Matthew Posillico acquired his B.S. in microbiology from Cornell and his M.A. in cultural
anthropology from Duke. As a graduate student, he began designing and teaching writing
seminars for Duke freshmen using social and cultural issues to prompt discussion and
composition. His pedagogy introduced students to the concept of "reader expectation,"
where students train themselves to write from the reader's perspective. He persuaded
students to embrace the habit of interrogating their own compositions just as they
would course texts. Some of Matthew's course titles included "The Cultural Construction
of Illness" and "Campus Culture."
Professor Tom D'Angelo is responsible for managing the Writing Center's E-tutoring
service and teaches the center's popular Grammar Workshops and MLA Research and Documentation
Seminars. After receiving his B.A. in English Literature and his M.A. with a concentration
in Creative Writing from Queens College/CUNY, Tom taught at Queens College before
coming to NCC in the Fall of 2000.
In addition to his interests in the Writing Center, Tom specializes in grammar, Biblical
literature and creative writing and has extensive experience in basic skills and helped
to develop the college's W.R.I.T.E. program, a review class for students who initially
fail their writing placement exams.
Professor Finneran has worked as a tutor for the NCC Writing Center since 1989 and
as an instructor for the NCC English Department since 1996. She holds a bachelor's
degree in Liberal Arts with specializations in English, Italian and Psychology from
Hofstra University, as well as an M.S. in Education and an M.A. in Applied Linguistics
from the same institution. She is currently a doctoral candidate at Columbia University,
where she has completed 52 credits toward a degree in Applied Linguistics.
Professor Finneran has also taught writing to international students at the Language
Institute for English at Adelphi University and the English Language Program at Hofstra
University. She currently teaches English as a Second Language, remedial writing,
Children's Literature and Linguistics at NCC, and is a volunteer advisor for the NCC
Future Teachers Initiative.
Laura holds a BA in Creative Writing & Education and an MA in English Literature.
In addition to being a teacher, she writes for many different newspapers, websites
and publications. Her passions include creative writing and theater.
Eileen Leff comes to the Writing Center with a B.A. in American Literature and an
M.S. in Special Education, both from Hofstra University. For the past 18 years, she
has been teaching English at W. TRESPER Clarke High School in Westbury, New York.
She was selected to be the Academic Intervention Specialist to work with students
at risk. Prior to working at Clarke, she worked in a Special Education class at J.F.
Kennedy High School in Bellmore for five years.
Eileen is very attuned to students with varied learning styles because of her background
in Special Education and work with ESL students. At NCC, she continues in her role
as a mentor of students' writing.
Dr. Litvak comes to the Writing Center with a multilingual/multicultural background,
for she was born and raised in Mexico City where she became fluent in Spanish, English,
Hebrew and Yiddish. In addition to holding a B.A. in American and British literature
from the Universidad Nacional Aut—noma de Mexico, she attended New York University
where she received an M.A. and Ph.D. in TESOL.
Before working at NCC, where she is now a Full Professor, she coordinated the ESL
programs at the National Puerto Rican Forum in the South Bronx, York Institute, and
the Adult Learning Center in the Flushing Library. Previously, she also taught at
the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Wingate Institute in Israel, Tel Aviv
University, Hofstra, New York Institute of Technology, and Queens College.
All in all, the experiences mentioned above have given Dr. Litvak a unique perspective
that helps her understand the concerns and frustrations that many foreign students
have.
Johanna Mastrototaro, a graduate of Nassau Community College, holds a Bachelor of
Social Science from Adelphi University, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from
Queens College/CUNY. In addition to tutoring, she teaches English 101 and 001 and
Introduction to Women's Studies (WST 101). Johanna has developed two creative writing
courses for Lifelong Learning here at Nassau (Introduction to Creative Writing & Creative
Writing Workshop), which she teaches each semester. Beside her teaching career, she
works as an assistant to the coordinator of the NCC Women's Studies Project and is
a member of the Long Island Writing Project. Johanna is in the process of completing
her chapbook, Mourning Song and is working on a creative writing workbook.
Elisa is a graduate of the Canisius College of Buffalo, where she earned a Bachelor
of Arts in English Literature and a Master of Science in Education. During her ten
years in Buffalo, Elisa specialized in teaching preparatory writing skills and ESL
to incoming freshmen, refugees and immigrants.
Most recently, Elisa coordinated the tutorial program at Queensborough Community College/CUNY,
where she still teaches preparatory writing classes. Additionally, she teaches composition,
literature, ESL and preparatory writing for the New York Institute of Technology,
as well as her work here at Nassau.
Besides being our most senior tutor, Beverly is a lawyer, a poet and a wordsmith.
These diverse talents provide a rich context for anyone receiving tutoring from her.
