Teacher Biographies

Monica Summers, AIMS@UNM

Monica currently teaches English at AIMS@UNM (The Albuquerque Institute for Math & Science), a public charter high school affiliated with the University of New Mexico. She also taught for two years at Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities in New York City. Prior to teaching, she worked for eight years in New York as a financial reporter and National Photo Editor for Reuters News Service and The Associated Press, respectively. She holds a BA in English from UNM, an MA in Journalism from New York University, and an MS in Teaching Secondary English from Fordham University. She’s also a native New Mexican, having grown up in Santa Fe. Although she has never taught in the college setting, she said she is eager to see what goes on in the college-level English classroom so that she can make sure what she is doing with her students is adequately preparing them for their post-secondary education.

Katie Walkiewicz, UNM

Katie Walkiewicz is a third year Master’s student studying literature in the English Department at UNM. She is looking forward to graduating in spring.

Rachel Harmon, UNM

Rachel Harmon is a graduate student in the English Department at UNM. She is beginning work on her dissertation. She teaches English 101 and 102, and runs the Writing Proficiency Portfolio, an English 102 exemption program. Rachel is from Arkansas.

Terrie Howey Gorrell, Albuquerque High School

Terrie Howey Gorrell is a native of Albuquerque, NM. She attended Rio Grande High School and received her teaching degree from Eastern New Mexico University. She taught in APS for 25 years, retired, then returned to teaching at Albuquerque High where she teaches 10 th grade English and 10 th grade honors English. She is excited about participating in the New Mexico English Teacher Exchange program and providing her students with an opportunity to experience the expectations of a college program.

Laura Berlin, El Dorado High School

Laura Berlin has taught at El Dorado High School for the past six years. She teaches Creative Writing, English 10 and English 12. she is originally from Columbus, Ohio and is an avid salsa dancer.

Christine Beverly, Del Norte High School

I teach junior English to students of a variety of abilities. I am always looking for ways to make the skills learned in the classroom more relevant to my students, and I like the idea of this program as a way to give my students a taste of "college level" work. I am also seeking to improve my own practice, and watching others at work is an excellent way to accomplish that goal.

Erin Zavitz, UNM

Originally from Albuquerque, I completed my BA in history at Earlham College in Indiana. I'm now working on my MA in comparative literature and cultural studies at UNM and hope to finish this year. Future plans include teaching at the middle or high school level in a humanities related field or possibly French or Spanish. On the non-scholarly side, I'm addicted to running and traveling and am working on combining the two.