Faculty and Staff
Department Chair | Dept. Administrative Aides | Full-time Faculty | Part-time Faculty
Department Chair
Email: stacey.peterson@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5782
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-122D
Educational Background
PhD in Communication, Rutgers, Rutgers UniversityMaster’s in Communication and Information Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
B.S. in Magazine Journalism, Syracuse University
Biography
Peterson joined Montgomery College in 2015 and has served as the Campus-Wide Discipline Advisor since 2016. She chaired the Communication Studies Revision Committee, developed advising protocol for the Communication Studies Program and developed Z-course materials for the Introduction to Communication Inquiry and Theory course.Alumni Profiles, News - Rutgers Foundation Newsnew window
Department Administrative Aides
Full-time Faculty
Email: sadi.ahmad@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1694
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-214
Educational Background
PhD, TESOL/Applied Linguistics, Oklahoma State UniversityMA,Linguistics, University of Texas at Arlington
BA,Teaching English as a Foreign Language, University of Istanbul-Turkey
Educational Background
- Doctorate degree in Linguistics/TESOL from Oklahoma State University
- Masters of Arts in Linguistics from University of Texas in Arlington
Biography
Dr. Sadi Ahmad has been teaching at Montgomery College since 2004.Upon completing her undergraduate degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from University of Istanbul, Dr. Ahmad moved to the US where she served as an ESL teacher at the Tarrant County School District in Fort Worth, Texas.
Email: tracie.babb@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5791
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, CU 123
Office Hours: M & W 3:30-5:00pm; Tu & Th 11:00am-12:00pm
Educational Background
BA, Communication and Media Studies, Fordham UniversityMA, Public Communication, Fordham University
PhD, Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication, Howard University
Biography
Tracie Babb is currently a Professor in the department of AELP, Linguistics and Communication Studies. She teaches Communications courses including COMM 108 (Introduction to Human Communication) and COMM 230 (Introduction to Public Relations). She has been at MC since 2015.Tracie’s research interests include the intersection of popular culture and media, and social media’s impact on interpersonal communication. She has presented papers to groups such as the National Communication Association and the Eastern Speech Communication Association.
Email: jona.colson@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1377
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-104
Educational Background
TEFL/TESOL Certificate, EBC Servicios Linguisticos (Madrid)MA, English/Linguistics, George Mason University
M.F.A. Poetry, American University
BA, English/Spanish, Goucher College
Biography
Mr. Colson joined Montgomery College fulltime in 2012. He has served as a course coordinator, and he was previously awarded a Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship. In addition to teaching and serving the college, Colson also recently won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize for his debut poetry collection, Said Through Glass Washington Writers’ Publishing House, 2018. His poems, translations, and interviews can be found in Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and The Writer’s Chronicle.
Email: diego.hernandez@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1683
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-103
Office Hours: M,W,F 9:45-10:45am; Tu & Th 12:15-1:15pm
Educational Background
MA, TESOL/Applied Linguistics, University of Illinois at ChicagoBA, Government and Politics, University of Maryland at College Park
Biography
Diego Hernandez (he/him) has taught at Montgomery College since 2008 (full time since 2014). He grew up in Montgomery Village and graduated from Watkins Mill High School. In his teaching, he trains students to become self-sufficient language learners. In 2022, he completed a sabbatical project exploring innovative ways to support English learners outside of a traditional English language program. He serves on the Academic Regulations and Standards Committee.
Email: Aayushi.hingle@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5446
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, CU 120
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday 10:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m; by appointment
Educational Background
BA, Public Health, California State University, Los Angeles
MA, Communication Studies, California State University, Los Angeles
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, California State University, Los Angeles
PhD, Instructional, Health and Intercultural Communication, George Mason UniversityBiography
Aayushi joined Montgomery College in 2023.
Email: ahuebner@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5918
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, CU-119
Office Hours: M&W 12-1:30pm; Tu&Th 12-1pm; by appointment
Educational Background
BA, Communication Studies, West Virginia University
MA, Communication Studies, University of Kentucky
PhD, Environmental Communication and Media Criticism, Florida State University
Biography
Huebner joined Montgomery College in 2018.
Email: amanda.lebleu@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1384
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-213
Educational Background
BA, French, Tufts UniversityMA.T, Teaching English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education, Georgetown University
Biography
Lebleu joined Montgomery College in 2008 as a part-time faculty member and became a full-time faculty member in 2013. She developed and co-taught three accelerated learning communities that paired ELAP's capstone course with college-level courses in business, computer science, and psychology. She also designed and taught the first fully distance-learning course for ELAP in spring 2020 and completed and taught the ELAW 970 DL common course in spring 2022. She has served as coordinator of both reading and writing and has worked as a tutor in the WRLC in Takoma Park.
Email: david.lott@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1653
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-105
Educational Background
BA, English, Williams CollegeMA, American Studies, University of Maryland
MA, Teaching Languages, University of Southern Mississippi
Email: james.murray@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1403
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-106
Educational Background
BS, Sociology/Anthropology, Florida International University
MS, TESOL, Florida International University
Biography
I am interested in the structure of Atlantic creole languages, particularly French-lexifier creoles. I have taught academic English to visiting fellows at the Haitian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and I work closely with local members of Haiti's Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole Academy) to offer community programming on the Haitian Creole language.
