Founders Developer Partners Contract Workers Long-Term Goals
Steven Miles is the founder of SMiles Productions (SMP) LLC, a computer software publisher specializing in multi-media language programs. Our current programs are Arabic Made Easy, Persian Tutor, Speak Hebrew, Hebrew Alphabet Tutor and Egyptian Hieroglyphs Made Easy.
Steven Miles obtained his MBA in 1987 from the University of Montana and has worked in the computer gaming industry for about ten years. Through his work for three of the top entertainment software companies in the industry -- Nintendo of America, Acclaim Entertainment, and Sierra On-Line -- he has gained a comprehensive understanding of the software industry. Steve also worked at Know Wonder, a children's software publisher, where he produced Amiela's Notebook, a critically acclaimed Mattel product. He managed the early stages of development of the software Rugrats: Totally Angelica. Currently Steve works at Microsoft as manager in Xbox support.
At Sierra On-Line Steven managed the development of two successful software products: Front Page Sports (FPS): Football Pro 95. It was listed as one of the best 100 software titles of all time by PC Gamer magazine. At Microsoft Steve is involved in other aspects of the software industry including customer care, establishing software standards and product testing. His extensive software experience assures that our software products are high quality, professional packages.
Jill Krera draws upon her past experience in teaching Arabic to give guidance on making the software packages fun and easy. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Nebraska where she majored in History and Persian. Jill also obtained a Master of Arts degree in 1991 in Near Eastern Languages from the University of Arizona. She has studied Arabic for over eight years and has lived in Egypt, where she studied at the American University in Cairo. Jill also studies Greek, Coptic, Hebrew, Persian and the hieroglyphic languages.
SMiles Productions was very fortunate to have Lionel Space of Micro Space Systems Applications develop all our CDs. Lionel has been developing software solutions since 1978. We began working with Lionel in 1997. Most of his applications have involved managing data, although some have involved engineering principles or multi-media such as our language CDs. Lionel comes highly recommended by SMiles Productions! He delivers on time and support couldn't be better. Check out his newest program Calories Made Simple, it is the absolute best program for counting calories. Lionel Space, Micro Space Systems
Independent Partners
Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak is the co-designer of the Persian Tutor software package. He draws upon his thirty years of teaching experience in contributing to this unique program. He received his B.A. in English literature from Tehran University in 1966. In 1974 he received an M.A. in English literature from the University of Missouri then a second M.A. in Comparative literature from Rutgers University in 1977. Finally, Ahmad received his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University in 1979. He has taught both English Literature and Translation at Tehran University and Comparative Literature and Persian Literature at several American universities, including Rutgers, Columbia and Texas. He joined the faculty of the University of Washington in 1985 and became a full professor and director of the Persian Language and Literature and the Iranian Culture and Civilization program at the University's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization. Currently Ahmad is director of The Center of Persian Studies at the University of Maryland.
Professor Karimi-Hakkak's scholarship covers a wide range, but is centered on the comparative study of literature, as well as on literary theory and literary history. He is the author or translator of 17 scholarly books, and has written over 100 articles published in such journals as Comparative Literature, Critique and The International Journal of Middle East Studies. He has won international recognition as a translator and interpreter of modern Persian literature. His book, Recasting Persian Poetry: Scenarios of Poetic Modernity in Iran, was runner-up in the Society for Iranian Studies' prestigious Saidi-Sirjani award for the best book on Iran published in 1995. Back to Persian Home
Scott Noegel is the author of the Egyptian Hieroglyphs Made Easy software package. He is Professor of Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) at the University of Washington, Seattle. There he teaches courses on ancient Egyptian language, history, and culture. He received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from Cornell University in 1995.
Dr. Noegel has served as consultant on ancient language and history for the Discovery Channel's CD-ROM Nile: Passage to Egypt, the History Channel's History of Sex, and for several books. He is Associate General Editor of the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures, and the Ancient Near East section editor for the journal Religion: Compass (London: Blackwell Publishers). Prof. Noegel is also founder and past president of the American Research Center of Egypt, Northwest Chapter, and currently is the Ancient Near Eastern Sections editor for Compass: Religion, Blackwell Publishing's online journal.
His publications number more than forty articles, six-dozen book reviews, and three monographs. Included among his books are: Nocturnal Ciphers: The Punning Language of Dreams in the Ancient Near East (American Oriental Series; New Haven, CT, in press); Afroasiatic Linguistics, Semitics, and Egyptology: Selected Writings of Carleton T. Hodge. Co-edited with Dr. Alan Kaye (Bethesda, MD: CDL Press, 2004); Prayer, Magic, and the Stars in the Ancient and Late Antique World, co-edited by Joel Walker, and Brannon Wheeler (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2003). Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, co-authored with Brannon Wheeler (Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements, 43; Prevessin, France: Scarecrow Press, 2002). His website, The Okeanos, is a premiere resource site for browsers interested in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Israel, and Greece. http://faculty.washington.edu/snoegel/. Back to Egyptian Home Page.
Naomi Sokoloff is a co-designer of the Speak Hebrew! software package. She is currently a professor of Hebrew at the University of Washington in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization. Naomi received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University in 1980. She enjoys studying languages and has studied Hebrew, Spanish, French, German, Yiddish, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, AMESLAN, and Chinese. She has taught at (amongst others) Princeton University, the University of Arizona, and the University of Washington, Seattle, where she served as Chair of the Jewish Studies Program in the Jackson School of International Studies for three years. Naomi has also served as consultant to the Jewish Education Council of Greater Seattle on Hebrew language programs. She was a member and/or advisor on the editorial review boards of the Hebrew Annual Review and Hebrew Studies; she is currently on the Board of Directors for the Association for Jewish Studies and Western Jewish Studies Association, and on the editorial board for Shofar. Naomi is editing The Jewish Presence in Children's Literature a special issue of The Lion and the Unicorn by John Hopkins University Press devoted to Jewish themes and authors in English language children's literature. To view a complete listing of Naomi Sokolff's publications, click here. Back to Hebrew Home Page
Monica S. Devens is a co-designer of the Speak Hebrew! software package. She earned a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages and literatures at UCLA. She has taught Hebrew at both the university and adult education levels for 20 years. Monica is the author of The Liturgy of the Seventh Sabbath: a Betä Israel (Falasha) Text and A Concordance to the Book of Psalms in the Ethiopic Version, plus more than 20 articles on various aspects of Hebrew and the Ethiopian languages. Back to Hebrew Home Page
SMiles Productions hired extremely talented contract workers to create artwork.
Senior Contract Artists:
Arabic Made Easy, Persian Tutor: Rob Johnson and Chance Rowe
Speak Hebrew!: Deane Marston and Don Hazeltine,
Egyptian Hieroglyphs Made Easy: Ben Springer
CD insert:
Persian Tutor Art, Layout and Graphic Design: Curtis Sharp
Egyptian Hieroglyphs Made Easy Art: Ben Springer; Layout and Graphic Design: Curtis Sharp
Long Term
Goals
It is our goal at SMP to develop cost-effective software that is both
educational and entertaining. Future packages will feature the Eastern and
Gulf dialects of Arabic as well as teach more advanced levels of Arabic,
Persian, Hieroglyphics and Hebrew.
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