Student, Alumni & Faculty Accolades

From awards and honors to promotions and career advancement, learn how JWU graduate students, doctoral candidates, alumni and faculty are becoming leaders in the education field. Here are just a few of their recent accomplishments:

Doctoral Student Named Cranston Principal
Doctoral student Tonianne Napolitano has been named principal of Garden City School in Cranston, RI. Tonianne previously served as assistant principal at Birchwood Middle School in Providence, RI for over two years.

Grad Accepts VP Position at Becker College
Nancy Crimmin' 08 EdD begins her new position as vice president of student affairs at Becker College in Worcester, MA in August. Nancy has been a member of the Assumption College community for the past 20 years, most recently serving as dean of campus life.

Student Named Director of Newport's Special Education Program
The Newport County Regional Special Education Program Board of Superintendents has approved the appointment of Educational Leadership doctoral student Rachel Santa.

She is “one of the best Pupil Personnel Directors/Special Education Directors in the state and someone with the courage to make appropriate judgments while being sensitive to the needs of all involved," says North Kingstown Superintendent Phil Auger, who recommended Rachel for the position.

Rachel, who currently serves as the director of pupil personnel services for the North Kingstown School District, earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Special Education & Music Therapy from Duquesne University in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, a Master’s Degree in Education/Special Education from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from JWU.

She is the Treasurer for the Association of Rhode Island Administrators of Special Education (ARISE) and President of the Rhode Island Unit of the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC). In addition to being involved in statewide professional organizations, Rachel is also an adjunct lecturer at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI).

Yale Promotes Doctoral Graduate
Bethany Zemba '11 EdD has received her second promotion in six months at Yale. She is now assistant dean, Strategic Affairs, Communications, and Research at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

“I credit this promotion in large part to my Educational Leadership doctoral degree,” Bethany says. “So many thanks again for pushing me through. Clearly the hard work has more than paid off!”

Alum Joins West Virginia Wesleyan College Faculty
Maryann Casale '11 EdD has been appointed to teach graduate courses in education and design a masters program in educational leadership. She will retire as a principal in the Cranston Public Schools.

Doctoral Graduate Promoted to Dean at Regis
Claudia Pouravelis '12 EdD has been promoted from director, Graduate Admission & Programs Outreach to associate dean, Graduate Affairs at Regis College in Weston, MA.

Alum Named Dean at University of Northern Iowa
Leslie Williams '12 EdD has been appointed to the position of dean of students at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Since 2004, Dr. Williams had served as director, Student Conduct and Commuter Affairs at the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Gable Wins 2012 Best Original Research Award
Congratulations to Robert Gable, director of our graduate school’s Center for Research and Evaluation, for honors he received as co-author with Cheryl Beck from the University of Connecticut for two recent journal articles.

The first article contained an invited data analysis for postpartum depression survey data gathered by Carol Sakala of the Childbirth Connection in NY and Eugene Declercq from Boston University from a national survey of 1573 mothers participating in a federally-funded project titled  “Listening to Mothers.”

This article, titled  “Postpartum Depressive Symptomatology: Results from a Two-Stage US National Survey,” was published October 2011 in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 56(5), 427-435.

The article recently received the 2012 Best Original Research Award from the American College of Nurse Midwives. The presentation of the award certificate and honorarium will be at the ACNM Annual Meeting & Exposition in Long Beach, CA in October.

The second article by Beck and Gable, entitled Secondary Traumatic Stress in Labor and Delivery Nurses: A Mixed Methods Study, analyzed quantitative and qualitative data from a national sample of 464 labor and delivery room nurses.

This "in press" article, in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, was invited by the International Marcé Society Biennial Congress to be presented at their October meeting in Paris as part of a symposium entitled Contribution of Nurse Researchers to Advancing the Science of Perinatal Mental Health.

Educational Leadership Professor Published in NERA Researcher
Dr. Felice Billups' paper "Qualitative Data Analysis: An Overview for Beginning" was published in the March 2012 edition of The NERA Researcher, a quarterly newsletter for members of the Northeastern Educational Research Association.

JWU at National Student Affairs in Higher Education (NASPA)
Students, alumni and faculty of our Educational Leadership Doctoral Program were well represented at the National Student Affairs in Higher Education (NASPA) Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, March 2012, including:

• Dr. Nancy Crimmin, Dean of Campus Life, Assumption College, NASPA past Region 1 Vice President
• Dr. Rich DeCapua, Associate Dean of Students at Suffolk University, Suffolk Community College, NASPA Region 1 Advisory Board
• Dr. Gina Frank, Dean for Graduate Student Affairs, Quinnipiac University
• Kristina Testa-Buzzee, Director Family Economic Security Program, Norwalk Community College, NASPA Region 1 Advisory Board
• Michael Malone, Director of Residence Life, University of Hartford
• Dr. Jason Pina, Assistant VP of Student Affairs/Dean of Students, University of Rhode Island, NASPA Rhode Island State Director
• Dr. Lee Peters, ELP Adjunct Faculty at JWU, Vice President Student Affairs, University of Hartford, NASPA Region 1 Advisory Board

Alum Wins NERA Award
Congratulations to David Alba ‘11 EdD, who won of the Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award for his “Perceptions of Crisis Preparedness among Rhode Island Public School Administrators and First Responders."

Doctoral Student Honored for Impact
Congratulations to student DeLois Traynum Lindsey, University of Hartford's assistant vice president for student development.

She is highlighted in this America East conference video for “putting the community first.” 

 EdD Candidate Wins RI Association of School Principals Award
"He makes you feel as if your child is the most important child in the school," one parent says of doctoral candidate Jason Masterson, assistant principal at North Cumberland Middle School.