\Noteworthy\
Alumni Notes
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At Penn, all alumni have an affiliation—a series of letters and numbers following their name to indicate their degree, school, and year of graduation. A master’s degree from Penn GSE is represented as GED and an education doctorate as GRD. A philosophy doctorate from any school at Penn is represented as GR. An undergraduate degree offered by the School of Education until 1961 is represented as ED. The two numbers following the letters represent the year in which that degree was completed.
Denotes alumni authors whose latest book is featured on the alumni bookshelf.1960s
- Katie Barney, GED’69, published her sixth cookbook, The Enchanting World of Food (Conduit Press), which covers the history of the cuisines, dining etiquette, and recipes from more than 200 countries.
- James Fritts, GED’63, wrote the tenth edition of Essentials of Illinois School Finance (Illinois Association of School Boards).
- Eric White, GED’67, GRD’75, is emeritus executive director of the division of undergraduate studies and emeritus associate dean of advising at Penn State. He is the first author of the academic advising chapter in the recently published sixth edition of Rentz’s Student Affairs Practice in Higher Education (Charles C. Thomas Publisher). His academic career is highlighted in an article, “A Place for Academic Advising Scholars: Dr. Eric White at the Division of Undergraduate Studies,” in The Mentor: Innovative Scholarship in Academic Advising.
1970s
- Michael Bentley, GED’72, delivered a series of programs on climate change, biodiversity loss, green burial, and connecting children to nature through Virginia Interfaith Power & Light.
- Lawson Bowling, GED’77, retired from teaching history at Manhattanville College last July after 39 years, though he is still teaching part-time. Both the male and female Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards have been named in his honor.
- Judy Buxton, GED’71, D’81, is in private practice as a dentist and teaches at Penn Dental Medicine.
- Jim Coe, GED’74, retired after a 44-year career as a high school teacher and administrator in both the private and public sectors in San Mateo, CA.
- Anne Flick, CW’74, GED’76, earned her doctorate in clinical psychology, finished a postdoctoral program in psychoanalysis, and is now in private practice in New York City, seeing children, adolescents, and parents.
- Michael Kirsch, C’68, GED’72, GRD’74, is enjoying retirement. He is a docent, leading second-graders through Horace Greeley’s home; active in two historical societies; and supervises the ongoing activities at a local schoolhouse, which has existed since the 1850s.
- Robert London, C’69, GED’71, published his fourth book, Introducing Nonroutine Math Problems to Secondary Learners: 60+ Engaging Examples and Strategies to Improve Higher-order Problem-Solving Skills (Routledge).
- Carol Parlett, GED’78, owned and operated Key Lime Cafe in Saint Michaels, MD, for 20 years. Now back in Philly, she serves on the board of Mid-Shore Council on Family Violence and is writing a psychological thriller.
- Eric Scoblionko, C’76, GED’76, taught AP American history at Metairie Park Country Day School for two years before returning to Penn to work in annual giving. He then bought a run-down camp in Maine and spent the next 25 years building Camp Wekeela into a premiere institution. He writes, “Hung up my lanyard and returned to the classroom in Boca Raton, where I substitute teach at three area private schools.”
- Hermine Stein, C’77, GED’77, has her own medical practice and mentors future primary care physicians as part of her role as core faculty at Einstein Montgomery Family Medicine Residency.
- Shelley Wepner, GED’73, GRD’80, dean emeritus and professor at Manhattanville University, published the paper, “A conceptual framework for understanding presidential longevity,” in the Journal of Research on the College President.
1980s
- Lois Kohn-Claar, C’88, GED’88, became the board president of The Jewish Education Project, a national nonprofit that focuses on innovative programs and thought leadership to meet the need for relevant and meaningful Jewish education.
- Albert Giovenella, GR’87, is retired but a contributing member of the division of geriatric medicine at Penn. He is currently researching “What Knowledge is Most Important in Health Care and Biotechnology” by studying more than 500 biotech and pharmaceutical companies from 2008 to the present day to determine how their knowledge and research techniques drive their success.
