Meet the 2025-26 EPIC Faculty Fellows
Amira Alkeswani
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Cañada College
Amira Alkeswani is an assistant professor at Cañada College. She holds an M.A. in mathematics (advanced study) from San Francisco State University. Amira is deeply committed to equity-focused teaching, developing and remixing zero-text-cost projects and textbooks to increase access and student success. She also implements competency-based grading and mentors students through Honors Contracts and undergraduate research, fostering a supportive environment for academic growth. Outside of academia, Amira enjoys art projects and reading poetry.
Project: Mathematics Across Cultures: Integrating Global Perspectives into Linear Algebra and Probability
As we merge cultural narratives with mathematical inquiry, this cross-cultural project explores the intersection of global myths and mathematical ideas, focusing on probability and linear algebra. Students connect cultural stories of fate and randomness to concepts such as addition and multiplication rules, complementary events, and equally likely outcomes. In linear algebra, they explore traditional methods like the ancient Chinese elimination technique from The Nine Chapters. The project highlights the diverse roots of mathematics and promotes a culturally enriched understanding of core ideas.
Khalilah Beal
Instructor, Math Department, College of Alameda
Dr. Khalilah Beal is a community college math instructor committed to preparing students for a globalized world. With a Ph.D. in mathematics, she integrates culturally responsive pedagogy and real-world problem-solving into her classes. Beyond traditional lecturing, Khalilah mentors diverse learners and presents on equitable, globally minded mathematics instruction. Dr. Beal also leads workshops that promote collaboration with colleagues to redesign curricula for accessibility and academic acceleration.
Project: Building Bay Area Mathematics Curricula for a Global World
The primary objective of this project is to create internationalized calculus/precalculus and statistics curricula for use at the community college, with the aim of cultivating global competencies among students. Further, the curricula updates are to be done in a way that is scalable to other STEM courses.
Tatiana Irwin
Associate Professor of History, College of San Mateo
Tatiana Irwin is associate professor of history at College of San Mateo, where she teaches California history and U.S. history. She is also a foundation instructor in the Honors Project and serves on the President’s Advisory Committee for the San Mateo County History Museum. She holds a graduate degree in U.S. history from San José State University and recently completed a certificate in digital humanities through UC Berkeley. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in history from UC Davis, with a focus on California history, borderlands, transpacific histories, and material culture. Outside of work and school, Tatiana enjoys road trips across California and gardening with her orange tabby, Oedi.
Project: Dancing on the Brink of the World: Internationalizing the California History Curriculum through Digital Humanities Methods
Spanish explorers once mapped California as part of an island. U.S. historians frame it as the end of a continent. The Ohlone see it as “dancing on the brink of the world.” This view highlights California’s unique position as a site of global connection. What if the sources we used to teach this history reflected transpacific networks? My project uses Stanford University collections to internationalize the California history curriculum through digital tools in collaboration with CESTA, Palladio, and EpicConnect. This includes early accounts of California, the first Chinese American newspaper published in the U.S., and Filipino love letters.
Gwendolyn Liu
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Chinese, Pasadena City College
Dr. Gwendolyn Liu grew up in Taiwan before pursuing graduate studies in the U.S. She holds a master's degree in East Asian languages and cultures, and a Ph.D. in educational policy and administration with an emphasis on international and intercultural education from the University of Southern California. Her doctoral research examined the paradox of assimilation—how Taiwanese immigrants use nonformal education to preserve ethnic language and culture and achieve self-empowerment in a diasporic context. Her current academic interests center on cultivating mindfulness through East Asian art forms such as calligraphy and tea meditation. For over a decade, Dr. Liu has taught language and cultural courses at Pasadena City College. She enjoys nature, hiking, and traveling in her free time.
Project: The Way of Tea: History, Philosophy, and Transformative Practice
This project aims to guide students in exploring Chinese civilization and traditional culture through the lens of tea. By examining tea's ceremonial rituals and the art of tea appreciation, students will engage meaningfully with the foundational philosophies of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. The initiative incorporates experiential pedagogy, combining lectures on tea’s historical development and its presence in Chinese artistic traditions with immersive appreciation sessions. Tea meditation will be introduced as a practice for cultivating mindfulness, enhancing psychological well-being, and deepening students’ connection to tea culture.
Katie Manbachi
Assistant Professor of History, Skyline College
Katie Manbachi is an assistant professor of history at Skyline College. She offers classes rooted in global, interdisciplinary approaches to California, American, and world history. Before joining Skyline, Katie taught in the Sociology and Sexuality Studies Department at San Francisco State University and led youth participatory action projects as a community researcher at the Young Women’s Freedom Center in San Francisco. Katie holds master’s degrees in Near Eastern studies and history from Princeton University and Yale University where her research focused on the formation of Iran’s modern constitution and late 19th and early 20th century social and political movements. Katie is excited to use digital humanities to deepen the teaching of world and Middle Eastern history for community college students.
Project: Mapping Tribal and Political Power: Using Digital Humanities to Teach Middle East History
This project will visualize tribal, regional, and imperial power in the Middle East in the early 20th century. The project has two goals — to build an interactive map of Iran using archival materials to use as a teaching tool and to create a student research assignment tied to an exploration of borderlands, negotiated autonomies, sovereignty, and migration. The overall aim is to challenge nation-state frameworks of analysis in order to encourage critical reflection on how geography shapes histories of imperialism, modernization, nationality, ethnicity, cultural identity, and citizenship.
