General Studies Program Team Directory
OUR MISSION: To provide a flexible degree path that promotes structured, intentionally sequenced decision-making and encourages self-exploration and discovery.
OUR VISION: Moving through this degree, students will: (a) refine their focus and interests; (b) develop confidence in their learning and decision making; (c) become life-long self-directed learners; (d) build a solid foundation of practical and intellectual skills necessary for academic and career success; (e) cultivate skills in the following areas: effective communication, creative problem solving, critical analysis and evaluation skills, and the ability to make connections in order to apply and transfer skills and knowledge.
To schedule an academic advising appointment with any of our program advisors, use our scheduling system.
General Studies Leadership Team
Email: sarah.campbell@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-4166
Office Location: Germantown Campus, HS 140
Biography
Dr. Sarah Campbell serves as interim vice president for liberal arts and education at Montgomery College. She joined Montgomery College in 2008 as a faculty member in Spanish and taught all levels of Spanish on the Rockville Campus, where she also acted as world languages coordinator and as faculty liaison to the Digital Language Lab. She subsequently served as chair of the Humanities Department at the Germantown Campus and as acting collegewide dean of humanities. She is active in the professional organizations of her discipline, having recently concluded a four-year term as the secretary for the Community College Special Interest Group of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages and serving as the founder and adviser of the Montgomery College chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria de la Lengua Española, an honor society that recognizes students at two-year colleges for excellence in their study of Spanish.
Biography
Jennifer Haydel has been a member of the Montgomery College community since 2008. Ms. Haydel has served as a professor of political science, earning an Outstanding Faculty Service Award in 2015, as well as an Outstanding Faculty Award For Excellence in Teaching and Advising in 2023. She has mentored internship students at the Paul Peck Humanities Institute and students presenting papers at the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council and the Beacon Undergraduate Research Conference. She has also successfully written grants including the College’s own Innovation Grant, “Bridging the Urban/Rural Divide, and the University Systems of Maryland First in the World and Civic Engagement Collaborative Grant Fund with two colleagues titled, “Exploring Voter Turnout in US Elections 2020: An Interdisciplinary Module for Introductory Statistics.” From 2023-2024, Ms. Haydel served as acting chair of the Germantown Humanities Department.Ms. Haydel earned a bachelor of arts in Integrated International Studies from Knox College and a master of arts in political science from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.
Educational Background
MA, Political Science, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesBA, Integrated International Studies, Knox College
Email: christina.gentile@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7425
Office Location: Rockville Campus, MT-609
Biography
Professor Christina Gentile serves as the collegewide department chair for the General Studies program. She has worked at Montgomery College since 2007 joining first as part-time faculty and then as full-time faculty in 2010. She has taught all levels of Italian and Spanish at the Rockville campus and served as the world languages coordinator, the digital language lab liaison, and acting department chair for the Department of World Languages & Philosophy. She has been a member of the General Studies leadership team since its inception serving as the world languages discipline liaison and communications coordinator and later as interim collegewide department chair for the General Studies program. She is actively engaged within her discipline and various committees at the college, currently serving as a member of the General Education Standing Committee and as secretary for the Academic Services Council of MC’s Governance.
Email: shayla.atkins@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1667
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, P3 114
Biography
Dr. Atkins teaches and has taught at several colleges and universities, which include
undergraduate courses in freshman composition, African American literature, introduction
to college composition, business writing, film and literature, introduction to literature,
American literature, and a graduate course in African American literature. Prior to
teaching on the collegiate level, Dr. Atkins taught seventh grade Language Arts. Her
research interests are family dynamics, sites of trauma, performance, 20th- and 21st-century
African American literature and drama, and women's literature and drama.
Beyond the classroom, Professor Atkins enjoys reading books or plays, seeing plays,
watching movies, traveling the world, and hosting family and friends’ gatherings.
For the last few years, she has served as a volunteer usher at Arena Stage in Washington,
DC. In the summer, she also teaches writing in the sciences and professional writing
for academic enrichment programs.
Educational Background
BA, English, Education minor, Florida A&M UniversityMA, English Language & Literature, University of Maryland
PhD, English–African American literature and drama specialization, Howard University
Specialty and Favorite courses
African American Literature (ENGL 227)Film and Literature (ENGL 235)
College Writing (ENGL 101A)
Critical Reading, Writing, and Research (ENGL 102)
Email: sadegh.foghani@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2347
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HU 273
Biography
Sadegh Foghani obtained his PhD in History from the University of South Carolina in 2018. He taught courses in world history, history of science, history of technology, and history of Islamic societies at Auburn University and the University of South Carolina before coming to Montgomery College in 2020. Dr. Foghani received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran, his Master of Science Degree in Science and Technology Studies from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, and his Master of Arts Degree in History from Iowa State University.Dr. Foghani has conducted research in France, Iran, California, Missouri, and Mexico. His doctoral dissertation explores the development of reproductive biomedicine, stem cell, and animal biotechnology since the early 1990s in Iran. When he was conducting his dissertation research, he found many revealing stories involving Iranian STEM workers who live(d) outside Iran. These stories encouraged him to study the diasporic community of Iranian STEM professionals. In 2016, he traveled to Paris and Nantes to investigate the life and career of Mehdi Bazargan, who was the first prime minister of post-revolutionary Iran. Dr. Foghani’s research investigates the role that Bazargan’s engineering background, French education, and American Pragmatism played in the formation of his religious and political thought. As a post-doctoral residential fellow, Dr. Foghani conducted research at Linda Hall Library in Kansas City in 2019, where he studied American Pragmatism and Charles S. Peirce Papers.
