Team
Deans
Richard Lubben
Dean of Arts and Letters
Richard Lubben, an artist, educator and academic administrator, brings multicultural influences into his work, with deep ties to Hispanic communities across the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean. His creative work often reflects the beauty of simpler times, and engages in themes of social justice, focusing on the evolution of social interactions and work within traditional communities. He is also the founder of the Human Rights Art Exhibition that has provided international artists a platform to address difficult issues since 2006. His passion for art is deeply rooted in his academic background, having earned an MFA from the Instituto Allende in Mexico, a BA in Studio Art from California State University, Sacramento, and an AA from Cabrillo College in California.
Lubben’s academic and artistic journey took him across various institutions, including faculty positions at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico and South Texas College, a research position as the Visiting Fulbright Research Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice at the University of Ottawa, and Academic Dean positions at Lane Community College, and the College of the Sequoias. Explore more about Richard and his work at richardlubben.com and humanrightsartexhibit.com
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Dean of Language and Communication
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Aaron Rothkopf
Faculty of Journalism & Communications
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Amie T. Rangel
Adjunct Faculty of Fine Arts & COS Art Gallery Director
Amie T. Rangel is Director of the COS Art Gallery and an Adjunct Professor of Fine Art and at College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. She is passionate about teaching Art where she can introduce, engage and encourage students to develop a rich understanding of the fundamentals of Art as well as provide a positive learning environment for which students are able explore different creative practices, critically discuss and assess peer work while using appropriate vocabulary and art historical references. She has received the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award in 2019 and 2021 at COS, and nominee for the Hayward Teaching Award for the California State Community College Educator of Excellence in 2013. As a Fine Artist, she is rooted in an observation-based and layered research practice that is shaped by an anthropological and intuitive approach to the subject matter, expressed through large-scale drawings on linen, mixed-media drawings on paper, lithography printmaking and installation. Rangel obtained a BFA in Drawing /Painting and Printmaking from California State University Long Beach and an MFA in Drawing and Intermedia from the University of Alberta in Canada. She has been awarded grants through the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Stonehouse Residency for Contemporary Artists, and more regionally as the Tulare County Arts Consortium 2021 Artist of the Year. Rangel exhibits nationally, such as the Appleton Museum of Art in Florida, Redline Gallery in Denver Colorado, and internationally at the Art Gallery of Alberta, University of Alberta – Calgary, as well as Vane Gallery as part of the UK Drawing! Conference held in England. She contributes to her local community as an advisory board member of Arts Visalia, CREATE TC, Museum Alliance of Tulare-Kings Counties, as well as through curatorial projects throughout the Central Valley region of California.
Charles Neumann
Full-Time Faculty of 3-D Art
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Fernando Fernandez
Full-Time Faculty of Ornamental Horticulture
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Francisco Alonso
Adjunct Faculty of Fine Arts
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Matthew Rangel
Full-Time Faculty of 2-D Art
Matthew Rangel grew up in the southern part of California’s Great Central Valley, a region challenged with socioeconomic, ecological and environmental concerns. This background played a significant role in his creative inquiry of how human constructs of land shape our experience of place.
In pursuit of an academic career path, Matthew became an Assistant Professor of Printmaking at the University of New Mexico (2013-2018). However, in 2018 he was called back to the Central Valley and landed his current role as the 2-D Professor of Art at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California. Matthew loves being back home and has a young family.
Matthew’s artwork depicting the Sierra Nevada Mountains has been featured in numerous shows nationally, internationally, and are included in collections such as the Stonehouse Residency for the Contemporary Arts, the White House in Washington DC, the Urban Land Institute in Washington DC, and at Mount Tai National Park in China. Among notable publications that feature his work are “Journeys beyond the Neatline: Expanding the boundaries of cartography”, a monograph published by University of Alberta Libraries and “A Map of the World: According to Illustrators and Storytellers”, an international graphic arts anthology published by Gastalten, Berlin. He has also been featured in The Journal of Landscape Architecture, Adventure Journal, GEO Magazine (Germany) and Walden Magazine (Hamburg Germany) twice. Rangel’s works are prominently displayed in the El Capitan Hotel, The Darling Hotel and The Nomad Los Angeles. His art aims to express layered substance about our environment and culture – not just the inherent or perceived beauty of place. To visualize this, he uses traditional printmaking processes that enable him to express creative inquiry in a layered format where each layer is encoded with place-based research and meaning. You can view Matthew’s art at rangelstudio.com
Rebekah Meinert
Faculty of Dance & COS Dance Team Coach
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Technicians
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