Email: angela.nissing@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1661
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-108
Educational Background
BA, English/Writing and French, Rhodes CollegeMA, Applied English Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison
EdD, Educational Leadership and Management (concentration: Creativity and Innovation), Drexel University
Biography
Angela Nissing joined Montgomery College full-time in 2006. She has served in progressive leadership roles: AELP Coordinator for four years; one year as department chair for the department of English, Reading, AELP, World Languages, and Women’s and Gender studies; and another eight years as department chair for ELAP (formerly AELP), Linguistics, and Communication Studies. She is currently serving as Faculty Associate for ESL Placement, leading a team in updating ESL placement college-wide as well as coordinating the ESL placement process overall. She has served on a wide variety of committees at the college, such as Faculty Council, the Operational Services Council, and the Academic Regulations committee. Her current research interests range from ESL placement to language learning mindset, and how students experience community college.
Email: heather.satrom@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-3990
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3-107
Educational Background
BA, Journalism, American UniversityMA, Teaching ESOL (with a double concentration in Teaching French), School for International Training (now known as SIT Graduate Institute), Brattleboro, Vermont
Diplôme Supérieur d’Etudes Françaises (Advanced Degree in French Studies), L’Université de Strasbourg, France
Biography
Heather Bruce Satrom has taught non-native speakers of English in the English Language for Academic Purposes program at MC since 2005. She received the 2024 Award for Faculty Innovation from the American Association of Community Colleges for her sabbatical projectnew window, an oral history project documenting the lives of immigrant and refugee students at Montgomery College (www.historyinthemaking.blog). She has served as an ELAP program coordinator and academic advisor. Prof. Satrom has participated in the Smithsonian Faculty Fellowship, the Scholarship for Excellence in Teaching Fellowship, the Global Classrooms Fellowship, the Quantitative Reasoning in the Disciplines Fellowship, the Many Voices One College Global Humanities Fellowship, and the Belfer National Conference for English Educators at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Prof. Satrom has also completed training in Digital Storytelling through StoryCenter, and she incorporates both digital storytelling and museum education into her courses. Prof. Satrom developed a project at the National Museum of African American History and Culture related to teaching students about the Black Lives Matter movement. Prior to teaching at MC, she worked at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and at Brevard Community College in Florida. Prof. Satrom won an Outstanding Faculty Service Award in 2018.
Email: Lauralyn.McWilliams@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1390
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, p3-211
Educational Background
B.A. in Communication and Women’s Studies, Goucher CollegeM.A. in TESOL, American University
Biography
Professor McWilliams has been teaching English language learners for more than 25 years. Joining Montgomery College in 2007, she developed a communication course for students going into the Health Sciences and customized a language course for employees at Holy Cross Hospital where she taught on site. In addition, she has facilitated multiple workshops, coordinated campus speaking and listening courses, created a learning community, and designed a distance learning course. Most recently, Professor McWilliams piloted a collegewide speech coaching program through the Writing, Reading and Language Center at TP/SS.Part-time Faculty
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, RC-012
Educational Background
- Doctorate degree in Mass Communication Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Master’s degree at The Ohio State University in Journalism and Public Relations
- Bachelor’s degree with a double major in Journalism and Radio, Television and Motion Pictures at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976
Biography
At Montgomery College, Dr. Cherry has taught “Foundations of Human Communication,” and was selected as a member of the 2022 cohorts of the MC – Smithsonian Faculty Fellows, and the Quantitative Research in the Disciplines. She consistently has worked with colleagues on campus committees to promote our students’ success, including the College’s The General Education Oral and Written Communication Rubric Revision committee, and the Department’s assignment evaluation rubrics.
Email: serena.gould@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-3944
Office Location: Takoma Park Silver Spring Campus, RC 111
Office Hours: By Appointment
Educational Background
BA, Hons English Univ. WitwatersrandBA, Hons Comp Literature Univ. Witwatersr and Associate and Licentiate of the Trinity College of London, UK
MA, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
PhD, English Literature and Criticism. In process Indiana University, PA (Status ABD)
Email: Jeremy.lignelli@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-3944
Office Location: Takoma Park Silver Spring Campus, RC 111
Biography
Prof Lignelli (aka Mr. L) joined Montgomery College in 2013. He works at Takoma Park
in the ELA program and as a tutor in the Writing Reading and Language Center. He also
teaches in ESL in Continuing Education at Rockville. Additionally, he works as an adjunct for Howard Community College teaching ESL and
Composition.
Educational Background
BA, Communications, McDaniel College
MA, Applied Linguistics in Teaching English as a Second Language, InterAmerican University
of Puerto Rico
Educational Background
Masters from Johns Hopkins UniversityBiography
- Montgomery College faculty since 2003.
- Faculty adviser for the Germantown student newspaper, the Globe.
- Selected Outstanding Part-Time Faculty member in 2017.
- MC Part-Time Faculty Union, which is affiliated with SEIU Local 500.