From left to right: Meg Lenahan, Ashley Fukutomi, Piper Selden, Becky Plas, Nicole Sawa,
Amy Goodwin-Bide, Dr. Erica Reynolds Clayton.
Dr. Erica Reynolds Clayton
Dr. Erica Reynolds Clayton came to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa from the University of Arizona in 2007 where she earned her PhD in Rhetoric, Composition, and the Teaching of English. Her dissertation, Self-Efficacy, Locus of Control, and Social Attitudes: Generation Media’s Response to Teacher Commentary, is an ethnographic, qualitative, and quantitative examination of first-year composition students’ reactions to teacher commentary. This study explores the ways students perceive teacher commentary using the lenses of social, cognitive, and educational psychological concepts of self-efficacy and locus of control as well as societal influences affecting differing demographic student populations.
Professor Clayton’s research interests include writing assessment, writing program administration, composition theory and pedagogy, and rhetorical theory and criticism. She has extensive experience in and has published on writing-program assessment. She has also trained writing-center tutors, and has experience teaching literature and composition at both the secondary and post-secondary levels. In addition, while living in Asia she has tutored English as a Second Language to students from Korea.
Finally, she is thrilled and honored to have the privilege of using her experience and education to work with students at the University of Hawai‘i, while living in the most beautiful place imaginable.
Amy Goodman-Bide
Amy completed a B.A. in French Language and Literature at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. Since then, she has lived in France and many different areas of the U.S., teaching ESL and French in a variety of educational settings. She is currently in the M.A. program in Second Language Studies and is focusing on sociolinguistics. Her academic interests are widespread but include such areas as discourse in medical contexts, narrative analysis, translation, language education, and critical language studies. Besides teaching writing in the ELI, tutoring at the Writing Center, and keeping up with her own academic work, Amy also writes short stories and poetry, practices yoga and sings whenever and wherever possible. She looks forward to new insights that working at the Writing Center will bring.
Ashley Fukutomi
Ashley Fukutomi was born and raised in Oahu (although you wouldn’t know it since she still doesn’t know street names and gets lost – A LOT). She received her B.A. in English with a minor in Religion at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she also worked for two semesters as an English 101 Peer Tutor. She is now working toward an M.A. in English with a concentration in Literary Studies, and her main interest is 16-17th century literature.
While not pursuing her intellectual interests, Ashley loves watching reality shows (especially those on Bravo), attempting to cook and bake, getting mani/pedis, playing with her 20-pound Chihuahua named Rufus, and making jewelry. Her favorite books include Wuthering Heights, Paradise Lost, The Handmaid’s Tale, I am Legend, and Style A to Zoe.
Becky Plas
Becky was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, then moved to Kentucky to pursue her B.A. in Spanish and linguistics. She learned Spanish as an exchange student in Chile, and spent a year teaching English in France and honing her French language skills. Back in Kentucky, she spent a year as an Americorps*VISTA member running a tutoring program for a wonderful literacy center in Lexington. She loves the language-learning process, and is happy to be working toward her M.A. in Second Language Studies here at UH. Becky is excited to be teaching at the ELI as well as tutoring at the Writing Center. She views writing in any language as a process.
Meg Lenahan
Meg Lenahan hails from Western Springs, IL. She received her BA in English from Georgetown University in Washington, DC and has come to UH Mānoa for an MA in English. Her research interests include postcolonial literature, coming of age novels, teaching composition and writing, and working on some of her own creative non-fiction writing. After graduating from college, she spent one year in the real world working at a law firm, but is excited to be a student once again. Meg also enjoys running and swimming, and is an avid Hoya Basketball fan.
Nicole Sawa
Nicole Sawa graduated with an Honours B.A. from York University in Toronto, where she discovered an appreciation for all things Canadian (Timbits and the CBC especially), Shakespeare, winter, and subway systems. Having returned to Hawai‘i to enroll in the M.A. English program, she studies literary theory and works in publishing.
Even though she reads a lot for school and work, reading is still her favorite free-time activity. Her favorite books include Love in the Time of Cholera, After the Quake, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, and Anna Karenina. She hopes to learn Japanese, Spanish, and/or French someday, but also thinks this is highly unlikely. Therefore, she is happy to discover excellent translations—or exceptional books in general, really.
Piper Selden
A perennial student, Piper Selden received a BA in English with honors from the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo in 2007, much to the delight of patient and ever-optimistic family members. Piper lives in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawai‘i, and commutes each week for her graduate studies at UH Mānoa. She is currently pursuing an MA in English with a concentration in Composition and Rhetoric and plans to apply to the PhD program this fall to continue her studies.
Piper writes and has published in a variety of genres including scientific and academic papers, creative nonfiction, and fiction. She volunteers at the Writing Center at UH Mānoa, the First Year Composition Center at UH Mānoa, and The Learning Center at UH Hilo, a facility that services students from UH Hilo and Hawai‘i Community College on the Big Island. She also volunteers as an English tutor and a teaching assistant. When not dodging lava flows, Piper enjoys spending time with her family, reading, and playing in the dirt: gardening, tending her worm farm, and teaching environmental topics from recycling to composting.