Mathematics Faculty & Staff

Full-time Faculty

Fred Bourgoin

fbourgoin@peralta.edu  

Born and raised in France. Mathematically educated in California. I Love math, music, cars, and teaching (not necessarily in that order). Link to website.

Tracy Camp

tcamp@peralta.edu  

I have been teaching mathematics at Laney College since 2005, and before that I taught for six years at De Anza College. Although I enjoyed my job at De Anza and I had tenure there, I moved to Laney because Laney has always felt like home to me. You see my mother, Ernestine Camp, taught mathematics at Laney for over thirty years and she was actually pregnant with me while teaching here! So I feel like I grew up here. When a job opened up here, I jumped on it and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to teach at Laney. I have had tenure here since 2009 and I plan to stick around for the rest of my teaching career! The photo here is a picture of me with my son. We’ll see if he continues the family legacy and becomes a math instructor at Laney College. Currently he claims to dislike math, but you never know, right? Link to website.

Kyla Oh

koh@peralta.edu  

Hi! My name is Kyla Oh and I’m a math instructor at Laney College. I’m originally from New York, but came out to the Bay Area for graduate school and have stayed ever since (I’ve happily hung up my shovel!). I got my Masters degree in Applied Math from Cal State East Bay and started teaching right away. I get so much joy from helping students succeed in math! Since being at Peralta, I have taught math at College of Alameda for four years and was recently hired full-time at Laney College. I have taught Statistics, Algebra 2, Calculus I, and Business Calculus.

I met my husband out here and we have three wonderful teenagers who keep us on our toes! We love traveling, hiking, and spending time with friends.

David Ross (Department Chair)

dross@peralta.edu  

Born in Oakland, grew up in Alameda, I attended public schools all the way through to graduate studies reasonably locally. When not teaching, I enjoy hiking, travel, sailing, and puttering around in the garden. I started community college teaching in 1993, and have been loving it at Laney since 2000! Link to website.

Nick Shaposhnikov

nshaposhnikov@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Derrick Smith

dsmith@peralta.edu  

I love math and hope you will too after taking one of my classes. I look forward to meeting you.

Christine Will

cwill@peralta.edu  

You can call me Christine, or Mrs. Will (pronouns: she/her).  Where there is a WILL, there is a WAY! I do what I can to support each student in reaching their educational goals. Just as you are working to reach your educational goals, I am working to reach mine!  I have a Master’s in Mathematics from Cal State, Long Beach.  I have a certificate in online teaching from Merritt College, and have completed more coursework to help me prepare for remote teaching via Canvas.  

In addition to teaching the curriculum of the course, I emphasize study skills, and work one on one with struggling students to identify challenges and address them. Working one on one helps us to learn from mistakes and turn them into learning opportunities. This is where the most learning happens!

A little about myself…I’m Egyptian American.  I know 6 languages, 7 if you count math!  I’m fluent in English, German, and Arabic, less fluent in American Sign Language, Spanish, and Coptic.  I lived in Germany for 3 years, and used to teach Coptic, a dead language that used to be spoken in Egypt. I have two teens. In addition to teaching, I enjoy spending time with my family, hiking, gardening and crafting.  

I look forward to welcoming you to my class!

Katherine Williamson

kwilliamson@peralta.edu  

My name is Kathy Williamson and I’m an instructor at Laney College. I literally have my dream job!  For as long as I can remember, I have always worked in the field of education (from tutoring in High School and College to teaching HS upon graduation) and I have always loved math!  I did my undergraduate work at UC Davis and my graduate work at CSU Hayward (so if any of my students are interested, feel free to ask me about my experiences at either of those Universities!). Link to website.

Emeritus Faculty

William Lepowsky

wlepowsky@peralta.edu  

William Lepowsky started in Laney’s Math Department as a full-time instructor in 1969 (before the campus was even built) after earning a B.A. in math from Harvard and a Masters in math from U.C. Berkeley (Cal). He soon became interested in the field of statistics, taking Laney’s Math 13 and then getting a Masters in statistics from Cal in 1976.  For about 30 years, Mr. Lepowsky has worked with attorneys as a statistical consultant and expert witness, and he has written an introductory statistics textbook.

Laney’s students have been a source of inspiration, encouragement and insight since the very first day, and Mr. Lepowsky continues to learn more about teaching every semester.  Since retiring as a full-timer in 2011, he has continued to teach statistics. His classes are more theoretical than computational; they emphasize expressing statistical ideas in words, understanding randomness, developing intuition for statistical concepts, and attending to the conditions relevant to using statistical tools.

