Meet Our Instructors

Teachers for the Adult School are professional educators. All state-funded courses and many community interest classes are taught by credentialed teachers. In addition, some of our instructors bring to the classroom their expertise from other professions or occupations.

Anne Creevy

Palo Alto Adult School’s Birding Basics (i.e. Beginning Birding) instructor, has been teaching about birds and mammals since 1984, when she became a docent at the San Francisco Zoo. She has completed the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Home Study Course in Bird Biology. She also wrote and implemented a curriculum on birds for elementary students in the Portola Valley School District. Since she retired from Portola Valley in the Spring of 2000, she has taken birding classes at the Palo Alto Adult School. In addition to her birding classes, for a few years Anne wrote and presented slide shows about birds for adults and children at the Audubon Society and conducted birding tours for children. She has also written a book about local birds for young children called Let's Go Birding, You and Me.

Anne’s class at Palo Alto Adult School is consistently one of our more popular courses. She enjoys working closely with her adult students and letting them set their own pace.

Bob Power

has been teaching classes in Birding for Palo Alto Adult School for more than four years. Primarily self-taught, he loves to teach others how to pursue the delights of birding. He says, "I teach from the perspective of having taken classes from others and wanting to improve upon those experiences, so more is learned in class and more is applicable or reinforced in the field." His curriculum builds on previous birding and classroom experience to deepen his students' enjoyment of the subject.

Bob's classes at PAAS always include a large number of returning students as the atmosphere is very sociable and welcoming. His learners develop friendships and connections both in and outside of the class, often sharing rides to class or to field trips. You can enjoy his bird photos on http://flickr.com/photos/14935921@N00/.

Carine Soriano

has been teaching Professional Framing Techniques for five years. She studied for two years in France to learn the unique and creative techniques in use there. From 2003 to 2006, she built her experience in Canada where she created the first framing course using French techniques. Since 2007 she has been teaching in many different community centers and adult schools in the Bay Area. She also organized a show for her students at the Fremont Art Association. Carine focuses on helping her students fulfill their personal goals and learn the skills they'll need to re-create beautiful French framing styles at home. Visit her website, http://www.LeaFrance.com, to see examples of her work.

Christina Owen

is a career advisor. She has also worked as a community organizer and board member for nonprofit organizations. Christina has a B.A. from Brigham Young University, and a master's degree from University of San Francisco. She wrote the curriculum for "Life and Career Planning”. By incorporating the concepts about life purpose from scholar William Damon at Stanford University, and life direction from best-selling author Richard Nelson Bolles ("What Color is Your Parachute"), Ms. Owen uses her unique resources and abilities to assist individuals in self-discovery to uncover their dream jobs and pathways to fulfillment.

Christine Palen

owner of Chaos Control® and Life Artistry®, inspires and guides clients in a lifestyle of choice. Since 1991 she has provided consulting, coaching, and motivational workshops on life and work priorities, values-based schedule planning and effective time management. Christine designs creative, customized solutions to streamline office systems that increase productivity and performance. She is regularly quoted by the press and has been featured on HGTV and nationwide news broadcasts. As an around-the-world traveler, she brings a global perspective to her work and life. Her e-newsletter and workshop schedule can be found on her web sites: www.chaos-control.com and www.lifeartistry.com

Cindy Roberts

created her Culinary Interest Group in 1989. She turned her culinary interests into a professional career in 2005 and is a Cooking instructor at PAAS. Cindy coaches executives and staff in team building cooking exercises, teaches private cooking courses and runs a summer cooking camp for teens. In service to the community she has run a Meal Delivery Service for families in need and works at the Food Closet in downtown Palo Alto. Cindy's training includes coursework from Cordon Bleu and Marie Blanche in Paris and numerous schools in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Diane Appleton

has been Sewing since she was 9 years old. She says, "They couldn't keep fabric, needles, and thread away from me!" She constantly expands and refines her skills by taking challenging classes and attending professional conferences. A dress, jacket, and purse ensemble that she designed and made was accepted into the juried Wearable Art Exhibit at the 17th Annual Pacific International Quilt Festival in October 2008.

Participants in Diane's classes choose their own projects and many return to learn additional skills and sewing techniques. "I have some students who have taken my class every quarter, every year I've taught," she notes. Many of her students have little previous experience when they first enroll. Student projects have included alterations and making skirts, shirts, pajamas, baby clothes, tote bags, napkins, and a wedding dress! Diane has taught students from Peru, Israel, France, Japan, Mexico, and Brazil, as well as the United States.

Elizabeth Bales-Stutes

has been teaching English (ESL) to adults for eight years. She joined the staff at Palo Alto Adult School in 2003 after teaching grammar for two years at another program and is looking forward to a dynamic, interesting quarter helping students see their grammar skills improve. Elizabeth holds a BA in Communication from Mills College in Oakland and an MA in English Literature from Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. She is also a copy editor and tutor.

