Bluegrass Community & Technical College, Lexington, KY
www.bluegrass.kctcs.edu/
Associate Professor, ESL/Humanities, English Area Coordinator
Since joining the faculty of the Humanities Division at Bluegrass Community and Technical Colleges in 2005, Dr. Jim Fenton has served as the ESL and English Area Coordinator, scheduling college classes for immigrants and freshman students, and advocating for expanded educational opportunities for immigrants and refugees within the college and the broader community of Lexington.
Programs he has developed in conjunction with the Latino Outreach and Services Office include “Take your GED/ESL to college”, an informational tour of the college and its programs, as well as an annual one week summer camp that brings immigrant high school juniors and seniors to the college campus to introduce them to college life and the education programs and services offered.
Dr. Fenton completed his undergraduate work at the University of London and his Ph.D. at Columbia University, New York in Anthropology, before returning to school in 2003 to complete a master’s degree in English, focusing on English as a Second Language. He is currently learning Spanish, is fairly competent in French and uses both languages daily to interact with the many new immigrants who enroll at BCTC.
Outside of the college he serves as an ESL tutor and board member for Bluegrass Literacy Inc., a Lexington grassroots literacy foundation offering basic English classes to immigrants and refugees in community venues across Lexington.