Faculty and Staff

Goal driven. Not afraid of a long day at the office. Currently, David works as the Winemaker & Enology Instructor for Surry Community College's Surry Cellars. A live winery project where students are taught Viticulture & Enology. Find their wines at Triad location Lowes Foods grocery stores. David's goal? Set the benchmark for fine wine in the state of North Carolina and across the country.

Patricia earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Ohio University in 2003 and a Master’s degree in Horticulture and Crop Science from the Ohio State University in 2012. She worked as the viticulturist and winemaker for a small vineyard in southwestern Ohio, and has taught courses for VESTA since 2013. She resides in Dayton, Ohio with her two dogs, Brix and Toaster. 

Email: T.Chalfant@Yahoo.com

Course(s):
VIN 212 - Winter Viticulture Technology
VIN 290 - Vineyard and Winery Safety

demsliedrummond@clcmn.edu

218-894-5133

Courses: VIN 147 - Fruit Wine Production, VIN 257 - Fall Wine Production Internship, VIN 259 - Cellar Operations Technology

Mike earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Iowa, is a member of the Iowa and Illinois bar associations, and has authored a text book for Cengage Learning in the area of estate planning and paralegal practice.  Mike is an adjunct instructor in the Legal Assistant, and Criminal Justice departments at NICC, the LIFE Program at the University of Dubuque, the criminal justice department at Loras College and the Viticulture and Enology program at Central Lakes College, Minnesota.

Joseph Geller earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the University of South Carolina and a master of science in Viticulture and Enology from California State University Fresno. 

Geller woked at Surry Community College beginning July 2014 as the Viticulture Instructor. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and providing students with professional expertise.  Joseph currently works as the viticulturist for Trump Winery in Charlottesville, VA. 

He enjoys SCC's VEN program because it is practical and hands on, which fits well with his teaching style. While a graduate research assistant at California State University Fresno, Geller managed a large-scale research project with a focus on mechanical canopy management. Previously, Geller served as a viticulturist at Treasury Wine Estates in the Napa, Sonoma, and California Central Coast regions. He also worked in production and sales at Idle Hour Winery in Oakhurst, California.  His research and industry experience on the West Coast is being used to guide decisions on the SCC's teaching vineyard that he oversees. 

After earning a bachelor's degree in Biology & Botany (1994), Alex worked for Boots Pharmaceuticals as part of the professional medical education team. His doctorate (2001) is from the University of Illinois at Chicago where he studied the antimicrobial chemistry of botanicals. Following a post-doc, Dr. Hamill worked in a BSL-4 laboratory in San Antonio, TX, taught at a university in Seattle, WA, and, since 2008, has worked as a contractor for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the US Food & Drug Administration. In 2023, he moved to his family's farm in southwestern Pennsylvania where he will convert the farmland to viticulture over the next few years.

Email: hosnpop@gmail.com

Traverse City, MI

Course(s):
VIN 130 - Wine Business Feasibility
VIN 275 - Financial Management for the Wine Business Entrepreneur

Zoran Ljepovic was born in Zagreb, Croatia, European Union where he earned an Engineer of Agronomy Degree in Enology, Viticulture and Pomology from the University of Zagreb, Croatia. He worked as a Production Winemaker for renowned wine and spirits company Badel 1862. During his Masters he in Co-pigmentation in Rubired juice and concentrate he worked as a Lab Supervisor for California Natural Color (aka SJVC a part of E&J Gallo) in production of the grape skin extract. After graduation, Zoran moved to Franciscan Oakville Estate winery as QC Enologist for six years. Later, Zoran transitioned to Robert Mondavi winery as Wine QC manager for Icon Estates wines, a luxury wine division of Constellation Brands Inc. In 2008 Zoran was promoted to a QC/QA Manager for Wine Process Improvement. He managed QC/QA for bottling facilities: Robert Mondavi in Napa and Clos du bois in Sonoma for the luxury wines. In addition, he conducted sanitation & GMP audits for the CBI wineries on the West coast, wine microbiology consulting and introducing emerging new technologies and procedures. In 2014 Zoran was promoted in QA Director for Microbiology and Sanitation. In this role Zoran is conducting Quality audits at all the Constellation wineries with the US including a few in Canada and Ruffino in Italy. His lab was developing the best microbiology and sanitation practices. Since 2018 Zoran is focusing in winemaking and quality consulting. He presented his research at various conferences and symposia from ASEV, Unified Symposium for Wines & Grapes, CERA group, New Mexico Wine Conference, Brewers & Vintners Symposia among others. He served as a technical board member for ASEV and board member for Napa Valley Wine Technical Group as well as co-president of CERA microbiology group. Zoran is teaching VESTA on-line classes and conducting enology workshops that include: wine sensory, wine and must analysis, sanitation, bottling QC, and wine microbiology. He is also consulting winegrowers in winemaking in California, Michigan and Croatia. Zoran also serves as a wine judge at various international wine judging competitions such as Finger Lakes (FLIWC), Watkins Glenn (EIWC), Indiana (IIWC) El Dorado county, and California State Home Winemakers Competition in Lodi.

