SAN MATEO DAILY JOURNAL -- A love of language, her students and teaching have kept Teeka James, union leader for the local community colleges, at College of San Mateo for 17 years.
James is president of American Federation of Teachers Local 1493, the faculty union for all three colleges of the San Mateo County Community College District. She teaches English composition and literature classes at CSM and first got her start teaching 22 years ago at Skyline College in San Bruno.
She considered being a writer and worked for publishing companies doing editing during graduate school at San Francisco State University where she earned her master’s degree in English before getting a certificate in teaching composition. The Madison, Wisconsin, born James spent her undergraduate time at William Smith College in upstate New York.