If you have any questions, please reach out to us at GSEsymposiumLAI2022@gmail.com.
Chairs
Logan Rath is a doctoral candidate in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Science of Learning PhD program. He is currently an academic librarian at SUNY Brockport where he teaches information literacy to pre-service educators, future social workers and students in modern languages and cultures, psychology and women and gender studies. Logan has a MLS from UB and a MS in Information Design & Technology from SUNY Poly. His dissertation explores how academic instruction libraries teach information literacy.
Florence Obielodan is a doctoral student in the curriculum, instruction, and the science of learning program. She received her Bachelor’s in Mathematics and Education from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria, and her Master of Mathematics from Utah State University. Her research interest is in exploring interactive pedagogies for improving student learning and success in foundational mathematics courses. Florence teaches at University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Her hobbies include cooking, listening to music, and spending time with her family.
Officers
Cara Monaco is a fourth year PhD student in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Science of Learning program with a focus in literacy. Her research interests include Restorative Justice Practices and storytelling. Cara has experience as a high school English teacher, literacy specialist, Caseworker, adjunct instructor, and graduate assistant. She is also the president of LAI GSA for the 2021-2022 academic year. Outside of academia, Cara enjoys spending time with her family and community in Buffalo, NY.
Leah Bartlo, a Western New York native, is a Presidential Fellow in UB’s Graduate School of Education. Leah began her doctoral studies in the curriculum, instruction and the science of learning program in the fall of 2021. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UB (‘96) and a master’s degree in counselor education from St. Bonaventure University. For more than 20 years, Leah has worked in human services and with individuals with disabilities, in direct care, social work, and quality assurance. Most recently, Leah worked with the Learning Disabilities Association of Western New York as program director of LEAD716, an innovative initiative providing early educational and social-emotional support to preschool children with elevated blood lead levels. Leah’s research interests include increasing knowledge on how to improve and expand services for children affected by lead poisoning.
Halley Maza is a doctoral student in Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning program. Stemming from her experiences as School Counselor, Halley research focuses on the unique ways that interpersonal concepts, constructs, theories, and relationships emerge in the classroom through culturally responsive pedagogy, integrated social-emotional learning, student motivation, community engagement, and mental health education. Halley is committed to strengthening the relationship and communication between counseling and educational fields through promoting care and resilience in education. Her research examines education-based practices of self-regulation and mental health through parallels in resource awareness and destigmatization tenets. Halley holds a BA in Psychology from The New School University and a MSEd. in School Counseling from Old Dominion University. Halley Maza is a graduate assistant for the UB Teacher Residency Program focusing on program analysis and consortium development. Outside of academia, Halley enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, snowboarding, hiking, traveling, and laughing.
Members:
Derek Moser, MDiv, MA, MSLS, has a background is in religious studies (MDiv, MA) and information science (MSLS). His primary research interests concern the intersectionality of religious studies and information science. More specifically, he seeks to explore the role of belief (i.e., religious epistemologies) throughout the interactions of information users and information systems. Currently, he is researching religious pedagogies in religious institutions of higher education and pairing identified pedagogies with the ACRL Framework in order to equip religious instruction librarians for the task of instruction in their given context. Derek’s research interests also include religious informatics, information literacy instruction, information science theory, and library history.
Erin MacDiarmid is a doctoral student in the Higher Education Administration program. She received a BS in Nutrition from St. Francis University and a MS in Recreation and Sport Science from Ohio University. She works as a Senior Academic Advisor/Advising Administrator for UB’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, as well as an adjunct instructor for the Exercise Science Department and her research interests include New York State financial aid programs and student degree completion. She is the mom of two kids and in her spare time she coaches her daughter’s many athletic teams.
Shakuntala Devi Gopal is a fourth year doctoral student in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Science of Learning program with a focus on science teaching and learning. Her dissertation research examines how social and political dimensions of teacher identity inform how science teachers frame socio-scientific issues in their classrooms. She also works on various projects that leverage storytelling as a pedagogical approach to weaving in issues of community, equity, and culture in science. Devi has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Fordham University and a Masters of Research in Conservation Biology from the University College of London. She was formerly an informal educator at the New York Hall of Science for several years before transitioning to a high school science teacher in Micronesia and then to her doctoral role at SUNY Buffalo. Otherwise, Devi loves traveling, trying new foods, and watching scary movies.
Kristen Smigielski is a doctoral student in Curriculum, Instruction and the Science of Learning within the Graduate School of Education. She earned her Master of Science in Education from Buffalo State College, and Master of Music from University at Buffalo. Her research interests include how music teacher preparation programs and curricula can better prepare inservice educators to create equitable learning environments for neurodiverse and special education students within the music classroom. In addition to her doctorate studies and research, she is an Elementary Teacher in the Western New York area, as well as an instructor in University at Buffalo’s Department of Learning and Instruction.
Jillian Farrell is a second year Masters student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program with a graduate assistantship working with the UB Teacher Residency Program. She has recently accepted a position at Colby College in Waterville, Maine as an Assistant Director of Admissions. She has a Bachelors of Classics and English from Davidson College in North Carolina. Jillian spends her spare time doing online game nights with her friends and spending time with her family.
Raana Jilani also served as a committee member.