Diana Bennett
Title: Professor, Web Design
Degrees: Holds an M.A. in Multimedia, a B.A. in Art, and certificates in Online Teaching and Learning and Mobile UI/UX Design. In addition to teaching, serves as a curriculum designer, developer, and instructor for SMCCD Corporate, Community, and Continuing Education, designing and delivering courses in HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. Has also partnered with IAB iDiverse and CCCE to develop a credit-bearing Digital Advertising curriculum. Actively works in the industry as a digital designer, creating web and mobile experiences and UX/UI solutions for diverse clients, and sharing real-world tools, trends, workflows, and professional practices with students.
Teaching experience: Since 2001
Career highlights: Mentored students who advanced into digital media careers, Engaged in cross-disciplinary collaborations for innovative projects, Partnered with industry organizations to create curriculum.
Quote: "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." – Maya Angelou

Michelle M. Brown
Title: Professor, Broadcast & Electronic Media, Video Production (Film & Television)
Degrees: M.A., Radio and Television, San Francisco State University; B.A., Broadcast and Cinematic Arts, Central Michigan University
Teaching experience: Since 2004
Career highlights: Best of Festival at Berkeley Video & Film Fest, Sacramento International Film Fest, Best Female Filmmaker at Poppy Jasper Short Films, SF Women's Film Fest, International TV Assoc. Joyce Nelson Award. Member of the Television Academy Emmy's Foundation.
Hobbies: Cheering for the Detroit Red Wings, studying quantum physics and the nature of reality, watching my favorite TV shows, eating my husband's incredible gourmet cooking, and learning about consciousness.
Quote: “Don’t hate the media. Be the media.” – Jello Biafra

Jennifer Christgau Aquino
Title: Adjunct Faculty, Broadcast & Electonic Media
Degrees: M.A., Creative Writing, San Francisco State University; B.A., Journalism, San Francisco State University
Teaching Experience: Since 2008
Career Highlights: First female executive editor at San Mateo County newspaper. Cal-JEC Educator of the Year for innovation in college media. Journalism awards from CNPA & SPJ. Former president of the California College Media Association. Advised SJSU’s award-winning Access Magazine and College of Notre Dame's Argonaut newspaper. Designed Notre Dame de Namur University’s first social media class. Published poet and essayist with recent work in leading literary magazines. Recipient of writing residencies at Gullkistan in Iceland and Craigardan in upstate New York.
Hobbies: When I’m not teaching, I’m chasing stories, tennis balls, or my family and dog along the Bay Area’s winding trails.
Quote: "Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder." – E.B. White

Nico van Dongen
Title: Adjunct Faculty, Graphic Design
Degrees: B.F.A., Photography
Teaching Experience: Since 2013
Career Highlights: Nico van Dongen is an Artist, and seasoned educator. His career spans photography, graphic design, and creative direction. Nico continues to inspire creativity and critical thinking through his work and mentorship.
Hobbies: I love food and entertaining, my kitchen table is my social media platform.
Quote: "It is difficult to find happiness within oneself, but it is impossible to find it anywhere else." – Arthur Schopenhauer

Vera Fainshtein
Title: Professor, Graphic Design
Degrees: M.F.A., Digital Media Art, SJSU (CADRE Lab for New Media); B.A., Design, UCLA
Teaching Experience: Since 2007
Career Highlights: Practicing artist with extensive background in fine art and graphic design. Clients include Warner Bros., Rhino Records, 20th Century Fox, Universal, and Columbia Pictures, Team San Jose, Monterey Museum of Art. Participated in artist residencies at Arquetopia (Puebla, Mexico) and ACE Pirar (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Exhibited large-scale interactive video installations at venues including The Nature Conservancy (Arlington, VA) and the ZERO1 Biennial of Contemporary Art (San Jose, CA).
Hobbies: Art, travel, dance, learning about other cultures and foreign languages
Quote: “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Gaby Huerta-Golbad
Title: Adjunct Faculty, Graphic Design
Degrees: B.F.A., Web Design & New Media, Academy of Art University; B.F.A., Graphic Design, Anáhuac University - Southern Campus
Teaching Experience: Since 2025
Career Highlights: Founder of DesignGHG Studio. A designer who merges art and technology with over 15 years of experience. An advocate for human-centered design that fosters emotional connections. Collaborator with companies and institutions in the U.S. and Mexico.
Hobbies: When I’m not designing, I love working out, bringing ideas to life through illustration, and exploring creativity in the kitchen.
Quote: "My goal is to foster a learning environment that empowers students to take risks, experiment boldly, and grow into confident designers with their own authentic voices—guided by real-world examples and hands-on design experiences."

Pantea Karimi
Title: Adjunct Faculty, Graphic Design
Degrees: M.A., Graphic Design and M.A., Fine Arts
Teaching experience: Since 2005 in the USA
Career highlights: Professional artist: She has exhibited nationally and internationally in various venues. Teacher and graphic designer: while residing in England from 2001 to 2005, she taught computer graphics programs for the Education Action Zone, an educational innovation and technology information-based organization. Since 2005 in the United States, she has designed arts and architecture catalogs (thresholds 32: ACCESS) for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and San Jose State University; since 2012, she has been teaching and contributing to the development of new digital media and graphic design courses for the Euphrat Museum of Art’s art & design programs at De Anza College.
Hobbies: traveling, dancing, hiking and learning French 
Quote: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”-Albert Einstein

Donna McCabe
Title: Instructor
Degrees: M.F.A., Electronic Arts, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; M.F.A., Electronic Music Composition, Mills College Center for Contemporary Music; B.A., Computer Music Composition, Clark University
Teaching Experience: Since 1996
Career Highlights: Violinist - Oakland Community Orchestra; online education innovator, researcher and writer, activist.
Hobbies: Fixing old typewriters, tinkering and making, long-distance walker.
Quote: "Think first about the thing that is right to do, think later about dealing with your fears.” 
– Barbara Deming

Steven Travis
Title: Adjunct Faculty, Web Design
Degrees: B.S., International Business Administration, Cal Poly (SLO)
Teaching Experience: Since 2024
Career Highlights: 30 years of product design and design leadership. Companies include Adobe, Oracle and several start-ups. Have lead large, international teams of designers to build products used by thousands (maybe millions) of users. 
Hobbies: When not at my tech job, or teaching, I'm often found out on my motorcycle taking on the back roads of the bay area and beyond! I am a huge fan of the design of physical objects, my current obsession being wrist watches, but love elegant design in everyday objects.
Quote: "When not at my tech job, or teaching, I'm often found out on my motorcycle taking on the back roads of the bay area and beyond! I am a huge fan of the design of physical objects, my current obsession being wrist watches, but love elegant design in everyday objects.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Hanns Ullrich
Title: Assistant Professor
Degrees: B.A., Filmmaking, San Francisco State University
Teaching Experience: Since 2018
Career Highlights: Broadcast Engineer for KCSM TV from 1996 to 2017, where he served as Videographer, Technical Director, Camera Operator, Lighting Director, and Production Engineer for KCSM’s studio and remote productions. When KCSM transitioned to Digital Broadcast, he oversaw and constructed the new Master Control center. During his time at KCSM, he worked freelance jobs on remote field shoots for PBS shows such as Internet Café and Computer Chronicles. When SMCCD sold the TV station in 2017, he became the full-time Radio Engineer for KCSM FM. In 2018, he joined the Digital Media Department and enjoys teaching Digital Video Production.
Hobbies: Cooking, Photography, Restoring old FIATs and going on long road trips.
Quote: “If you aren’t having fun, you are doing it wrong.” – Jordan Peele