Teaching The Professionals of Tomorrow
Staff
Letty Naranjo, Executive Director
Letty, a twelfth generation native New Mexican, directs the Adult Education program at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC). She began at the college in January 1985, and has worked in various student counseling and developmental/adult education areas. Letty is passionate about serving students who are most in need succeed so they can contribute more effectively to the community, sustain their families, get better jobs, and become role models for their children. She has been the Executive Director for Literacy Volunteers of Santa Fe (LVSF) for more than 20 years.
Amanda Rivera de Garcia, ESL Literacy Coordinator
Amanda has a BA in Elementary Education with a TESOL endorsement. She has worked in adult education for 10 years and is bilingual in Spanish and English. Amanda likes to garden and cook in her free time.
Susan Rathjen, Basic Literacy Coordinator
Susan has a B.S. degree in Secondary Education and has taught high school and adult education high school equivalency classes for nearly thirty years. She is a certified coach for screening and intervention for students with learning difficulties in their native language for reading, writing and math.
Mary DuBose, Literacy Program Specialist
Mary has a BA in Psychology. She has worked in adult education for 2.5 years. Mary has served as a volunteer ESL tutor since 2012.
Cristina Rogel, Administrative Assistant
Cristina has an AAS in General Studies, from the SFCC, ESL Certificate, from The University of Arizona and completed 2 years in Education from Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara.
She has worked in adult education for 10 years, and for 18 years total in higher education. Cristina was a volunteer ESL tutor for 15 years.
Board of Directors
Joene Herr, President
Joene is the pastor at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church (CLC) and has been there for more than five years. Both Joene and her husband, a naturalized citizen originally from Germany, were the first in their families to graduate from college, and, consequently, she is a powerful advocate for education. Through the experience of husband and his family, Joene also understands and appreciates the importance of learning English to become integrated into communities and to become U.S. citizen.
Nestor Lopez, Treasurer
Nestor joined the Board of Directors of LVSF in March of 2017, and he is currently serving his second term on the Board. He is an office manager at Nusenda Credit Union.
Kristen Lieving, Secretary
Kristen sees literacy as a social justice and public health issue: literacy means having the ability to gain access to jobs, knowing how to consume health information, and engaging in an increasingly complex world. Literacy goes beyond reading and writing to include how to be a consumer of information and to develop critical thinking skills. Developing the skill to communicate effectively has a far-reaching impact for individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole.
Arthur Panaro
Arthur started as an ESL tutor and joined the LVSF Board in April 2019. Arthur has a long-term interest in teaching and working with others. In 1994, he graduated from Southwestern College with a master’s in counseling. Since 2001 he has been on staff at Life Link/La Luz. Arthur is also a writer and poet.
Maria Ortiz
Bio coming.
Beverly “Gina” Leeds
Gina has been a Special Ed and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and tutor for the past 20 years, having taught in Spain, New York City, Santa Fe Public Middle and High Schools, and most recently at the Santa Fe County Adult Detention Facility working with the adult inmates. She is a mother, an artist and writer, and an activist for environmental issues and all things related to assisting the working poor. Gina has seen LVSF in action as she helped place their volunteers at the S.F. County Jail and was very impressed with both the quality of their work and their earnest connections with the incarcerated students, and so she is honored to join their Board. When not working, Gina sings and dances every chance she gets.
Kent DeYoung
Kent and his spouse, Joe, moved from the Phoenix area in 2013. During his time in Phoenix Kent worked mostly in public school finance and accounting, eventually retiring in 2012 from his position as a school district Chief Financial Officer. Since relocating he has worked for both the State of New Mexico and the City of Santa Fe, retiring late last year.
Kent and Joe are avid collectors of mostly Mexican folk art, and their residence has been a destination on various home and garden tours; it has also been featured in the local Eldorado Living magazine. They are involved with the Museum of International Folk Art and the Friends of Folk Art, and they are members of Westminster Presbyterian Church here in Santa Fe. They currently reside in Eldorado with their dachshund, Maria.