There are over fifteen different student tutors and faculties in the Educational Student Services building. In my last story I interviewed the new Dean of the ESS building. Mr. Castillo gave me insight on what the building has to cover and his big role as the new dean. One responsibility he has as dean is to make connections with his faculty. With this in mind, the building has many incredible staff workers that play an important role- one of these staff members is Elise Baker.
Baker is a friendly and outgoing person and I was able to walk into her office with no appointment necessary. I was greeted with both a smile. A pleasant smell of sage danced around the room as well. I introduced myself, my major, and the reason for the interview. Ms. Baker is the distance Education specialist here at the ESS building. Elise graduated from Fresno State with a degree in Communications. While at Fresno State, she also worked on the campus for eight years then transitioned to Reedley College.
Her graduate work while she was earning her masters was in Instructional Communications. After getting her masters her next project was to create a training manual for new teachers. Here at the ESS building, her job as the Distance Education specialist is to support professors on how to use online resources to help students who work better remotely. She plays an important role here within the COS community.
The encouragement she provides is to make sure each student is able to make it on time for their classes whether it be online, or in person is what she wants to accomplish. Additionally, She says “It’s my goal to make online learning make sense for students, and help make it clear to them. Some students tend to not do as well online as they would in person. I think we can have a big impact using online for students and in structures. I want students who take online courses to get the same level of education they would get if they sat in person.” Ms. Baker has been working here for two years now. I’d say her future’s looking bright.
