Faculty and Staff

Coordinator

Nancy Latham:  Nancy Latham has been Coordinator of the Educational Assistance Center since August 1997.  Ms. Latham has an extensive background in disabilities from her experience as a speech/language pathologist and as a professor of special education and teacher preparation in California and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

Counselors

Linda Rovai:  Linda Rovai's background is in learning disabilities, job development and adult literacy programs brings an added dimension to the EAC's academic, vocational and personal/ disability related counseling services.  Linda provides EAC outreach services to VC's East Campus Center, the CalWORKs program and to the local high schools.  She enjoys helping students with disabilities make a successful transition from high school to the college environment.  She is also a Learning Disabilities Specialist and teaches some of our Learning  Skills classes.

Angela Warren:  Angela is a counselor experienced in working with a broad spectrum of clientele including:  senior citizens, at risk parents, low-income individuals, people with disabilities, single mothers, troubled youth, people facing health issues, and those dealing with mental illness.  Consistent throughout her work has been the theme of education as a means to both self-fulfillment and self-improvement.  Her responsibilities include serving as the counselor for our WorkAbility III program.  “Constantly amazed” that she is living on the Central Coast, Angela definitely wants to give surfing a try.                         

Patty Wendt:  Patty Wendt is a counselor with expertise in rehabilitation counseling as well as academic counseling.  Patty is an advocate for determining appropriate support services and community resources for students with disabilities, while encouraging each student to be an advocate for his/her self. Patty developed and teaches our EAC V01 class, “Strategies for Success in College and Life.” Patty spends her free time with her "girls" Cierra and Emma, running, playing softball, and gardening.

Susan Webster:  Susan was one of the founding faculty of the Educational Assistance Center at Ventura College.  She retired from her full-time position in 2002, but returned to provide counseling services to EAC students on a part-time basis.

Learning Disability Specialists

Jeffrey Barsch:  Jeffrey Barsch is one of the founders of the EAC and was a full-time Learning Disabilities Specialist from1976 until his retirement in 2004.  During that time, he estimates that he worked with over 8400 students.  He continues to teach part-time for the EAC during his retirement.  Dr. Barsch's expertise is in memory training, learning styles, math skills and assessing learning problems.  He is the son of Dr. Ray Barsch, a pioneer in the field of learning disabilities.

Carol Cole:  Carol Cole has been a part-time Learning Disabilities Specialist since 1991, concentrating on teaching students about learning disabilities, interpreting their assessment results and teaching basic math skills to students who have math processing difficulties.

Thomas Dalton:  Thomas Dalton is a specialist in a wide variety of assessment instruments and is an expert in Attention Deficit/ Hyperactive Disorder.  Dr. Dalton was a consultant to the EAC for 16 years, prior to joining our faculty as a full-time Learning Disabilities Specialist in 2004. He views the full-time position as an opportunity to focus more comprehensively on not just verifying learning disabilities, but also on developing interventions and plans that would truly help students develop their educational potential and achieve personal goals that have been frustrated by their learning disability.  When not at Ventura College he maintains a small private practice.  He and his family enjoy hiking the beautiful trails of Santa Barbara, occasionally getting out the bikes, hitting the beach, and walking the dog.

Patricia Cowan:  Patricia joined the EAC as a part-time Learning Skills instructor in January of 2008.  A native of Ventura, Patricia and her family have returned "home" from Seattle.  She holds a graduate degree from Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, CA and a Principal's certificate from Seattle Pacific University.  While in the Pacific Northwest, Patricia taught both elementary and high school and, for the last 5 years, was the administrator of an alternative high school and middle school which served "at-risk" students.  As native of Ventura, Patricia took classes at Ventura College, including Study Skills, one of the classes that she now teaches.  She and her husband are the proud parents of a young daughter.  

