About Us

Elizabeth Smith was hired at State College of Florida (formerly Manatee Community College) in 1990 as the Director of the Reading and Writing Center and later became full-time faculty and curriculum coordinator for the Venice campus developmental courses. Elizabeth was part of Project Renaissance at MCC in the early 90s, infusing technology into the classroom. She was the first in the college to teach in a computer networked writing classroom and the first to teach a developmental course online.

During her tenure, she has taught developmental reading and writing, Foundations of Reading Research in SCF’s Educator Preparation Institute, and most recently added English for Academic Purposes reading and writing courses to her course load. Over the last 30 years, Elizabeth has been active in developmental education, presenting at FDEA, NADE, CRLA, FEA, NISOD, League for Innovation, and ILA.  Elizabeth served on the state task force for the PERT revision and in 2012 and 2013 was a key member of the developmental redesign team at SCF. In 2018, Elizabeth was awarded the Outstanding Developmental Educator of the Year award at the annual FDEA conference.   It seems entirely fitting that the latter end of her career is spent as President of FASS, devoted to what she started in 30 years ago, developmental education.

Sharisse Turner, treasurer of FASS, has over 30 years of experience in developmental education at the community college level.  She has taught developmental writing, reading and College Success courses.  She once served as interim director of the Learning Commons at Tallahassee Community College.  Currently, she serves as the dean of the Transitional Studies division at TCC, where she oversees all developmental education and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses.

A native North Floridian, Sharisse is a product of Florida’s community college system with an AA degree from Chipola College.  Additionally, she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of West Florida and two master’s degrees:  one from Tallahassee Christian College and the other from Walden University.  An ordained minister, Sharisse serves on the ministerial staff at Celebrate New Life Tabernacle Church in Tallahassee.  She and her husband Derald are the proud parents of four children and three grandchildren.  In her spare time, Sharisse enjoys reading, writing and crocheting.

Professor Susan Wessner serves as a full-time faculty member for Developmental Mathematics at Tallahassee Community College and has served the College in various ways since 1987. Susan is a graduate of Florida State University, where she earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mathematics Education. With over 33 years of teaching, she is passionate about teaching students who need to “brush up” on their math skills before they can tackle college level courses. During her time at TCC, she has served as an adjunct instructor, assistant professor, served on numerous committees, and has been a mentor in four different mentoring programs. Additionally, she wrote/compiled the last two MAT0018 student notebooks for the lower level developmental math classes. She was a NISOD Excellence award winner in 2011, and in 2012, was ranked as the #12 highest rated college professor in the country by the  Ratemyprofessors.com website. Susan won the 2020 FASS Developmental Educator of the Year Award at the FASS Fall Conference. Susan loves teaching math and turning her students into her “Math Nerd Army.”

Jean is the recently elected secretary for Florida Association for Student Success (FASS) and a member of (NOSS) National Association for Student Success. She enjoys teaching Developmental Reading at Tallahassee Community College. A lifelong learner, a graduate of Florida Memorial University (BS), and a graduate of North-Central University (M.S), Jean enjoys the opportunity of teaching students in Developmental Reading. In the Developmental classes at the college, students are given maximum opportunities to improve, and to excel in Reading and Writing. The Florida Association for Student Success provides professional opportunities for colleagues from various parts of the state to convene and discuss trends and Professional Development. During her time away from the classroom, she enjoys family outings, fishing, reading, and traveling.