English Language and Literature
Shaana Aljoe
Chair of Department of English Language and Literature
M.A., University of Westminster, UK
B.A., Richmond, The American International University in London, UK
Shaana Aljoe teaches Introduction to University Studies and English Composition at UNYP. She is also the founder of UNYP's writing resource center (the WRL), teaches business English and works with the Czech Press Agency and has had professional management experience in the education, wine, and clothing industries. Ms Aljoe has taught English language courses at a number of institutions in England and Czech Republic including Huron University and Nottingham University in the UK, and here in Prague at Charles University and local language schools. Although originally from the US, Ms Aljoe's undergraduate and postgraduate degrees were completed in London, England at Richmond International University and at the University of Westminster respectively. Ms Aljoe is currently engaged in researching for her doctorate in Education at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on improving the efficacy of content-based language learning at tertiary level. It is hoped that this research will benefit writing teachers who teach multilingual students attending English-medium universities such as UNYP. She has recently been involved in developing international music programs for young musical scholars with the European Composer in Residence, Jaz Coleman.
Drew Brandon
M.A., Kansas State University, USA
B.A., Cedarville College, USA
Mark Andrew Brandon has taught at UNYP since 2004. Originally from the United States, he earned a Bachelor's Degree in European History at Cedarville College and a Master's Degree at Kansas State University in Early Modern European History in 1994. Since then, he has lived in both the United States and the Czech Republic. From 1996 to 2000, he taught History at Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. He is currently a doctoral student at Univerzita Jana Evangelisty Purkyně in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic. The main theme of his research is the Czech nobility and the Counter Reformation in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This topic involves issues such as supernatural and magical beliefs, conflict in towns and villages over ritual and "sacred space," and the place of religious belief in the Czech social and political context.
James Chevron
M.A. Candidate, French as Foreign Language, University of Grenoble, France
HND, Business Studies and Management, University of West of England, Bristol, UK
James Chevron is a French British national teaching French classes at UNYP. He spent most of his life in France before moving to Britain for higher education and is currently completing his M.A in French as a Foreign Language at the University of Grenoble, France. Prior to teaching he worked in Britain as a relocation manager for a property management company. In 2003 he moved to Prague and has been working since then in the French Institute in Prague and provides corporate companies with business French lessons.
He enjoys among other things boxing, cross country cycling, cooking and travelling Europe on his motorbike.
Colin Steele Clark
M.A., University of Glasgow, UK
Colin has taught English Composition courses at UNYP since 2004. A Scot living in Prague, he took his M.A. with joint Honors in English and Politics at the University of Glasgow before continuing his studies in Journalism in Darlington, England. He is enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Charles University's Department of English and American Studies where he is also a lecturer on British Cultural Studies, Academic Writing and British History. His specialization is Scottish Literature and Culture. He is presently preparing a course on Scottish Studies, and has previously lectured on courses as diverse as Scottish Literature, Scottish Fantasy Literature, Literary Theory, Literary History, Scottish Film and Identity, Victorian Literature, Children's Literature and British Science Fiction. He has lived in the Czech Republic since 2001.
Juwana Jenkins
B.A., Pennsylvania State University, USA
Juwana Jenkins began teaching as a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea where she was also an instructor at the Seoul National Language Research Institute. With a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Honors in Media Studies, she is a former News Director for the National Public Radio (USA) who also trains executives in international companies in communications and presentation skills. In addition to her teaching and training, she speaks internationally at conferences, delivering keynote addresses and workshops based on her international management experience in both commercial and non-profit organizations.
Javier González Lozano
M.A., Cervantes Institute and Menendez Pelayo International University of Santander, Spain
B.A., University of Granada, Spain
Javier González Lozano was born in Lanjarón in Granada, Spain and obtained his BA in Hispanic Philology at the University of Granada. After graduation, he continued his studies at Menendez Pelayo, the International University of Santander, where he completed his master's degree in Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language. He specializes in developing strategies for writing in a foreign language. He has participated in several conferences related to this field. He has lectured at the Cervantes Institute since 2008 and has been a member of the examination board of the DELE exams (Diplomas of Spanish as a Foreign Language) in Prague and Brno.
Eleanor Lurring
MBA, University of Ulster, UK
B.A., Modern Languages, University of Bradford, UK
Eleanor Lurring teaches composition writing at UNYP. She has been working in the Czech Republic since 1992, teaching English, teacher training and in academic management.
She received her MBA from the University of Ulster. Then, in 2008, she qualified as a mediator, specialising in conflict management in the workplace. She now works as a freelance mediator.
Eleanor currently prepares students at the University of Economics to take Cambridge business examinations. She also leads the team of Cambridge examiners for the British Council and the University of Economics.
She writes online seminar materials for Cambridge university (Cambridge ESOL), and has been a regular contributor of articles for 'The Bridge', a magazine for teachers of English in the Czech Republic. 
