Our instructors

Diana Cho

Diana Cho, BA, BSW, MPS, is an American Sign Language instructor, and has been a program administrator, facilitator, and career and admissions counsellor.

At the Rochester Institute of Technology, she served as a departmental and program administrator, and staff and student supervisor. She implemented, delivered and taught curriculum and service programs, and was a career and admissions counsellor. While at the Vera Institute of Justice, Diana worked to improve services for women with disabilities and Deaf women who have experienced violence. She has also served as meeting facilitator with several national non-profit organizations, and has volunteered for countless community activities.

Diana is Deaf, and delights in supporting and empowering Deaf and hearing people. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Bachelor’s degree in Logic and Buddhism, and Master’s in Professional Studies, concentrating in Deaf Education and School Psychology. Outside of teaching, she is completing life coach training.

June Choi

Villy Christensen

John Christopoulos

Chantelle Cocquyt

Matthew Connell

Matt Connell has extensive experience teaching various subjects among several age groups. He taught ESL for kindergarten through high school in South Korea for almost ten years. Following this, he earned his Master of Data Science at the University of British Columbia, became a  teaching assistant for graduate students to learn the statistical programming language R.

 
He has continued his passion for teaching and data science through his work as a Data Analyst and Software Engineer, as well as teaching courses on the Data Science Toolbox and Data Visualization.

Dianne Cook

Molly Cross-Blanchard

Molly Cross-Blanchard (she/her) is a white and Métis writer, educator and editor born in Treaty 3 (Fort Frances, ON), raised in Treaty 6 (Prince Albert, SK), and currently living in Treaty 1 (Winnipeg, MB). She is a grant writer for Room Magazine and a post-secondary teacher of Indigenous Studies. Molly's poetry collection, Exhibitionist, was published with Coach House Books in 2021 and she’s currently working on a collection of short stories about Truly Horrible Women. 

Travis Czech

Travis Czech is an EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker and Network Defender who serves as an instructor for UBC Extended Learning. Balancing roles as a solutions and security architect alongside his work as a business and technology consultant, he teaches across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including cybersecurity, software development, ethical hacking and data engineering. Notably, he specializes in training Data, Software, Security and Systems Engineers to major defense contractors and global consultancies, including Leonardo, KPMG and Sopra Steria.

Travis’s entrepreneurial journey began with a business dedicated to mentoring seniors in technology and helping small enterprises establish their digital presence. During his 14-year career in the Canadian Armed Forces, he honed crucial leadership skills, discipline and instructional methodologies—all while continuing to manage and grow his technology ventures. Since transitioning from the military, Travis has shifted his focus to education and mentorship.

Today, his consulting and educational initiatives include partnering with Indigenous communities to implement IT and security strategies, while guiding the safe and effective adoption of AI. Committed to sharing his expertise broadly, Travis is also the author of several technical books, including Cyber Security: Rust for Ethical Hacking, Cyber Security: Python for Penetration Testing and Cyber Security: Incident Response Plans.

Maura Da Cruz

Maura Da Cruz brings extensive experience to her work in organizational development, leadership development and program design as a Learning Consultant and former lead of UBC Coaching Services. As a master certified coach, and external coach with UBC Coaching Services, Maura’s multidimensional and holistic approach facilitates leaders, managers, and individuals in transition to create audacious goals while creating authentic, vibrant and fulfilling lives. Maura is passionate and dedicated to supporting individuals and work teams tap into their strengths and natural abilities to achieve exponential and sustainable results. A trained practitioner in Appreciative Inquiry, Maura has effectively facilitated leadership, team development, strategic planning, and strengths-based programs for a wide spectrum of work groups and professionals ranging from executives, senior managers, academic heads, emerging leaders and front-line staff.

Taslim Damji

Kelly Davidson

Hugh William Davies

Valentin Deransart

Jennifer Diamond

Socorro Esther Dominguez Vidana

Socorro Esther Dominguez Vidaña (She/her) holds a Master of Data Science degree from UBC and is a data scientist I at University of Wisconsin. She facilitates Programming in Python for Data Science and Introduction to Machine Learning at UBC-ExL. She has an extensive experience in data analysis and computational methods, particularly in the geosciences. She has made significant contributions to the Neotoma Paleoecological Database, focusing on improving data accessibility, integration, and analytical workflows for global ecological and paleoenvironmental research. Her work involves developing innovative approaches to managing and analyzing large datasets, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. With a strong foundation in research and teaching, Socorro applies data science techniques to enhance scientific understanding and decision-making. She is passionate about creating efficient, impactful solutions to complex data challenges in scientific and technical domains.

Dinorah Dugas

Dinorah Dugas has been teaching Spanish with UBC Extended Learning for 28 years with excellent evaluations from her students. Dinorah is currently the head instructor for the Spanish program and assistant for curriculum development. She is an enthusiastic language teacher who loves her work just as much as the first day and keeps exploring and creating new ideas in the field. Dinorah believes that each student in her class is important and deserves her respect, encouragement, and the very best she has to offer.

View all current Spanish courses.

Sabine El-Halabi

Sara Elder

Sara Elder, BA, MA, PhD, is Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at UBC, and Senior Policy Advisor at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. She holds a BA in International Relations, and an MA and PhD in Resources, Environment and Sustainability from UBC.

Sara has over a decade of experience leading applied research and advisory work on sustainability, inclusive development and global value chains in Canada, Africa, Latin America and Asia. She specializes in translating complex systems research into actionable strategies for policy and practice, and has advised governments, organizations and companies on strengthening equity and advancing climate and sustainable development goals. She designs and conducts learning programs to build leadership capacity in sustainability and climate action and has published on sustainability education. She previously held roles with the United Nations and the BC Ministry of Agriculture’s Climate Action Team.

Evelyn Encalada Grez

Evelyn Encalada Grez, Ph.D is Latinx/Global professor, community organiser, and researcher currently based in the traditional territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Kwikwetlem, and Musqueam nations (Burnaby, BC). Her doctoral degree is in Social Justice Education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. Evelyn has worked in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras with the Central American Network in Solidarity with Maquila Women and with the Workers Support Centre in Puebla, Mexico.
She is a founding member of the award-winning collective, Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) that has promoted the rights of migrant farm workers in Canada since 2001. As a result of her affiliation with Rural Women Making Change, a CURA-SSHRC project based at the University of Guelph, she was invited to the United Nations to speak about her community work with Mexican migrant farmworker women for International Rural Women's Day.

Additionally, Evelyn was the lead Travelling Faculty for a global university teaching US students throughout India, Senegal, Jordan, Nepal, Chile, and Brazil. For three semesters she was also the Academic Director of a social justice, cultural identity, and local development study abroad program in her city of birth, Valparaiso, Chile. Her work has been published in academic journals and she has also mobilized her research and community work through film and art projects to reach broad audiences. Evelyn is driven by her immigrant working class experiences and committed to decolonializing and transformative pedagogies.