Soodie Ansari

Soodie Ansari has over 13 years of experience providing services for immigrant and low-income children and families including four years of working with Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies and a Neighborhood House in Vancouver, British Columbia.

As the Coordinator of the SMCOE Early Childhood Language Development Institute (ECLDI), Soodie has over five years of experience in taking ECLDI from an idea to a successful training opportunity for early childhood educators and parents of children with home languages other than English. Through the Institute trainings and coaching, she offers strategies for creating culturally and linguistically responsive early learning environments for all children.  

As an adjunct instructor at Skyline College, Soodie teaches the 3-unit course on ‘Children’s Language and Literacy Development’ and the one unit course on ‘Supporting Young Bilingual Learners’. She is bilingual (English & Farsi) and bicultural with a Master's Degree in Child Development from UC Davis.

Penny Blair

Penny Blair is WestEd's Program for Infant Toddler Care, Partners for Quality Infant Toddler Specialist & Training Coordinator (PITC PQ) for Region IV, which includes San Francisco, San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara Counties. As the Infant/Toddler Specialist Coordinator for the Program for Infant Toddler Care Region IV, she covers three counties in the South Bay Area: Alameda, San Mateo and San Francisco. She provides outreach into these counties to meet the needs of Infant Toddler Caregivers in training in the PITC six Essential Policies which go toward raising quality care for very young children in Group Care outside their families.

Ms. Blair also teaches in the Community College system at Cañada and De Anza Colleges, and supports the PITC Demonstration site at Chabot College. Previously to training with PITC PQ she worked in the area of Parent Education through the local school districts in San Mateo. Her experience also includes directing in School Age, Infant Toddler and Preschool Programs in the Bay Area. She has a certification in Psychiatric Social Work from the UK and specialized in work with families and their adolescent children before coming to the States from UK in 1975. She received an MA in early childhood education from San Francisco State University.

Kate Williams Browne

Kate is the Program Coordinator of the ECE Department, and is a tenured Professor at Skyline College. She has been teaching in the CA Community Colleges since 1990, teaching at Canada, Foothill and De Anza Colleges in Early Childhood and Child Development. 

Her educational background includes:
*BA in Psychology (Academic Honors) from Stanford University               
*MA in Early Childhood Education(Academic Scholarship) fromUniversity of Michigan
*Elementary Certification (K-6) from Michigan
*Multiple Subjects Credential (K-8) from California
*California Community College Credential                          

As the Coordinator of the San Mateo Region of the CA ECE Mentor Program, Kate has expanded the number of mentors five-fold, and has worked with centers throughout the region to bring experienced teachers into the Mentor Program.  She helps mentors link with student teachers from both  Skyline & Canada Colleges, San Francisco State University, and local ROP/Tech Prep programs.

Additionally, Kate is the author (with Ann Gordon) of several early care and education textbooks. 
Beginnings & Beyond: Foundations in Early Childhood Education, 8e, 2010. Cengage
Beginning Essentials, 2006.   Delmar Thomson Publishers
Guiding Young Children in a Diverse Society,  1996 [in revision].   Allyn & Bacon
To Teach Well: ECE Student Teaching Guide,  2008.   Pearson/Merrill

Patty Dilko, Ed.D. 

Having grown up and completed school on the east coast I migrated to California in the mid-eighties; the climate, culture, and beautiful beaches attracted me to the SF Bay Area. I feel fortunate to be a member of the early childhood professional community here in San Mateo County, our work together has proven to be progressive and supportive in ways that are held as models for the entire State. I currently teach and learn at Cañada College and I am Co-Coordinator of the Mentor Teacher/Mentor Director Program for San Mateo County. website:

Penny Floor

Penny attended Canada Collage and The College of San Mateo before transferring to UC Santa Cruz, where she received her BA in Psychology and MS in Developmental Psychology. Her graduate school research investigated language development, specifically how 18-month-olds learn new words.  Penny became interested in studying developmental psychology while working at a childcare center.  Her employment in ECE includes 17 years experience working with infants, toddlers and their families.

Sylvia Ford

Sylvia Ford M.A. is an Early Childhood Consultant who has been working with children and families in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years. She conducts educational seminars and provides many other services for parents, including private consultations that give parents information on child development and different perspectives and ideas. Sylvia specializes in working with preschool staffs, helping teachers to improve environments, activities, discipline techniques etc… She also conducts child observations in order to help families and schools better understand difficult behaviors and developmental norms of individual children. As a member of the faculty at Skyline College, Sylvia has been teaching courses in early childhood education since 1996.

Elaine Francisco

Elaine Francisco has been in the field of ECE for over 17 years.  She holds a graduate degree in Early Childhood Special Education, a Specialist Credential in Special Education, (Early Childhood), and a Child Development Program Director Permit.   She has been a California Early Childhood Mentor Teacher since 2006.  Currently, she works as a Special Day Class Teacher for the Jefferson School District, and is also an adjunt faculty at Skyline College.  She is the coordinator for  the new Special Education Certifiate Program at Skyline. 
Website:  www.smccd.net/accounts/franciscoe

Bob Genevro

Bob Genevro received a Bachelor's degree in Child Development at Fresno State and a Master's in Counseling Psychology at Notre Dame de Namur University. He has taught part-time in Early Childhood Education departments in six community colleges, including Skyline since 1994.

Bob had a full career working directly with young children. He was a preschool teacher for San Mateo School District, Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC), and Anchorage Head Start when he served for VISTA in Alaska. For twelve years, he was a public speaker for Child Abuse Prevention Center (CAPC) training children, parents and professionals about child abuse prevention skills and the mandated reporting law.