Katerina Machacova
M.A., Charles University, Czech Republic
Kateřina Machačová studied Czech language and literature at the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in Prague. After having been teaching Czech for foreigners for several years in various language schools in Prague she founded her own language school Step by Step in 2001. There she is not only a co-owner but also a managing director and teacher. As a tutor she gives Czech courses for foreign managers of international companies.
Petr Pelikán
RNDr., PhDr., M.Sc., M.A., Charles University, Czech Republic
Dr. Petr Pelikán has been teaching since 1975 at the University of Economics and later at Charles University. He has graduated at Philosophic Faculty and Faculty of Natural Science of Charles University with a Ph.D. in Geography. Dr. Pelikán had a number of professional engagements as translator, interpreter, and consultant for ministries, bank institutions, newspapers, Czechoslovak T.V.. In 1990 he had a work stay in Japan organized by the Japanese governmental foundation, sent by the Ministry of Education representing the country for the study of educational systems and methods. He has been teaching at UNYP since 1999 the courses of World Economy, World Geography and German language. In 2003 -2004 he was appointed to the post of UNYP academic coordinator for the Czech Ministry of Education.
Toni Purdy
Associate Diploma, Canberra Institute of Technology
Toni Purdy is an ESL teacher in Prague. She was born in Australia, gained her TESOL Cert. through Teach International in Brisbane; Cert. in Hospitality Operations at the North Coast College of Technical and Further Education; Assoc.Dip. in Business and Finance and Cert. in Bus.Comms. at the Canberra Institute of Technology and Small Business Management at the Canberra College of Technical and Further Education, Australia. Prior to coming to Prague, she taught English as a Second Language in China. Before leaving Australia, she taught a communications program titled "YouthSpeak" to middle-high school students and while in China wrote and taught a communications program for adult learners of a second language titled "Advance". She is currently teaching a writing development course at the UNYP. Through Toastmasters International she has gained the distinctions of High Performance Leadership, Leadership Excellence and Distinguished Toastmaster, 2008; District 69 Area Governor of the Year 2004-05 and Competent Leader, 2002.
Tim Radnor
M.A. Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham
B.A. Creative Arts (Visual Arts/Creative Writing), Manchester Metropolitan University
Tim teaches English Composition and Advanced Research Writing at UNYP. He has a wide range of experience in the field of English language teaching, and has worked at a variety of institutions in Slovakia, the U.K. and Prague. Last year he worked as an English tutor on the pre-sessional summer programme at the University of Birmingham. He has been based in Prague for the last eleven years.
His Master’s thesis, completed in 2009, was a research project focusing on attitudes to different aspects of English as an International Language (EIL) and he retains a strong interest in this area. He has delivered papers at several international conferences on EIL, including Languages for Europe in Berlin in 2008 and IATEFL Poland 2009.
Tim also has a strong interest in Visual Art and Creative Writing, which he studied for his first degree, and has continued to produce his own work, holding three exhibitions of photography and video art in Prague over the last few years.
Paul Ratner
MFA, Chapman University, USA
B.A., Cornell University, USA
Paul Ratner has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University (2000) with a focus on theater, creative writing and cinema arts. He also has Master's of Fine Arts from Chapman University (2005, film production). He has recently worked in Hollywood and independent film in script development and screenwriting. He writes prose, poetry, news items, opinion pieces and screenplays.
Erik Sherman Roraback
D.Phil., University of Oxford, UK
B.A., Pomona College, USA
Erik Sherman Roraback (born Seattle, Washington, USA) from 1997 teaches critical & social theory, psychoanalysis, international cinema, cultural studies, and USA literature in Charles University, from 2003 international cinema in F.A.M.U. and from 2009 Occidental literature and writing in the University of New York at Prague. Erik Roraback holds a D.Phil. (1997, thesis readers Terry Eagleton, Oxford and Maud Ellmann, Cambridge) from the University of Oxford, England, United Kingdom where he first taught for Magdalen College & for Mansfield College, and he earned a B.A. (cum laude, 1989) from Pomona College, Claremont, California, USA; in 2005 he was an Invited Professor in the Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille I), Aix-en-Provence, France; he has also been a Visiting Scholar each year from 2004-present in the University of Constance, Germany. Erik Roraback has published a scholarly book, The Dialectics of Late Capital and Power: James, Balzac and Critical Theory (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, 320 pp.); since 1998 Erik Roraback has been researching and writing in multiple ongoing book length projects. Further than this, Erik Roraback has published some thirty professional articles and book chapters in the Czech Republic, in France, in Germany, in the United Kingdom, and in the United States; he has also supervised dissertations by two PhD students to the successful completion of their PhD studies, currently supervises three more ongoing dissertations, serves on the Doctoral Studies board for the study of English and American Literature in the Czech Republic and on the editorial board for the academic journal E-REA in Aix-en-Provence, France and for the Moravian Journal of Literature and Film in Olomouc, Czech Republic. Erik Roraback has given thirty plus conferences papers in Europe, in Russia and in the United States (attending many more as a delegate only); he has also delivered twenty plus invited lectures in Europe and in the United States at such institutions as The Evergreen State College (USA), Kansas State University (USA), University of Constance (Germany), University of Oxford (England), University of Regensburg (Germany), University of Szeged (Hungary), and University of Vienna (Austria).