Ryan Meza
Part-Time Faculty, English Department, Allan Hancock College
Ryan Enrique Meza, M.A., is an adjunct instructor of English with extensive experience teaching at California community colleges, including Allan Hancock College, Los Angeles Trade-Technical College, East Los Angeles College, and West Los Angeles College. He holds a Master of Arts in English from California State University, Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Riverside. His recent teaching at the federal prison in Lompoc has profoundly informed his current project on isolation in world literature, linking literary themes to real-world experiences of confinement and identity.
Project: Literature of Social Distancing: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Isolation in Global Literature
Literature of Social Distancing (LSD) is a global literary framework and digital project exploring how isolation—through solitude, exile, and emotional distance—operates as both theme and structure across cultures and time. Drawing on a curated canon and critical theory, students analyze setting, voice, and form to map disconnection as a systemic condition. Through digital tools and close reading, LSD helps students see their own experiences as part of broader global patterns of marginalization and endurance.
Mursalata Muhammad
Professor of English, Grand Rapids Community College
Mursalata Muhammad’s writing and teaching are grounded in her lived experience and commitment to social justice, informed by courageous conversions and historical accountability. A Detroit public school graduate with a diverse educational background, she is a community college professor who champions access to high-impact learning, including honors programs, service learning, and study abroad opportunities. Her work—creative, scholarly, and pedagogical—emphasizes human literacy as a daily practice. A defining achievement is her founding of the Bragg-Harvard-Muhammad Smith Intercultural Travel Scholarship, which helps cover travel costs for students traditionally excluded from global education opportunities.
Project: From Roots to Routes: Building Intercultural Competency through OERs that Situate the African Diaspora in Global Education
This project creates a digital open educational resource (OER) offering virtual study abroad experiences rooted in African diaspora cultures, with a focus on Afro-Caribbean regions. Designed for community college students, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, the OER integrates digital humanities tools and student co-creation to build intercultural competency, global awareness, and storytelling skills across literature and writing courses.
Naomi Rutuku
Professor of English, Bakersfield College
Naomi Rutuku is a professor of English at Bakersfield College with over a decade of teaching experience in composition, literature, and online pedagogy. She holds an M.A. in English rhetoric and composition from California State University, Northridge. Her international experience includes serving as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Rwanda (2013-2014), and she has received multiple fellowships including the National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship and the CLEAR Action Research Fellowship for her project on "Students' Emotional Reactions to Feedback." Her research focuses on inclusive teaching practices and educational innovation. She has presented at national conferences and serves on numerous professional committees, including the Peer Online Course Review (POCR) committee.
Project: Healing Through Words: Internationalizing Composition with Rwanda’s Reconciliation Narrative
Rutuku aims to internationalize her Academic Reading and Writing curriculum using Rwanda's journey from genocide to reconciliation as a case study. By examining how perpetrators and survivors now coexist after the 1994 genocide, students will explore the power of language in healing fractured societies. The goal is to develop empathy and analytical skills while equipping students to engage with complex intercultural issues, connecting personal voices to global themes of justice, resilience, and healing through inclusive, diverse curricula.
Cara Smulevitz
Professor of Art History, San Diego Mesa College
Cara Smulevitz, Ph.D., is a professor of art history at San Diego Mesa College, where she teaches courses in modern and contemporary art, with a special focus on gender studies and on the history of popular culture. She has co-authored multiple Open Educational Resources texts for art history, and also serves as a peer instructional design coach, specializing in online course design and active learning.
Project: Internationalizing Introductory Art History by Embedding Mesa College’s World Art Collection into Our Art History Curriculum
San Diego Mesa College’s World Art Collection is an amazing, underutilized resource on our campus. A labor of love with little formalized support, it was established by art history faculty in the 1970s, and has grown to over 2,000 objects, most of which are from the African continent. My goal is to review, and then build on, the extant body of research about objects and themes in our collection, and integrate that research (and a student-friendly curricular module) into the broad, usually Western-focused Introduction to Art History courses that hundreds of Mesa College students enroll in every semester.
Tina Zeidan
Professor of Geology and Earth Science, Southwestern College
Tina Zeidan is a tenure-track geology professor at Southwestern College who is passionate about sparking curiosity and making STEM education accessible. She focuses on engaging students in both online and in-person learning environments and is dedicated to removing barriers to success. Tina authored an Open Educational Resource (OER) and is developing a zero-textbook-cost degree pathway for her college. Outside the classroom, she enjoys exploring hands-on hobbies like woodworking and painting, and is constantly seeking new skills and creative outlets.
Project: Earth Science Beyond the Classroom: Virtual Field Trips for an Inclusive STEM Education
This project will develop free, accessible virtual field trips for general education geology courses to boost student engagement, equity, and success. Highlighting key geologic sites tied to topics like plate tectonics, rock types, and geologic time, each trip will include digital tools and adaptable assessments. Resources will be shared via Canvas Commons and in alternative formats to ensure broad access across California community colleges. This initiative supports STEM pathways and removes financial and logistical barriers to traditional field learning.