Nancy Chen joined the upper school Science Department as a Geology and Geology Honors teacher this year, replacing Wendy Van Norden.

Previously, Chen was a teaching associate at California State University, Fullerton. There, Chen helped develop course curriculum for Geology courses and supervised introductory classes.

Chen also taught at the Breakthrough Learning Center, a tutoring program in Yorba Linda, Calif. There, she helped students finish homework and prepared them for upcoming school topics.

Chen said she believes her previous teaching experiences will help with her new position.

“I’ve taught middle schoolers and college students, so high school is just in the middle,” Chen said. “I love mentoring and advising students and trying to reach their fullest potential.”

Chen earned a bachelor’s degree in Geology from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and obtained her master’s in Geology from California State University, Fullerton.

Chen said her colleagues made the transition to Harvard-Westlake very easy.

“Any questions I have are always answered,” Chen said. “If they don’t have any answers, I’m always redirected to someone else. They also emailed over the summer if they could help in terms of moving anything we should be expecting.”