Instructor Contact Information, Bio, and Policies

Name: Elizabeth Cowan

Email: ecowan@peralta.edu

Bio:

My name is Elizabeth Cowan, and I am pleased to be your instructor for this course. I have been teaching college writing courses for nearly 25 years, 17 of those at Laney. I began my professional experience in Pittsburgh designing and teaching essay exam prep courses at the University of Pittsburgh, where I also tutored graduate and undergraduate writing students. Later, after four years of teaching in Iowa, where I taught Business Communications, English Composition, and Creative Writing Courses at the University of Iowa, I moved to the Bay Area in 2008, where I have since taught a wide variety of English courses at Saint Mary's College of California - including the English curriculum for the LEAP program - and at Laney College - including the English curriculum for the Gateway to College and APASS programs. I have been teaching at Laney full-time since 2015.

In addition to my classroom work, I have completed pedagogical research and presented work at numerous national and international conferences; however, I have always found the most rewarding work to be in communication and collaboration with my students!

When I am not teaching English, I you can often find me teaching prenatal courses. I am a trained doula and hypnobirthing instructor and love helping women navigate the journey toward parenthood. I also enjoy traveling, cooking (especially spicy) food, and reading to my children. My partner and I have an eight-year-old daughter, Zaiyanna, a six-year-old son, Geronimo, a four-year-old daughter, Xylarose, and a two-year-old son, Zander. My children are fast becoming lifelong friends; seeing their relationships develop is currently one of my biggest joys in life.

My work with Laney students over the past seventeen years has been incredibly rewarding; this is a wonderful academic environment peopled with some talented and dedicated students, and was I thrilled to join the permanent faculty full time in 2015. I look forward to getting to know each of you, if from a distance, sincerely hoping that this course is one that you will find not only enjoyable, but of tangible benefit to yourself as a writer, a student, and a human being actively engaging with the world!

Policies:

Participation:

Participation is a crucial component of this course. To improve your critical reading, writing, and thinking skills, it is imperative that you engage in all class activities and online discussions. This classroom is a writing community and therefore you are responsible not only for your own, but for assisting your peers throughout the writing process. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance that all of your course communications are respectful and supportive of fellow community members. Harassment of any kind will not be tolerated. To make this an effective and supportive writing community, you have two primary responsibilities: do not write anything that you are unwilling to have read by your classmates and treat every piece of student writing you read in this class with the utmost respect and consideration

the instructor's three-year-old daughter

Deadlines:

Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are due by 11:59 on Saturday. I expect all assignments to be submitted (complete, properly formatted, and carefully proofread) by the deadline. Late work will not be accepted unless arrangements are made ahead of time. In the case of unusual circumstances, you may contact me in advance of the deadline to discuss a possible extension, which may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Be sure to communicate early and often if you are having trouble meeting the course deadlines.