Ellen Engelman

a California credentialed teacher, has been a PAAS Computer Applications instructor since 1998. She learned to use computers while taking college courses and through on-the-job training as a travel counselor, and later as a technical writer at Sun Microsystems. Many of Ellen’s students have returned over the years to take more of her computer classes to update current skills by learning new and updated software available in the PAAS classroom. Ellen quickly gets to know her students’ computer needs and presents the material in a way that all levels of learners in the class are comfortable with the material and the pace of the class.

Ellen's students are job-seekers, beginners, and retirees who want to learn about computers, as well as those building on computer skills already mastered – all as part of their lifelong learning experience. In the unique PAAS environment, students learn with state-of-the-art computers and the latest software in a comfortable, well-maintained computer lab setting.

Fran Adams

Fran teaches Gardening and Landscape courses in garden design, plant selection, container gardening, native plants, and sustainable landscaping. She has practiced residential landscape design in the Palo Alto area since 1990. She is nationally certified by the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, who honored her as Member of the Month in October 2009. Her projects have won awards from the California Landscape Contractors Association and have appeared on garden tours. She has an AA degree in Ornamental Horticulture specializing in Landscape Design from Foothill College, where she is on the adjunct faculty.

Graciela McCord

has been teaching Spanish at Palo Alto Adult School for 34 years. A native of México, she taught intensive Spanish to Americans in Guadalajara under the auspices of Stanford University before joining the faculty of Palo Alto Adult School. She holds a BA in Spanish from San José State University and is a member of Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society).

Graciela has always loved teaching. She expects and receives the very highest level of achievement from her students, who present oral reports and do literary analysis of Spanish-language masterpieces. She conducts her class entirely in Spanish, and more than 80 percent of her students re-enroll in her classes.

Kamal Vilms

has been studying and practicing yoga since1977, first in London with Dr. Martin Underwood, whose style of yoga derived from study in Madras with TKV Desikachar. (For those interested in yoga history, both Desikachar and Iyengar learned yoga from Desikachar’s father T Krishnamacharia, who is credited with rekindling interest in hatha yoga in India in the early twentieth century.) Kamal has attended workshops with Desikachar and continued yoga here and in India with various teachers. She completed a teachers’ program at the Santa Cruz Institute of Yoga in Bombay, India, earning a yoga teaching certificate. She now studies regularly at YogaSource in Palo Alto and teaches Yoga at the Adult School and to students and staff at Paly High School.

Kay Culpepper

an instructor in Drawing and Watercolor Techniques, has been an artist since childhood, drawing in the sand with sticks in her native Florida. Her love of nature and wild places, both in Florida and California, naturally caused her to pursue that love and capture it on paper to share with others. She studied art her whole life and received a BA from Florida State University in art and literature. Kay has continued her studies at Stanford and UC Santa Cruz, in addition to France and Mexico. She is both a painter and an instructor. Her work is shown locally and in Florida and is owned by art lovers across the country. Kay is a credentialed teacher in Florida and CA and teaches both adults and children. Her enthusiasm for practicing art – drawing and watercolor – carries over to her love of teaching it!

Kit Davey

an instructor in Art and Design, got her start in interior design by rearranging the furniture at the homes of friends and family. She earned a BA at Stanford University and a certificate in Residential Interior Design from Cañada College. She is an Allied Member of the American Society of Interior Designers and received her training in Feng Shui from the Western School of Feng Shui . She started her design business, A Fresh Look, in 1991.

Kit has added art to her teaching repertoire: she has taken every art course offered at Foothill and De Anza Colleges as well as the Palo Alto Art Center and has been a self-taught collage, assemblage and altered book artist since 1990.

Kit has been an instructor at Palo Alto Adult School since 1993, where her hands-on teaching style inspires many students to return for her new course offerings. Her mission in life is to create beauty, order, and harmony an d to empower her students to do the same for themselves. Visit her websites, www.AFreshLook.net or http://www.found-object-art.com/ for more information.

Larry Weber

has been teaching Computer Skills for 35 years during his career in high tech management, five of them at Palo Alto Adult School. He has taught part time at IBM and at the United States Military Academy at West Point, presenting to small groups as well as crowds of several thousand. His students frequently return to improve their skills in his popular classes, which he tailors to the level of the students.

Larry enjoys helping his students make the connection between what they are learning and their everyday lives, whether that means preventing identity theft, learning how to e-mail pictures to their kids, or finding ways to research a specific topic on the internet. He notes, "With a little motivation, we can fill in any lack of experience."

Leonardo McCord Salazar

has taught the Spanish language for 33 years. He holds a B.A. in Spanish and French from U.C. Berkeley and an M.A. in Spanish from UCLA. He is a UC Regents' Scholar, a Peace Corps Volunteer, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Delta Pi (the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), and Alpha Mu Gamma (the National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society).

