Decades ago my dad talked with me about making a 2 Degree Shift in the education sector, and in my career. He noted a ship sailing to Australia will adjust two degrees to completely change direction. His analogy was to show me that I did not need to change everything and everyone around me to make a lasting contribution.
An interesting juxtaposition to technology, which is in constant shift. However, there too, consistent effort and collaboration bring about the best products and solutions to complex problems.
Thanks, Kelly +1 559-670-0352
Our Team
Kelly Cooper designs and builds equitable learning pathways that drive access to livable wage jobs. With 25 years of experience in California’s community college system as Vice Chancellor (Chief Technology and Chief Instruction Officer) and Computer Information Systems faculty, Kelly advocates for additive public, private partnerships with industry to guide students and teachers in collaborative endeavors. Today’s increasing complexity in technology, socioeconomic caste, and media politics widens the chasm from youth to career. Kelly brings deep expertise in strategic planning, fundraising, career technical education, economic development, budget management, curriculum implementation, and transnational community development. Her doctoral degree from the University of San Francisco, is in Educational Leadership with a Pacific Rim emphasis. Kelly’s grant writing and implementation experience began in 1997 and includes tens of millions of dollars targeting underserved students, technology pathways, and educator professional learning.
Veronika Focht designs everything from books to logos to cookies. As Principal Designer for Livable Wage Jobs and 2 Degree Shift, Veronika leads Open Education Resources (OER) book design, technical editing, and accessibility compliance. Veronika is the graphic designer for OER content to include student activities, WBL projects, assessments, rubrics, etc. that strive to engage students and support teachers, counselors, and paraprofessionals.
Yasin Hassan graduated cum Laude from George Mason University in 2020 with a degree in Applied Mathematics. Yasin’s programming experiences include Python, MATLAB, SQL, R, AutoML, and PowerBI, modeling and analyzing COVID-19 data, and using machine learning as a diagnostic tool for pneumonia. Yasin’s Udacity certifications include Data Analysis and Visualization with Power BI, Programming for Data Science with R, Programming for Data Science with Python, and AI Product Manager. Additional areas of interest include electronics, technical writing, and blockchain technology. Yasin’s collaborative approach to learning engages students from different backgrounds with varying learning styles.
Benjamin Ramos is a contributor to project management and development through research of innovative educational programs at LWJ and 2 Degree Shift. He also oversees outreach efforts to publicize advancements made in educational projects for replication and scaling. Benjamin’s passion is assisting those who are underserved and seeing others strive in inequitable circumstances. His unique perspective on helping others was further developed in his most recent work at West Hills Community College where he collaborated in developing strategies and implementing training and development for migrant and seasonal farmworkers in rural communities. Additionally, Benjamin volunteers in a development team for innovative, standardized prison ministry efforts for his local church. His love for the human body led him to the field of Surgical Technology with an acute experience in orthopedics and spine surgery. Outside of work responsibilities, Benjamin loves endurance sports, national parks, and of course enjoying life with his wife.
Dara Ramos serves as Project Manager and Researcher for 2 Degree Shift. She is responsible for researching labor market trends to ensure development of new courses and pathways aligns to current industry demands. Dara also collaborates in pre-award grant application development and post-award grant management. She also manages the publishing and maintenance of Open Education Resources (OER) materials on national and state repository sites. Dara began working in higher education in 2016 working with grants and institutional data. She managed the ECampus Dual Enrollment program at West Hills College, helping underrepresented high school students earn CTE college credit and industry certifications. While at West Hills, Dara assisted in collecting and analyzing student-level data to assess achievement outcomes and identify equity gaps at the program, college, and district level.
Goran Lochert has been a software developer for over 14 years (12 commercially), creating Desktop, Web, and Mobile applications. Goran is a fully certified Java Developer (Java Oracle Certificate Associate programmer Java SE 8) and offers in-depth experience with Java, JPA, Java Enterprise Edition, Spring, Spring Boot, Maven, Gradle, and JavaFX. As a Unity Certified Programmer, Goran is heavily involved in game development and frameworks used to create games. Teaching and sharing knowledge is Goran’s passion, providing information that is not accessible anywhere else. Goran creates training materials that teach how to program and how things work since many online tutorials fail to explain how to apply learning to future projects.
Regina Kloes-Corwin has been working in education for over 23 years at the K-12 level, teaching previously in Fresno and currently in Los Angeles County. Beyond the K-12 level, Regina has worked in higher education as an Adjunct Professor teaching business through West Hills College and as a guest lecturer teaching Design Thinking at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education. In addition, Regina works at a non-profit as a principal for the Peninsula Education Foundation. Last year, she brought in industry professionals in Animation and Film from USC School of Cinematic Arts, including artists from major animation studios, to teach students how to draw and create character design, storyboards, and portfolios for college admissions review. Regina holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership Administration and Policy from Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and a Master’s Degree in Kinesiology and Human Performance. She is a member of the Harvard Business School Online Chapter, which serves the University and other HBS Online Chapters worldwide in annual Community Challenges to design global solutions to challenging problems in underserved communities.
Stacy Cabrera’s current experience is in the planning and dissemination of program designs in Philosophy and Student Research. She currently teaches English and AP Capstone in Downey, CA, where she gets to marry critical thinking and practical skills applications–as her favorite writer Aldous Huxley had said, “nothing short of everything will really do.” Her main goal for students is learning how to analyze and interpret good writing and argumentation and replicate such academic contributions of their own through active research designs and methodologies. Much of her approach has been influenced by her time as a chair member (July 2022) with the American Philosophical Association’s committee on Pre-college Philosophy Instruction and as a member/presenter with the Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization. She is also an active member of the Aspiring Thinkers and Pacific Partnership Critical Thinking Project with colleagues from UCLA, Pepperdine, the University of Queensland, and the Impact Centre, which seeks to advocate for successfully-proven methods for the development of critical thinking and inquiry at the primary and secondary levels.
Additional Contributors
- Nicky Hickman – Advisor
- Gopi Perumal – LaTex for Open Education Resources (OER)
- Muhammad Awais – Mathematics Technical Reviewer and Editor
- Mauricio Elias Rojas Hernandez – Spanish Translator
- Jannat Singh – Unity/C# Instructional Design Editor
- Naseem Ahad – Accessibility Specialist PDFs
- Nino Galenzoga – Illustrator/Cartoonist OER
- Maria Belen Quiroga – Illustrator Cartoonist OER
- Aram Atyan – Logos for OER