Jim Merrill

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I have taught literature, writing, and ESL at Oxnard College since 1980, when I began as a part-time instructor, becoming full-time in 1985. In addition to teaching, I am currently the Chair of the Letters Department, which includes English, English As a Second Language, Foreign Languages (American Sign Language, Japanese, and Spanish), and Speech. During my journey from part-time instructor to department chair, I have also had a full-time position in charge of the college's Learning Center, have held a variety of offices with the academic senate, and have earned an associate's degree in Spanish from Oxnard College, completed during a sabbatical leave. Other professional activities include having served on several accreditation teams for the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

I live in the Oxnard College community and typically walk to campus in a leisurely fifteen-minute stroll. I have also served as a trustee of the Ocean View School District since 2000. Kitty, my wife (whose shoulder appears in the picture above, taken in Stockholm), also works at the college, running the television studio and cable station - OCTV - and teaching television production classes. Our two daughters attend Channel Islands High School. As a family, we enjoy travel and camping.

I genuinely enjoy the variety of my teaching schedule, going from teaching sophomore-level literature one hour to basic English conversation skills the next, and I look upon my work as a vocation, in the sense of a calling.