STEM Consultant Team
Jan Morrison
President, TIES (Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM)
Executive Director, Envision Excellence in STEM Education (501(c)3)
As the President of TIES and Executive Director of Envision Excellence in STEM and
a recognized leader in STEM education, Jan provides vital support to National and
State STEM initiatives most recently serving as the Senior STEM advisor to The White
House and the U.S. Department of Education in development of their sweeping Race
to the Top and Innovate to Educate education reform programs. Current national engagements
include her work as the Senior Consultant for STEM Education for the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, NASA STEM education initiatives, Battelle Memorial Institute,
the Philanthropy Roundtable, the National Governors Association, Innovate-Educate
Mexico, the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the Lemelson
Center at the Smithsonian and the National Academy of Engineering as it developed
the SEEK-16 project. She also serves on the task force designing the national engineering
education standards and is a co-contributor in the national task force investigating
the efficacy of AP engineering and pre-engineering.
Jan is currently advising the following states as they craft their vision for STEM
education; Arizona, California, Maryland, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
Ohio, Texas and Washington. In that capacity, her work on curriculum and professional
development and project-based learning is reaching millions of children in classrooms
every day.
As a leader in engaging business and industry in the K-16 STEM education pipeline
Jan also acts as STEM advisor to numerous corporations and philanthropies including
General Electric, Intel, The Carnegie Foundation, Siemens and Chevron among others.
Her work with these partners includes organizing regional and national convenings,
speaking at industry conferences and customized briefings for senior management
and community outreach staff. Her most recent focus has been building capacity within
the energy sector to facilitate teacher training in cutting edge and emerging technologies
to ensure current students are exposed to these vital career paths so the future
U.S. workforce pipeline is filled with well trained STEM professionals ready to
address our growing energy needs.
Jan is also in great demand as a speaker on STEM education, project based learning,
teacher training and curriculum development and speaks at academic and industry
conferences several times each month.
With a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Rochester, a master’s
in administration from George Washington University and as an electron microscopy
research associate at Georgetown University, Morrison has designed and implemented
STEM curriculum and instructional programs in schools across the nation over thirty
years. She is driven by her belief that although many children in our country are
underexposed to the dynamic STEM fields, they will--given the chance-- find themselves
drawn to science and the technical fields if they are challenged and provided with
outstanding teaching. Jan and TIES seeks to bring outstanding professional development
to all teachers and rigorous and engaging STEM curriculum to all students in the
United States.
Rich Rosen
Practice Group Leader, TIES, STEM Education Systems Design
Engineers Helping EducatorsTM is the common theme for Rich Rosen as he collaborates
with others to improve and transform systems of education. He is a Senior Practice
Leader with the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM and Rich also holds a
Visiting Fellows position with Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Rich
is founder of Indigo Strategies, established with the mission of mobilizing practicing
engineers to use their systems analysis and design skills to help solve education
problems in their local community.
Rich is an invited speaker on education system transformation and leadership practices
for education public/private partnerships. He is frequently called on to help facilitate
regional, state, and national conversations about transformation and organize new
initiatives. Rich is currently collaborating on a range of projects, including:
support to the Ohio Board of Regents in designing and implementing of Ohio Higher
Ed Means Jobs – a process to systematically connect Ohio’s institutions and employers
to create thousands of paid, credit-bearing student internships in Ohio over the
next two years; assisting an island school district in its transformation to an
applied learning laboratory serving school districts across its state; and helping
to organize a system for national philanthropic groups to align their individual
efforts in STEM education funding to achieve collective impact. His is working with
colleagues at Johns Hopkins University to translate practices in technology transfer
and innovation from other industries to the education environment.
Rich’s lifetime of volunteering began after college as an adult literacy tutor and
food bank volunteer. He has now served on more than 30 boards of directors to date
ranging from arts to venture capital to economic development. His current board
service includes I Know I Can (college access and counseling for students in Columbus
City Schools) and PAST Foundation (ethnographic studies and teacher professional
development). He education board experience spans a PK-20 spectrum, including early
childhood, K-12 independent and public school, and post-secondary institutions.
Rich was appointed by the Governor of Ohio in 2009 as a Trustee with Columbus State
Community College, one of Ohio’s largest post-secondary institutions with enrollment
of over 30,000 students.
Rich is lifetime member (#143) of the National Society of Black Engineers, where
he is an advisor to its Executive Director. Rich’s work with NSBE included expanding
the pilot program SEEK (Summer Engineering Experience for Kids) to more than six
cities across the United States connecting college engineering students with 3rd-6th
grade students, making it one of the largest minority-serving engineering programs
in the country. Rich was recognized by NSBE with its Achievement Award in 2009.
Now part of the Clinton Global Initiative, NSBE is working with TIES to significantly
expand access to SEEK.
