I am a big believer in Corning Community College and have been a student and a staff member prior to becoming faculty. I believe this college offers a tremendous opportunity to learn and grow because I have experienced that for myself.

My teaching philosophy is constructivist. This means that I believe that the student is an active participant in their learning process rather than a passive recipient of knowledge. As part of this learning process, students are exposed to new concepts in different ways and given opportunities to apply that knowledge. I love that I can experiment and continue to improve my classes each time they are offered. I am highly accessible to my students outside of class through Discord and use Discord in my online classes. I want my students to succeed, both here in their studies and beyond when they enter the workforce.

My favorite class is CRST1010 Computer Hardware. I took this class when I was a student here more than twenty years ago. In this class, we get to solve real troubleshooting problems on real hardware, but we also have the opportunity explore how computers work … and sometimes not work. This is the course where I first meet many of my students. In later classes in the Information Technology program, I have the opportunity to watch them gain confidence in their field and go on to find internship positions and then careers.

DJ is an Oracle Certified Professional Database Administrator (OCP) and previously held professional certifications from the Project Management Institute (CAPM), the Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (CCP), and the Data Warehouse Institute (CBIP).