Tutoring Center Staff

Sonja Fordham, PhD

Sonja Fordham received her BS from Southern Adventist University, her MA in Applied Linguistics from the University of New England, and her PhD in Second Language Acquisition and Teaching from the University of Arizona. She spent 13 years teaching English in South Korea, where she discovered a love for Korean food. She then spent six years in Tucson, AZ, teaching English composition and working on her PhD. In 2014, she joined the faculty at Southern as the director of the Writing Center, and in 2017, she also became the director of the Tutoring Center. In her free time, she loves to run marathons and ultramarathons.

Shelly Merryman, MSW

Shelly Merryman is a '98 BSW graduate of Southern  Adventist University. After graduating SAU she returned to her hometown in Maryland, to attend the University of Maryland Baltimore in order to complete its MSW program. While there, she married her Southern sweetheart, Jason Merryman. Shortly after graduating from UMB her husband and she decided to start a family. She has spent the last 13 years being a stay at home mom, raising and homeschooling their three beautiful kids. She is excited to be back on Southern's campus, this time helping students and making a difference in their college career.