Calvin Rouse

crouse@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Part-time Faculty

Joseph Almeida

jalmeida@peralta.edu  

Mathematics Faculty at Laney 

Oscar Bascara

obascara@peralta.edu  

Mathematics Faculty at Laney 

Otto Bischof

obischof@peralta.edu  

My name is Otto Bischof. I have taught at Laney in the Laney Gateway math program since 2010. Before that I taught courses to the general Laney math student population. I have helped try to break down Algebra to Laney students to show them how fun math can be, while attempting to be as simple as possible. I try to connect the math to the students’ lives, so I like to spend time doing

word problems with them. My focus is on helping those to whom math does not come easily. My hope is that they will be able to get through the class and no longer be burdened by the Algebra “requirement,” so that they can go out into society and decide for themselves 

what they want to do.

Flor Feldman

ffeldman@peralta.edu  

Mathematics Faculty at Laney 

Kathy Fung

kfung@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Jennifer Gerry

jgerry@peralta.edu 

My name is Jennifer Gerry and I’m a math teacher and artist/dancer/advocate dedicated to presenting early maths (and math in general) in a way that is accessible and exciting for students regardless of their level of achievement or perceived understanding. My college journey began in liberal arts and I later became interested in math, teaching, and art integrated with technology. Definitely a Jill of many skills here! From a theory-based math perspective I love taking deep dives and exploring concepts while filling in the gaps that might exist from prior math experience. I’m excited for each new semester, and with each new group of students as we work together to build strong foundations and an appreciation for the nuanced practices and symbolic language of mathematics.

Calvin Hsieh

chsieh@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Wei Jian Liang

wliang@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Munlok Lum 

mlum@peralta.edu 

I have been teaching math at Laney College since 2002. I obtained my MA in math from CSUEB (formerly known as CSUH) in 2002. I earned my BA in math from UCB in 1996. In fact, I was a Laney College student from 1990 to 1993. Moreover, I worked at Laney College Math Lab as a Math Tutor from 1990 to 1998. So, math is my subject, and I feel right at home with Laney College.

If I am not teaching, I hike. I have been to Las Trampas, Mt. Diablo, Point Reyes, Angel Island, Redwood National Park in northern California, and Crater Lake.

Uchechris Okpalaugo

uokpalaugo@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Amit Singh

asingh@peralta.edu  

Amit Singh teaches various mathematics courses at Laney College including algebra and statistics. My interests are playing basketball and hockey —Amit

Tony Tran

tonytran@peralta.edu  

Hi I’m Tony Tran and I instruct in math sometimes! A few of my hobbies are church, gardening, exercise, food, chess, learning, making, and occasionally, napping in the car under a tree somewhere.

Dangthu (Danielle) Ta

dta@peralta.edu  

Danielle Ta graduated with a B.S. degree (with Cum Laude Honor) in 1999 and MS degree in Math from Cal State Hayward, CA, in 2001. She has been teaching a variety of math courses offered at the community college level. She uses her number skills and people skills in the business field and teaches students how to do simple tax returns, discuss investments in the stock market as well as in the real estate market, and how to start saving for retirement as soon as possible.  Danielle encourages students to use math to become financially independent.

—The more comfortable students feel about math and the more questions they ask me, the more successful I feel as a professor.

Van Tran

vtran@peralta.edu  

Mathematics faculty at Laney College.

Anna Werner

awerner@peralta.edu  

I grew up in Budapest, Hungary and came to the USA in 1983 to study Mathematics at The American University, where I received my MA in Mathematics. 

I have taught Mathematics almost all my adult life except for a 10-year period of being an editor at an innovative Publishing Company (Key Curriculum Press) working on their High School mathematics textbooks and later being an Educational researcher at SRI International. My research focused on the methods and benefits of using technology in teaching and learning. I have been teaching at Laney College since the Fall of 2017.

My calling has always been teaching and I love the fact that each new semester I can improve and try new approaches to make Mathematics accessible and enjoyable to learn.

I love the outdoors and love to play games. In my free time I like to hike, bike, camp, and travel.  

Please email any time. I also have a Google phone number for voice-mail: (510) 560-4514‬

Staff

Gina Karunaratne

gkarunaratne@peralta.edu

Laney College Math Lab Co-Coordinator

Haley Hoech

hhoech@peralta.edu

Laney College Math Lab Co-Coordinator