Since he has studied nine languages at the University of California, he knows both the joys and the difficulties of learning a foreign language. Accordingly, he strives to make learning Spanish a worthwhile adventure for his students. He brings to each class a deep love of learning, a pan-Hispanic perspective, and a nonjudgmental attitude toward his students.

Lori Stoia

has been showing students how to create their own Bath and Body products for almost five years. She has studied soap making at the College of San Mateo Community Education, and De Anza College Community Education, as well as taking classes from Lori Nova of Point Richmond's Nova Studio. Lori holds a BA in Mass Communication from Cal State East Bay, an AA degree in Communications from Foothill College, and an AA degree in Accounting and a Certificate in Marketing Management from DeAnza College. Lori won third place for her bath bomb muffins at the 2006 San Mateo County Fair.

She explains, "What I try to bring to my class is a social and fun learning experience. I make the projects simple to encourage the students to actually make the products at home." She also writes a bath and body products blog, http://homemadebathproducts.blogspot.com featuring notices of her upcoming classes, information on where to buy products, recipes, and more.

Matthew Dodder

Matthew Dodder, Palo Alto Adult School's Intermediate/Advanced Birding instructor since 1999, got his start as a birder at age 14 when he sprinkled birdseed on the snow after a heavy snowstorm and identified his very first Northern Cardinal. He has traveled around the world birding but says that his some of his most enjoyable birding experiences have been right here in the Bay Area. Matthew has been recognized for his work by both the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. He sits on the Board of Directors of Audubon.

Students find Matthew's class exciting because it tackles not only subtle identification challenges but also topics such as the evolution of migration, recent genetic research, habitat conservation, and the affects of climate change on birds. He says, "I love teaching this class! The advanced level means I am constantly studying the most recent developments in the bird world and presenting them to my students, each of whom share my passion for birds." Most of his students return year after year, and some have been with him from his very first year at PAAS. Visit his website at http://www.birdguy.net/.

Miles Smith

Computer instructor for Palo Alto Adult School, began learning his craft as a photographer's assistant in an ad agency, eventually becoming an art director, production designer, and graphics production manager. He is an Apple Certified Technical Coordinator. For more than 13 years, he has been helping his students learn how to use computers and work with digital photographs.

With respect to his classes, Miles says, "I keep it simple, relating from a consumer's point of view rather than an expert's and most importantly, I make it fun."

Peter Llewellyn

a veteran teacher with more than fifty years of experience in various fields, has been offering his popular Computer classes for more than 13 years at both Palo Alto Adult School and Avenidas Senior Center. Before entering adult education, he taught physics as well as working in high-technology research and development. His students return often to take new classes from him. In his teaching style he emphasizes encouragement, friendliness, and response to the computer-use needs of each student.

Peter was born in England of Welsh parents and had an academic career until age 32. He became an American citizen in 1968. Visit his http://www.simplesite.com/LlewellynDragon website to learn more.

Randi Samuels

our newest Jewelry instructor at Palo Alto Adult School, has more than four years experience in helping students develop the skills to realize their creative visions. She has taken classes with many nationally known jewelry instructors as well as developed her skills through experimentation and practice. She won first place in 2006 in a national competition, and she had three pieces featured in Quarry Books' 1001 Jewelry Inspirations (May 2008).

Randi says, "For over 15 years, creating jewelry has been a real passion for me. Working with a broad variety of techniques and materials, I create one-of-a-kind pieces that are inspired by nature and different cultures. I am drawn to the warmth and flow of metals, and my jewelry often reflects natural patterns and organic elements to achieve a unique look. In addition to creating jewelry, I find great joy and satisfaction in teaching." Visit her websites at http://www.randisamuels.com/ and http://www.studiodax.com/.

Ruth Gilroy

has been offering Computer classes in Microsoft Excel at Palo Alto Adult School for seven years. She has 15 years of teaching experience in computer applications, and her students frequently return to continue improving their skills. She prepares her own class materials using her expert knowledge of Excel to tailor the class to be most useful in today’s workplace. Ruth notes that her most successful students are those who practice the material between class sessions.

She says: "I have been an executive assistant my entire career and fell in love with the way computers facilitated the workflow. I have attended computer application classes, partially self taught using manuals and online help, and I worked for several years in the SLAC Computer Department where I taught new employees how to use our mainframe computer. Because of my interest in keeping current with computer applications, I have been asked by two employers to teach classes to interested employees."

Sara Girton

has been teaching Building Your Computer Skills since 2006. She used many computer applications while working as a computer programmer for 20 years. During that time she also trained others to use computer applications. . She has also taught math and now tutors high school math students. She has a Master's degree from the University of Kansas. She has taken additional computer classes at DeAnza College and Foothill College.

"Building Your Computer Skills" is considered an intermediate class. Students should first complete "Introduction to Computers and the Internet" or have equivalent skills.

Sara enjoys teaching and seeing her students achieve new skills.