Instructor Biographies
Barbara Ackles, M.A., LCPC, BCBA
A Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors and Board Certified Behavior Analyst with a Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology, Barbara Ackles specializes in persons with developmental disabilities. Her strengths include assessment of Alzheimer's Disease, counseling, psychological testing and behavior programming as well as program development, training and implementation. She owns a consulting practice, works with a dynamic range encompassing large facilities to private individuals, and acts as an adjunct instructor at Roosevelt University.
Margaret Brunnelson has taught for a total of 4 years in the Kenosha Unified School District, three of those years were teaching Kindergarten and one teaching 2nd grade. She earned her B.A. in Sociology and her teaching license from the University of Wisconsin Parkside and her Master's Degree from National Louis University. She enjoys teaching summer school and the intramurals program at school as well.
Scott Christensen is the Director of Technology in the Burlington School District.
He has spent time as a classroom teacher and elementary school principal.
His focus has been assisting teachers with technology integration projects in the classroom.
Scott has presented at state and national conferences, and teaches for 3 local universities.
Dr. Norman Cloutier is Professor of Economics and Director of the UW-Parkside Center for Economic Education. He has been teaching economics for more than 25 years. Norm has twice received the UW-Parkside Teaching Excellence Award and he has received the UW Regents Teaching Excellence Award. In 2004, he was named a Wisconsin Idea Fellow by the UW-System Board of Regents for his work on local economic development issues. His published work has appeared in, among others, the Review of Economics and Statistics, the Journal of Regional Science, the American Economist, and the Review of Social Economy.
Anita is a teacher in a classroom serving emotionally disturbed students in Racine. She teaches fourth and fifth grade students with severe behavior management issues including hyperactivity, aggression, and disobedience. She uses the behavior management skills she learned as the manager of group homes and has had great success across educational settings. While the populations she has served in the past are varied, these techniques have been proven to work in the regular educational setting as well as the special education classroom. Her passion is to share theses easy to use tools with other teachers.
Beth Goeppinger has been the naturalist at Richard Bong State Recreation Area for over 13 years. She holds an Undergraduate Degree from UW-Steven’s Point and a Master’s Degree of Science in Education from Northern Illinois University. She delights in sharing her passion for nature with others
I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I have many credits beyond my graduate degree. I have taught in the Burlington School District for many years. I also enjoy teaching teachers at University of Wisconsin –Parkside and at Carthage College. I serve on several district curriculum committees as well as one state committee.
Jennifer and Raymond Henderson
Raymond and Jennifer Henderson love teaching children. Jennifer has taught both public and private schools in California, Texas, and Wisconsin. She has taught pre-school, grades 1, 2, 3, and 4. Raymond Henderson has taught in the public and private sector grades 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Both have taught children of inner-city, rural, and suburban schools. Teaching in California, Texas, and Wisconsin has afforded them the opportunity to work with children of many different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. This is the fourth summer for both instructors with UW-Parkside’s Education Outreach program.
Patricia Hoffman is the assistant superintendent and director of special education for the Burlington Area School District. She has been an educator for over thirty-five years and has been teaching instructional strategies classes for the past twenty. Ms. Hoffman weds the special education perspective to that of the regular educator and incorporates both in her teaching.
Dr. Dennis Kaufman is Associate Professor of Economics and Associate Director of the UW-Parkside Center for Economic Education. He has been testing environmental economics for more than 20 years, and has published a number of articles on public sector and environmental economics in highly respected referred journal such as the Journal of Real Estate and Finance Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, and the Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics. Dennis has made significant contributions to the operation of the UW-Parkside Center for Economic Education by developing innovative web-based curriculum.
Renee Sartin Kirby, PhD, and Coordinator of the Disability Services at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. Dr. Kirby has a Ph. D. in urban Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in Curriculum & Instruction. Before coming to UW-Parkside, she worked as an Executive Trainer/Operational Consultant for Bottom line Performance Interventions Corporation and for eight years prior she worked as a Learning Disabilities Teacher for Racine Unified School District. Dr. kirby's University teaching experience includes; Teaching African American Males, Undergraduate/Graduate, at UW-Milwaukee, Department of Educational Policy, during the Fall1998 semester, and Supervising Student Teachers, Undergraduate/Graduate at UW-Parkside, Department of Teacher Education, Spring 2004; Winterim 2005, Summer 2005, Winterim 2006.
Dr. Kirby has numerous publication in the Encyclopedia of Business and Industry, and has contributed a great deal to both the University and the surrounding community as a committee and board member. The work that she has done has been noticed and she has received numerous awards, most recently she was honored with UW-Parkside's Academic Staff Distinguished Service Award in 2006-2007.
Pat Koniecki is the elementary math coordinator in the Racine Unified School District. With over 30 years of classroom experience, she looks forward to sharing tricks and tools enabling educators to actively engage students, exploring the exciting aspects of math and technology. As a national speaker and consultant, she has presented at National Math Conferences, National Computer Conferences, and various math and technology seminars. She is also an award winning co-author of a kindergarten daily mathematics program.
Professor Juel M. Liebke received a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Special Education/Elementary and Early Childhood from the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. Professor Liebke's career entails over 30 years of education, both in the United States and abroad, with a continuing 14 years span in the Kenosha United School District, providing Early Childhood/Special Education.
Ed Loeffler is a Multimedia and French teacher at Burlington High School. He has been incorporating multimedia projects as well as Project Based Learning in the French classroom since the early 90s. He earned a Masters of Education in Instructional Technology (MEIT) from Cardinal Stricth University.
Dr. Marlaire has been a post secondary educator and administrator for over 26 years. She has lectured on adolescence, and while at Marquette University taught courses on Sociology of the Family, Deviance, Sex and Gender, and Education. She currently serves as an Associate Dean of L.A. & S. at MATC.
