Faculty

Janaki Natarajan, Ed.D.

Janaki is the director of the Spark Teacher Education Institute and program director for the MATS. She has been teaching for over seventeen years. She also directs Bapagrama Educational Center, based in Bangalore, India. This school has a long tradition of social service and community organizing. Named after Thakkar Bapa, a co-worker of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed in equality of all people and who was against the caste system, the school became a place for children from poor families to learn and grow.

Stephen Clark, Ph.D.

Stephen is a guest lecturer for the program on various social justice issues. He is also an Associate Professor of Psychology at Keene State College and a member of the Campus Commission on Diversity and Multiculturalism. His current research is on homophobia and heterosexism. He is also the editor of the newsletter, "Teaching Diversity."

Judith Reed, Ed.D.

Judy is an education consultant for the MATS and Spark. Judy received an Ed.D. (in Organizational Development) and MAT from the University of Massachusetts. She has worked in the classroom and has had administrative experience for seven years. She has taught in teacher education for sixteen years. Her interests include social justice education, democratizing classroom and schools, and the role of public education in equity issues.

Christopher Lievense, M.A., M.Ed.

Christopher is a field advisor for the program. He has been teaching for over 8 years in schools in Vermont, Chicago, Japan, and Bangalore India.

Karen Saunders, M.Ed., M.S.

Karen is a literacy specialist for the program. She holds an Masters of Science from the University of Massachusetts (Forest Ecology) as well as a Masters of Education from University of Massachusetts (Reading and Writing). Her speciality is in elementary pedagogy. She also has more than 20 years of K-8 classroom and Title I teaching. Karen has six years of experience as an adjunct faculty member in Keene State College's World Educational Links Graduate Program.

Karen Cangialosi, Ph.D.

Karen is a guest lecturer and module faculty member for the program on topics in the Sciences. She is currently also a Professor and Chair in the Department of Biology of Keene State College.

Mikaela Simms, M.A.

Mikaela is the on-site field advisor for the Spark Program. She has been in education for ten years and has worked in schools in East Palo Alto, California and Guinea, West Africa.