Language Class Instructors

Jana Dettlaff, Ph.D. - CZECH
Jana Dettlaff was born and raised in what is today the Czech Republic. After her college studies at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, where she gained a master’s degree in English and French, and Ph.D. in English linguistics, she moved to Wisconsin to pursue a teaching career in ESL (English as a second language) and Czech. She has taught at Beloit College (summer intensive Czech language classes), UW-Oshkosh (ESL Methods, Linguistics), UW-Green Bay (Foreign Language/ESL Methods, Linguistics) and currently is a full-time ESL instructor at St. Norbert College. She also does occasional English-Czech/Czech-English translations.

Sara Melgar – SPANISH
Sara Melgar teaches adult Spanish classes through St. Norbert College and also Spanish II and III at De Pere High School.  She finished her minor in Education and major in Spanish at UW-Green Bay in 2003.  Sara has done studies in Spain, Honduras, and Guatemala.  She has also led mission trips to Costa Rica and Mexico.  Her husband is a native Guatemalan, and she has one daughter.

Cinzia Toffolon – ITALIAN
Cinzia Toffolon was born in Milan, Italy where she lived for about 20 years before coming to the United States.  During that time, she earned a degree in accounting.  In 1979 Cinzia moved to Green Bay with her husband in order to work for a cheese company specializing in Italian artisan cheeses.  She left the company after the birth of her first child.  In the summer of 2000, she started tutoring Italian, and in 2004 began to teach the non-credit courses for St. Norbert College and a  local Italian Club.
She resides in Green Bay with her husband and  has two children.

Natasha V. Geyer – FRENCH
Natasha Geyer is a certified Foreign Language Instructor.  She holds a degree from the College of New Rochelle, NY.  She is fluent in French, English, Russian, and Ukrainian.  Natalia has been a foreign languages instructor since 1996.  She has worked as a translator and interpreter internationally.  She currently teaches French at Notre Dame de la Baie Academy in Green Bay and has been the summer program TRIO world languages instructor at  UW-Green Bay since 2006.  She also teaches French and Russian non-credit classes for St. Norbert College along with doing translation work for its Language Services Department.

Jeremy Wildenberg - ARABIC 
Jeremy Wildenberg is a native of Northeast Wisconsin.  He currently holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Area Studies with an emphasis in Arabic and Russian from Excelsior College.  He graduated with Honors from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.  He is currently pursuing a second Baccalaureate degree in Computer Science. 

Ping Wang – CHINESE

Ms. Ping Wang was born and raised in China. She had an undergraduate degree in Accounting and Statistics from Xiamen University in China. She moved to United States in 1986 and got her Masters degree in Math and Computer Science from State University of New York in 1989. She is currently holding a Systems Analyst position in a local company. Ping is very active in North Eastern Wisconsin Chinese Association. She participates in community events and supports area Youth Symphony. In her leisure time, Ping enjoys traveling, music and sports. Ping has great passion for tennis. She also loves teaching Chinese.

Basia Tota-Boryckz – POLISH
Basia Tota-Boryczka was born in Krakow, Poland. She received her education and had a job as a high school teacher in Krakow. In 1998 Basia emigrated from Poland to the U.S.  She graduated with an accounting degree from Lakeland College in 2005 then got a part time job in accounting. Basia also worked part time as the Polish interpreter at hospitals, courts, and social organizations.  Currently, she is counseling a student at Lakeland College, and is the executive director of the Global Outreach Exchange Student Program.  She works with the high school exchange students from Czech, Slovakia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania.  She has two children and has taught for St. Norbert College since the fall of 2008.

Jeffery Gumz – SPANISH
Jeff grew up in rural North Central Wisconsin and graduated from Colby High School in 1988. He graduated from UW Oshkosh in 1992 with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology, with a minor in Spanish. He spent 1992-1994 in the cloud forests of Eastern Ecuador working with sheep and guinea pig farmers as a Peace Corps Volunteer. He taught ESL and Spanish in Haysville, Kansas while earning a Masters Degree in Education from Wichita State University from 1995-1999. He has taught Spanish for NWTC in Green Bay and St. Norbert College in De Pere. He has been a teacher at historic Green Bay East High since 1999, where he began as a bilingual social studies teacher. Currently, he is teaching government/economics, psychology and AP psychology. In his free time, Jeff enjoys reading, taking long walks and visiting his wife’s family in México. Jeff resides in the town of Scott with his lovely wife Vianney and two sons, Jay and Santiago

Olga Henek – RUSSIAN
Olga was born in Kurgan, Russia.  She got her first MA in English/German and Education from Kurgan University. During that time she also studied for a year at Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. This is where she met her husband. After graduation, she came back to the United States and got married. Olga then went to graduate school at the University of Chicago and got a degree in Linguistics (MA).  From Chicago, Olga and her husband then moved to Wisconsin.  She has been working for St. Norbert College since 2001 where she teaches ESL and Russian classes.

