Cheryl Berman is the Director of the World Languages program at Howard Community College (HCC).  She is also the Director of the StarTalk program at HCC.  She  loves students. Her idea is to always keep students at the center of what you’re doing and you will stay on the right course to help them succeed. She believes that languages need to be taught within culture and that belief led to the creation of the study abroad programs offered through World Languages as well as to the many events where students can get to know the peoples and countries where the different languages are spoken. Bottom line: it’s all about people!

Yulan Liu was born and grew up in Mainland China and came to the United States in August, 1990. She began teaching Chinese in 2007 in Baltimore, Maryland.  She has also been involved in written translation and verbal interpretation, and has many clients. She earned her Master of Arts degree and teaches full time at the Grace Bible Baptist Church.  Last summer she joined the Howard Community College as a lab instructor for the Mandarin Chinese class in the StarTalk Program.  In fall 2008 she taught  CHNS 201, Intermediate Mandarin Chinese I to about 18 StarTalk graduates.

Ming Sun came to the US from China more than 20 years ago.He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in China and Master of Divinity in the United States. He taught Mandarin Chinese at the US Naval Academy before joining us as an adjunct faculty in our World Languages Department 3 years ago. He also works in the Howard County Public School System as an International Achievment Liason.

Mei Du came to the US from Beijing, China in 1985 as a graduate student, obtaining her double Master of Arts degrees. She began teaching Chinese fifteen years ago, and has been involved in Chinese language education at several educational institutions throughout Illinois and Maryland, including the Baltimore Chinese School. She is also currently a member of the Howard County Chinese School (HCCS) Board of Directors and the Columbia Chinese Choral Art Society (CCCAS). Her philosophy on teaching is that learning Chinese should be an experience of " learning from fun, and teaching through fun."

Sana Jafire is originally from Morocco and a native speaker of Arabic. She has a bachelor's degree in English literature and Master's degree in Linguistics. Sana has been teaching Arabic and French for the last 7 years and has mastered all dialects and taught the language using the latest technology and her own designed materials. She is also certified in the communicative approach, content based Arabic instruction, and Arabic teaching in action.

Vinnie Rege has been associated with the Hospitality field for over 10 years. He has a proven track record not only in different hospitality establishments, but also in academic settings. Mr. Rege has managed several 5-star restaurant and hotel operations, as well as holding the position of Food Manager with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. Currently, Mr. Rege is very active in the hospitality industry and serves on a variety of advisory boards and committees. He is the President of the Metro Council of Hotel Restaurant and Institutional Education (CHRIE) and serves on several boards, such as MHEF (Maryland Hospitality Education Foundation) and GWIB (Governors Workforce Investment Board). Mr. Rege has presented numerous papers in various conferences and workshops in North America, Asia and Europe.He returns after having taught and developed a Hindi course for STARTALK in 2009.

Bahar Jalehmahmoudi comes to the program with previous StarTalk experience at San Diego University. She is currently in a master of fine arts program at the University of Maryland, studying photography. In addition, Bahar works with the Persian Flagship program at College Park.

Tony Rahi is a native Arabic linguist ( Lebanon) with college-level mastery of the Arabic language and expertise in numerous dialects. He has significant experience and passion in instructing Middle Eastern culture, politics, and history in the course of spoken and written Arabic language instruction. Mr. Rahi joined the World Languages Division at Howard Community College (HCC) in 2010 and teaches accelerated Arabic classes. Prior to joining HCC, Mr. Rahi taught undergraduate and graduate students in the Arabic Flagship Program at the University of Maryland, College Park. He formely developed curricula and class materials and taught at various Maronite Catholic Parish schools.