Erika Zemanek
Contact Information
Personal Information
Biography
It’s so nice to meet you! I am Erika Zemanek, and I am an English professor here at Saddleback College.
Right out of high school, I went to CSU Monterey Bay to study biology and then music. I decided to transfer though to CSU San Bernardino to study English and earned my B.A. in English, Creative Writing, in 2013. My goal at that point was to be a successful songwriter. That same year though, I was accepted to the Master’s Program at CSU Long Beach. I graduated from their awesome program with my M.A. in English Literature in May 2016 and decided I wanted to teach. That August, I started working at Saddleback, and the rest is history!
When I am not teaching, I play bass in a band with my husband, sing a ridiculous amount of Disney songs with my kids, and embarrass them all with my dancing. I love American and British literature and history, so I am always up to chat about that. I believe turkey vultures are the coolest creatures on Earth and that George Harrison is the best Beatle. I am absolutely a Gryffindor, and if I lived in Middle Earth, I would hopefully be an elf.
I absolutely love being a teacher because not only do I get to show students the power of the written word, but I learn so much from all of them. To my future students, I look forward to meeting you, getting to know you, hearing your stories, learning your opinion on different topics, and of course, reading your fantastic essays.
Cheers!
Formal Education
- M.A. in English (Literature)
- B.A. in English (Creative Writing)
Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Learning Materials
Professor Zemanek's English Composition courses utilize zero textbook cost learning materials. This means that the textbooks used are free to students. For these classes, there will be a combination of ZTC materials from the textbook as well as PDFs on Canvas.
- ENG 1A - Principles of Composition I: Lumen English Composition I
- ENG 1B - Principles of Composition II: Lumen English Composition II