Communications Faculty

Kimberley Alcock

BA (British Columbia), Teaching English as a Second Language Diploma (VCC), MFA Creative Writing (Guelph)

Workplace Writing

Email: alcockk@douglascollege.ca

Kimberley Alcock is an award-winning writer and editor who worked in publishing for several years before turning to teaching. She taught ESL for nearly 20 years before teaching business and workplace communication, and draws from her experience as a small business owner and public relations expert. She is an advocate of plain language principles in the workplace and her research interests include the art and craft of the sentence.

Peter Clayton

BA (Honours), MA

Business Communication

Email: claytonp@douglascollege.ca

Peter Clayton has taught a variety of business and media communication courses in the public and private sector. His research interests include educational technology as well as the social and political implications of mediated culture. He favours plain language, particularly as it relates to social, cultural, and communication theory.

Ivana Gotovac

Sophia Han

BA (Concordia), MA Communication (Simon Fraser), MA Journalism (Communication University of China), PhD cand. (Simon Fraser)

Email: hans19@douglascollege.ca

A digital communication specialist with global experience in outreach and program development, Sophia Han has worked with research institutes, public universities, Crown and private corporations in the areas of education, science communication, and arts for social change. She comes from a multidisciplinary background in media production and publishing, beginning her career as a storyboard artist with the National Film Board after graduating from Concordia University in Montreal. In 2018, she completed dual MA degrees at SFU and the Communication University of China in Beijing. Now a PhD candidate in the School of Communication at SFU, she researches the social impact of communication technologies and processes of datafication. Within the SFU Library Research Commons, she teaches workshops and engages in outreach to the university's research community to increase awareness and literacy around the digital humanities. 

Tanya Haye

BA (Honours), Diploma Education (University of the West Indies), Teaching English as a Second Language Diploma (VCC), Cert in International Studies (British Columbia), MEd (English Language Education) (University of the West Indies)

Business, Interpersonal and Speech Communications

Email: hayet@douglascollege.ca

For over 30 years, Tanya Haye has taught academic writing, business writing, and interpersonal and oral communication courses. In her classes, she uses humour, interaction and collaboration to create a comfortable learning environment, which she hopes will facilitate and motivate her students to be active learners and critical thinkers. Tanya has been teaching at Douglas College since 2003. 

Rob Hershorn

Masters in Public Policy and Public Administration (Concordia University), PhD (Simon Fraser University), Former Post-Doctoral Fellow (The Truman Institute)

Email: hershornr@douglascollege.ca

The social-psychology of conflict; communication and culture; self-awareness and interpersonal communication; leadership and workplace culture; diversity and inclusion

Robert Hershorn is a leadership coach and workplace culture facilitator. He helps professionals transform their interpersonal challenges and embrace conflict, seeing it through to resolution. He was a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Truman Institute, has extensive training in non-violent communication, and has taught communication and conflict resolution for over 15 years at universities and colleges in Canada and overseas. His pedagogy weaves his conceptual and practical experience, highlighting self-awareness while navigating bigger issues in communication and conflict. Rob has facilitated symposia and provided training for organizations in group-centered team building, difficult conversations, and diversity and inclusion. All of this comes from his inspiration to assist individuals and communities to work through and reposition the conflict in their lives. 

Ashton Howley

BA, MA, PhD (University of Ottawa)

Written Communication, Rhetoric, Public Speaking

Email: howleya@douglascollege.ca

Ashton Howley has taught at various universities and institutions in Canada and Korea. His publications in The Journal of Modern Literature and with Palgrave Macmillan Press explore issues of gender, psychology, and aesthetics in the works of Norman Mailer, among other American authors. His current teaching promotes the development of workplace writing and public speaking skills for students enrolled in all majors and for those enrolled in selected programs. He has been teaching at Douglas College since 2014.

June Madison

BA (Simon Fraser)

Technical Communication, Writing for the Web

Email: madisonj@douglascollege.ca

June Madison has been teaching and working as a successful web developer, technical writer, systems consultant, and trainer both locally and nationally for the last 15 years. She has run workshops and coordinated projects for Microsoft, Computer Consultants International, Simon Fraser University, and many others. Along with a partner, she launched the first website development and computerized office training program in 1995. The curriculum developed for those programs became the standard for training and is in use in post-secondary institutions today. Additionally, she has published several technical manuals including software manuals and manuals for the production of television dramas and documentary films. Before her career in technology, June wrote feature articles for the North Shore News, North Shore Weekly, Maple Ridge Times, Business in Vancouver, and other publications. In 2021, June completed a certificate in Digital Strategy and Communications Management from the University of Toronto.

Alison McDonald

Holly Munn

BA (Simon Fraser), Certificate Journalism (Langara), Certified Structural and Stylistic Editor (Editors Canada), Certified Copy Editor (Editors Canada), MA cand. (Alberta)

Email: munnh@douglascollege.ca

With over 15 years' experience as a communicator and editor for world-class public, private, and government organizations, Holly Munn believes that the words we use and the stories we can tell can transform our organizations. Holly is a partner in BrandFreek Communications, a Vancouver-based professional communications firm and provides support for publicly traded and privately held companies.

