Meet the PUENTE Faculty
English
A Maryland native, George Blake is first a learner, then a teacher. He has a varied academic history, having attended public, private, and art schools. Completing his undergraduate and graduate studies from Morgan State University—an HBCU—exceptionally equipped him to be an innovative and dedicated English professor. Fortuitously, George embraced his career, beginning in adult literacy, and later at Morgan State, as a full time lecturer. George is also a successful writer, having written all forms and most genres from marketing materials, to self- help books, to television episodes. George happily takes that experience into the classroom. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2001, he has been part of the adjunct faculty at LATTC, and proudly joined LATTC as a full-time faculty member in 2017.
Counseling
Jolene Gaeta Martin holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts from the University of La Verne; M.S. in Academic Counseling and an M.A. in Psychology from Pepperdine University. As a Counselor and Puente Co-Coordinator she works with students of diverse backgrounds to help them process information that empowers students to reach their maximum potential. This is done through a holistic style counseling approach grounded in self-awareness, development and personal growth. Her counseling experiences in higher education began at Pepperdine University as an academic advisor then expanded to adjunct faculty as a counselor and professor at Ventura Community College, Santa Monica Community College and College of the Canyons. Jolene has worked as a counselor in multiple capacities including; MESA, outreach and recruitment, career counseling, transfer, and First Year Experience. Part of the work done here at LATTC includes; co-coordination of the Puente Program, academic, personal and career counseling, faculty club advisor and teaching Personal Development courses. She enjoys spending time with family, attending concerts and museums, traveling, maintaining an active lifestyle and political activism. Jolene is very passionate about the work that she does here at Trade Tech and believes that education is a human right that is most valuable as an effective tool for personal empowerment. She is honored to serve as a resource, friend, mentor and advocate to LATTC students.