Rich received The Ohio State University Distinguished Service Medal in 2010, and
he was also voted into the Distinguished Alumni roster by its College of Engineering.
Ohio’s industry group BioOhio awarded him the BioScience Leadership Award in 2006
for his contributions toward advancing the state’s health science economy. He is
also a recipient of Central Ohio’s Helping Hands Award for community leadership.
Prior to his current activities with TIES and Johns Hopkins University, Rich enjoyed
a 30-year career at Battelle Memorial Institute. His experiences ranged from medical
device project engineer to general manager and corporate executive. Rich reenergized
Battelle’s education and philanthropy activities and established the focus on STEM
education systemic change. He is a founder of the Metro Early College High School,
and the founding Executive Director of the Ohio STEM Learning Network, an architecture
demonstrating that schools and districts could work across their geo-political borders
to achieve impact well beyond their own walls. The design is now the basis for statewide
STEM networks in more than a dozen states.
Rich received a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University
and a Masters Degree in Biomedical Engineering from The Ohio State University. Rich
and Karen, an industrial and systems engineer, have been married for 32 years. Their
son Michael currently attends Columbus State Community College, he demonstrates
his talent as a chef with a family-owned Italian bistro, and is an accomplished
drummer and musician.
Raymond “Buzz” Bartlett
Senior Consultant, TIES
Having been both the Director of Institutional Advancement at the University of
Maryland College of Education and the Director of Corporate Affairs at Lockheed
Martin Corporation Buzz brings a unique understanding of the institutional needs
and potential of both academia and big business as it relates to STEM education
reform. His work with Lockheed Martin was at the forefront of corporate engagement
in public education and sets the standard for the collaborative programs built today.
Mr. Bartlett brings an expertise in organizational change and education policy and
governance and has applied these skills in a variety of settings including state
education, non-profit governance and management, a Fortune 100 corporation, and
a state transportation agency. In his work with TIES, Buzz uses that expertise to
assist states in building their own inclusive statewide networks to engage business,
higher education, public and private partnerships and community leaders in transforming
public education and improving student outcomes.
His current statewide work includes leading the TIES program in support of the New
York State STEM Initiative as well contributing to work on nearly every state project
in which TIES is engaged. On the national level he is on the team advising NASA
on ways to re-envision its approach to STEM in its core education mission and was
part of the team working with the combined TIES-National Governors Association initiative
supporting over 30 states in developing their understanding of STEM as a competitive
priority in their Race to the Top applications.
While at the University of Maryland he worked to establish the university-wide STEM
initiative and also advised the College Board’s AP program on the development of
their first digital portfolio. Prior to his work at the University of Maryland,
he served as President and CEO of the Council for Basic Education, a K-12 education
policy organization based in Washington, DC that advocated for a college preparatory
education for all students.
He came to these positions following his career with Lockheed Martin, the last 10
years of which he was responsible for corporate-wide community relations, environmental
community relations and the Lockheed Martin Foundation. Buzz transformed Lockheed
Martin’s corporate-wide community relations outreach program to focus on public
education policy, support for K-12 science education and volunteerism. During his
time there, he and his Lockheed Martin office were awarded Silver Anvils for their
work in environmental community relations by the Public Relations Society of America,
which states "The Silver Anvil is awarded annually to organizations that have successfully
addressed a contemporary issue with exemplary professional skill, creativity and
resourcefulness."
Marc Siciliano
Senior STEM Consultant, TIES
Marc has been involved in STEM education for the past 13 years as a teacher, curriculum
developer, instructional coach, administrator and consultant. He started his teaching
career in the Chicago Public Schools as a biology and environmental science teacher
at Lake View High School and became the founding director of the school’s Math,
Science and Technology Academy, a school within a school. He has participated in
two National Science Foundation curriculum development projects with the Lawrence
Hall of Science and Northwestern University. Marc was also the science director
for The Young Women’s Leadership Charter School of Chicago, a STEM charter school
for grades 7-12 that focuses on math, science and technology for young women.
In 2004, Marc moved to New York City to become the science director for a campus
of small public high schools in the Bronx, an initiative through the New York City
Department of Education, where he coordinated science curriculum and instruction
for the five schools and supported school leaders in crafting and implementing professional
development. He then became the science coach for the Institute for Student Achievement,
an educational intermediary that supports small school development in seven states
and multiple Lead Educational Agencies (LEA). While with ISA, he worked with over
20 high schools throughout the five boroughs of New York City and the Atlanta Public
Schools.
Marc currently lives in Baltimore, MD and is the founder of EdLinc, an education
consulting group that partners with foundations, LEAs, Educational Management Organizations
(EMO) and other consulting groups to provide instructional support, technical assistance
and policy analysis in STEM education. Marc holds a bachelor’s degree in biology
from North Park University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from
Northeastern Illinois University. He was also an education policy fellow at Teachers
College, Columbia University.