Terry Neiman

SB (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), MS (University of California, Los Angeles), Certificate in Conflict Resolution (Justice Institute of BC), PhD (Simon Fraser)

Communication, culture, and conflict; interpersonal and business communication; negotiation and dialogue

Email: neimant@douglascollege.ca

Terry Neiman worked as a materials scientist in the US aerospace industry before entering the communication field. He has over 20 years of consulting experience, working with communities, organizations, governments, families, and individuals on conflict resolution, harassment and bullying, technical design and problem-solving, negotiated agreements, and public and private policy consultation. His research focuses on the special role of dialogue in everyday life. His teaching is interactive, blending classroom experience with the study of science, technology, culture, and art. 

Maureen Nicholson

BA, MA (Simon Fraser), Certified Professional Copy Editor (Editors Canada), Certified Professional Proofreader (Editors Canada)
Business Communication, Language Studies, Professional Experience

Email: nicholsonm@douglascollege.ca

Maureen Nicholson coordinates the Post-Degree Diploma in Professional Communication. She is an editor by trade and a former president of the Editors' Association of Canada. She served eight years as a municipal councillor and regional representative for Bowen Island Municipality and Metro Vancouver Regional District. She is a former chair of the Communications Department and is currently a member-at-large for Education Council. Her current research interests include editing and attention, and local government and communication. 

Andrew Osborne

Bachelor of Arts in History (University of Regina), Master of Arts in Intercultural and International Communication (Royal Roads University)

Intercultural Communication 

Email: osbornea@douglascollege.ca 

Andrew Osborne has enjoyed a career in international education abroad and higher education in Canada for over 15 years. After living and working in the Republic of Korea, Andrew completed a Master of Arts in Intercultural and International Communication from Royal Roads University. Andrew has applied his passion for intercultural communication in his roles as an international student advisor, academic advisor, and manager of faculty and graduate student mobility and customized programs at the University of Regina and Simon Fraser University. It is as a facilitator, however, that Andrew most enjoys supporting students through the process of self-exploration and development in the intercultural communication learning environment.

Sam Schechter

Diploma Business Administration (Capilano), MA Professional Communication (Royal Roads), Provincial Instructor Diploma (VCC)

Email: schechters@douglascollege.ca

Sam Schechter is faculty in the Communications Department at Douglas College and has previously held roles as President of the Douglas College Faculty Association, Chair of the Communications Department, and a member of the College Education Council.

Following a decade of working primarily in government and politics, Sam Schechter has been teaching in post-secondary education since 2009, including at Vancouver Community College, Royal Roads University, and the University of the Fraser Valley. He has taught a wide variety of courses, including public relations, social media, interdisciplinary studies, public speaking, and professional communications. 

In August of 2022, Sam published Professional Writing Today: A Functional Approach as an OER textbook for first-year post-secondary students taking professional writing courses. In January of 2023, he published Public Speaking for Today’s Audiences and, in April, 2023, he published a third OER textbook, Public Relations: From Strategy to Action. In August of 2023, Sam published Social Media & Reputation Management. He is also the editor of an OER collection of case studies: Public Relations Case Studies: Strategies & Actions.

Janice Sestan

BA (UBC); TESL Diploma (VCC); MEd (UNE, Australia)

Email: sestanj@douglascollege.ca

Janice Sestan has been teaching at Douglas College since 2009. She has taught courses in both the Communications and ELLA Departments, and also teaches Global Citizenship. Prior to Douglas College, Janice spent many years teaching ESL/EAP in private and public institutions, as well as non-profit organizations in Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Guatemala. Her interests in higher education center around furthering students' global, intercultural, and linguistic competencies through practical applications and innovative learning experiences, such as communicating in virtual learning environments.  

Roberta Staley

BA (Calgary), Diploma Journalism (Grant MacEwan), MA Liberal Studies (Simon Fraser) 

Writing for Magazines

Email: rstaley@shaw.ca

Roberta Staley is an author, a magazine editor and writer, and a documentary filmmaker who has reported from such places as Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Kenya, El Salvador, Haiti, Colombia, Cambodia, South Africa, Israel, and New Zealand. She is the former editor of two national magazines and contributes to Corporate Knights, BC Business, Broadview, the South China Morning Post Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Trek, the Canadian Chemical News, and Sculpture, among others. She is a columnist for Just for Canadian Doctors and Just For Canadian Dentists magazines. Her first book, Voice of Rebellion, a biography of Afghan-Canadian human rights activist Mozhdah Jamalzadah, was released in Fall 2019 by Greystone Books.

Caitlin Turner

BA (University of Calgary), MSc (George Mason University), PhD (Carleton University, A.B.D.)

Introduction to Media and Communication Studies, Communication and Social Change, New Media and Society, Global Media

Email: turnerc4@douglascollege.ca 

Throughout her career, Caitlin has taught a range of courses focused on the social, cultural, economic, and political implications of technology, media, and communications. Her academic and research focus has been on the development and deployment of alternative communications infrastructure. Prior to her teaching career, Caitlin spent time in Washington, DC, working with activists and various NGOs; most recently, she has been studying activists working on the creation and deployment of mesh networks in New York. She uses this experience to inform her work in the classroom, where emphasis is given to bringing theory and practice together to help students see themselves as being actively engaged in the production, consumption, and shaping of the (non)digital world.

Hardman, Amanda

Faculty Emerita

BA (honours), Teaching Certificate, MA (British Columbia)

Workplace Writing, Academic Writing

Wegner, Diana 

Faculty Emerita

BA (honours) (Manitoba), MA, PhD (British Columbia) 

Rhetoric, Workplace Writing, Research Writing, Language Studies