Donna Bennett received her BA from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and her J.D. from St. Mary’s School of Law in San Antonio.  She is board certified in Criminal Law and has been since 1992.  She is a former prosecutor and former District Attorney in Henderson County.  She has been teaching full time at TVCC since, 2009.  She teaches government, criminal justice, and legal assistant classes.  She is the division chair of Social Sciences.  She is married to Don Bennett and they live in Athens.  They have three lovely children, Mabel, Crowbar and Susie Elizabeth (dog children).  Donna Bennett can be reached at dbennett@tvcc.edu or 903/670-2668.

Christina Campbell is an adjunct instructor in Government and History at TVCC.  Early in her academic career she attended TVCC-Athens before finishing a Bachelor’s of Science in Communications with an emphasis in Journalism at the University of Texas at Tyler.  After spending several years as both a newspaper writer an photographer, she subsequently completed a Masters of Arts in History from Sam Houston State University.  Then she received a Masters in Arts in Political Science with an emphasis on Constitutional Law from the University of Texas at Dallas.  While currently teaching for TVCC, she is also working on her dissertation on Human Rights Law at the University of Texas at Dallas in order to complete her PhD.  She uses her varied interests to help students not only learn about History and Government, but also to find out how each affects students every day.  Christina Campbell can be reached at christina.campbell@tvcc.edu

Noelle Depperschmidt, M.A., is a professor of History and Government who joined the TVCC History and Government Department in 2012.  Previously, she taught at Texas Woman's University, in the Dallas County Community College District, and in North Central Texas Colleges.   She enjoys teaching a wide variety of courses, participates in Correctional Education, long distance Education, and dual credit instruction.  Her special academic interests include 19th century history, environmental history, Constitutional law, and the fascinating relationship between political communication, legal policy making, and political action.

Professor Depperschmidt was an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park, and enjoyed being an exchange student in Kassel, Germany.  She received her bachelor of arts degree in History from Texas Woman’s University, and continued her studies to receive her master’s in both History and Government from Texas Woman’s University.  When taking her classes, it is important that Professor Depperschmidt's students receive the necessary critical thinking, communication, researching and writing skills to pursue future, professional endeavors of their choice.  You may contact her at any time ndepperschmidt@tvcc.edu or 903/675-6329

Ms. Godwin began her college career at TVCC where she earned both Associate of Applied Science and Associate of Arts degrees.   After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and History at Texas A&M Commerce, she continued her education at the University of North Texas where she earned a Master of Science degree in Political Science and History.  Her graduate study included in-country research and study in many Central American countries, Cuba, North Africa, and at the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague, Netherlands.  Professor Godwin studied Arabic and Arab culture in Morocco as well. 

Ms. Godwin began her teaching career as a teaching fellow at the University of North Texas and continued on to teach as an adjunct instructor at Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Texas at Tyler, Dallas Community College, and the Palestine campus of TVCC.  She has now come full circle and returned to her academic home, Trinity Valley Community College, Athens.

Al Kyle earned a BA degree in English and History from Southern Methodist University, and an MS degree in Political Science from East Texas State University.  He worked in public school for fifteen years as a teacher and coach.  In this role he taught English, History, and a course called “Information and Problem Solving”, which involved one semester of computer instruction and another semester of career exploration. He coached basketball, volleyball, track, cross-country, and tennis. Al has taught at TVCC Terrell since 2001, first as an Adjunct Instructor, and since 2006, as a full-time Instructor. He currently teaches Government and History, but has also taught English and Economics in the past. Al’s wife, Kay, is a long-time teacher and tennis coach in the Highland Park School District. They have two daughters, Christie, who is also a TVCC Instructor, and Ali, who is a nurse. Contact information for Al Kyle is akyle@tvcc.edu or 972-563-4933.    

Michael McConachie earned a BA with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a Master of Divinity from Brite Divinity School at TCU. He has taught political science at both four-year universities and community colleges. He has taught online federal and Texas government courses at TVCC as an adjunct since 2012. He is married to Cindy Chase McConachie, who is a library cataloguer with the Richardson Independent School District. They live in St. Paul (adjacent to Wylie) and have two adult children who live in the area. Dr. McConachie can be reached at michael.mcconachie@tvcc.edu 

J practiced general civil litigation for nearly 20 years in California. He has been an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau, handling primarily new-car warranty disputes, has worked as a mediator and arbitrator for the Riverside County Courts, and has privately mediated cases for the Riverside County Bar Association.  J has also taught at Riverside Community College and La Sierra University, teaching multiple paralegal and writing courses.  

J received his J.D. in 1992 from the University of Southern California, his M.A. in English from Loma Linda University in 1983, and B.A. (English) and B.S. (Chemistry) degrees from Pacific Union College in 1980.  He also spent one year in medical school at Loma Linda University.

J lives with his gorgeous wife Shirley in Athens, and in his spare time enjoys reading, writing, playing disk golf, flying power kites, and solving logic puzzles.

Suzie Smith earned her BS from Texas A&M Commerce and her MSIS from the University of Texas in Tyler.  She teaches American History, Federal and Texas Government, as well as speech on the Terrell campus and online.  She has been part of the TVCC community since November, 2004.  Her passion is teaching.  She loves walking into the classroom and speaking to her students about “what is going on in our world.”  She is married to Carlton Smith and has three children, Sam, Bridgett, and Kaytie, and five sweet grandchildren, Patrick, Toni, Bryce, Brynn, and Bexley.  Mrs. Smith may be reached at ssmith@tvcc.edu or 972-563-4945.

E. Michael Young grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and earned a BA in history at California State University, Los Angeles (magna cum laude), a masters in history a California State University, Northridge (graduated with “distinction”), and a masters in political science at Texas State University, San Marcus (with a perfect 4.0). He has taught history and government at Navarro College, LeTourneau University, Austin Community College, and is currently teaching at Trinity Valley Community College in the piney woods of East Texas. Mr. Young has published several articles on topics of American political history and has written two books: Growth of the American Republic (Kendall Hunt, 2016) and The Great State of Texas (Kendall Hunt, 2017).  He teaches government and history at the Palestine campus and online.

Mr. Young loves to travel overseas and across America. He has travelled to eight countries and 36 states. He has a goal of visiting all 50 states before his son reaches eighteen years of age. Living on Lake Palestine, one of the 5,600 lakes in Texas.  Mr. Young enjoys swimming, boating, hiking, and camping with his wife and son. He also enjoys playing guitar and discovering old country and folk songs.  Michael Young may be reached at myoung@tvcc.edu or 903/729-7061