- Bonnie Botel-Sheppard, CGS’74, GED’76, GRD’81, writes, “I am so fortunate to have a loving family, dear friends, and Penn Literacy Network colleagues who are the centerpiece of my life.”
- Kathleen Lydon Varley, GED’77, GR’82, worked as a psychologist, adjunct faculty at Delaware County Community College, in private practice, and as a storyteller. She is currently teaching autobiographical writing at Main Line School Night. She is following up her mystery novel, Off Center, with a new memoir about her grandfather and his wife, Papa and Eva and Me.
- Hilary Walmsley, GED’84, created a coaching program to help people make desired changes in their diet and is attending a course on existential wellness coaching.
- Joyce Warner, GRD’84, has taught and worked with students from kindergarten through PhD in several states and Germany. She writes, “The years flew by as I learned how to actually teach someone to read, developed and implemented programs and courses within states and schools, and marveled at the impact on students and in the field. It has been a blast!” She retired in 2016 and recently co-authored a book, Reading Strategies Across Content Areas, with her daughter.
1990s
- Carolyn Wilson-Albright, GED’91, successfully defended her dissertation and earned an EdD. Her research explores the need for trauma-informed professional development for educational professionals. She also received her Irish citizenship.
- Carladenise Edwards, C’92, GED’93, is now the chief administrative officer in the Office of the Mayor for Miami-Dade County, after 12 years as an executive in nonprofit healthcare.
- Sarah Gregorian, GED’98, published her third novel, Appearances, under her pen name, T. H. Forest.
- Larry Kaplan, GED’97, co-founded the nonprofit Philly Unity Project (Philly UP) with a former student with a mission of breaking down racial, cultural, and religious barriers by building up understanding, empathy, and human dignity. phillyup.org
- Janet Wolfe, C’91, GED’93, has been head of school at The IDEAL School of Manhattan, the only inclusive independent school in New York, for the past eight years and was recently selected as a 2024 Power Women of Manhattan by Schneps Media.
2000s
- Annette Anderson, GED’97, GR’06, was invited to the inaugural “Elevating the Teaching Profession: A National Convening on the Future of Teaching” at the Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, sponsored by Johns Hopkins School of Education, Dean Christopher Morphew, and former Penn GSE Dean Pam Grossman.
- Richard Carreño, GED’04, is releasing his latest book, The Inventive Life of George H. McFadden: Archaeologist, Poet, Scholar, Spy (Camino). The biographical mystery that spans the mid-20th century, from the Penn Museum to the Middle East, will be released in early September.
- Natasha Charles, CGS’06, GED’09, WEV’09, WEV’10, is the founder of Intuitive Coaching with Natasha Charles. She wrote 29 features and two articles for Forbes.com as a member of the Forbes Coaches Council, and a chapter for the globally released Amazon No. 1 best-selling anthology Sacred Promise, a compilation by Tererai Trent. She recently raised a fund to invest in an AI company, and with a partner is now raising a fund to invest in women- and minority-led startups.
- Brian Cohen, C’07, GED’09, moved back to West Philadelphia last summer and is expanding his new business, Award Magic, helping folks learn how to use points to book business class flights for less than an economy ticket. awardmagic.com
- David Grossman, GR’04, is an adjunct faculty member at Penn GSE in the higher education division and recently stepped down from his role as founding director for Penn Civic House after a quarter century.
- Amy Hecht Macchio, GED’03, GRD’12, Florida State University vice president for student affairs, was recently recognized with the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean by the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA).
- Emily Jakacki, C’06, GED’08, is currently the vice president of operations for Advocate Health in Chicago, leading a team of managers and directors covering 90-plus ambulatory clinics, physician practices, and health care locations across the greater Chicagoland area.
- Jim Johnsen, GRD’06, edited the collection Public University Systems: Leveraging Scale for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press), which will be out in September. He recently published a primer in UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education Research & Occasional Paper Series.
- Patrick Joyce, GRD’05, is serving on the board of the Chimbote (Peru) Foundation, a medical mission service of the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh that offers pre- and post-natal maternal and childcare, clinical services, and an orphanage for underserved and marginalized individuals.
