Courses and Events by Instructor
| Name | Biography |
|---|---|
| Travis Allison | |
| Janice Bates | Janice is an experienced municipal clerk, Athenian Dialogue facilitator, and speaker. She has served as Clerk of Council for Tipp City, Ohio since 2011. She is active in both the Ohio Municipal Clerks Association (OMCA) and the International Institute of Municipal Clerks (IIMC). Within the OMCA, she has served in the roles of president, vice president, immediate past president and city board member. While on the OMCA Board, her priority was increasing membership and educational opportunities. In 2019, she was sworn in as the IIMC Region V Director. She is presently an IIMC vice president candidate. Janice holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art and art history with a concentration in photography from Wright State University. In addition, she is an Athenian Leadership Society Fellow with Certified Municipal Clerk (CMC) and Master Municipal Clerk (MMC) credentials from the IIMC. |
| Dan Belhassen | |
| Jonathan Buffkin | Seth Buffkin is a recent graduate of William and Mary and works in the fields of computer science, psychology, and education. He is passionate about equity, inclusion, diversity, and providing everyone the ability to elevate themselves in academics and in health. |
| Abigail Byram | |
| Virginia Chu | Dr. Chu, a licensed occupational therapist, also serves as an assistant professor with the VCU department of Occupational Therapy. In addition to teaching in the department, Dr. Chu oversees the sensorimotor processing and rehabilitation engineering lab. Her professional interests include sensorimotor integration and motor control, development of sensory processing in children, dyspraxia and developmental delays, pediatric sensorimotor evaluation and assessments, and rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology. |
| Kelly Cramer | Kelly Cramer is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Certified Trauma and Resilience Practitioner (CTRP-C), and Registered Play Therapist (RPT). She is a school-based clinician with ChildSavers. She has been working with children and families for 14 years, previously in New Orleans and currently in Richmond. Kelly provides and supports both educational and social emotional support for children through her clinical work. She believes that all youth are capable and deserving of success and that physical and emotional health and a supportive school and community environment should be an option for all youth. She uses play, movement, nature based, and expressive interventions in her work with children. |
| Sharon DeFonteny | |
| Mary Dereshiwsky | |
| Jeff Dowdy | dowdyjl@vcu.edu |
| William Draves | |
| Debra Duke | |
| Dionne Felix | |
| Anjali Ferguson | Dr. Anjali Ferguson is a clinical psychologist with expertise in trauma-informed, culturally responsive care and parenting. She is an author, and global resource on social equity and racial trauma. In addition to consulting with organizations of all sizes, Dr. Ferguson's expertise is lent to outlets like Today, Romper, Parents Magazine, Psych Central, and ongoing published medical journals and studies. Her practice has focused on identifying avenues of care for under-resourced and marginalized communities in efforts to reduce barriers to appropriate interventions and alter systems to better meet community needs. |
| Betsy Flanagan | |
| Katie Francis | Katie Francis is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Registered Play Therapist -Supervisor™ (RPT-S), and Certified Trauma Practitioner-Clinical (CTP-C). She has been working for ChildSavers for over 10 years providing outpatient therapy to children, teens and families. Katie is also the Program Manager for Mental Health Services Outpatient Program and Immediate Response program and provides clinical supervision to some of our staff. Katie has extensive training in providing trauma focused treatment to children, teens and families as well as training in the use of play, art, sand and attachment-based treatments. She has previously taught for the Play Therapy training courses on Group, Family and Filial work. Katie thoroughly enjoys supporting our community’s children and families by helping them to find healing and build resiliency through the use of play and expressive therapies. |
| Bruce Freer | Bruce C. Freer received his BSEET from Youngstown State University in 1978.Bruce began his 40-year career with Allen-Bradley in 1979 as an Application Engineer and later moved to Product Marketing where he was responsible for the PLC-3 Product Line. In 1985, Bruce moved to Richmond, Va. as an Area Manager helping customers develop Automation Systems in the Food & Beverage, Pharmaceutical, Pulp & Paper, Mining & Metals, and Marine Industries. These systems involved PLC/Automation Controllers, Safety Controllers, Safety Systems, Industrial Ethernet Switches & Networking, Operator Interface Devices, S.C.A.D.A software, Historian Software, PlantPAx DCS systems, Motion Systems, Vibration Monitoring, Industrial Computers, Industrial Thin Clients, Thin Client Management Software, and VMWare Virtual Servers. Bruce retired from Rockwell Automation in December 2019. While working at Rockwell Automation, Bruce helped Dr. Klenke configure the first Industrial Automation Class at VCU in 2015 with six (6) workstations. In 2019, five (5) more workstations were added. |
| Zach Gibson | Zach Gibson is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the Commonwealth of Virginia with over ten years of experience working with children and families. Zach works with an emphasis on play and expressive interventions and brings creativity to the therapy space in the form of handmade therapy tools, improv acting approaches, art techniques, and individualized therapy models that support clients from the perspective of their own interests and passions. Zach has provided therapy services in the Richmond Public School system for the past 4 school years and has a passion for collaboration across disciplines present in the academic setting. |
