Class notes
Class notes
HISTORY AND EDUCATION
Michael Johanek (Ed.D. ’95) and Kate Rousmaniere (Ph.D. ’92) met in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, for the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE) and found a common connection: Both are graduates of TC’s History and Education program. Rousmaniere, Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University, Ohio, is President of ISCHE, and Johanek, a Senior Fellow at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania, presented at the conference. Johanek also directs the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and codirects the Inter-American Educational Leadership Network.
MUSIC AND MUSIC EDUCATION
Alexander Marrero (M.A. ’10) is the Program Manager and Executive Director of the Orange County Youth Symphony, based in Harriman, New York.
TEACHING OF ENGLISH
Erin Counihan (M.A. ’97) just completed her first year at Washington College as the Secondary Education Field Experience Coordinator. She works with all students at the college who are interested in teaching middle and high school, teaching them, placing them in local schools and observing their progress.
Deborah Jones’ (M.E. ’98) collection of short stories, Tales of Wonder from the Garden State, is an award-
winning finalist in USA Book News’ Best Books Awards 2011.
Johanna Tramantano (M.A. ’01) is now serving as Assistant Principal, Supervision of English, at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy in the Bronx, NY.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
David Pargman (M.A. ’59, Ph.D. ’66) is a consultant, lecturer and author of Boomercise: Exercising as You Age (October 2011, Fitness Info Tech). His book focuses on basic fitness concepts and the exposure of myths and fallacies about exercise for those over 60. The book helps older individuals establish safe and sensible wellness programs according to their personal needs.
COUNSELING & CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGICAL COUNSELING
Pinar Ozbek (Ed.M. ’09) was elected to the Board of the Turkish Psychological Association’s Istanbul Chapter.
CURRICULUM & TEACHING
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
Corabel Y. Diel (M.A. ’87) is now director of her own school in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines. She would like to reconnect with others who lived in Whittier Hall during 1986-1987.
EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
Dr. John Barrengos (Ed.D. ’00) is in his fifth year leading the Independent Day School, an elementary and middle school in central Connecticut. Under his leadership, IDS has increased enrollment, initiated a Design Thinking program, refurbished its campus and grown its reserves and endowment.
Joel S. Bloom (Ed.D. ’78) has been named President of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, after more than 20 years of service at the institution. He will head the 9,500-student university in Newark through June 2014, after serving as Interim President following the resignation of the former president, Robert A. Altenkirch.
A statement from the university said Bloom, 64, is “ideally suited to take on this leadership role” during the university’s upcoming $150 million “NJ Next” fundraising campaign, calling him “passionate about the university and its students as their education in the sciences, engineering, technology, design and management transforms their future and that of their families.”
Peter J. Foley (Ed.D. ’83) is Associate Professor of Education, Nakhonratchasima College Graduate School, and Managing Director of the website SCLThailand.org.
John Dodd Marshall (M.E. ’07) is the new Head at the Holland Hall School in Tulsa, OK.
Theresa J. Pollifrone-Sinatra (M.E. ’73), Superintendent of Metuchen Public Schools, was selected as the 2012 New Jersey Association of School Administrators (NJASA) Central Regional Superintendent of the Year. Under Pollifrone-Sinatra’s leadership the district has seen a rebirth in the delivery of instruction for all students. She set the stage for new professional standards for teachers by establishing a five-year curricular review process and led the district to national recognition as a pioneer in the area of inclusive education for students with disabilities and in establishing anti-bullying practices.
HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR STUDIES
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY/AUTISM
Laurie Yankowitz (Ed.D. ’10) was recently promoted to Vice President of Individual and Family Support Services at HeartShare Human Services of New York. The role affords her new opportunities to contribute, including conducting research on staff knowledge of autism and introducing the use of tablets and apps to children and adults with autism.
NURSING EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL ROLE
Elise Lev (Ed.D. ’86), Associate Professor at Rutgers Newark, conceived and spearheaded development of a joint project with the Rutgers University College of Nursing and the Faculty of Nursing Science in Léogâne, Haiti (FSIL), part of the Episcopal University of Haiti. Participants in the program will complete a certificate in Nursing Education before beginning a master’s degree in Community Health Nursing.