- Aviva Legatt, GED’07, WEV’13, GRD’15, co-founded Cognitive Command to transform higher education preparation and life skills development. Leveraging her expertise in higher education and her partner’s experience as a high school teacher and executive-functioning coach, they address the growing need for executive-function and social-skills training. cognitivecommand.net
- Eddie Lopez, GED’09, writes, “I’m a highly caffeinated and happy school counselor!”
- Yvette Mayhan, OT’80, GR’00, has been working with Grady Health in Atlanta, GA, for the past seven years on “Talk With Me Baby @Grady,” an impactful collaboration between the medical and education industries to train perinatal health care professionals to educate and coach families on the importance of language and responsive interactions in early brain development, learning, and literacy.
- Mark Reed, GRD’08, became president of Loyola University Chicago in October 2022, after more than seven years as president of Saint Joseph’s University.
- Oswald Richards, GR’01, retired in 2023 after 23 years in higher education as professor of business, associate dean of faculty, and director of graduate business programs at Lincoln University of Pennsylvania. He had previously retired as a senior executive in the financial services industry after 22 years of service.
- Adam Parrott-Sheffer, GED’06, published System Wise: Continuous Instructional Improvement at Scale (Harvard Education Press) in April.
- Manami Suzuki, GED’01, published her collaborative work about oral and literacy skills for multinational corporation employees with her Hosei University colleagues, Naoki Ando and Hidehiko Nishikawa, in International Business Review. She will make a presentation at the Association of Japanese Business Studies in Seoul, Korea, in July.
- Mitchell Tepper, GR’01, directed and produced an award-winning documentary on injured veterans and intimate relationships. Love After War: Saving Love, Saving Lives offers realistic hope for servicemembers and veterans who have returned home with physical and/or psychological health challenges that are creating difficulties in their closest relationships.
- Gregory Vincent, GRD’04, was appointed president of Talladega College and started his tenure in July 2022.
2010s
- Alejandra Abusada, GED’19, moved to Miami to take a new role as director of development at Miami Dade College Foundation after three-and-a-half years in international development, managing projects in Mexico and Colombia. She has continued her work in Peru with Mami Linda, her mental health-oriented nonprofit.
- Theo Baldwin, GED’14, earned his MBA from University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Clinical Service Operations from Harvard Medical School. He is now general manager at Strive Health, a Denver-headquartered, value-based care company focused on serving those with chronic kidney conditions across 34 states. He oversees operations, growth, and care delivery for thousands of patients and a profit and loss statement of over $230 million. “I proudly attribute my memorable time at Penn to lighting the path to my current work in value-based care today.”
- Todd Bates, GED’10, was honored with two awards: the M. Brownell Anderson Award for early career medical educators by the Northeast Group on Educational Affairs of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the Martha A. Hooven Award for Excellence by the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
- Menty Bayleyen, GED’12, senior associate director of admissions at Penn Dental Medicine, was chosen for a Fulbright International Education Administrators (IEA) Seminar in Taiwan in March. These seminars are highly selective, fully funded opportunities for US higher education administrators to participate in intensive two-week seminars abroad to learn about other countries’ higher education systems.
- Alexis Rylander Bennett, GED’18, is senior director of academics at Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia. She was honored with the Educator Award from Black Lives Matter of Philadelphia in 2020 and selected as Alpha Kappa Alpha’s North Atlantic Region’s Educator of the Year. She is involved with Delayed Gratification, which collaborated with educators and community stakeholders to expand access to “Algebra I” in eighth grade for students at Philadelphia’s public charter schools. She was selected to participate in the Deloitte Courageous Principals Institute in Westlake, TX, and was accepted into Penn’s Research Experience for Teachers program. She holds certifications as a National Geographic Certified Educator and a Centers for Disease Control Science Ambassador.
- Sylvie Bogui, GED’22, is pursuing a PhD in innovation in global development at Arizona State University.
- Beverly Brooks, GED’16, received the Southern Association for College Admission Counseling (SACAC) Larry West Award for Leadership, which honors longevity of service and dedication to SACAC, outstanding contributions to the admission counseling profession, leadership within that profession, and dedication to students.
