About Us

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Ellen Costello

Mgr, Teacher Preparation

Ellen has lived in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Washington, D.C., and Florida along her journey in education. She obtained a M.Ed. degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Reading from Trinity Washington University and a B.A. in Psychology from Fairfield University. (She did an alternative teacher certification program, too!) Ellen worked in public K-12 literacy education in Washington, D.C. and Orlando, FL from 1998-2015. Previously, she was also a Sr. Instructional Assistant in the Writing Center (West Campus), an adjunct professor of Developmental Reading, and an associate professor in the Educator Preparation Institute program at Valencia College. Ellen loves her job as the manager of teacher preparation at Valencia because she is able to work with, support, and guide educators in achieving their goals.
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Rhonda Atkinson

Part-Time Faculty, EPI

Rhonda is from the great state of Arkansas. She was on the faculty at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge for about 20 years and at Central Missouri State University for about 7 years. She started teaching at Valencia in 2006, and she teaches undergraduate education courses as well as courses for the EPI program. Rhonda has an undergraduate degree in Elementary, Special, and Early Childhood Education from the University of Central Arkansas and a Master's degree in Learning Disabilities. Her Ph.D. is in Educational Curriculum and Instruction (reading emphasis) from LSU. Rhonda enjoys curriculum development and instructional design. She has written several college textbooks in reading, study skills, and student success and worked on a variety of other writing projects. She has also developed FTCE prep materials for REA publishing.
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Josh Murdock

Part-Time Faculty, Comp Prg A

Josh Murdock grew up in Central Florida attending Seminole Community College after high school. With over 12 years of higher education experience, he strives to provide excellent educational services to the students at Valencia College. He is the Manager of Learning Support Services supervising the Communications, Math, Testing, and Tutoring Centers on West Campus. In addition, he is an adjunct professor for the Educator Preparation Institute (EPI) Technology course and Student Success professor. He holds a Master of Arts in both Educational Leadership for Higher Education and Instructional Technology from the University of Central Florida, with a graduate certificate in E-learning. He is a millennial who not only loves surfing the internet, but surfing the waves every chance he gets.
NamePosition
Cassandra BarnhillPart-Time Faculty, EPI
Tiffany Cowart-HughesPart-Time Faculty, NSE WEC
Paula DaSilvaProfessor, Education
Nirsa GautierPart-Time Faculty, EPI
Theresa GindlespergerPart-Time Faculty, EPI
Adinah RaglandPart-Time Faculty, NSE OSC
Kris VastbinderProfessor, EPI
Claire YatesPart-Time Faculty, EPI