Introduction-

In June 2017, following several years teaching and leading in the field of teacher education, years that included 7 years at a Catholic liberal arts institution that served primarily first-generation students; 6 years serving at a selective Catholic liberal arts institution in Boston, that included two years as education department chair; 3 years as assistant professor/ clinical supervisor for the Clark University-Worcester k-20 professional development collaborative; and one year serving as department head of a multi-campus institution, I accepted a position at a community college as a senior academic leader. I began my professional career as a secondary science teacher in a public high school with a student population of 1200. It was my interest in understanding my students’ thinking, and desire to gain a better grasp on what I could do as a teacher to support my students’ learning (my students expressed ideas about phenomena that were dissonant from the ideas I thought I had taught) that prompted me to to pursue research into the nature of students’ science learning and take a leave of absence from my work as a secondary science teacher . At Harvard University, thanks to the generosity of Vito Perrone (1933-2011), I was most fortunate to work as a researcher on the Teaching for Understanding project that was co-directed by himself, Howard Gardner and David Perkins. It has, however, been my ongoing experiences with Eleanor Duckworth (1935-) (author of “The having of wonderful ideas” and other Essays on Teaching and Learning (3rd ed.) (2006) and “Tell me more” Listening to Learners Explain (2001)) first as a student, then as doctoral advisee, and now colleague , who is herself a former student, translator and colleague of Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget (1896-1980) and assistant to Barbel Inhelder (1913-1997), that have been significant in helping me to shape my ideas about development, learning, teaching and curriculum. The insights provide a guiding framework both in my work with teachers and as an academic leader.

I live in a small town with a population of 7,000 in southern NH that is 55 miles north of Boston and 50 miles south of Conncord, NH. My husband is a secondary CTE teacher. Our multi-talented son has many interests and is an avid sailor. We had until very recently two labrador retrievers-Eddie and Bode. Sadly, we lost our beloved 12-year old lab, Eddie, just a few weeks ago. As a family we have hiked all 48 of NH’s 4,000 footers.