Assistive Computer Technology Specialist

Steve Turner:  Steve Turner has been on the EAC faculty as Coordinator of the Assistive Technology Training Center since August 2000.  Mr. Turner's background with the Department of Rehabilitation compliments his expertise in assistive technology in his work teaching students with disabilities to use assistive technology to reduce barriers to instructional materials, computers, the internet, and technology mediated instruction.  Together with Learning Disabilities Specialist, Tom Dalton, he has worked to develop innovative, collaborative approaches to teaching both learning strategies and assistive computer technology through      a team teaching approach.

WorkAbility III Counselor

Lisa Courto: As the WorkAbility III Counselor, Lisa both coordinates this partnership between the Ventura College EAC and the Department of Rehabilitation and provides direct services to students served by the program.  When she joined the EAC in 2004, Lisa brought with her solid training in Rehabilitation Counseling and over 15 years of experience working with people who have disabilities and are economically disadvantaged.  Lisa also teaches part-time at UCLA.

Adapted P.E. Instructors

Edith Conn:  A part-time adapted PE instructor, Edith is recognized nationally for her expertise and innovative techniques in teaching dance and movement to individuals with disabilities.  She is a past recipient of the Jerry Hayward Award, given to the top community college instructors in the state, and has been recognized at the state level for her efforts in promoting diversity at community colleges.  She has also taught Health and English classes at VC.  She serves as the State Faculty Senate Representative on the Alternate Text Production Center’s Advisory Board.

Warren Glasser:  Warren Glasser teaches the popular Adaptive Swimming class.  He is a retired swim coach from Santa Paula High School.  Active in the community in all areas of water sports, he is the owner of OARS, a company which provides training and guided trips for kayakers.

Ned Mircetic:  Ned Mircetic teaches adaptive sports in addition to coaching Ventura College's womens basketball team, which has won the State Championship five times.  His background is in respiratory therapy.

Staff

Lori Annala:  Lori Annala provides support services during afternoons and evenings in the office and provides alternative testing services for evening students.  Additionally, she provides support services for the WorkAbility III Program. Her other responsibilities include the coordination accommodations such as sign language interpreters, mobility assistance, adaptive furniture, notetakers, specialized equipment, etc., and managing the disability verification process.

Erin Braam:  Erin Braam is the senior Learning Disabilities Assessment Technician.  Her job is not only to assess students for learning disabilities but to score the assessments and put the information together for the Learning Disabilities Specialists to interpret to students.  Ms. Braam also works part-time as a Learning Disabilities Specialist and as part-time faculty.

John Elmer:  John Elmer began work for the EAC in July, 2001 as the Access Media Specialist. He was formerly on the faculty of Shoreline Community College in Seattle, where his work focused on assistive technology and the integration of students with significant physical and communication disabilities into the college environment.  He works to ensure that all technology and instructional media are accessible to students with disabilities at VC.

Linda Larsen:  Linda Larsen supervises and coordinates all alternative testing for students with disabilities.  Prior to becoming test proctor for the EAC, she served as a classroom assistant in the Learning Skills program.

Cathy Mundy:  Cathy Mundy coordinates all registration and data tracking functions for the Educational Assistance Center.  She also tutors higher level math classes.  Additionally, she ensures that there is an adequate chocolate supply for the office.

Holly Ramsey:  Holly Ramsey provides office services and support for the Educational Assistance Center, including payroll, registration, and purchasing.  She is fluent in Spanish and often provides interpreter services within the department.

Rachel Uffer:  Rachel, one of our Learning Disabilities Technicians, administers testing to students to determine if they have a learning disability.  Rachel comes to us from the Huntington Learning Center in Ventura.  While plans early in her career were focused on Public Health, she has found her path increasingly focused more broadly in the area of education.  Future goals include studying to become bilingual in Spanish (she is bilingual in French), and a possible advanced degree in education.  Rachel served with the Peace Corps for 2+ years in the       Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) of Western Africa until civil unrest forced the evacuation of Peace Corps personnel.  She has traveled extensively in Africa, Europe and the United States.  A native of San Jose, she discovered Ventura and began to call it home shortly after her return from the Peace Corps.  She enjoys the city’s real connection with the ocean, its respect for and nurturance of the arts, and its vibrant downtown.