The Clark College Board of Trustees has unanimously approved tenure for seven faculty members, recognizing educators from programs across the college.
The newly tenured faculty members are Kevin Edwards in library services, Jeff Rush in diesel technology, Bo Li in nursing, Nicole Mottier in history, Tina Jenkins in mechatronics, David Zonana in environmental science and Sarah Blanchette in addiction counselor education.
Tenure at Clark College is granted by the Board of Trustees based on professional excellence and demonstrated strength in each faculty member’s discipline. The process includes recommendations from tenure review committees to the vice president of instruction, which are then forwarded to the college president before a final recommendation is presented to the board.
The review process includes self-evaluations, committee evaluations, student feedback, supervisory evaluations and peer evaluations.
Edwards, who serves in the library, earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Southern Oregon University, along with a master’s of fine arts and a master of library and information sciences from the University of Washington. He has worked in academic libraries for 14 years, including at Portland Community College, before joining Clark as technical services and systems librarian. Edwards has also served on editorial boards for the Journal of Access Services and Art Documentation, and has participated in committees through the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a library consortium serving academic institutions in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Rush brings more than 20 years of industry experience to Clark’s diesel department. He earned an associate of applied science degree from Mt. Hood Community College and has worked as an instructor for technical colleges and international companies. He joined Clark’s diesel team in 2023, teaching courses designed to prepare students for entry-level technician jobs in an industry shaped by changing technology.
Li earned a bachelor’s of medical science in nursing and a master of medical science in nursing from Nanchang University in China. He is pursuing a post-graduate certificate in clinical nurse education and a doctor of nursing practice in leadership from Jacksonville University. Li became a full-time Clark faculty member in 2022 after more than a decade as a nursing instructor in China and as a registered nurse at hospitals and medical centers in the Pacific Northwest. His teaching philosophy focuses on trust, respect and making nursing education approachable for students.
Blanchette, a faculty member at Clark since 2019, teaches in addiction counselor education. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s degree in social work from Eastern Washington University. She has more than 25 years of experience in human services, including 12 years with the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services. Her teaching emphasizes diversity, access and inclusion, while drawing on her background as a practitioner and trainer.
Mottier teaches history and joined Clark in 2023 after more than 10 years as a professor at Stetson University in Florida. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a master’s of philosophy in Latin American studies from Oxford University and a doctorate in Latin American history from the University of Chicago. Her teaching focuses on critical thinking, culturally responsive instruction and helping students meet educational, personal and professional goals.
Jenkins joined Clark’s mechatronics department in 2022 after working as an equipment technician in the semiconductor manufacturing industry. A former student lab technician in the mechatronics program, she earned a bachelor’s of science in applied technologies from Eastern Washington University.
Zonana teaches environmental science. After graduating from Bowdoin College in Maine, he worked as an outdoor education teacher at Catlin Gabel School in Portland before earning a doctorate from the University of Colorado, where he studied bird behavior and evolution. He later completed a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Denver, where he taught and researched the evolution of island insect populations.
His work has also included research on condors, quail responses to climate change and barn swallow migration in western China.
