Faculty & Academics

Meg Jones

Biography

Meg Jones joined Champlain College having received their PhD in Education from the University of Rhode Island. Meg’s research interests include preservice teacher education, social justice & inclusion in PK-16 education, literacy for PK-16, and qualitative research methods. They have over ten years of experience in education including as an elementary and early childhood classroom teacher, district level technology integration coach, professional development facilitator, college course instructor for literacy courses and qualitative methods, and international research fellow.

Meg was the recipient of a Fulbright Finland Foundation grant (2021-2022) and American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship (2022-2023), which combined supported two years living and researching in Finland. Meg brings these experiences to Champlain to connect local and global communities while ensuring future teachers are ready for diverse classrooms.

Meg’s educational philosophy is rooted in critical approaches to teaching and learning, drawing from the works of bell hooks, Judith Butler, and Paulo Freire. In the classroom, Meg practices “engaged pedagogy” (hooks, 1994) which prioritizes the wellbeing and empowerment of students.

Publications & Abstracts

• Disrupting cisheteronormativity in STEM through humanism
• Unpacking Anti-femininity Among Masculine Identifying STEM Students with Minoritized Identities of Sexuality and Gender
• “You Assumed That Everybody Was…”: Hermeneutic Injustice and Cisheteropatriarchy in STEM Coursework
• Embodied Literacies of Sexuality and Gender of College Students
• Using Digital and Media Literacies to Expand Global Perspectives

Recommended Readings

• Teaching to Transgress by Bell Hooks
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

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Jennifer Supple

Biography

Jennifer Supple has been teaching at Champlain College since 2017. She teaches classes in Environmental Science, Nutrition, and Biology. Jennifer received an M.S. in Ecology/Plant Ecology from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. in Natural Resources/Forest Health from the University of New Hampshire. She has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Colby College in Maine.

Jennifer’s graduate work analyzed tree ring growth and needle health to help understand the effects of air pollution and climate on white pine trees in New England. She has worked in science curriculum development with a special interest in forest health and global climate change. She is also interested in the impacts of nutrition and environmental problems on human health.

In addition to helping her students expand their knowledge of important biological, health, and environmental topics, Jennifer is committed to helping her students understand the scientific process and appreciate the relevance and impact that science has on their lives and society.

Outside the classroom, Jennifer loves to hike, trail run and ski with family and friends.

Distinctions & Awards

Space Grant Fellow, UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, & Space

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Faith Yacubian

Biography

Faith Yacubian, Ed.D. earned her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in 2020. She is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and teaches in both the SoSI and Core Divisions. She is also the Program Coordinator for the Signature Course Program in SoSI. She is avid scholar of Post-Colonial Theory, Feminist Theories, Queer Theory, and Critical Whiteness Studies. As a academic-activist, she filters her scholarly queries through the insights and stories provided by community-activists and advocacy organizations in Burlington and Winooski.

Distinctions & Awards

Outstanding Dissertation Award ”  University of Vermont, VT 2021

Service-Learning Faculty Award ”  Champlain College, VT 2021

INCLUDE Faculty/Staff Award ”  Champlain College, VT 2018

SGA’s Leadership in Excellence Award ”  Champlain College, VT. 2018

Office of Diversity and Inclusion Administrator Award ”  Champlain College, VT 2009

Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion Ally Award ”  Champlain College, VT 2008

Publications & Abstracts

A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Professoriate And The Embodiment Of Epistemic Coloniality/whiteness: A Call For A Contemplative Approach To Academic Freedom

Favorite Quote

“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. If you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

—Aboriginal activists group Queensland, 1970s

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Niels Caul

Biography

Dr. Niels Caul graduated with a PhD from University College Dublin in 2022. He has previously presented papers at the James Joyce Symposia in Dublin and Trieste, the James Joyce Italian Foundation Conference in Rome and the 2021 International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures. He has curated literary exhibitions for Museum of Literature Ireland and more recently “Revolutionary Dublin’s Literary Networks: C.P. Curran, Helen Laird and James Joyce’s Ulysses” for University College Dublin Special Collections.

