graduated from Georgia State University with her Bachelor of Science in English plus a Concentration in Secondary Teacher Certification. The past twenty years she taught high school and college-prep English off and on while raising her children here in Stuart. She has been an active volunteer in her community schools, Junior League and churches. Melissa gained valuable business experience as the family grew a successful publishing company. What she enjoyed most was running the busy household and remodeling family homes which she continues to do now in her spare time. Helping students remains her first calling though, and she is happy to be back at IRSC to do so!
SUBJECTS TUTORED: English Reading Writing |
Judy is a Massachusetts native who earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art, with double minors in English and philosophy, at Anna Maria College. She went on to acquire her Master of Arts degree in philosophy (European humanistic) at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she began her teaching career as a teaching fellow. She later took graduate-level English courses at Barry University and the University of Central Florida and earned her elementary level certification at Florida Atlantic University. She has taught philosophy at St. John College of Cleveland and at IRSC. She has also taught elementary school in St. Lucie County and was the Director of Education for a local Sylvan Learning Center. Her career at IRSC spans twenty-one years, including tutoring in the ASC and teaching philosophy in the classroom. She has also owned a business as an interior designer and has traveled extensively in a motor home throughout the United States for an entire year.
Her outside interests include gardening, reading, and increasing her knowledge of American history via historic fiction and nonfiction. Coming from a family of five daughters and having two daughters of her own, she currently is the grandmother of four young grandchildren—all of whom are boys! Discovering how to interact with little boys has required a steep learning curve, even for an educator. SUBJECTS TUTORED: English Philosophy Reading Writing |
Nancy has a Bachelor of Science in elementary education and a second major in child development from Purdue University. She earned her Master of Science degree in elementary education from Indiana University.
Nancy taught elementary school (K-8) in West Lafayette, Indiana, and Indianapolis, Indiana. She also worked as an adjunct at Hillsborough Community College teaching developmental reading classes and working in the Developmental Reading Lab. She currently works as an IRSC adjunct in the ASC at the Chastain Campus. SUBJECTS TUTORED: English/Grammar Reading |
Math & Science Tutors
Abby received her Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from the University of Maine and her Master of Science degree in business management from Florida Institute of Technology. She has taught high school mathematics in Fairfax, Virginia, and Lewiston, Maine. She also taught mathematics for City College of Chicago for its program for the military at the U.S. Naval Facility in Newfoundland, Canada. She retired from teaching high school mathematics at Morningside Academy in Port St. Lucie and middle school mathematics at Palm Pointe Educational Research School in Tradition. Currently, she teaches developmental math courses at IRSC in addition to tutoring in the Academic Support Center.
Abby enjoys spending time with her son who lives in Port St. Lucie. SUBJECTS TUTORED: Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Liberal Arts Math, Statistics) |
Robert Kujawa is a native of Western New York midway between Buffalo and Rochester, ten miles South of Lake Ontario. Robert received his high school diploma in 1967 before being drafted by the United States Army. Robert faithfully served his country from 1969 – 1976. It was the Army that gave him the name “KJ,” which he still uses today.
Robert received his Bachelor of Science in Physics in 1980 from Indiana State University and his Master of Arts in Physics in 1986 after serving as the laboratory manager for undergraduate and graduate studies in the Department of Physics, Indian State University from 1981-1985. In 2000, he received a Master of Science in Technology Management from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He gained employment at Pratt Whitney in West Palm Beach, Florida in 1985 where he served as an instrumentation engineer for thirty years. Robert carried out his duties in thermography, fiber optic probe design and manufacturing, and supervision. He was also the PW Florida Instrumentation Manager for all jet engine tests at sea level and altitude as well as overseeing flight tests. SUBJECTS TUTORED: Math (Beg. Algebra) Physics: (Principles of Physics) |
Anne Marie Murphy (a.k.a. Nancy) graduated from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.. with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics. After working at the Pentagon for several years doing math research for the Navy, she returned to New York and earned a Master of Education degree and Doctorate of Education degree in mathematics education from Columbia Teachers College. She has taught at both high school and college level in New York and Connecticut. After retiring from full-time teaching, she moved to Florida with her husband. She has been teaching at the IRSC's Academic Support Center since 2000.
SUBJECTS TUTORED: Math (Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Business Calculus, Calculus I, Statistics, Liberal Arts Math) |
Vernon Pitt
Vernon Pitt graduated in 1969 with a Higher National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Derby Technical College in Derbyshire, England. He also received a BSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973.
Vernon joined the Dupont Company as a bench chemist. After a 30 year career and numerous job assignments at DuPont, he retired as a Territory Manager and moved to Florida. Vernon and his wife have resided in the Stuart area since 2013. SUBJECTS TUTORED: Chemistry (General Chemistry I & II) |
Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from the Kansas State Teachers College and a Master of Science degree in physics from Wichita State University before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1969. After serving, he worked at White Sands Missile Range, NM, doing missile simulations; the Agricultural Research Service’s Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory in Mesilla Park, NM, doing mathematical modeling; and the High Energy Laser System Test Facility on White Sands Missile Range doing heat transfer analysis. During those years, he earned a Master of Science degree in mathematics and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from New Mexico State University, pursuing research in general relativity, classical tensor analysis, astrophysics, and the theory of the quantum Hall effect. He worked as a research physicist at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque until his retirement in 2005. After moving to Florida in 2006, he became an adjunct instructor at IRSC, teaching math and physics courses, and in 2008 he began tutoring for the ASC on the Chastain Campus.
Mike enjoys reading, traveling whenever possible, and spending time with his wife (who teaches fourth grade) and their two children and three grandchildren. He finds interacting with students at the ASC to be stimulating, rewarding, and sometimes embarrassing, motivating him to study harder, learn more, and write copious notes to himself rendered as beautiful mathematical documents using the LaTeX typesetting program. He sometimes shares these with students and colleagues ignoring their insistence that “this really isn’t necessary, Mike.” SUBJECTS TUTORED: Math (Algebra, Trigonometry, Pre-Calculus, Business Calculus, Calculus I, Statistics, Survey of Math) Physics (Principles of Physics, Physics I, College Physics I & 2) |