KINESIOLOGY
Sharon Phillips (Ph.D. ’10) suffered a double tragedy this past summer when she lost her brother Chris, 27, and her mother Susan, 64, in two separate cardiac-related events within days of one another. Soon after, she started the Christopher and Susan Phillips Foundation, which, among other philanthropic efforts, will help provide scholarships to future nursing students. Phillips writes, “I just need something positive to come from this loss. I want their optimistic natures and helping ways to live on.” Chris was an EMT and was studying to be a nurse. His mother worked as a pharmacy technician for more than two decades and was married to her husband, Frank, for 38 years. To learn more about Chris and Susan or to support Sharon’s work, please visit www.christopherandsusanphillipsfoundation.org.
MATH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION
Robert Vassalotti (M.A. ’02) is Co-chair of the Middle States 2012 Self-Study for Re-accreditation and Co-chair of the President’s Council on Sustainability at Fashion Institute of Technology (www.fitnyc.edu/sustainability).
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
Jeremiah Sumter, Jr. (M.A. ’04) is currently finishing his third year of course work for a doctorate in Educational Policy and Leadership at Hofstra University.
SCIENCE EDUCATION
Tom Holt (M.A. ’80) received a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Illinois.
ORGANIZATION AND LEADERSHIP
ADULT EDUCATION GUIDED
INTENSIVE STUDY
Jody Spiro (Ed.D. ’89) will lead the Wallace Foundation’s $75-million Principal Pipeline initiative, designed to help school districts build a corps of effective principals and to determine whether that effort improves student achievement across the district, especially in the highest-needs schools. Spiro began working as a Senior Program Officer in Education at the foundation in 2002 and became Interim Director of Education last August, when Wallace launched the Principal Pipeline project in six urban districts: Charlotte-Mecklenburg in North Carolina; Denver; Gwinnett County (near Atlanta) in Georgia; Hillsborough County (near Tampa) in Florida; New York City; and Prince George’s County (near Washington, D.C.) in Maryland. Following her promotion to director of the Education division, the foundation changed its name to Education Leadership.
The foundation said Spiro has contributed significantly to its efforts in school leadership “by forging strong partnerships between states and districts; through her work with the New York City Leadership Academy and the National School Administration Manager Innovation Project; and through her leadership of the Leading Change Learning Community, Wallace’s most systematic effort to date to help grantees sustain programs and practices that improved school leadership.”
HIGHER EDUCATION
Mildred Garcia (Ed.D. ’87) has been appointed President of California State University, Fullerton. She is the first Latina president in the California State University system. She also sits on President Obama’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence of Hispanic Americans, advising the President and the Education Secretary on matters pertaining to the educational attainment of Hispanic students.
INQUIRY IN EDUCATION
ADMINISTRATION PRACTICE
Ann Marie Krejcarek (Ed.D. ’06) has been selected as President of Schools of the Sacred Heart San Francisco. She has 15 years of leadership experience at Saint Andrew’s, an Episcopal school with nearly 1,300 students. Over the past 11 years as Headmaster and Assistant Head of School, Ann Marie proactively led the development and support of excellent teachers, modifications to curriculum and strategic planning. During her tenure, Saint Andrew’s expanded into lower grade levels and dramatically upgraded its facilities.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
EDUCATION
Mildred Brenner-Pollner (Ed.D. ’76) is President of Cinema Verite Int’l Inc. In 1993 she was sent by the U.S. government as a consultant to Russian Educational Television, in Siberia, where she produced educational programming. Pollner says that one of her most profound experiences was interacting with the Russian people in closed cities, especially as one of the first American women to travel there. She has been invited worldwide by a number of governments and companies to lecture, teach and provide consulting services— work that has taken her to the former Soviet Union, China, Poland, South and Central America, Cuba, Europe and the Middle East.
Published Wednesday, May. 2, 2012
