Metropolitan State University of Denver

Patricia Jeanne Lohman

Personal Biography Statement

Patti Lohman, Assistant Director of Student Academic Success Center and Immigrant Services Program,provides academic support services for any Metro student whose first language is not English. She attended Metro as a part-time adult student & graduated with majors in English and Spanish in 1976. With English and Spanish in her heart, she volunteered as an ESL teacher at the Right to Read Program and fell in love with language teaching and pursued a master's in secondary education from UCD, where she thrived in linguistics, language-learning theory, language teaching, and teaching writing to non-native English writers, completing her Master's in 1985. She taught composition at CCD and Metro and tutored in Metro's Writing Center. She created an ESL program at Metro, and then developed a support program for Metro's immigrant and refugee students. She has taught ENG 1010, ENG 1020, various omnibus ENG 398 and ENG 498.

Other

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Patti claims she has the best job at Metro because she has the privilege of working with students who inspire her and with talented fellow staff and faculty. She has been part of over 20 on-going campus committees and task forces (currently the Hispanic Service Institution Task Force and Diversity Initiatives) and has been faculty/staff advisor for seven student organizations, including currently the Muslim Student Association. Patti has presented at over 15 professional association conferences, including Colorado Language Arts Society, First Annual Student Services Conference, ASPIRE, the Third Annual Social Issues Conference, NCEOA, TESOL, NAAPAE, and CoTESOL.

Personal

Throughout her career, Patti has been involved off campus with immigrants and immigrant issues. She was part of a handful of people who 15 years ago started a neighborhood non-profit that now provides ESL, GED, PAT, and HIPPIE programs to 700 immigrants. She served on this non-profit board in numerous capacities for 13 years. She is part of the Coalition for Human Dignity beyond Borders and of Dignity through Dialogue and Education, helping with presentations on nativism, debates on immigration law, a play about immigrants, and a workshop at Peace Jam. For the last year, she has been involved with the Colorado Trust's Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Families Initiative: Denver Defines Integation project.
Patti avidly reads about people and issues of the world; when not visiting their granddaughters, she and her husband enjoy traveling.