The Guffey Team

Mary Ellen Guffey
Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey is professor emerita of business at Los Angeles Pierce College. As the founding author of Business Communication: Process and Product, Essentials of Business Communication, and Business English, she is acknowledged as the world’s leading author in the field. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Illinois and a doctorate in business and economic education from UCLA.

Mary Ellen began writing textbooks when, as an instructor at Pierce College, she was assigned five different courses to prepare in one semester. That’s when she realized that instructors needed better teaching materials to deliver meaningful instruction to students. She also learned that students wanted practical textbooks that helped them develop skills to enter the workplace. With all her book editions now going into double digits, Mary Ellen’s stamp on the field business communication education is well established.

A frequent attendee at the Association for Business Communication conferences and long-time reviewer on the Business Communication Quarterly and The Journal of Business Communication, Mary Ellen’s books have won numerous awards from the Text and Academic Authors Associations.  

She lives in Santa Barbara, California, with her husband George, emeritus professor of English literature at UCLA. In between writing, updating, and revising her three textbooks, Mary Ellen manages to indulge her lifelong passion for gardening.

Contact Mary Ellen at m.e.guffey(a)cox.net

Dana Loewy
Dr. Dana Loewy taught graduate and undergraduate business communication and German at Cal State Fullerton. As a visiting scholar, she regularly gave presentations on many business communication topics at Fachhochschule Nürtingen-Geislingen (NGU), Germany, which awarded her a special Visiting Professorship.

Prior to teaching at Fullerton, Dana was a lecturer in the Freshman Writing Program at the University of Southern California, where she obtained her doctorate in English/American Literature and translation. During her graduate studies, she also taught at several Los Angeles community colleges.

Although raised in Europe, Dana was always drawn to English, and has a Master’s Degree in English, communication, and linguistics from Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn, Germany.

Her love of film and facility with language—she speaks English, German, Czech and understands French, Italian, Dutch, Slovak, and Russian—has led her to translate film and DVD subtitles. Dana has also published translations of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry.

Dana’s collaboration with Dr. Mary Ellen Guffey dates back to 2006, when she became involved in the revision of Business Communication: Process and Product and Essentials of Business Communication. She is now co-author of BCPP and EBC. Dana also consults for business both at home and abroad.

After running 30 marathons, Dana became an avid hiker and trekker, most recently visiting the Galapagos Islands and hiking the Inca trail in Peru. In her free time, Dana is likely to attend Los Angeles Opera and Philharmonic performances, watch obscure subtitled films, and ride her motorcycles.

Contact Dana at dloewy(a)fullerton.edu or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Janet Mizrahi
Janet Mizrahi taught professional writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, including classes in Business Communication, Public Relations, Web Writing, Marketing, and Journalism. Prior to becoming a member of the UCSB Writing Program faculty, Janet taught composition at Santa Barbara City College.

Janet met fellow Santa Barbaran Mary Ellen Guffey on the way home from an ABC Conference and has worked with her since 2005, first as the editor/writer for the quarterly Business Communication Newsletter, and later, collaborating with Dana Loewy to create the BizComBuzz blog. The author of Writing for the Workplace, Writing for Public Relations, and Web Content: A Writer’s Guide for Business Expert Press, Janet began her writing career as a journalist at the Los Angeles Daily News.

Happily retired,  Janet now splits her time between reading novels, walking with her dog throughout Santa Barbara, and passing on her love of literature to her grandchildren and great nieces and nephew.

Contact Janet at mizrahijanet2(a)gmail.com

Carolyn Seefer
Carolyn Seefer is a professor in the Business Administration Department at Diablo Valley College, where she teaches Business English, Intro to Business, and Applied Accounting. She also serves as faculty advisor for Phi Beta Lambda, is a member of the DVC Scholarship Committee, and was recently selected as Teacher of the Year for her district.

Carolyn was the first business professor from DVC to take part in the college’s Study Abroad Program, spending a semester teaching in Florence, Italy. She has been working with Mary Ellen Guffey on a variety of publishing projects since 1998. Most recently she became coauthor of Business English.

A world traveler, Carolyn has visited five continents. On one of her trips, she hiked the Inca Trail in Peru, where she also met these lovely students in a remote mountain village.

Carolyn lives near San Francisco, which she enjoys exploring with her attorney husband Chip. They are very proud of their son Jake, a recent UC Berkeley graduate and former member of the Cal Marching Band. Go Bears!