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Patricia Aldredge

Biography

Dr. Patti Aldredge came to Champlain College in the fall of 2015 from Virginia Commonwealth University where she served as Associate Professor and Director of Field Education. Prior to that she served as Clinical Associate Professor and Deputy Director of Field Learning and Community Partnership at the NYU Silver School of Social Work in New York City and as full-time faculty and Associate Director of Field Education at The University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work. She entered academia with a 20-year medical social work career, including appointments at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR), and The Methodist Hospital in Houston, TX. Additionally, her practice includes oncology and end-of-life, traumatic brain injury, youth-at-risk, addictions, and protective services. She provided individual, family, and group counseling to youth in the Juvenile Justice system, and co-founded an urban theater group for youth.

Distinctions & Awards

2021 Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship
2020 Lavender Faculty Award
2013 CSWE Leadership Scholar
2012 Marilyn Mieszkuc Professor in Women’s Studies

Publications & Abstracts

PUBLICATIONS & ABSTRACTS

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• Council on Social Work Education
• BPD Undergraduate Social Work Education Association
• Consulting Editor, Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work
• National Association of Social Workers
• American Mensa
• Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) – Vermont

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“Knowledge rooted in experience shapes what we value and as a consequence how we know what we know as well as how we use what we know.”

—Bell Hooks, Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom

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Annemarie Conlon

Biography

Dr. Annemarie Conlon teaches social work foundation courses. She is a licensed clinical therapist specializing in anxiety-related disorders. Her experience includes working at MD Anderson Cancer Center, providing family-centered counseling to people diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. She has also spent one year as a pre-dissertation intern with Dr. Jimmie Holland at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Annemarie received the American Cancer Society Grant in Clinical Oncology Social Work as a doctoral student and was a Hartford Pre-dissertation Awardee, Cohort III. Before coming to Vermont, she was the social work lead on three federal and foundation grants centering on the interprofessional education of students, faculty, and health care providers who attend to the health care needs of older adults. Annemarie got her start in health care as a graduate intern at Legacy Community Health in Houston, Texas, where she worked with people diagnosed with HIV.

Before entering the health field, Annemarie spent over a decade at American Express in New York City, where she held positions of increasing responsibility. These included the titles of pricing analyst, financial analyst, sr. financial analyst, financial systems lead, and manager of international business development. She worked with a multi-disciplinary team in that position to develop the American Express Card as a franchise in emerging overseas markets.

Distinctions & Awards

Francine Page Excellence in Teaching Award (2023)

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Rachel Hooper

Biography

As a Creative Media Faculty member at Champlain College, Rachel Hooper teaches a range of courses including Human-Centered Design, Creative Media, and Video Game Production. Additionally, she serves as the Project Manager at the Emergent Media Center, where she empowers students to seek patterns, connect dots, and imagine new futures by using data and empathy to uncover and define problems worth solving.

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Willard Sterne Randall

Biography

See my personal website.

Favorite Quote

“Do the best you can with what you have, where you are.”

—Theodore Roosevelt

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Robert Olsen

Biography

Robb has a B.A. in Speech and Communications from Monmouth University (NJ), a J.D. from N.C. Central University (NC), and an M.S. in Mediation and Conflict Studies from Champlain College (VT). He joined the adjunct faculty of Champlain College in 2014. Robb Olsen spent more than twenty years in the newspaper and cable T.V. industry with roles in Greensboro, NC, Seattle, WA, Palm Beach, and Sarasota, FL. Robb retired from media in 2008 when he opened the first mediation and collaborative law center in western N.C. In 2017 Robb became a Master Trainer in Workplace Mediation for Eckerd College’s (FL) Mediation Training Institute. Robb is the founder of Conflict Disrupted, LLC, a firm that provides conflict intervention and resolution. Robb continues to practice mediation and arbitration on behalf of private, court-appointed, and state government clients.