- Christian Bronk, C’00, GED’10, was appointed as the 11th head of the Hun School of Princeton, NJ, in July 2023. He previously spent 10 years, including six as head of school, at University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe Woods, MI.
- Tariem Burroughs, GED’15, graduated from Temple University with a PhD in sociology in summer 2023 with a focus in medical sociology and urban health. He then started a public health summer institute for high school students.
- Nesime Can, GED’14, is in her fifth year of teaching in the counseling and guidance program at Ankara University. She became an associate professor in 2024 and has been focusing on preventive mental health research. She also works on developing short digital interventions in the mental health field.
- Hewen Chen, GED’19, a teaching director, writes, “It’s really a pleasure to apply what I learned and practiced in UPenn GSE into my career.”
- Mahesh Daas, GRD’13, president and ACSA distinguished professor at Boston Architectural College, co-authored I, Nobot (ORO Editions), with Andrew John Wit, harnessing generative AI tools to co-create the graphic novella’s illustrations.
- Kimberly Dalius, GED’12, is the CEO and founder of the educational technology company Pauseitive Tech. pauseitive.tech
- Matthew Davidoff, GED’17, GED’19, is a teacher at Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia.
- Rui Du, GED’11, recently accepted an offer from University of North Carolina Greensboro as an assistant professor of marketing. She works on how language changes consumer cognition, emotion, and behavior.
- Samuel C. Evans, GED’18, is assistant principal at Chester Upland School District. He writes, “In my 15th year as an educator, no matter what district I work for or the community I serve, students want adults who will listen to them, support them, hold them accountable, and meet them where they are. When these responsive practices are done right and consistently, no matter where you are, whether the school is deemed a ‘losing school’ or ‘leading school,’ you can transform lives, heal a community, and bolster the next generation of disruptors, leaders, and change agents.”
- Sarah Fears, GED’18, recently started as director of annual giving programs at DePauw University.
- LaToya Floyd, GED’17, is executive director of admissions at Fayetteville State University.
- Edward Glassman, GED’16, executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, was named to Philly’s “40 Under 40” list by the Philadelphia Business Journal.
- João Gomes, GED’19, served as director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging at the Agnes Irwin School before starting a new position as dean of studies and instruction at Mount Saint Joseph Academy, a Catholic school for girls outside Philadelphia.
- Miles Goodloe, GED’12, is a program manager for virtual literacy tutoring programs across the nation. He also teaches African American studies at California State University, Fullerton. He writes, “Penn GSE has set me up for success as a lecturer and a tech professional.”
- Khalilah Harris, GRD’18, was appointed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore to serve on the Maryland Police Training and Standards Commission, which sets policy for police standards and reform.
- Christine Hernandez, GED’10, was recently appointed as a commissioner to the City of Westminster’s Parks and Recreation Commission.
- Kalyn Higgins, GED’14, is a proposal writer at GoGuardian and Pear Deck Learning, which offer software solutions that function as safety, productivity, curriculum, and instruction tools for K–12 schools and higher education institutions.
- Peter Horn, GRD’14, is the host of the Point of Learning podcast. A recent episode features rare audio of one of the last public speeches by visionary educator Marcus Foster, GED’49, GRD’72. (More about Foster on p.17.)
- Brandy R. Jackson, GED’13, graduated from the Howard University School of Education with a PhD in higher education on May 9, 2024.
- Ashley Johnson, GED’17, joined ExpandED Schools, the largest afterschool intermediary organization in New York City, as director of STEM. In this role, she supports the NYC STEM Education Network and STEM Educators Academy, catalyzing new ideas and partnerships to expand and enhance STEM learning in New York.
- Michael Kokozos, GR’17, is the associate director of Penn GSE’s Independent School Teaching Residency program. He is co-authoring a book, Teaching Storytelling in Classrooms and Communities, and is a proud recipient of a Highlights Foundation scholarship.
- Matthew Lambert, GRD’12, was promoted to senior vice president for university advancement at William & Mary and chief executive officer of the W&M Foundation.
