Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Apotheker's rhymes reveal love of poetry, teaching

Photos and story by James Hill

Alison Apotheker, English composition and literature instructor at the Rock Creek Campus, loves poetry. And the community loves her poems.

Apotheker is the featured reader at the Silverton Poetry Festival this month and recently read her poems on KBOO Radio as part of an awards program through the Oregon Poetry Association. She has also had her poetry manuscript earn finalist status with several writing competitions.

She is a Delaware native who earned a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She worked at a few colleges before coming to PCC-Rock Creek six years ago.

“As soon as I drove up I knew I wanted to be here,” Apotheker said. “I never wanted to leave. It was so gorgeous.”

At the time of her full-time hiring, she said her days working as an adjunct faculty at the Cascade Campus.

“I liked how friendly and open PCC was,” she said. “Usually, you feel like a ghost working as an adjunct but I didn’t feel that way working at PCC. I loved the students. They were so eager and hungry and wanted to be there in class.”

Apotheker has always been a writer. As a kid, she wrote novels and poems that her mother would type up for her. She said her teachers took her work seriously in the seventh grade and gave her the confidence to open her eyes to the world of poetry.

“I’ve always done it,” she said. “I never knew I could make a career out of it.”

Apotheker, the coordinator for the Rock Creek Writing Center, has two young children who love to rhyme and keep her very busy. She coordinates the co-ed student magazine, The Rock Creek Review, which will have its students read their work during this year’s Art Beat. But she loves teaching and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

“The students are the best part,” she said. “At first, they are always busy and stumble through the door, but we find out over time that they have a notebook of their writing that they don’t show anybody. In my class they find the courage to show it and when they go out the door they have the confidence to share their work. It’s amazing to see the growth.”

Bonnie Starkey honored by D.C. organization

Bonnie Starkey, workforce training and development manager, was recognized by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars for her hard work in bringing a Palestinian Fulbright Scholar to PCC for the 2004 International Education Week. “We acknowledge her service with gratitude for the meaningful contribution made toward furthering Fulbright goals for mutual understanding through international academic exchange,” wrote Deputy Executive Director Jack Bailey in a letter to the college. Congratulations to Bonnie!