Meet the FIS Staff

Mary Ford

Director of Freshman Intensive Studies Learning Support

Mary Ford began her education career in 2000, and is responsible for starting the learning support program in FIS in 2003. She earned her master’s degree in English at Seton Hall University. She earned her bachelor’s in English and Journalism as well as her postbaccalaureate teaching degree at Montclair State University.

Professor Ford has an extensive background in teaching writing and reading skills. She began her teaching career at Montclair State, where she taught composition in the Educational Opportunity Fund program. She then went to Seton Hall, where she pursued her graduate studies while teaching writing and reading in the English department. After earning her master’s, she was appointed a writing instructor at Seton Hall. Her background includes experience in reading-support programs and teaching through the use of technology. At Seton Hall, she assisted the director in overseeing the Computer-Assisted Instruction Center, and she participated in the Mobile Computing Pilot Project Program. She also provided reading, writing, and learning assistance to students in the Educational Opportunity Program. Professor Ford has worked in a variety of writing centers, including the writing centers at Rutgers University, Seton Hall, and Montclair High School.

Her philosophy is that the key to success in college and in life is learning how to learn and, as a result, learning how to question.

 

Cory JohnstonCory Johnston

Writing and Learning Strategies Specialist

Cory Johnston earned his MFA in Creative Writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and his BA in English from Allegheny College. He has taught developmental writing at Warren County Community College and has tutored students of all writing levels in the Writing Center at Passaic County Community College. He is a College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) Certified Writing Tutor who has worked with students in person and online. Professor Johnston serves as the Books Editor for the Literary Review, FDU’s international literary magazine. His publications include “Courtyard,” a short story published in KYSO Flash, as well as “Mastery and Meaning in Four Holocaust Narratives,” a literary analysis published in Prism, an Interdisciplinary Journal for Holocaust Educators.