My name is Dr. Jennifer Bebergal and I have the honor of serving as the associate dean, academic support and student learning within the Center for Teaching and Learning. 

A little about me, I have worked at Florida Atlantic University in a variety of roles since fall 1995! After completing my bachelor's degree at the University of Southern California and master's degree in Student Affairs administration at the University of Miami, I started at FAU in Admissions and Community College Relations. I transitioned to New Student Orientation programs and became the director for Student Retention in 2001. I earned my doctorate in educational leadership here at FAU while working full-time and have been working with student success and retention ever since. I developed FAU's first learning community programs, mentoring programs, and many of its academic support programs. Through my work, I have earned Level 4 Lifetime certification as a Certified Learning Center Professional. I currently co-lead FAU's Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), Education Reimagined: Engaging Students through Peer-Assisted Learning, as we work to expand the Learning Assistant (LA) model to support more students across the university.

My husband Marc is a personal injury attorney, and we have two daughters - Rachel and Emily, and a yellow lab mix rescue dog, Goldy. I enjoy teaching first-year honors courses and graduate courses in educational leadership.

Patrick oversees the center's leadership team and diverse portfolio of student success programs, including the center's supplemental instruction program, peer tutoring programs in the Business, Engineering & Computer Science and Languages (BEL) Learning Lab and the Science Learning Center (SLC), and online student success programs (called eSuccess). In his current role, Patrick's finds fulfillment in supporting an amazingly talented and dedicated staff of full-time learning center leaders, graduate assistants and a team of over 70 undergraduate staff as they support over 30,000 student visits each academic year. Their excellence keeps him humble and accountable as they do the most important student-facing work while he keeps the lights on. 

Patrick earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Florida Atlantic. He is proud to be an owl and grateful for the opportunity to serve his alma mater. When he isn't working, Patrick enjoys spending time with his family, watching sports, enjoying the outdoors, and experiencing different cultures' cuisines.

Comfort recently joined the FAU community in Fall 2022 as the Associate Director of eSuccess where she supports all the eSuccess programs in the Center for Learning and Student Success.
Prior to joining FAU, she oversaw disability services, academic support initiatives, and adided in academic advising support for Palm Beach Atlantic University for over ten years. Comfort recently earned her Doctorate in Education, from Bethel University in 2021 focusing on the college perspective of students’ taking developmental course work. Previously earned degrees included a Master of Arts in Youth and Family Services from John Brown University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Texas. Comfort is grateful to be an Owl and excited to blend over 15 years of higher education knowledge and experiences with the amazing students at Florida Atlantic University.
When she is not on a college campus, Comfort enjoys volunteering in her community, line dancing, watching musicals, and power lifting. 

Dr. Nicole Perez is  the Assistant Director of the Science Learning Center. She is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and her master’s and Ph.D. in Psychology. Since obtaining her doctorate in 2020, Dr. Perez has worked as an adjunct instructor at FAU, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, and recently joined the CLASS team at FAU. 

My name is Elizabeth Abraham, and I have the privilege to serve as the new Coordinator for Academic Support Services of Peer tutoring and Supplemental Instruction (SI) at the C enter of L earning A nd S tudent S uccess (CLASS) after being an SI leader and a peer tutor for General Chemistry I & II, and Cell Biology for two years. I am proud to call FAU my second home where I completed both of my Bachelor's in Biological Sciences and Master of Biomedical Science degrees. Before transitioning to my current position at the CLASS office, I was fortunate to be employed as a Teacher’s Assistant for both Biodiversity and General Chemistry Laboratory I & II where I taught undergraduate major- students the fundamental science principles for over 2 years. Prior to that, I worked in Admissions Office at Broward College where I earned my associate in arts in Biology, and I had the opportunity to work with students from different backgrounds to commence their educational careers. I am honored to work with my fellow undergraduate FAU owls in my community to make a difference and to help them succeed.

When I am not in the office, I enjoy spending time at the beach, working out and experimenting new cultural cuisines. I am also fluent in Arabic.

Karsyn is the Graduate Assistant for Academic Support including the Science Learning Center. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology minoring in Health Science from UCF. She is a graduate student in the College of Education studying Higher Education Leadership.

Rachel is the Academic Assistant for the Science Learning Center. She is a proud alumnus of Florida State University and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management. When she is not working, Rachel enjoys going to concerts and music festivals as well as traveling.