The Peralta Community College District is proud to celebrate the granting of tenure to seven members of our faculty by the Board of Trustees in March, with tenure taking effect with the 2023-24 academic year. These seven join the ranks of tenured faculty at our four colleges, adding ever more experience and talent to the core of our distinguished faculty, the foundation of our ability to help our students reach their educational goals. Congratulations to all for earning this distinction and for your dedication to our students.

To view all the photos taken during the event, click here.

Berkeley City College (2)

Ben Allen

Dr. Ben Allen is on the Computer Information Systems faculty, where he is engaged in research in CS education, building the CS tutoring program at BCC, mentoring the next generation of computer scientists, and adapting methodologies developed in Stanford University's undergraduate CS education program for use at open-admissions schools. Most of all, he cherishes the opportunity to continue learning from the brilliant, ambitious students here at BCC.

Ben has overseen the BCC CS tutoring program and served on the PCCD Distance Education committee through the pandemic lockdown, bringing CS knowledge to bear on the question of what technologies are effective and appropriate for use in distance education. He also developed software to help introduce new programmers to professional software engineering toolchains and techniques.

Ben earned his Ph.D. from Stanford’s Modern Thought and Literature program, where he focused on the history of computing Computer Science in the BCC Computer Information Systems department. He also holds a Master's in Computer Science from Stanford, with a specialization in CS education. He also holds a Master's in Literature from Western Washington University.

Publications since starting at BCC:

• “Universal Language: The COBOL 60 Draft Specification.” in The Planning Moment: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Forthcoming in 2023 from Fordham University Press
• “Source Code Isn't.” in Your Computer is on Fire: The Politics of Computing and New Media. MIT Press, 2021.

Peter DuBois

Peter DuBois joined Berkeley City College as a business instructor in 2018 after an extensive career in senior corporate positions, management consulting, and building a successful technology start-up. His functional areas of expertise include business strategy, technology, and operations management with a wide breadth of industry experience in healthcare, defense, technology, consumer goods, educational services, banking, and mission-based organizations.

Peter serves as a faculty advisor for the PBL Student Business Club and the South Asian Student Club, is an elected representative for the Academic Senate, and is a member of the Career Education Committee. He is certified as an @One Peer On-Line Course Reviewer in support of Distance Education. Peter also is a strong advocate and proud member of the LGBTQ+ community at BCC.

In addition to his duties at BCC, Peter serves on the Board of Directors of a non-profit organization focused on teaching independent living skills in a residential setting for young adults on the autism spectrum. He is bilingual in English/Spanish and brings an international perspective to his business teaching having worked abroad in Latin America and Europe for over 15 years.

Peter received his B.S. degree in Business Administration from SUNY and his MBA from The Citadel.

Laney College (3)

Nathan Failing

Nathan Failing is a counselor/coordinator of Student Accessibility Services, with responsibility for incorporating the support necessary for students with learning challenges to succeed with the curriculum at the college level. He frequently engages in outreach and in-reach to support his students so they will have the best chance to advance with either a certificate or a degree.

Outside of Laney, Nathan is a USSF A licensed, USYSA youth licensed, and USSF GK licensed goalkeeper/team soccer coach in the Bay Area. He has more than 25 years of experience as a coach at the club, college, and professional levels.

Nathan holds two master's degrees and two separate teaching credentials. He has completed his EdD in Instructional Leadership in order to further his goal of becoming a college administrator.

Liliana Moncada

Liliana Moncada is a student Counselor at Laney and a proud Eagle who has come full circle. An Oakland native, she attended Laney College before transferring to UC Davis to complete her undergraduate studies. She then returned to her Oakland roots, working as a case manager before returning to academia to earn a Master's in Social Work from San Francisco State University. She holds a license in Clinical Social Work (LCSW), and says “listening and dancing are her superpowers.”

Victor Siu

Victor Siu is the director of the Pop Music Ensemble at Laney College, which covers rhythm and blues, rock, and popular music from the 1950s to today. He also is the music director of the Chinese Orchestra (Great Wall Youth Orchestra).

Victor is a Laney College alumni who did his undergraduate studies at San Francisco State University as a music education major with an emphasis on jazz piano. Following that, he worked as a music teacher for Oakland Unified School District. After many years in the classroom, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a master’s degree at Cal State University of Los Angeles in Afro-Latin music.

Merritt College (2)

Sun Young Ban:

Dr. Sun Young Ban is an accomplished mathematics instructor who serves as the co-chair of the Math and Physical Sciences department. She has created an engaging classroom environment and effectively connects with her students in both online and face-to-face modalities. Students from all science and engineering backgrounds throughout the Peralta Colleges are now looking to enroll in our calculus-based transfer-level math sequence.

Dr. Ban has been an active leader at the college since she was hired in 2019, serving on college-wide participatory governance committees, including as professional development committee chair, and being involved in the contextualized learning courses for Allied Health programs. She has also been involved in establishing planning grants such as HSI and MESA initiatives.

Dr. Ban earned her MS and Ph.D. at Columbia University after receiving a BS in Mathematics from New York University.

Alejandro Garcia:

Dr. Alejandro Garcia is in the History Department at Merritt, working on a tenure track at Merritt while simultaneously earning his Ph.D. in History at UC Berkeley.

It was in the process of collaborating with colleagues and teaching students at Merritt College that he was reminded of the significance that community colleges play in our society (as it did in his own life and his academic journey. This motivated him not only to seek a career at Merritt College, but his growth with staff members, administrators, faculty, and students from all Peralta Colleges also inspired him to walk his own ‘talk’ on higher learning to the extent that his own convictions drove him to finalize the completion of his Ph.D.