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Prior to her retirement from Western Michigan University in September 2010, Ms. Veeder served as assistant director of the WMU Evaluation Center for more than 26 years.

Jolene’s experiences came from the fact that she was a “young, naïve teacher with little writing instruction and experience.” The remedy: she became involved in the first writing project in Pennsylvania in the summer of 1980 when she attended the six-week summer writing institute. For the next 15 years she was the co-director of the project with Dr. Robert Weiss at West Chester University.

Dick’s interest in writing and visualizing goes back to his college days at Penn State University when he was a writing major with a minor in photography. After graduation, he traveled the country in a Kerouac-mode working as a photographer. From Maine to Colorado to Florida and every state in between, he met the people of the country and heard their stories. Returning from “the road” he began teaching English in the Athens Area School District in Athens, Pennsylvania.

Stephanie taught first and second grade where creative writing was a part of the language arts curriculum. She encouraged her students to be storytellers and write their stories down; not just Stephanie, but also her students and school community heard and saw the power of their stories through their authorship. Years later, Stephanie was offered a position as a reading specialist in a public school in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D. is the director of the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. She has degrees in special education and law. She taught “at risk” children, practiced computer law, and was an educational technology consultant before focusing her professional attention on issues of youth risk online and effective management of student Internet use. She has focused on issues of youth risk online and effective Internet use management since 1995.

Emily R. Fagan is a senior curriculum design associate at Education Development Center (EDC) in Massachusetts where she has developed print and online curricula as well as professional development and assessment materials in mathematics for fourteen years.

Sarah M. Klerk is an expert of workforce development. In her work with Workforce Strategy Center, she helped communities develop career pathways. Prior to her work with WSC, Sarah worked at the Chicago Jobs Council to ensure access to employment and career advancement opportunities for people living in poverty. It was from Sarah’s work at the W.E.

Jamey Bolton Burns is currently a District Coordinator for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. In her role of district coordinator, she develops and implements differentiated professional development for teachers, coaches and principals, and facilitates teacher inquiry leaders throughout the district.

Rachel Wolkenhauer currently serves as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She began her career as a third and fourth grade teacher and became an avid teacher researcher. In her role as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center, she develops and facilitates inquiry-oriented professional development for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and school administrators.

Susan Janssen Creighton is a senior mathematics associate at Education Development Center (EDC) in Massachusetts. She has worked in mathematics education for 30 years, both in schools and at EDC, where her work has focused largely on K–12 mathematics curriculum development and mathematics teacher professional development.

Mariana Castro, Ph.D. is Director of Standards for WIDA at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin- Madison, where she has also served as Director of Academic Language and Literacy Initiatives and Director of Teaching and Learning.  Mariana is, foremost, an educator, having taught science, ESL courses, and bilingual classes in K-12 systems.  As an educator, she also lead professional