Mark Marlaire graduated from Northwestern University in 1968, traveled in the Middle East and attended graduate school in Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal . He received a. M.A. in history from UW-Madison.
Mark recently retired from his position as UW-Parkside's Director of Continuing Education, a position he held from 1989 - 2009. He graduated from the statewide UW-Extension Administrative Leadership Program and helped to found Leadership Kenosha, Leadership Racine and Leadership Union Grove. He is currently on the Board of directors of Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services, Inc. (KAFASI) and of Leadership Kenosha.
Mark also teaches educators at UW-Parkside in the History of Wisconsin, Native American History, History of the Family in Wisconsin , the History of Wisconsin Education, the U.S. and Wisconsin Constitutions and Critical Issues in the Classroom. For Milwaukee Area Technical College , Mark teaches the History of Wisconsin, U.S. History to 1877 and U.S. History since 1877 at MATC downtown and in prisons across the country.
Roseann Mason graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1986, and started working at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1987. While coordinating the Writing and Tutoring Center , she went on to earn her Master's Degree in Writing from Northeastern University in Boston in 1993. From 1997-2000, she coordinated the Community Outreach Partnership Center , funded by a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 2000, she organized and implemented the Diversity Circles on Dismantling Racism. This program has expanded to include other forms of dialogue, including World Café, Open Space Technology, and facilitation training.
Roseann's professional development includes; Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership and Dialogue, Deliberation, and Public Engagement Certificate.
Roseann has received numerous awards for her work, including: the YWCA Women of Distinction Award, on August 17, 2005, the State of Wisconsin Office of State Employment Relations Program Merit Award, on October 30, 2003, and the Educational Institution Award from Sustainable Racine for Diversity Circles Program, on November 7, 2002.
Ana Sarahí Mayorga obtained a B.A. in Spanish and Bilingual Education and a M.S. in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis on ESL from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. She is a full-time ELL teacher at Whitewater High School. She has presented at several conferences focusing on ELL students and has offered in-services in various school districts.
Lecturer at UW-Parkside.
Creatively, I have always been torn between art and music, and animation is my answer. In my 20 years in the business, I have seen animation basically go from a cel / film-based art form to a digital medium. No matter what approach is taken, we must always remember it is the content that makes animation memorable. My recipe is mixing traditional techniques and digital techniques with a dash of humor to spice it up. I enjoy abstracting images and making the audience think twice about what they are seeing. Teaching has given me a creative jump start and has opened me up to new ways of approaching animation. The students' enthusiasm is infectious. I am creating animations and video projects not just for clients, but for myself now."
Matt Nie is a documentary filmmaker, and a media and speech instructor. Currently Nie is a public school teacher teaching Film, Radio, and Speech for grades 9-12 in Burlington WI. Prior to this he taught English, Journalism, and Speech for grades 6-12 in Burlington (1999-2002). Nie was also a Public Speaking instructor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. As an independent filmaker he has directed; Metal Monsters & Sacred Cement (2007), Good Stuff: Multiple Kite Flying (2004), and Barrow Bound: Life in the Arctic (2002). Nie was also the Cross-Country running coach for grades 6-12 at North Slope School District, Barrow, Alaska from 1999-2002.
Colleen Padlock earned B.A. and M.A.T. degrees in Spanish for Marquette University. She has experience teaching all ages, from elementary to adults, in a variety of settings. Colleen lived and studied a year in Spain and has returned several times with student groups. For the past 18 year she has taught Spanish at Tremper High School in Kenosha.
Karen Plummer is the Reading First Coordinator and Technology Teacher at Janes Elementary School. She has a Masters in Educational Technology. She has taught special education, regular education, and computer education. Karen is a 2005 Inspired Teacher Scholarship winner from Kidspiration. She has been a presenter at the state and local level.
Denise Rattigan received her Master’s in Education from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and she graduated from Southern Illinois University-Carondale with a Bachelor’s Degree in special education. She has taught special eduation in the public school system for 20 years. Ms. Rattigan spent two years as a literacy coach at a Junior High School. Presently, she is a coordinator for special education in a public school district. In addition to educating children, she has been teaching education classes at Carthage College and the University of Phoenix.
She has designed many classes on subjects such as Conflict Resolution, Attention Defficit Disorder, Inclusion, and Cooperatve Classrooms. She has written five handbooks: Teaching Reading to the LD Child; Conflict Resolution; Dealing with the ADD/ADHD Child; Inclusion-Making Alphabet Soup; and a compliation of cooperative classroom lesson plans. As an international presenter, she has presented at various conferences on conflict resolution, working with special needs children, differentiating instruction and teaching reading to children with learning disabilities. You can reach Denise at DeniseRattigan@prestigiouseducationalgroup.com.
Carol Sauder served as Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Racine Unified School District for 12 years before becoming a stay-at-home mother with quadruplets. Carol has taught adult sign language classes through Gateway Technical College, the University of Wisconsin - Parkside, and Carthage College, including teaching within UW-Parkside's College for Kids sign program for several years.
Mr. Kenneth Savaglia served as teacher of Economics, Consumer Economics, and History at Burlington High School for ten years. Mr. Savaglia has also served as Adjunct Economics Instructor at Gateway Technical College. He holds a Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction and an Undergraduate degree in History Secondary Education, both obtained for the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. Mr. Savaglia has pursued extensive training in Economics and Personal Finance, reflected in his strong emphasis in teaching Personal Financial strategies with a student centered/practical approach.
Marybeth Zuhlke is a retired public school educator and has taught a variety of courses for the past several years at UW-Parkside. She has been involved in international education, most particularly with schools in China. Marybeth presently serves as an educational consultant, parent educator, and is an advocate of experiential learning.