Barbara Baumberger, GERMAN

Barbara Baumberger was born, raised, and educated in Essen, West Germany. After completing her education in Nuernberg, Germany (Dr. Sabel Hoehere Handelsschule) in International Business and Education, she received continuing teacher education traingin through Berlitz International School of Languages. She taught German for them for many years. She has taught German to soldiers from the U.S. National Guard unit from Green Bay. She has also taught for UWGB through their Outreach Program for adults and children.Married with three children, Barbara moved from Germany to the United States. After working and living in various states and an interesting year in Saudi Arabia, Barbara and her family settled in De Pere. She has been working with St. Norbert College doing German translations and teaching German since 1999. 

Nadia Venesse, PRONUNCIATION REFINEMENT

Nadia Venesse began her professional career in New York, teaching Voice/ Speech and Shakespeare at New York University in the Tisch School of Arts under Zelda Fischandler.  She has also taught at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, UCLA extension, Weist Barron and St. Norbert College.Her educational training began in England where she received two medals of honor for Voice and Speech, and Acting, from the London Academy of Dramatic Arts, while also attending the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.  She received her B.F.A. degree from the University of Alberta and subsequently joined the American Conservatory Theatre’s M.F.A program in San Francisco under William Ball.  She is currently taking another Masters in TESL, through St. Cloud University and has also received her state certification to teach ESL and English in Wisconsin.  Nadia Venesse has spent most of her professional career as a voice/speech/dialect consultant in film, television and off-Broadway.  Her numerous credits include working with actors from the United States, Canada and around the world.  Some of her clients include; Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Judith Dench, Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Matthew McConaughey, Charlize Theron, Kenneth Brannagh, Francis McDormand, Cate Blanchett, Cynthia Nixon, Woody Harrelson, Matt Lucas and David Walliams.  Directors she has worked with include: Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, Takashi Miike, and Lasse Halstrom to name a few. Nadia Venesse has enjoyed her previous teaching experience at St. Norbert in the ESL department teaching writing, grammar, conversation and a course created by her called ‘Speech and the Media’ for advanced ESL students, incorporating the use of cameras, students scripts, writing, verbal skills and teamwork.

Randy Cornelius, ONEIDA

Randy Cornelius has been working with the Oneida Nation for twenty-three years.  He’s a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.  His major was in psychology with a double minor in Native American studies and human development.  He’s been an Alcohol and Drug Abuse counselor, Case Manager, and Spiritual Advisor for the Oneida Social Services department.  For the past fourteen years he’s been working for the Oneida Language Revitalization program, ten years as an Oneida language and cultural educator and currently as the Oneida Language and Cultural Archivist.
He has more than thirty years of independent and academic study of the Oneida language with fluent speakers from his community and continues to work extensively with Iroquoian cultural and spiritual elders and mentors from New York and Canada.   He’s been a part of the revitalization and preservation of the Oneida “Longhouse” where the ancestral political, ceremonial and spiritual ways of the Oneida Nation are being resuscitated.  Randy’s a “Faithkeeper” titleholder for the Bear clan, one of many from the three clans of the Oneida Nation who are invested with the responsible of ensuring that the traditional ceremonial and spiritual teachings of the Oneida Nation will be forever preserved and practiced.

Rachel Tease, M.Ed. -Spanish
Rachel Tease teaches adult Spanish classes through St. Norbert College and also a Spanish for Law Enforcement class at Puerta Hermosa Outreach Center in Menasha.  She recently finished her M.Ed. degree in Adult and Continuing Education at National-Louis University in Chicago and completed her Undergraduate studies at UW-Madison in 2006 majoring in Spanish and International Business.  She has done studies in Spain and Chile as well as recreational travel throughout Central and South America.

Jairo Huilar- Spanish

Jairo Huilar is a native of Cali, Colombia. He has worked as an international trader with Panama, Venezuela, Curacao and Colombia, of merchandise and electronics. In the mid- 80's he taught Spanish at Saint Thomas More Middle School in Green Bay. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, with Bachelors of Science Majors in Communications Processes and Spanish, with a Minor in Human Development. He has served as a simultaneous Court Interpreter since 1991, listed on the Statewide Interpreter Roster. From 1992- 1995, he was a University of Wisconsin Green Bay Spanish Instructor:  where he taught beginning through intermediate level Spanish grammar and conversation for business people. Jairo created The Hispanic Voice WPR  ans seved as the voluntary Director and Producer for 16 years. He isa Salvation Army Advisory Board Member, Ballroom and Latino dancer, and has traveled over seas to many countries.

  Malgosia Daugherty - POLISH

Malgosia was born in Poland and came to the United States at the age of 23. She graduated from Academy of Economics in Krakow, Poland and University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She is a treasurer and an active member of Polish Heritage Society in Green Bay. Malgosia blends her class sessions with a bit of Poland’s history, its culture and plenty of opportunities to practice speaking her native language. Her passion for her homeland and the Polish language keeps her constantly alert as to how she could meet each student’s personal goal for talking the class. She has been teaching for St. Norbert College since the fall of 2008.

Sally Riner- SPANISH

Sally Riner teaches Spanish 3, 4, and 5 at Green Bay West High School. She graduated from University of Wisconsin- Oshkosh in 1991 with a major in Spanish and a minor in math. She has been trained as a Spanish teacher in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and has led student trips throughout Mexico. She resides in Howard with her husband and two children.