Val Goines

Valerie Goines, MA, has been the ECE/CD Program Coordinator at Cañada College for 4 years and has taught in the ECE/Child Development Department at Cañada College for 28 years. She has a BA in Child Development from California State University, Chico and a MA in Education from Stanford University. She has been a strong advocate for early childhood professionals in the San Mateo County community for over 30 years, primarily through her work at the College as well as The Child Care Coordinating Council of San Mateo County where she worked for 23 years. She has been a presenter at local, statewide and national workshops and conferences on subjects related to child development and family support. She has a special interest in middle childhood, diversity in ECE, human resource administration and family support programs. Her community activities and memberships include: Member of San Mateo County School Readiness Task Force, SaMCares Advisory committee member, Child Development Training Consortium, (CDTC) Advisory Committee member, Mentor selection committee member and membership in NAEYC. She also serves as a Professional Growth Advisor for the Child Development Permit.

Tracy Heffernan

Tracy Heffernan is an author, educator, librarian and actor currently teaching Children's Literature and working in the SFUSD school libraries. She has an MA in multicultural children's Literature and is completing her MLIS this year. She believes literacy is the door to changing the world, and literature is the key to it.

Judy Heldberg 
                                   
Judy has been the Director of the Skyline College Child Development Center for the past 8 years, and adjunct faculty in the ECE Department at both Skyline and Canada Colleges for the past 12 years.  Before that, she was an area supervisor for IHSD (Head Start), Assistant Executive Director of Tri-Cities Children's Centers (now Kidango), Executive Director of the San Jose Day Nursery, and on faculty at Ohlone and West Valley Community Colleges.  In her 40+ years of teaching, she has taught infants through college, experiencing every age and grade.  She has been married to the same man for 46 years, and she has life experience, and many stories, with my 3 children and 10 grandchildren.  She holds a Bachelor of Music Education, Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, and Master of Arts in Education, ECE Emphasis, San Francisco State University.

Deborah Lukas

Debbie Proett Lukas is an Early Childhood Education/Child Development instructor at Skyline and Cañada Colleges. She coordinates the Child Development Training Consortium Grant at Skyline College.  She is a founding member of the Family Support Advisory Committee that developed the curriculum for the Family Support Specialization based on an interdisciplinary approach of child development and family life studies. Her background is in child and family development as an early childhood and parent educator for over 20 years.

Elisa Magidoff

Elisa Magidoff has an MA in Early Childhood Education and has worked in the field of Early Care and Education for almost ten years. Her experience ranges from Preschool Teacher to Site Supervisor to Coordinator of Inclusive and Special Needs Preschool Programs in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. She currently Supervises preschool programs for the City of Pacifica.

Mauricio Palma

Mauricio is the director of the Early Learning and Education Initiatives at Silicon Valley Community Foundation. His career was launched from the Child Care Coordinating Council of San Mateo County where he led the creation of the Spanish Speaking Family Child Care Providers Association and the organization of family support networks in the region. In the course of his professional trek, he has worked hand-in-hand with parents, teachers, directors, principals, superintendents, service providers and faith leaders interested in family support and civic engagement practices. In addition to his community work, Mauricio has taught at City College of San Francisco and San Francisco State University, and has been teaching early childhood education for the San Mateo County Community College District since 1991.

Paul Proett

Paul Proett has been an adjunct instructor since 2002, teaching courses at Cañada and Skyline Colleges.   Paul also taught at Cañada, Skyline and Chabot colleges  in  the  previous years of 1985-87. Paul spent 20 years in various teaching  and administrative roles in Early Childhood Education.  He worked in advocacy and local resource and referral agencies as well as taught and directed in a variety of early childhood settings.  Paul founded two child care centers- one for Apple Computer and a center called Palcare in San Mateo County.  Paul also spent 15 years as a Human Resource professional in technology corporations, advising, consulting and training professionals.  Paul holds a Bachelors (BS) degree  and partial completion of a Masters (M.Ed.) degree from University of California at Davis. 

Cecelia Rebelé

Cecelia Rebelé is the new, part-time ECE/Program Services Coordinator working with Skyline students. She has a BA in English from Sonoma State University and a substitute teaching credential for Preschool Programs through High School. Aside from working as a substitute teacher, her other experiences with youth include docent work through Music for Minors, Career Counseling at Mills and Peninsula high schools and over 15 years as the annual College and Career Fair Coordinator for the San Mateo Union High School District. Cece has a special interest in helping our San Mateo County childcare workforce expand with quality teachers and programs. To that end, she loves helping high school and college students realize, expand and attain their career goals in Early Childhood Education and teaching.

Shawna Whitney

Shawna Whitney teaches at both Skyline and Canada Colleges and has been adjunct faculty since 2006.  In addition to teaching ECE courses, Shawna teaches Nutrition, General Health and Human Sexuality.  She received her Master of Public Health from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in Social Welfare from U.C. Berkeley. Shawna is a Certified Health Education Specialist.

Karen Wiggins-Dowler

Karen Wiggins-Dowler is a Master Teacher at the Mary Meta Lazarus Child Development Center at College of San Mateo and a CA State Mentor Teacher.  Karen teaches the Practicum class at Skyline college during summer session. She has a degree in Anthropology, training in Elementary Education from California State University, East Bay and has done post-baccalaureate studies at San Francisco State University.  She has an avid interest in observation and assessment and in documenting children's growth and development.