Online Courses For You

ABOUT US - STAFF – Susan Hoffman

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Susan Hoffman – Art and Art History

Susan started life as a history major with plans to go into teaching but like many times, life’s plans often don’t count for every day life. Susan found herself committed to family and her marriage along with her children for many years and never really took advantage of her degree.

However, as one door closes another opens and her minor in school, art, has no come to the front and is keeping her very busy. As Susan’s children entered higher education she found she had more time on her hands. Susan started to teach a local paining class down in her local community center and this led to more classes and soon a stint at a local junior college teaching some night classes.

Next thing Susan knew her little hobby developed into a series of art courses online and several contributing efforts on art appreciation web sites and a daily blog of her own which she has now abandoned due to little to no time. With a love of sharing art with the world, Susan jumped at the chance to serve as a contributing author on OCFY.

Susan now, along with her web work and teaching night classes, enjoys traveling around the world. Her goal is to reach 10,000 museums and is well on her way. Both her kids are now out on their own with her youngest following her mother’s footsteps and is teaching a history class of her own in the same college Susan teaches at.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Ressa Sutherland

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Ressa Sutherland – Author

Previously Ressa was an English teacher for a community college however has since gone into semi-retirement to pursue full time her passion of writing. She has published several short stories for several magazines and is on contract from a major publisher to rite her first novel which should be out by Christmas. Her favorite genre is science fiction however she loves a good murder mystery as well.

As Ressa spends more time at home pursing her dream, she also is taking advantage of the time and furthering her own education and it was this endeavor which led her to Online Courses for You. She took a few classes and afterwards decided that her work could benefit others so she then in turn wrote a review of some classes for the site.

It was then we asked her if she wanted to join the staff of Online Courses for You as a contributing author and she agreed with her usual energetic flair and wrote us one of our best ever e-mails. “Online Courses for You allowed me to realize part of my dream of becoming a self sustaining author and I can never repay that debt.”

Well Ressa, we feel we are the ones to thank you and hope that others also find the information they need to further their education and get that dream job they have always wanted as well.

Ressa is a widower and parent of 3 boys and grandmother of 2.

(Update – Her book has been published and she is currently working on her second novel which will be a sequel to her first.)

ABOUT US - STAFF – Stephanie Wilmire

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Stephanie Wilmire – Education

A life long children’s rights advocate, Stephanie has been a high school social studies teacher for 9 plus years. “I really can’t imagine doing anything else and know that I am exactly where I want to be and I truly feel blessed.” She says about her career choice.

Stephanie is passionate about her charity work and what really drives her is the outreach program she belongs to which reaches out to troubled teens and especially teen pregnancy and family issues.

Stephanie writes for several websites and magazine on child rights and education issues. She is another contributing author here at Online Courses for You which found us correcting an article (we keep telling you that this is a living site and needs smart people like Stephanie to keep us not only honest but up to date) so we asked her to become a permanent contributor to which she agreed.

She is currently single although engaged to be married to her boyfriend of 3 years. They expect to have a large family or as Stephanie says, “He really has no choice! I want at least 3 children and then we’ll talk about more.”

ABOUT US - STAFF – Brad Cho

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Brad Cho – Legal

Brad never thought that he would end up in a career which involved the law. In fact he figured that the medical field was where he had a calling however in his senior year in high school he joined a mock trial and found that he really enjoyed the process.

In college after a few courses he discovered that the medical interest he had for a long time was disappearing and he found himself turning towards the law. Although it meant starting over, he knew that it was where he belonged.

Brad now works for a major law firm specializing in property law and financial planning as well as estate matters. He has worked for the same law firm since graduating with honors with his law degree and is looking to become full partner within a year.

Brad has been married for 10 years and currently has no children however he and his wife are planning a family soon. Although he admits, “With the fast pace our lives have I’m lucky to have time to do anything and a family seems to be somewhat in the future.”

Brad was a senior editor on a law forum when we found him and asked him to write some articles for our site. Although incredibly busy he generously offered his time and we are lucky to have him as one of our contributing authors here at Online Courses for You.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Steven Taylor

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Steven Taylor – Computers / Technology

A certified gadget-o-holic, Steven enjoys building computers from scratch and currently is running his own ISP, just for fun. Cruising the Internet at light speed, Steven has a desktop setup that would make any techie jealous of. One of his multiple screens happened upon our site one day and he found a course for himself that he was interested in. After completion, he sent a review to us and we updated the information.

This happened to more times before we finally asked him to be a contributing author and he whole heartedly agreed. “The more sites I can put on my resume as author, forum moderator, blogger, etc. the better. I can’t get enough!”

So, as you can see, his addiction is to our benefit!

He received his degree in computer science as well as business however found he enjoys working for himself instead of the start-ups where he cut his teeth when straight out of school. Currently he calls e-commerce his bread and butter with a healthy dose of online marketing to fill in the gaps.

