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Laney College

About Me

About Me

Hi, and welcome to my Laney teaching web site.

For more information about any of the courses I teach, click on the link to each course at the top of the page.  I will be teaching Human Sexuality (Bio 27) this summer session Mon-Thurs from 10am – 12:05 pm.  A current syllabus for the summer Bio 27 class can be found by clicking on the Bio 27 link at the left side of the page.

To reach me this summer, please feel free to email me at akrakowski@peralta.edu.  I will also have office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:15 – 9:45 am in B200.  I can also meet by appointment during the summer session, so if you’d like to meet in person, just email me to schedule a time.

If you would like to learn more about the Biomanufacturing Program at Laney, please email Dr. Leslie Blackie at lblackie@peralta.edu or check out our website at https://laney.edu/biomanufacturing/

My teaching philosophy

I find biology to be a rich and fascinating subject and I hope to share my enthusiasm for biology through teaching.It is becoming increasingly important to be a scientifically literate person in our society, as scientific issues come up in numerous areas of our lives, from health care to education to the environment.My intent as an instructor is to make biology accessible and interesting while ensuring that students acquire the information and learning skills they need to meet their academic and career goals.

My educational backgroundt4cells_forweb-page

My undergraduate education was in Environmental Policy and Natural Resources at CSU Humboldt, where I received my B.S. degree in 1994.  After working for several years in the Bay Area urban creek restoration and the recycling and composting fields, I became increasingly interested in environmental health and justice issues while volunteering with local breast cancer activist groups.  I decided to pursue a graduate degree in Molecular and Cell Biology in order to learn about and participate in cancer research.  I attended Laney and Merritt Colleges to gain the prerequisites I needed to go to graduate school.  I then completed my Master’s degree (SFSU, 2000) and my Ph.D. (UC Berkeley, 2006), both in Molecular and Cell Biology.  My doctoral research focused on regulation of gene expression in breast cancer cells and incorporated numerous experimental techniques in my research, including microscopy, biochemistry, genetics, and animal research.  I left research to pursue teaching at the community college level, and I very much enjoy being a part of the Laney community.  Environmental health and justice issues remain of great importance to me, and I continue to work with community-based cancer and health activist groups on a volunteer basis.


Courses I teach

• Human Sexuality (Bio 27)

• Fundamentals of Biotechnology (Bio 75)

• Principles of Biomanufacturing (Bio 76)

Lots more information about each of these courses can be found by clicking on the course links above.