Darren Michaels graduated with a BS in Biochemistry in 1997 after performing scholarship-funded research in batch fermentations of ACC Oxidase and Polyphenol Oxidase for enzymatic analysis. As a research associate of Scripps Research Institute, he developed fermentation programs of antibodies for vaccine research of Hantavirus, HIV, Ebola, and Creuztfeldt-Jakob. He decided to pour his interest and fermentation experience into the wine industry and accepted a position as wine chemist at Trinchero Family Estates, working for years on novel pesticide analytical methods, phenolic analysis, and method validation for ISO standards.

In 2005 he moved to the central coast of California and into the position of Manager of the Central Coast Offices of Vinquiry, managing full-time commercial lab staff, enological consulting, product support, method development, and as a trained auditor for ISO 17025 accreditation. In 2008 he was offered and accepted the position of Director of Enology, a new state-of-the-art custom crush and private label winery Terravant Wine Company, designing and running a new commercial wine laboratory, building quality systems, managing staff and budgets, and consulting for all custom crush and wine making services and worked as a Technical Enologist with Laffort USA.  Darren now serves as a technical winemaker for Laffort USA and is based in Washington state running Tetrahedron Winery and Big River Laboratories, a lab that supports and consults for wine, cider, kombucha, vinegar, low alcohol and alcohol-free beverage producers.

Regularly contributing to technical papers and published works since 1998, Darren has also enjoyed teaching and guest lecturing in college classes. He is the first instructor and program developer for Wine Analysis at Alan Hancock College in Santa Maria and enjoys the time with his online students as a VESTA instructor.

Pam Probert has been teaching chemistry at the high school level and as an adjunct college instructor for 33 years.  Her high school teaching tenure included schools in Ohio and in southwest Missouri. Adjunct instructor positions have been with Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, Missouri, with Missouri State University-West Plains, and with Drury University, Springfield, Missouri.   Her B.S. in Food Science and Nutrition from the University of Missouri-Columbia included classes in Food Chemistry, Food Microbiology, and Food Processing. She also obtained a B.S. in Home Economics from Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri and an M.S. Ed. from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.

My major responsibilities are developing and enhancing Community College Partnerships to collaboratively offer IAT Certificate programs at the local level.  Part of this effort includes developing new program areas to meet the specific social, economic and educational needs of the local community and the development of on-line and blended curricula.  That’s how I first got involved with VESTA when our Michigan wine and grape industry asked MSU to develop a certificate program to meet the needs of the industry.  Partnering with VESTA provided a way to respond to the industry rapidly and still deliver high quality programs.  I serve as the institutional representative for VESTA at Michigan State University and the VESTA state coordinator for Michigan.

My relevant background to this class is the expertise that I developed in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as part of my business activities.  I was part of a regional team to develop a no-pesticide approach to lawn care in the Great Lakes basin, taught at the university and community college level and lectured extensively to a variety of audiences on IPM, and was an expert witness in a legal case on pesticide exposure.

Prior to joining MSU in March of 2008, I was the Executive Director of the Michigan Turfgrass Foundation and the Michigan Ground Water Association, and owned and operated businesses in the green industry and technology transfer for over 30 years.

I earned a BS and MS in Crop & Soil Science from MSU.

John Thull and his wife Jenny manage the 10 acres of research vineyards for the Grape Breeding Program at the University of Minnesota’s Horticultural Research Center (HRC). They started in 2005 and 2008, respectively. The vineyards contain plantings of thousands of novel seedlings that are continually evaluated for cold hardiness, disease tolerance, growth habit, productivity, and fruit quality for wine production or fresh eating. Several species of wild grapes, a vast collection of French, American, and cold hardy hybrids, and numerous Vitis vinifera cultivars are grown on-site to provide the genetic diversity needed to create the classically bred crosses. Growing so many different vines under one roof is quite challenging, but extremely interesting. Aside from grapes, John and Jenny also grow over 270 varieties of pumpkins, squash, and gourds on several research plot acres which are displayed at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum every October.

After earning his degree in Biology in 2002 at the U of M in Duluth, John apprenticed in Germany at Weingut Heinrichshof. This family-owned winery with 5 acres of vines is located in the idyllic village of Zeltingen nestled in the narrow and winding Mosel River valley. Famous for its steep, Riesling vineyards, this region experienced stellar vintages in 2003 and 2004 while he was there.

John’s fondness for viticulture stems from his childhood on the farm where he learned how to garden with his grandmother and harvest wild grapes with his family and friends to make juice and homemade wine. In 2007, he planted 2 acres of vines at the family farm near Melrose, Minnesota. John has gained invaluable experience from tending both these vines and those grown at the HRC.

Over the past several years, John has shared his knowledge through talks, presentations, and in-field clinics to grower groups in MN, WI, IA, IL, ND, CO, NH, and VT. Every season presents different challenges to growers of cold hardy grapes. John enjoys trying to find the right combination of management techniques needed every year to handle these challenges.