| Jo-Carolyn Goode | |
| Andy Helmi | |
| Matt Honsberger | |
| Libby Hume | Libby Hume is the Town Clerk of the Town of Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and has been in the position since 2008. Libby has over 25 years' experience in administration, fifteen with the Town of Cape Charles, and ten in the private sector. She joined IIMC and the VMCA in 2009 and obtained her CMC in November 2013 and her MMC in September 2016. She was inducted into the IIMC Athenian Leadership Society as a Fellow in May 2018 and is the first clerk in the Commonwealth of Virginia to receive this designation. She is the only clerk in Virginia certified by the IIMC to facilitate Athenian Leadership Dialogues. |
| Susan Hurrell | |
| Mary Beth Izard | |
| Sally Klauss | |
| Robert Klenke | Dr. Robert Klenke is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at VCU. Dr. Klenke's research interests include system-level modeling and hardware/software codesign for complex, embedded digital systems. His recent research work has been concentrated in the area of digital flight control systems and payload data systems for unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2015, Dr. Klenke developed the first course in Industrial Automation to be taught at VCU. This course has been supported by generous donations from Rockwell Automation and several local industries. In 2016, a second, advanced course was added to the sequence. Thus far, over 100 VCU engineering undergraduates and graduate students have taken the Industrial Automation courses. Dr. Klenke received his BSEE degree from the Virginia Military Institute in 1982 and his MSEE and Ph.D. (Electrical Engineering) degrees from the University of Virginia in 1989 and 1993 respectively. He joined the faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering at VCU as an Associate Professor in 1998. Dr. Klenke led the efforts to develop computer engineering as a separate degree program in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering which was first ABET accredited in 2005. He has over 35 years of combined military, education, and consulting experience in engineering and has published over 85 refereed papers and book chapters. |
| Amy Klous | |
| Jeff Kritzer | |
| Conrad Brian Law | |
| Ana Yenni Leon Lima | leonlimaay@vcu.edu |
| Kathryn Lynch-Morin | |
| Greg Marsello | |
| Kathy Nadlman | |
| Robert Nickles | Bob Nickles is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and registered play therapist™ (RPT) who lives and works in Richmond, VA. Bob has practiced clinical social work since 2009 with a variety of populations across the lifespan and especially enjoys seeing families find new ways to solve old problems. He presently serves as a school-based services manager with the non-profit agency, ChildSavers. Outside of work, Bob enjoys cooking, exercise, and theatre. |
| Joyce Odidison | |
| John Rutledge | |
| Nanette Sanders-Cobb | |
| Jennifer Selke | |
| Nicole Siscaretti | |
| Boris Solomonov | |
| Melissa Torres | |
| Jodie Trana | |
| Chaitankar Vijender | |
| Tracy Walters | Tracy Walters is a team member in the Office of Child and Family Services at the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services. She currently serves as Virginia’s Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Coordinator. Tracy has devoted 35 years of service to Early Childhood Education and Early Intervention with a focus on Mental Health for young children in the last 12 years. Tracy has served children and families in both the public and private sector throughout her career. Some
of Tracy’s engagements beyond her state appointment include serving as the Board President for the Virginia Association for Infant Mental Health, serves on the Virginia Mental Health Access Project
advisory Board, and an adjunct faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University. Tracy engages in Speaker appointments at both National and local conferences as an advocate for Infant and Early
childhood mental health for our youngest citizens. Prior to her current engagement, she served as the Site Director for VCU Health Systems Family Care Services Unit for 28 years working with children, families and educators. Tracy’s work also encompassed studying the Reggio Emilia Schools in Italy and working for Richmond City and Chesterfield County public schools as an Early Childhood Special Educator. Tracy is truly passionate about providing information and education on the importance of
Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. She views IECMH work as vital to a child’s overall health and development and believes that it serves as a leveraging tool for social justice. She resides in the City of Richmond and enjoys supporting local businesses and is a patron of the Arts.
Educational Journey:
Notable Endorsements:
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| Travette Webster | |
| Marion Williams | |
| Shari Wiltshire | Shari discovered stories and fell in love with writing through the musicality of language. She is a huge fan of rap as she believes rappers manipulate English to produce some of the best first, second and third story-acts she has ever heard. Shari first established herself as an explanatory and persuasive writer as a reporter for the newspaper, The St. Croix Avis. She left reporting to earn a master's degree in Social Work at VCU but discovered that this professional training only motivates her to tell more stories. Stories serve the purpose of getting people to pay attention and therefore can be persuasive and empowering. Stories and narratives are the catalyst for change. Shari received a certificate in 'Storytelling for Social Change' and finds her strength in crafting stories from a filmmaker's perspective. Shari incorporates video clips, movies, photography, scripts and monologues into her foundational storytelling course, and she last taught this course at the College of William & Mary's Osher Institute. |