Email: shelley.jones@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1673
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, CM 202C
Educational Background
MA, in Latin American Literature from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
BA, in Spanish and Social Work from McDaniel College, Maryland
Additional Information
Professor Jones is the Co-coordinator of the Global Classrooms Faculty Fellowship (GCFF), since 2016, along with Professor Carla Naranjo, (Germantown Campus). Through this fellowship, faculty pair with colleagues throughout the world to create direct and authentic global content in their classes. MC faculty from various disciplines within the Humanities area and beyond have connected with partner institutions in El Salvador, Ethiopia, Korea, Costa Rica, Argentina, Senegal, England and others to provide their students virtual global exchanges with students from these countries (from the GCFF website).
Biography
Professor Rosado's home department is the English and Reading department, but she also teaches Communications and Global Humanities. Some of the initiatives she's involved in at the college include Study Abroad Programming and Equity and Inclusion.Educational Background
EdD, University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignMA, University of Westminster
BA, University of Florida
Email: arthur.grinath@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-6958
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HS-255
Email: melissa.mcceney@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7829
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HS-184
Email: daniel.santore@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5071
Office Location: Rockville Campus, HU 235
Biography
Dr. Santore received his Doctorate in Sociology and Master's degree in Women's Studies
at SUNY- Albany, in New York. Dr. Santore has spent the past six years teaching Sociology,
and has been at the Rockville Campus of Montgomery College since 2009. His teaching
and research interests include sociological theory, gender, and families, and he has
published several articles and essays on these topics. In addition to his regular
classroom duties, Dr. Santore has worked with students as a personal and group tutor
for introductory Sociology courses. Having just moved to Montgomery County, Dr. Santore
has felt warmly welcomed by his students and colleagues at MC and enjoys being teased
by students and faculty alike for his New York sports affiliations.
Educational Background
BA, Sociology, University at Albany, S.U.N.Y.
MA, Women’s Studies, University at Albany, S.U.N.Y
PhD, Sociology, University at Albany, S.U.N.Y.
Email: Camille.Sola@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5899
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, North Pavilion 228
Biography
Professor Camille Solá earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration from the George Washington University, and also holds an M.A. in Sociology as well as a B.A in Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico. Professor Solá is passionate about issues of social justice and has studied and researched various aspects of race in the Puerto Rican criminal justice system, and the racialization of political rhetoric in the run up to the Trump presidency. Professor Solá is interested in analyzing multiple forms of otherization and how these forces shape our opportunities, the institution and structures that define opportunity, and ultimately, us. Her goal in teaching sociology is to have students grasp the value of acquiring an in depth understanding of the role that social forces play in our everyday lives, and how this knowledge can be used to question and challenge inequitable social arrangements. Having students feel empowered to apply the information explored each semester to their lives is a fundamental priority of Professor Solá. She is currently teaching SOCY 100: Introduction to Sociology and SOCY 208: Sociology of Gender.B.A. in Political Science – University of Puerto Rico
M.A. in Sociology – University of Puerto Rico
Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration, George Washington University
Email: cory.newman@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-1413
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, SN-308
Email: aubrey.smith@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-5126
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, SC-242
Email: barbara.lapilusa@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-6965
Office Location: Germantown Campus, SA-251
Email: flor.romeroslowing@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-2328
Office Location: Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, ST 245
Biography
Flor Romero-Slowing is a Counseling faculty since January 2024. She joined Montgomery College in 2022 as Early College Coordinator. Previously, she was Assistant Director of Academic Advising of Liberal Arts & Science College at Iowa State University.Educational Background
- MSc, Iowa State University
- BS, Universidad de San Carlos, Guatemala
Email: bonnie.saunders@montgomerycollege.edu
Phone: 240-567-7282
Office Location: Rockville Campus, SV 206JJ
Biography
Professor Saunders is a member of the Counseling Faculty at Montgomery College, Rockville Campus and teaches STSU 100: First Year Experience. She has over 20 years of experience in college and transfer admissions, academic advising, and career development. She is currently a degree candidate in Frostburg University's EdD program in Educational Leadership where her research focuses on the exploration of adoptive identity and belonging during the college experience. She earned her master's degree in human sciences and a graduate certificate in Thanatology from Hood College. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Mount Saint Mary's University in Emmitsburg, MD and she is also a graduate of Hagerstown Community College in Hagerstown, MD where she earned her associate's degree in general studies. She is a first-generation college student and community college graduate who is passionate about access, equity, and belonging.Educational Background
- MA, Hood College
- BA, Mount Saint Mary's