New Team Members Join ACE
The next several months will see four new members welcomed to the ranks of the ACE Team. Meet Christie, Dan, Erica and Matt:
Christie Bonfiglio, Ph.D., will join the ACE faculty and serve as Director of Professional Standards, effective July 1. As director, she will provide leadership in all matters related to state accreditation for ACE's teacher licensure programs.
Dr. Bonfiglio currently chairs the Department of Education at Goshen College. She is also an associate professor of education, director of special education in the department, and director of accreditation and licensure.
Trained as a school psychologist, she has taught classes in ACE's Teaching Exceptional Children (TEC) initiative, and will continue to contribute to the program as part of her faculty duties. Her broad knowledge of teacher education, including the particular requirements that govern teacher education in Indiana, have helped prepare her to lead ACE's accreditation efforts.
Dan Faas, M. Ed., has joined the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program as admissions coordinator. In this new position, Dan will be responsible for increasing the size and quality of the Remick Leadership Program applicant pool, securing scholarship support for highly qualified candidates serving in schools aligned with ACE's mission, and generally raising the program's profile in the Catholic school and education reform communities.
He is a 2010 graduate of Michigan State University. Following graduation, Dan taught middle school Language Arts and Religion at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic School in Mobile, Ala., as a member of the ACE 17 cohort in ACE Teaching Fellows. He recently completed the ChACE program in Chile, a 16-month curriculum in which he earned English as a New Language (ENL) teacher licensure.
This winter, when ACE and the Institute for Educational Initiatives hosted 30 Brazilian teachers of English for an intensive experience of the United States and ENL pedagogical skills, Dan assisted our Brazilian guests as one of their language coaches.
Erica Vesnaver will join the Notre Dame ACE Academies as associate program director beginning this summer. In that post, she will provide administrative, pastoral, and communications support to advance the mission of the Notre Dame ACE Academies initiative.
She is currently teaching middle school science, English, and physical education at All Saints Catholic School in Richmond, Va., as a member of the ACE 19 cohort in ACE Teaching Fellows, from which she will graduate with her M. Ed. degree. She holds a B.S. in Pre-Professional Studies and a major in theology from the University of Notre Dame.
Earlier thoughts of a possible career in medicine gave way to her dedication to Catholic education following experiences such as service as a mentor-in-faith for the Notre Dame Vision program and a junior year of studies in Mexico.
Matt Wilsey will join the Notre Dame Center for STEM Education as associate program director in July 2014. As part of the Center, Matt will divide his time between working as a research assistant on the Evidence for the Classroom project, coordinating the summer STEM camps, helping with science teacher formation and professional development, and administering other programs.
Mr. Wilsey graduated from the University of Notre Dame with degrees in Biology and German. He completed the ACE Teaching Fellows program in Brownsville, Texas, teaching middle school science and math. For the past two years Matt has been teaching physics, chemistry, and forensic science at St. Rita of Cascia Catholic High School in Chicago, IL.
Matt has been involved as an ACE mentor teacher, a summer science and engineering camp instructor, and has designed curricula that engages students in the central ideas and practices of science.