Faculty and Staff
Rock Creek Bldg. 7, Rm. 202 | 971-722-7500 | FAX: 971-722-7050 | Program Advisor: Jessie Levine
- Marilyn
Alexander
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Marilyn Alexander has a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture from Washington State University and a Design Certificate from Portland Community College. She started working in a wholesale greenhouse during her college years, and after graduating she worked with various companies and gained experience with pesticide spraying and bedding plants.
She went on to become the head designer in a florist shop and a retail garden center. After staying home to raise her two children (considered her most important job to date), she re-entered the work force as a designer/estimator for a design/build company in Oregon City and later operated her own landscape design business. Favorite pastimes: breathing, weeding and spending a moment with friends and family.
- Elizabeth Brewster
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Elizabeth is a faculty member and the LAT Department Chair and has worked in the landscape industry for the last 19 years. She holds a BA in Humanities from the New College of USF and a BS in Horticulture from the University of Maryland. She worked as a horticulturist for the Washington National Cathedral and Tudor Place in Washington, DC, and the William Paca Garden in Annapolis MD, and she spent 5 years working as a landscape designer and project manager for residential design/build companies in Virginia and Oregon. She is an avid hiker and enjoys going anywhere you can see glaciers and wildflowers.
- Keven
Caldwell
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Keven is the department's landscape technician, responsible for maintaining the grounds, greenhouse, shop, landscape equipment and just about everything else necessary to keep the department running. Prior to coming to this position, Keven was a groundskeeper at PCC, owned his own landscape maintenance company, and was a grounds supervisor for Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
- Linda
Engstrom
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Linda grew up on the East coast (the daughter of two N.Y.C. art teachers) where she earned a design degree from Cornell University and then worked as a room designer for Armstrong World Industries, designing many of the ads in the home magazines of the late 60's.
In 1973 she moved to Oregon with her husband and two sons and in 1979 received an Associate degree in Landscape Design from the program here at PCC. In 1984 she and her husband established Cloudrest Vineyards on 12 acres of hillside property on Bald Peak South of Hillsboro. Since 1984 she has traveled and photographed gardens in England, France, Japan, Italy, Germany, and even Siberia! She has studied under the English landscape designer, John Brookes, and also considers the late Barbara Fealy to be a mentor. She started teaching part-time at PCC in 1990.
Currently she teaches the Co-op Design course each term and Landscape Illustration, Spring term. She is a certified member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers ( APLD) and has served on their Board of Directors as both their first webmaster and then as President in 2003. In addition to offering designs and consultations under her business, Garden Aesthetics, she offers design workshops at her home, and dabbles in writing and photography.
- Jennifer Peters
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Jennifer grew up in the Rocky Mountains and holds degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Wyoming and Purdue University. Upon moving to Oregon in and mid 1990's, she changed her career path and pursued landscape design in the Landscape Technology Program at here at PCC and has been working in the landscape industry for the past 15 years, both as a landscape designer and contractor. She currently co-owns and operates a design/build landscape firm in the Portland metro area that specializes in boulder placement and large scale-water features.
Currently, Jennifer is teaching the Water Gardens class during the summer term and sections of the Landscape Drafting in the fall. When not teaching or playing around in the mud with big rocks and water, she enjoys hiking, camping, gardening and all things outdoors.
- Loren Radford
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Loren has been both a vocational horticulture and forestry teacher for 28 years, 13 at PCC and the remainder in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York. He has also worked as an extension agent and owned a landscape/tree service business in western North Carolina. Professional credentials include currently being a certified arborist and a licensed Oregon landscape contractor.
When not working, Loren lives out in the woods of the Coast Range, where he enjoys splitting firewood and chasing elk out of his garden. He teaches many of the construction-related courses such as Landscape Construction Practices, Landscape Irrigation I & II, Tree Care, and he is a big believer in "getting your hands and feet dirty" education.
- David R. Sandrock, PhD Horticulture
- David earned a BS and MS in Horticulture from the University of Georgia under world renowned plantsman Michael Dirr. He earned a PhD in Horticulture from Oregon State University (OSU) in 2003. For five years, he taught landscape design, construction and management and conducted research in Landscape Horticulture at the University of Florida and OSU. David is a Licensed Landscape Contractor, a Licensed General Contractor and an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist. When he's not teaching, David enjoys spending time with his family, art and being outside.
- Mike Turner
Mike teaches LAT 241, Turfgrass Cultural Practices. He was born and raised in Bigfork, Montana. He received a B.S. in Horticulture from Montana State University-Bozeman in 1997. He began his golf career at Eagle Bend Golf Club in 1993. He worked as an assistant superintendent at Polson Country Club in Polson, Montana from 1997 until 2003, at which time he was hired at Spokane Country Club. He was hired by The Reserve in November, 2004 and became the superintendent in 2006. Mike loves teaching and looks forward to teaching again this spring.
Mike and his wife, Shannon, have two children, Noah(7) and Inga(5). In his spare time, He enjoys golfing, tennis, fishing and hunting.