About the Instructor: Mr. Vasconcellos

My name is Ramon Vasconcellos and beginning January of 2004, I accepted the position of social science instructor at Barstow Community College. Having taught accounting, finance, economics and American history at the university level for several years in Southern California, I look forward to working with both students and faculty at Barstow in hopes of becoming an even better instructor than I am at the present.

I graduated from California State University at Northridge, California with a Bachelors (economics) back during the Summer of 1989. Upon finishing college I started my first full-time job as mortgage banker, later taking positions in both private and public accounting during the early to mid-1990’s.

In June of 1994 I completed a two year MBA program with an accounting and finance emphasis from Woodbury University in Burbank, CA. At this point I embarked on a career as a stockbroker right at the beginning of one of the greatest bull markets our country has ever witnessed: the mid to late 1990’s; fun while it lasted! Several years later I opened a small investment planning firm where I started advising clients how to buy and sell securities without the use of a broker! This enterprise has proven quite successful in recent years, especially with the "correction" we have seen in the stock market; people today-unlike several years back- really want to listen to someone tell them how to invest.

In addition to my practice as a financial consultant, I began teaching financial planning, economics, and other business related courses as an adjunct faculty member at Woodbury University in May of 1999. I have also taught at Mount St. Mary’s (Chalon campus in Brentwood, CA) and Antioch University of Ohio’s Marina del Rey, CA satellite location. I honed my vocational teaching skills at Bryman College in Whittier, CA. In addition, I attained a second master’s degree-with an emphasis in nineteenth century American economic history-from California State University at Los Angeles in June of 2002.

My philosophy of teaching is very basic: lecture, with much student participation. It is important-I feel- that once the material has been presented in the traditional lecture format, students then begin to use group discussions, projects, and classroom presentations as a means of understanding the subject matter. Furthermore, I believe strongly in the role technology plays in facilitating the learning process both through research and presentation. Often, students are assigned readings that they present to their fellow classmates in the form of a class lecture; simultaneously enhancing public speaking and research skills.

I am really looking forward to meeting all of you. Hope to see you in many of my classes soon!

Regards,

Ramon Vasconcellos