At the end of spring, the college said goodbye to 12 retiring staff members, but this semester GCC welcomes 25 new faces.
This fall brings in a high number of new hires, most of whom have taught here as adjunct instructors.

Naomi Sato is the Vocational (English as a Second Language) ESL Coordinator for the Garfield campus. She has worked for several years at GCC as an adjunct instructor.  She is currently involved in meetings of the Glendale Community College District Regional Consortium,  which is made up of educators and community partners committed to improving the adult education experience in the Glendale district.
ESL classes help students utilize the English language in their daily life,  work,  and other academic classes. Her goal is for the students “to master the student learning outcomes,  and accomplish their own personal goals.”
Geri Ulrey is an instructor of media arts. She is teaching motion picture production and digital video editing this fall in GCC. She has a master’s degree in film editing from UCLA. Ulrey is working on a short film which is in its final stages of post-production.
She chose to teach because some of the people that had the greatest impact on her life had been her teachers, and teaching allows her to “constantly grow herself.” “One of the most fundamental parts of being a human being is our need to tell stories,” she said. This allows her to connect to her students easily and translate her love for the arts to the courses she teach.
Sevada Isayan is a full-time instructor from the business division.  He is currently teaching a variety of computer courses,  such as Java Programming, and Cybersecurity.  He got his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Cal Poly Pomona,  where he was also a teaching assistant.  Isayan has been working in the IT industry for the past 13 years.
He aims for a more active and hands-on learning environment. And also, encourage his students to “not just see the material in terms of theory but understand their application.”
Karen Swett joins the Language Arts Division as a speech instructor. She is teaching public speaking this fall. In the spring, Swett will teach  intercultural studies, as well as gender and communication classes. She graduated from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies. She is also a part of the Cultural Diversity Committee because she wants to help different cultural groups see that “they share more values than they know.”

Naomi Sato is the vocational ESL coordinator for the Garfield campus. She has worked for several years at GCC as an adjunct instructor.  She is currently involved with the District Regional Consortium,  which is made up of educators and community partners committed to improving adult education experience at both the main campus and Garfield.
ESL classes help students utilize the English language in their daily life, work and other classes. Her goal is for the students “to master the student learning outcomes, and accomplish their own personal goals.”
Rebecca Robins joins the business division as an accounting instructor. She teaches financial and managerial accounting this fall.  She has a bachelor’s degree in public accounting from Benjamin Franklin University and  a master’s degree in business administration and management from  Frostburg State University in Maryland.
“We forget what we really enjoy, what we dreamed about or thought about as kids…and I think we always need to keep that element alive,” Robins said.
Vadym Mykhaylov joins the health sciences division as a full-time instructor. He is teaching nursing fundamentals and medical-surgical nursing this fall. Mykhaylov joined  GCC as an adjunct instructor two years ago. He has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in public health nursing. Mykhaylov is also a licensed family nurse practitioner.
One thing he wants his students to remember is that, “we need to treat people as a whole, you don’t just treat a single disease.”
Margaret Richer is the new Program Coordinator for College Readiness ESL.  She has been with GCC for 22 years as an adjunct instructor. She graduated from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a master’s degree in linguistics.
She strives to create a student-focused environment in her classes, where students can enhance what they already know. Her goal is to help students transition into colleges and universities. “I want them to realize that here, there is a lot of opportunity,” Richer said.
Joanna Parypinski joins the English department as a full-time instructor. She teaches  writing workshop classes. She has been with the college for two years as an adjunct instructor. Parypinski  has a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s in creative writing. She  also writes horror novels and she just finished revising a novel she wrote.
Her goal in class is for her students “to have an appreciation for reading and writing.”
Dr. Anthony Culpepper is the new executive vice president of administrative services. He has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and master’s in business administration. He has built a successful career in the corporate world before he started teaching as an adjunct instructor at Pepperdine University. He then went back to school and received a doctorate in organizational leadership.
Dr. Culpepper intends to provide a strong educational environment where the students feel safe and inspired. He is working with different departments to continue the maintenance and upgrades of facilities to energize students in their learning.
The new head coach of women’s basketball, is Joel Weiss; Samantha Garagliano, speech instructor; Mary Elizabeth Barrett, Disabled Student Programs and Services counselor; Sandra Romero,  math instructor and accounting instructor, Araik Margaryan.