The La Sierra University family welcomes four new faculty members during the 2003-2004 school year.

Jamie Bird

Jamie Bird joins the English as a Second Language (ESL) program as an assistant professor and coordinator of the Cohort programs. Bird recently completed his doctorate in administration and leadership at La Sierra. He earned his MBA in finance from La Sierra and his bachelor’s in history from Canadian Union College.

Working with the Cohort groups, Bird writes and negotiates contracts for new programs that take place off campus. “I work on collaborative programs and form partnerships for La Sierra,” Bird says. La Sierra has MBA programs at White Memorial Medical Center, Glendale Hospital, Loma Linda Hospital and Hacienda Heights, and a doctorate in education in West Covina.

Bird can also be found traveling abroad, recruiting students for an American Culture Program that brings about 120 students to campus each summer.

Juanita Singh

Another change is the appointment of Juanita Singh as director of the ESL program and associate professor of ESL. Singh came to LSU in 1986.

Originally from India, Singh was offered a job in the School of Religion as the department secretary. Soon the director of ESL heard Singh was an English teacher and offered her the opportunity to teach two classes. She joined the department and began working on her doctorate in curriculum and instruction.

In 1995, she became director of Adventist Colleges Abroad, holding the post for several years until the ACA office relocated to Maryland. While Singh was offered the position, she declined the move. She was again offered teaching positions in ESL where she has worked until accepting the directorship of the program this past summer.

Dan Tinianow

New to the Department of English and Communication is Dan Tinianow, new assistant professor of communication.

From 1994 to 2001, Tinianow taught at Austin College in Texas. He next moved to Southern California to work as a senior international researcher for the History Channel television network. “My one claim to fame is that I won $16,000 on the show ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire,’” says Tinianow.

Tinianow earned his bachelor’s in communication studies at Oberlin College in Ohio and his master’s in TV, radio, and film at Syracuse University, and also spent one year working for the U.S. government in Japan. He completed his doctorate in mass communication at Syracuse University where he wrote his dissertation on virtual reality. “I predicted that virtual reality would become a marketing gimmick and that real technology would be called other terms.”

Bob Cruise

A new addition to the School of Education is Bob Cruise, Ph.D., research projects coordinator.

Cruise will coordinate research projects that focus on education and neuroscience as well as explore opportunities for collaborative research and extramural support for the school’s various research projects. He has a Ph.D. from the University of Alabama emphasizing research and statistical methodology. His master’s degree is in counseling psychology from Andrews University where he also earned his bachelor’s in psychology.

Cruise has been a professor of research and statistics at Andrews University and Loma Linda University, as well as director of research at Andrews University and Adventist International Institute for Advanced Studies (AIIAS). His goal is to expand research opportunities for both students and faculty.