Publications & Abstracts

Attachment Theory and Young Children of Divorce

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Stone, Douglas, et al. Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most. Penguin Books, 2010.
• Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Back Bay Books, 2013.
• Wright, Lawrence. Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David. Alfred A. Knopf, 2014.

Favorite Quote

“I am the master of my fate and captain of my destiny.”

—Nelson Mandela

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Jeffrey Messina

Biography

Jeffrey M. Messina, Esq. is an attorney in private practice in Burlington, VT. His practice generally focuses on Business Law, Commercial Transactions, and Commercial Litigation in Vermont state and federal court. He also represents clients in Administrative proceedings such as licensing, Department of Labor, and Office of Professional Regulation.

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Kristine Reynolds

Biography

Kristine (Kris) Reynolds (She/Her/Hers) is the Director and Founder of the Vermont Center for Resiliency. She received her Masters Degree in Social Work from Colorado State University and has been working in the mental health field for over 18 years.

She has experience in EMDR, CBT, and mindfulness. It was while working with Veterans in Colorado that Kris found her niche working with individuals who had experienced major stressors and trauma. In addition to specialization in working with individuals who have experienced complex trauma, Kris specializes in the treatment of anxiety, mood disorders, relationship conflicts, and serves children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly.

In addition to individual psychotherapy, she facilitates group, couples, family therapy, and provides supervision to clinicians working towards licensure. Kris teaches courses as an Adjunct Instructor in the School of Social Innovation at Champlain College.

Kris is an avid runner and enjoys all things outdoors, and spending time with her family which includes the furry and feathered variety as well as the human.

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

National Association of Social Workers

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Valerie Esposito

Biography

Valerie Esposito has been at Champlain since July 2010 and is the Director for the Applied Sustainability and Environmental Studies and Policy programs. She teaches courses on Sustainability, Environmental Justice, Women’s Leadership, Place-based Sustainability, Ecological Economics, Mindfulness, Becoming Part of the Creative Economy and the Capstone.

Valerie attended American University, earning a B.A. in Justice. She received an M.A. from Brown University in Environmental Studies. She obtained her Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Ecological Economics from the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics and the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Vermont. Prior to coming to Champlain she served as the Executive Director of the Vermont Earth Institute.

After college Valerie spent two years living abroad in Costa Rica and Chile, where she participated in environmental volunteer work and taught English. She pursued her international interests in her doctoral work, conducting research and working with local non-profit and non-governmental organizations in Costa Rica, Peru and the Dominican Republic. She is very interested in bringing this experience to the classroom, to ensure relevant local, national and global issues are addressed. Her research interests include ecological literacy, education for sustainability, service learning and ecological economic policy implementation.

Valerie enjoys spending time with family and friends and taking advantage of Vermont’s natural and cultural playground, through skiing, hiking, biking, canoeing, camping, theater visits and seeing live music. Sustainable travel, gardening, cooking, reading and cultivating her inner yogini also keep her busy.

Distinctions & Awards

John Lavalle Innovation Award, 2019
Academic Innovation Award, 2023

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

• US Society for Ecological Economics
• International Society for Ecological Economics
• North American Association for Environmental Education
• Association for Environmental Studies and Science

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Kimmerer, R.W. Braiding Sweetgrass
  A beautiful and poetic exploration of how humans can reimagine a holistic, inclusive relationship with the environment and all living beings based on indigenous wisdom and ways of knowing.
• Kaza, S. Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking
  Explores Buddhist ideals of reducing harm, being with ecosystems and taking a deep systems view to implement the green practice path.
• Eisler, R. The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating A Caring Economics
  Explores the impact of the caring economy to give visibility and value to the socially and economically essential work of caring for people and the planet.

Favorite Quote

“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”

—Robin Wall Kimmerer

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