A newlywed, Steve and his wife are expecting their first baby this summer.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Maria Alcot

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Maria Alcot – Medical and Nursing

Maria has a masters in nursing and is currently working for a major pharmaceutical company as a medical research assistant. Her expertise is in the field of diet and nutrition and has several papers published in highly respected medical journals. It was when she was researching some courses for herself that she came across our site and noticed a mistake to which she promptly e-mailed us and we corrected.

We then asked if she would like to continue to contribute to the site ensuring all our medical information about courses was correct, she agreed and has been with us ever since. She was, in fact, out very first outside source to become a contributing author here on Online Courses For You.

A wife of 13 years to her high school sweetheart, she is also the mother of 2 boys and a girl. All her kids are currently in school and much of her time is taken up by them however, between her job and children she still manages to find time to be a contributing author on this site as well as moderator a few web forums of her own as well.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Michael Yoman

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Michael Yoman – Business

Many people find business boring and mundane however, for Michael Yoman it is in his blood. Even his parents noticed that when he was a child he enjoyed counting coins and stacking his allowance very methodically. Upon opening his first lemonade stand he quickly ran it like a much larger business and even got some neighborhood kids to open some franchises to which he was supplier and marketer for a percentage of the profits. All of this when he was only in grade school!

High school was a breeze and then College and then, as if you couldn’t guess, an MBA followed as well. Soon Michael was off and running in the business world first working for a major hotel chain but soon striking out on his own and venturing into the world of online business where he continues to run many e-commerce sites.

Michael is a member of many web forums and actually discovered our site instead of us discovering him. He suggested a few courses for our visitors even writing the copy and soon we simply asked him if he wanted to be our go to business guy to which he happily, for both parties, agreed.

Michael is engaged to his girlfriend of 2 and a half years and is planning a wedding as soon as that next big business deal comes through although he quite frankly thinks the merger will take place sooner rather than later as in his heart there is only one boss and that is his beautiful fiancée.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Henry Fortuna

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Henry Fortuna – Veterinary

Henry’s path seemed preordained. Raised on a farm, his entire life has been spent around animals. His parents noticed right away his way with horses and cows and even the pigs on the farm, and soon Henry was the primary caretaker of all the farm’s animals and even was known around his small town as an animal guy and got the nickname of the ‘Farm Whisperer’.

So it was very natural and no surprise to anyone that when it came to higher education, Henry choose to specialize in veterinary medicine. Although graduating with honor and ready to tackle the world, what did surprise people was that Henry made his way back to his small town and took over the family farm. Although he does keep himself very busy with house calls around the community.

Henry literally married the girl next door and now has 3 children of his own to attend the family farm. He found a love for writing when joining a few online communities about animal husbandry and farm animals which is where OCFY found him and asked him to be a contributing author.

ABOUT US - STAFF – Marito Hana

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

Marito Hana – Science

Mr. Hana is your typical high school science teacher; part mad scientist and part educator. As Mr. Hana says himself, “Getting kids involved is super hard now days so bringing out the wild experiments and really putting on a show works… and besides, it’s a whole lot of fun!”

A professed fan of Mr. Wizard growing up, Mr. Hana got into science by entering and winning his school’s science fair way back in the 6^th grade. From that day forward he was stuck with science on the brain and seemed inevitable to be involved teaching and sure enough his life’s course stayed on track and his passion is now his life’s work.

“I’m excited about the internet and reaching out to others and allowing them to also experience the joys of science and getting more education.” He once wrote on his own blog and we knew we had the perfect person to ask to contribute to Online Courses for You. It is a match made in heaven.

Mr. Hana is a widower but is currently with his girlfriend of 3 years and says that marriage might be around the corner. He has no children yet but thinks of all his students, both past and present, as his extended family.

ABOUT US - STAFF – David Brenard

This is the staf page mini-bio for one of our contributing authors. To see more of our staff click the STAFF link above or go back to the ABOUT US page by clicking that link.

David Brenard – Engineering

David found a love for engineering ever since he received a set of Lego bricks for his 5^th birthday. No matter what else happened in his life, a brief stint in the Army including a tour inIraq for the first Gulf War, the craving for a career in engineering always came back to his mind.

With the GI Bill he was able to realize that dream and got his masters in engineering and started to work for the city in development and projects. Concepts and an expansion of ideas, where he thrived, was not achieved and he turned to teaching himself. First in community colleges and then for a city university, he found that teaching was a second love of his and the mixture of the scholarly atmosphere with a heavy dose of engineering theory and design was what made him most happy.

David continues to teach and also working on his first book about engineering concepts and history. Part of this process was a series of papers developed for school journals which was when he caught the eye of the Online Course For You team when they needed an engineering perspective. A few pages led to more and now David is a part of the permanent staff of contributors.

David has been married for 13 years and has 2 daughters and a son. His son has followed in his father’s footsteps and has joined the Army and looks forward to also getting his engineering degree when his tour of duty is finished. Both daughters found their way into the education field and while one is currently teaching still, the other is a stay at home mother.