Marc’s work with TIES includes Technical Assistance supporting National STEM programs
as well as, North Carolina STEM Schools and the Empire State STEM Initiative.
Caroline McEnnis
Senior STEM Consultant, TIES
Caroline McEnnis has extensive experience in improving STEM education within urban
settings working both directly with students in tutoring and in teacher training
and professional development. This provides her a clear perspective on the challenges
facing this underserved population and makes her uniquely qualified to work on the
solutions.
Prior to joining TIES, Caroline attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology where
she helped to design Fab Lab, a digital fabrication lab being used throughout the
world empowering peer-to-peer project-based technical training and team problem-solving.
After MIT, Caroline worked with the Johns Hopkins School of Education and in Baltimore
area schools, such as Roland Park Middle School and the Independence School, to
train teachers in the development and implementation of STEM based curricula. She
has also worked extensively tutoring students of all ages and backgrounds in STEM
related subjects, specializing in working with underprivileged students and has
worked with community partners to develop and run several large and small-scale
educational programs. Caroline also collaborated on the 2007 National Federation
of the Blind Youth Slam, a STEM summer camp for 200 blind high school students held
at The University of Maryland.
Caroline received her bachelor’s of science in chemistry from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, her master’s in Materials Science and Engineering and a
PhD in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and participated in the NSF STEM
GK-Fellowship program at Hopkins.
Michelle Kalista
Director of Development, TIES
Michelle comes to TIES with a long history in public education. After graduating
from Kent State University with a Masters of Public Administration, Michelle spent
eight years with Cleveland Metropolitan School District. While with CMSD, she raised
more than $5 million dollars to support public education initiatives ranging from
traditional academic programming to the creation of innovation schools such as MC2STEM
and Ginn Academy. She also worked on more technical projects such as the clean diesel
school bus program and CMSD's school facility master plan. Before joining the development
department at CMSD, Michelle worked as a public education lobbyist, reforming public
reform policy including legislation on formula funding, the school facilities program,
student attendance and transportation issues.
More recently, Michelle served as a major gifts officer at Cleveland Scholarship
Programs, raising funds to support college access services, including scholarships
and counseling primarily to students and adults living in Greater Cleveland area,
including Lorain County. Michelle works as TIES’ director of development, helping
to coordinate funding for projects such as MC2 STEM High School’s Engineering Our
Health curriculum.
Barbra Skarzynski
Director of Technology & Project Manager for Learn and Earn
As Director of Technology Barb provides vital support to the TIES team on work including
contributions to Race to the Top, Learn and Earn, multiple state STEM networks and
individual STEM school design. TIES portfolio of programs exposes millions of students
to a robust STEM education in over 500 schools located in 10+ states. Her work is
focused on building networks through the capture and sharing of data used to replicate
and scale program successes.
As Project Manager for Learn and Earn, she works to connect community colleges with
one another and businesses to develop an infrastructure that will facilitate accelerated,
competency-based, pathways for students to earn a degree while earning a livable
wage. In 2010, TIES convened a team of national experts to create a vision for Learn
and Earn in states with existing STEM networks. The resulting Learn and Earn Design
Challenge was launched at STEMtech 2010. States created Learn and Earn blueprints
that support PK-20 students throughout their education and career progression. Barb
facilitates the ongoing work of this ambitious goal.
Barb received a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from the University of
Maryland and taught public school fifth grade in Baltimore County, Maryland.
Angie Kastning
Director of Project Management & Associate Director of Grants
Angie joined the TIES team in July 2011 as the Director of Project Management and
Associate Director of Grants. With a diverse background in the non-profit arena,
Angie will help identify and create processes to sharpen and expedite all TIES program
work and coordinate the organization’s various projects and events. In addition,
she will support the research of current grant and funding stream opportunities
at TIES.
Prior to her current position at TIES, she served as the Development Specialist
at College Now Greater Cleveland helping to promote college access and success to
underserved populations in the Cleveland region. As an integral member of the development
team, she spearheaded the organization’s $2 million proposal program by identifying
new funding sources and securing ongoing contributions, developing and fostering
strategic partnerships and supporting collaborative fundraising efforts to ensure
the organization was able to best meet the needs of its clients.
Angie’s experience in the development field also includes serving as the Associate
Director of Development at the YMCA of the Palms in Naples, Florida, where she managed
all association events and annual fundraising campaigns. She began her career in
financial development while working in the Miami University Development Office connecting
with alumni and community business leaders. Angie holds a B.S. in Business Marketing
from Miami University. She and her family reside in Mentor, Ohio.