Staff
Angie Frank, DAE Coordinator
Angie is involved in adult education because she believes it provides stepping stones for students to transform their lives on their terms. She began teaching in 2008 at the St. Louis County Jail which is her favorite place to teach. She has also taught GED, Adult Diploma, Digital Literacy, ParaPro, and other career focused classes at a variety of locations, which are all a very close second. One of her favorite education quotes is, "What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves," said by Paulo Freire because she believes we all have gifts to contribute to this world and hopefully teachers can help bring those gifts to light. When she’s not teaching, her happy place is on roller skates or taking a hike somewhere beautiful.
Linnea Bishop, DAE Teacher, Career Path Program
From a young age Linnea knew she wanted to be a teacher when she grew up. While she's been with Duluth Adult Education for 10 years now, she's still working on growing up! She has a Master's of Education and has taught a gamut of classes including GED, carpentry, medical office assistant, truck driving, CNC machining, basic computers, certified nursing assistant, highway heavy operator, IT and auto technician. Linnea loves helping others realize their potential and take steps forward to realizing their goals. When she's not teaching, Linnea loves reading, hiking and kayaking.
Gina Temple-Rhodes, DAE Teacher, GED and Diploma Program
Gina has been teaching students of all sorts in many different settings for the past 25 years. From island lighthouses to wastewater treatment plants, she likes to figure out the main point of things and help people learn more. She believes knowledge is power and education can help people move forward in their lives and towards their goals. She’s been working with Adult Education students at DAE since 2016 (sometimes while also working at the public library) and looks forward to helping students move forward with their GED tests or Adult Diploma track.
Robert Turner, DAE Teacher, English Language Learner Program
Robert started with Duluth Adult Education as a volunteer in 2012. After renewing his teaching license, he worked part-time as a GED instructor for DAE from 2013 to 2018. He also taught high school Spanish part-time for seven years. As someone who studied French and Portuguese and spent a year living in Spain, he understands the challenges of learning a new language. In the fall of 2018, he began his current position teaching English as a Second Language to adult students from all over the world. Outside of school, He enjoys a variety of outdoor activities. Spending time with family is also high on his list.
Dr. Katherine Kane, DAE Teacher, English Language Learner Program- Online Instructor
Katherine knew she wanted to be a technical writer when a high school English teacher told her about the profession. After a BA in Spanish and English, she got her California teaching credential as a "fall back". She went into the Peace Corps because it seemed to be a good way to combine some adventure with getting teaching experience. An assignment in Sierra Leone, West Africa, provided outstanding training for in-service teacher training in English as a second language. Working with adult ELLs gave her a new perspective on teaching. When she returned to the U.S., still unsure of a career direction, learning how adults use reading for study and work seemed useful knowledge for both tech writing and teaching adult English language learners (ELLs). She got a doctorate in reading with a focus on the adult student/professional. After grad school and a couple of babies, an opportunity to pursue corporate technical writing opened up. This was the era of rapid corporate globalization. International management-track employees needed to know English. Thus, a blended corporate consulting career of tech writing and teaching ELLs was born. Retirement came and turned out to be very boring after a couple of weeks, so she began ELL and citizenship preparation as a volunteer tutor, adding private online tutoring when COVID came, then adjunct technical college teaching. A move to Duluth brought her here.