- Kate Lang, GED’16, is a therapist who celebrated her fifth year in private practice and tenth year as a clinician in March. She is expanding into teaching, supervising, and mentorship for the next generation of clinicians.
- Koeun Lee, GED’12, joined SK bioscience as an HR manager a year ago, liaising between the headquarters in Korea and the US office.
- Danielle Levine, GED’16, recently started working as a knowledge-base writer at monday.com after working in online content, marketing, and education technology companies for the past eight years.
- Roseann Liu, GR’16, published Designed to Fail: Why Racial Equity in School Funding Is So Hard to Achieve (University of Chicago Press) in April. The book provides an inside look at the Pennsylvania state legislature and campaigns for fair funding to show how those responsible for the distribution of school funding work to maintain the privileges of majority-white school districts.
- David E. Low, GR’15, published a scholarly monograph, Transgressive Humor in Classrooms: Punching Up, Punching Down, and Critical Literacy Practices (Routledge), earlier this year. He was also a 2023 recipient of the Arthur Applebee Award for Excellence in Research on Literacy, conferred by the Literacy Research Association.
- Shaun McAlmont, GRD’18, is president and CEO of Ninjio Cybersecurity Awareness Training, providing corporate training services to a global customer base. He was voted one of the top 25 cybersecurity CEOs in 2023 by The Software Report.
- Monique McKenny, GED’16, started a new role as pediatric psychologist and associate director of Pediatric Primary Care Behavioral Health Integration at Wellstar Health System, which increases access to mental health services for Georgia youth by embedding behavioral health clinicians within pediatric primary care offices.
- Crystal Norton, GED’12, is a doctoral candidate at Gwynedd Mercy University and a member of their National Honor Society for first-generation college students, Alpha Alpha Alpha. She oversees the Anchor Program, which serves special education children in grades K–8 with social-emotional needs and other health impairments at Grover Cleveland Mastery Charter School. Her dissertation focuses on the lived experiences of school leaders serving underserved populations and marginalized communities.
- Maytee Pakdiponpong, GED’13, became the director of the Language Institute at Bangkok University in August 2023 after leading the English department at Stamford International University in Bangkok for almost a decade. He leads a team of over 150 English instructors at the Language Institute, which offers over 300 sections of ESL, EAP, and ESP courses for undergraduate and graduate students each year.
- Carlina Perna, GED’19, graduated with an MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts from the University of California, Riverside.
- Derrius Quarles, GED’17, built a company, BREAUX Capital, as a component of his master’s thesis, and it continues to grow and improve the financial health of Black men and their families. The marketing and communications firm he founded shortly after his Penn graduation, DQ and Partners, continues to serve clients across the education, public interest, and impact fields. In 2022, he released FOSTERED CHILD, a seven-track EP that fuses hip-hop, R&B, spoken word, house, and Afrobeat.
- Anubha Tyagi, GED’19, joined the Center for Health and Happiness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, providing oversight for the center’s operations and core programs and leading strategic partnerships with community and organizational partners. She also works with project teams at the Teaching and Learning Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education on testing a new online learning platform to promote learner engagement in online courses at the university. She is also co-developing a “Happiness Curriculum” for teachers and students in the Global South and supporting efforts to design an online course.
- Bolgen Vargas, GRD’10, wrote a book, Let Our Children Soar: The Complexity and Possibilities of Education the English Language Student (John Catt Educational), about helping immigrant children succeed in school.
- Luke Zeller, GED’12, became principal of Joseph H. Brown School in the Holmesburg section of Northeast Philadelphia.
- Qianqian Zhang-Wu, GED’14, assistant professor of English and director of multilingual writing at Northeastern University, won the 2024 University Excellence in Teaching Award, a highly prestigious institutional award given annually to professors who demonstrate deep expertise in their fields, offer rigorous course content, and who inspire students through their teaching and mentoring.
2020s
- Leyla Abbasli, GED’22, is a freelancer, researcher, and adjunct instructor at several universities, and a trainer in the educational assessment field in Baku, Azerbaijan. She writes, “As I am learning something new every day because I am a teacher, I feel refreshed, alive. I owe the last two years’ progress of my life to my US education to a great extent.”
