Congratulations to Elizabeth Longo, the recipient of the 2025 Distinguished Faculty Award.
According to her colleagues, this recognition has been long overdue. In their words, "Elizabeth has been quietly leading the Intensive English Program for over 20 years, lending her patience and expertise to students and faculty alike for the duration of her tenure as core faculty."
Her fellow instructor, Renate Sorg, comments, "Elizabeth’s impact on students is far-reaching. She has an approachable manner with all students that allows them to make mistakes and learn from them without judgment. She has an innate ability to ascertain each student’s personality almost immediately and tailors her interactions accordingly to ensure their affective filters are lowered, enabling them to grasp the language. She can be quiet and kind with a shy student in one moment, and then laughing and joking with a more outgoing student the next. Attendance in Elizabeth’s classes is always high. Students want to be there."
Before joining Green River College, Elizabeth loved learning languages herself. She moved to England from California to pursue a degree in modern languages. After graduating with degrees in Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese, she set out to teach English in Korea, despite not knowing a single word of Korean. She planned to stay for one year, but she ended up staying nine years, earning a master’s degree along the way. Eventually, she and her Korean husband and daughters returned to the USA, settling in Washington.
When asked about her teaching philosophy, Elizabeth shared, "Be kind. It may be a cliché in terms of a life mantra; nonetheless, it is a powerful one. Many of my students come from cultures in which academic excellence, even perfection, is demanded daily. This often places an unbearably heavy burden on students who process information more slowly than their classmates or who need repetition and multiple examples to grasp a concept. Self-deprecating humor is an essential part of my classroom routine, so they understand that, truly, mistakes are simply learning tools.
"Another tenet of my teaching philosophy is academic rigor. I have high standards for my students, but I practice what I preach before holding them to that expectation. Essentially, what I value in teaching is straightforward. Whenever I am with students, I want to be generous, fair, and patient. If I don’t know the answer, I exclaim, “Excellent question! Let me find that out for you!” and then make a point to share what I discover during the next class.
Finally, as I reflect upon the question of my teaching philosophy, it would have to be, "find pleasure, meaning, and purpose in what you are doing right now while strategizing how to attain the next level."
Green River College is fortunate to have such a dedicated and compassionate instructor.