Pat Castellano, DAE Teacher, Core Skills
Pat grew up in Marble, MN, on the Iron Range. Unlike Linnea, she did not know that she was going to be a teacher, but wanted to be an FBI agent. A school counselor told her agents had to have perfect vision and be great at math—Pat wore glasses and math scared her. She always liked teaching others how to paddle a canoe, bake pies over a campfire, sound out words, or hit a softball,so she pursued a teaching degree which...does involve FBI work (“Whose paper is this? The “i’s” look like you, Jon.”). Fast forward 42 years teaching 7-8th grades at Holy Rosary School, museum educator at the Duluth Children’s Museum, humane educator at Animal Allies Humane Society, writing curriculum for exhibits and school classrooms, consulting with groups in the US and Canada as a humane education specialist. Theater was a hobby: acting,(40+shows), directing,(23 children and adult shows) backstage roles, in college, the Duluth Playhouse, Colder by the Lake comedy group, Minnesota Access Theater, dinner theater, and (bucket list item) three roles in 3 operas, as a soldier, a nun, and a waiter. Community volunteer gigs: League of Women Voters, the Warming Center, Animal Allies, Lyric Opera of the North (board member). Like Peter Pan and Linnea Bishop, Pat will never grow up nor will she retire.
Jody Greniger, DAE Teacher, College Preparation Program
Jody began working with DAE over ten years ago with the birth of the Pathways to College Success programming at Lake Superior College. From the start of her career in Adult Education in 1996 she has worn numerous instructor hats leading to work with many diverse learner populations: ELL/ESL, GED, Young Parenting programming, Adult Literacy and College Readiness, as well as career bridge and training programming. As an advocate of adult learning her personal lifelong learning goal includes completing the Adult Education Masters program at Hamline University. When not at work you can typically find Jody outside enjoying the many hobbies northern MN has to offer or planning the next shared time with her family.
Kathleen Murphy, DAE Teacher, LSC College Preparation Program
Kathleen has been teaching adult education since 2019, when she began working as a substitute teacher for Duluth Adult Education. Since then she has taught in several areas of adult and elementary education. She has a strong interest in introducing technology applications within adult education, as well as helping her students to develop better workplace and study skills. In her free time she enjoys writing, hiking with her pups, and puttering around the house with a strong cup of coffee or tea.
Dr. Beth Fait, DAE Teacher, SLCJ
Beth began her career in healthcare in strategic planning and marketing. She was then asked to help teach a college class with adult learners in 2005 and has been teaching ever since. Beth has developed, taught, and taken online classes on Canvas, D2L, Blackboard, and custom built online platforms. She has taught a variety of ages students in K-12 and higher education, both on-campus and online. One of her favorite classes to teach was a year-long personal exploration class for college first-year students. She believes in always learning and in the potential of each human being. She loves spending time with friends, traveling and being outdoors with her dog.
Treasure Jenkins, DAE Teacher, SLCJ
Jeff Burns, DAE Teacher, GED Program
Jeff comes to us from Wisconsin, where he grew up in the Vince Lombardi era. He lives in Duluth, and has been a Minnesota resident now for several decades, but remains a Packer fan. Educated at Madison WI in Zoology, he continues to be interested in biology and things wild, and likes to canoe and fish for (but not catching many) trout. He most recently was an educator for Cargill Animal Nutrition, traveling around the upper Midwest to train customer employees about feed product selling and use.
Nancy Meisinger, DAE Front Office Support and Systems Specialist
Nancy is the gal that will greet you when you walk through the door at the DAE! Nancy manages all things attendance for the state database, assessments & so much more. Nancy comes to the Adult Ed. table with a degree in Art Education and a plethora of office managerial experiences. When Nancy isn’t organizing files, preparing reports or whispering to the plants that line the windows here at the DAE, you can find her out frolicing in the pines, eating cheese or nestled into art projects with her kitties in her cozy Hillside home.
Pam Toland, DAE Office Support Staff
Pam has been with Duluth Adult Education for 10+ years. She has a variety of duties from working with student records, TABE/CASAS certified. Pam manages all our required testing materials, provides information on all ABE programs. She also maintains all supplies and materials needed for Registration as well as ordering supplies for the office and classrooms. She prepares the room and materials for weekly Registration sessions. We have recently added a “Drop In” Registration option. (If there is a length of time before our next Registration date). Pam supports and corrects all Registration Assessments tests. Pam verifies student eligibility, past history, have they been in our program previously etc. Prepare student folders and a host of other duties as required.