Paula Solon
B.A., National University of Ireland, Galway
M.A., King's College London, UK
Having read English and Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway, Paula Solon took her B.A. with joint Honours in 2005 before moving to the UK to further continue her academic studies . There she completed an M.A. in English Language and Literature at King's College London where her research was primarily focused on modern Irish writing and culture, gender and sexuality and early twentieth century political theatre. Alongside English Composition at UNYP, she teaches business English, language and psychology at various schools and companies throughout Prague.
Natasha Sutta
Postgraduate diploma, University College in Cardiff, UK
B.A., Durham University, UK
BFA, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
Natasha Sutta is a native Czech and English speaker, and is fluent in Russian and Chinese. She earned a Postgraduate Diploma from University College in Cardiff, UK, a B.A. from Durham University UK, and a BFA from NTNU Taiwan, ROC after two years of intensive Mandarin language study at the Mandarin Training Centre in Taiwan R.O.C. NTNU (National Taiwan Normal University) is a pedagogical university, with subjects such as Principles of Instruction and Educational Psychology. Compulsory classes included Chinese history, Chinese philosophy, as well as Written and Oral Mandarin, and Chinese literature. Natasha is a professional artist, and has held several international Solo exhibitions of paintings. Attendees included government and cultural representatives from different countries. She has been teaching at UNYP since September 2000. Her courses include Understanding China, Introduction to Chinese Calligraphy, Introduction to Drawing and Design and Introduction to Painting.
Holly Tavel
MFA, Brown University, USA
Holly Tavel is a fiction writer and artist. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Brown University, and has taught writing and literature at Brown (Providence RI), CUNY/Manhattan Community College (New York, NY) Grub Street LLC (Boston, MA) and at Anglo-American University (Prague, Czech Republic). In 2008 she was the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship for research on a novel in progress. She has won or been nominated for several writing awards, including an Innovative Fiction award and a Pushcart Prize. Her fiction and nonfiction writing has appeared or is forthcoming in McSweeney's, Elimae, Diagram, Vlak,Torpedo, The Brooklyn Rail, The Prague Anthology, and the anthology Online Writing: The Best of the First Ten Years. Her film and conceptual art has featured in group exhibitions in NYC, Boston, and Florida.
Liba Taylor
B.A., Spanish and History of Art, Bristol University, UK.
Liba Taylor is a Czech/British photographer living in Prague. She has been working for many years on documentary projects for international humanitarian organizations such as UNHCR, Unicef, Save the Children Fund, Actionaid, WHO, UNAIDS and many others and has focused particularly on Africa, Asia and Latin America. She attended the prestigious course in Documentary Photography in Wales and has won a number of British and international awards.
Clare Wallace
Ph.D., Charles University, Czech Republic
M.A., University College Dublin, Ireland
B.A., Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Clare Wallace is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin (BA), University College Dublin (MA), and Charles University (PhD) where she a senior lecturer at the Department of Anglophone Literature and Cultures. She teaches in the fields of Irish studies, drama (American and British and theories of performance), literary and cultural studies, as well as higher level composition/academic writing courses. At present her research interests centre on Irish Studies, Theatre, and Cosmopolitanism. She is currently working on a Critical Companion to David Greig for Methuen.
She joined UNYP in 2000 where she has developed and taught various courses ranging from Composition I and II, and Research Writing to Analysis and Intepretation of Literature, Short Story, Literature and Politics, The Novel: Rise and Development, Modernist Prose, and Great Books: Enlightenment to the Modern Era. She is author of Suspect Cultures: Narrative, Identity and Citation in 1990s New Drama (2006) and editor of Cosmotopia: Transnational Identities in David Greig’s Theatre with Anja Müller (2011), Stewart Parker Television Plays (2008), Stewart Parker: Dramatis Personae and Other Writings with Gerald Dawe and Maria Johnston (2008), Monologues: Theatre, Performance, Subjectivity (2006), Global Ireland: Irish Literatures in the New Millennium, edited with Ondřej Pilný (2006), Giacomo Joyce: Envoys of the Other, edited with Louis Armand (2002; rpt. 2006). Since moving to Prague she has also been involved with a number of literary journals and magazines including Jedím Okem/One Eye Open, The Prague Review, PLR and VLAK.