- Tina Arrington, GRD’20, founded Ruby Mae House, a nonprofit that supports displaced LGBTQI adolescents and young adults, in December. rubymaehouse.com
- Rutvi Ashar, GED’22, worked at Penn Medicine after graduation and then returned home to India, where she became director of strategic development at Anant National University. She writes, “The best thing about GSE was the interdisciplinary academic offerings. From governance to policy and beyond, the dots only start to connect after you leave.”
- William D. Carter, III, GED’23, GRD’24, defended his dissertation and graduated with his doctorate this spring. He writes, “I am grateful for this intense journey that has challenged and pushed me to this place of equanimity and success. Finishing this program has been far from an easy task, having lost my grandmother along the way; however, it is a demonstration that all things are possible to those who believe!”
- K. Grady Hackett, GED’22, GED’23, writes, “Since graduating from Penn, I took my skills to North Philadelphia, where I meet with high school students in school and at their home for therapy.”
- Joseph F. Harryhill, GED’22, is on the clinical faculty at Penn Medicine and received an academic promotion last July to clinical professor of urology at the Perelman School of Medicine at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center.
- Kamaljit Kaur, GED’23, is senior associate director of MBA Career Management at Wharton, serving as a career advisor to students interested in jobs in consulting. She is also a strategic advisor for the Career Fellow Program.
- Keith Keating, GRD’22, published his first book, The Trusted Learning Advisor (Kogan Page), which received the Good Business Book Award. Keating has also joined BDO as their first chief learning and development officer.
- Neil Larocque, GED’23, signed two publishing deals for several books to be published in Chinese. The first, due to be published in the next few months focuses on the life and times of Shakespeare, as well as ten of his most famous plays broken down by themes. His second book, Classic Echoes: 25 Novels that Speak Across the Ages, will follow. He also recently finished writing a picture book that will be published in English and Chinese.
- Kristin Larsen, GRD’22, is a curriculum specialist in the School District of Philadelphia’s Office of Multilingual Curriculum and Programs, providing district-wide leadership for multilingual learners. She also serves as an elected member of the School District of Haverford Township school board, and as an appointed member of the Delaware County Intermediate Unit board of directors, where she chairs the education committee.
- Jiyuan Liu, GED’21, founded Mapleway Education in Canada, a startup dedicated to democratizing research access and enhancing the academic journey of international students, offering programs that guide them in developing and publishing their first research papers.
- Bethany Monea, GR’22, assistant professor at the University of the District of Columbia, received an honorable mention for the 2024 CCCC James Berlin Memorial Outstanding Dissertation Awards for “Composing Borderlands: The Lives and Literacies of First-Generation, Latinx Youth Transitioning to College Writing.”
- Valerie Quirk, GED’23, serves as the executive director of Post Pigeon EDU, a nonprofit she founded during her GSE Education Entrepreneurship program. The organization connects classrooms to National Park Service rangers across the country for free, through personalized video postcards answering student questions.
- Sheila Salaneck, GED’21, joined the family and community engagement team at the School District of Philadelphia Central Office after seven years in the classroom.
- Matthias Schmidt, GED’23, GRD’24, transitioned from his role as lead learning architecture and strategy at Swisscom to become the head of education design at the AO Foundation, where he leads a diverse team of 30 individuals in building innovative learning programs and ecosystems for orthopedic surgeons worldwide. “The CLO program at Penn GSE has been instrumental in preparing me for this broader global leadership role.”
- Chayan Singh, GED’23, is the founder of Raise the Bar, which partners with schools in India to build teacher capacity. She writes, “We also build easy-to-consume, free, online content that teachers can access and adopt in their classrooms to make their teaching more effective. Raise the Bar took shape during my time at Penn GSE and was particularly influenced by a course that I took in educational entrepreneurship and my capstone project.”
- Dachao “Tony” Sun, GED’22, is pursuing a master’s in mathematics at Yeshiva University.
- Jingyi Zhang, GED’23, received PhD offers for mental health and psychology and intends to study at the University of Auckland School of Medicine.
- Submissions have been edited due to space constraints and magazine style guidelines.
