START Program Staff and Instructors
Cherisse Brown
START Program Director
Office: Roy F. Christensen Complex (RFC Building #48) Office 366
Professional Work Experience
- Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology/Master’s Degree in Public Administration
- 13 years of social services and non-profit experience
- Emotional Intelligence Coach, Trainer, Facilitator
Career Highlights
- Working in the psycho-social rehabilitation field, teaching work & life skills classes, managing diverse teams as a Regional Program Manager in the non-profit sector, working with skilled nursing facility residents and psychiatric hospital patients, and at-risk students and populations.
- Empowering and promoting personal growth in students in the START Program, ISU faculty and staff, and community partners through Emotional Intelligence training which focuses on self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.
Favorite Professional Experience
In teaching Emotional Intelligence to START students, I have had the pleasure of watching them learn and incorporate strategies that improve their own emotional awareness and well-being along with their relationships with others. Students report that learning Emotional Intelligence has been “life-changing and lifesaving” for them. Getting to empower and support students as they pursue their educational goals against some very challenging odds is what I feel aligns with my life’s purpose.
“A Little about me…”
I am very passionate about helping others see and maximize their potential through education and personal growth strategies. I enjoy spending time with family, learning, traveling, cooking, music, meditating, reading, crafting, camping, hiking, and being outdoors.
Timothy O. Davis, AOS, MFA
Clinical Instructor
Office: Roy F. Christensen Complex (RFC) 375
Professional Work Experience
- Advanced Occupational Specialist (AOS) certified
- 14 years teaching experience in person and online
Career Highlights
- Being a Bengal Connect mentor
- Serving my department and college through the College Executive Committee (CEC)
- Teaching for START
Favorite Professional Experience
As an educator it is always great to watch students develop as learners or watch them overcome obstacles or learning hurdles. Part of teaching is learning the balance between giving too much help and not enough help. Too much one way and students will either become dependent on you and, thus, not pick up the necessary mental stamina they will need later, or too little the other way and they will feel neglected by you, which causes resentment and frustration and stunts the learning process. One such situation happened in the START Writing course I teach. We were having a discussion of some stories we had read. A student mentioned that the story was decadent. Another student asked what decadent meant. Now, I could have easily just given the student the definition, but I used that opportunity to let both students gain some agency in their education. I turned the floor over to the first student, and they defined the word and explained why it applied to the story. I am always proud of my students, but that moment made me extremely proud of them.
A Little about me…
I love teaching! I currently teach English and speech in the TGE department for COT and START Writing and Research and Technology courses for the START Program.
I am also a writer, and I love reading. I am currently reading Albert Camus’s The Plague, but I am slowly moving through my To be Read (TBR) pile.
Prior to teaching, I pursued a career in law enforcement. I had been an Internment and Resettlement Specialist for the Army, but left that in 2001 and moved to Idaho where I earned my BA in English from ISU, and then I moved to Boise to work for the Idaho Department of Correction, but found I would rather go to graduate school, so I enrolled at BSU, and earned my MFA in Fiction. Currently I am working on my second master's degree in Human Resources Development with an emphasis in CTE (I will graduate in December 2023!).
My wife, Jennifer, is a homemaker. Jennifer and I have been married for 25 years, and we have three great kids; Aidan is 23, Sydney is 17, and Logan is 8 years old. Jennifer is from Idaho, but I am from North Carolina.
Shanon Oler
START Counselor
Office: Office: Roy F. Christensen Building Room 372B
Mike Serpa
Math Instructor
Office: Roy F. Christensen Building, 3rd Floor
Professional Work Experience
- Research and Development Engineer for RCA Corp
- Process Engineer for AMI Semiconductor (36 years of industry experience)
- Taught Math in the AE and START Programs since 2009
Career Highlights
- I was the program manager for a corporate installation of an SAP resource management program that took 8 months and cost $300,000. This included presenting training sessions to over 100 employees on 4 shifts. Each shift got 12 hours of training.
- I had week-long visits to wafer fabrication facilities in Japan and Belgium.
- I prepared and taught a 10-hour class on semiconductor physics to a group of equipment technicians who did not have a background in physics.
A Little About Me…..
- I have studied the piano for 25 years and have given two solo recitals
- I coached soccer for 12 years at the U14 through the U19 ages for both boys and girls at the high school and competitive level. I coached the ISU men’s club soccer team for one season.
- I trained for and completed the Great Potato Marathon in Boise, Idaho.
- I am a fly fisherman and tie my own flies.
- I have taken 3 horse packing trips into the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park to fish the Lamar River and Slough Creek.
Zoe Tassava
START Math Instructor
Professional Work Experience
- Pursuing Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with Geology, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics Endorsements
- Tutoring, Academic Support, and Peer Mentoring Resource Center Senior Lead Tutor
- Animal-Style Kung Fu Martial Arts Instructor
Career Highlights
- Getting to watch the powerful transformation of education, alternative perspectives, and effective study tools in conquering learning challenges.
- Being a part in empowering adult learners from a variety of backgrounds overcome skill-related or mindset-induced obstacles to find success.
One of my most cherished professional experiences (that I get to experience again and again) is witnessing the 'Aha!' moment in a struggling student. It's the moment they realize that math (or writing, or chemistry, or physics!) isn't an insurmountable challenge but a subject they can conquer. This transformation of confidence and enthusiasm for learning is incredibly rewarding and underscores the profound impact of education.
A Little About Me...
I grew up in Pocatello, Idaho and, through graduating the START Program, began my own journey as a non-traditional student in my late twenties. Beyond the classroom, I pursue a variety of hobbies: fictional reading and writing, knitting and crocheting, training-in and teaching martial arts, and some camping and hiking. I have had a passion for learning and creating for as long as I can remember, which influenced me towards becoming a teacher. I firmly believe that the best teachers are lifelong learners, and I am dedicated to seeking innovative ways to make education engaging and transformative using the experiences and skills I've cultivated in my life.