College of Education

Anna Paula P. da Silva

Anna Paula P. da Silva was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Pontificia Universidade Catolica de Sao Paulo (PUC/SP) and a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Technology in Education from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. She has over fifteen years of experience working both as an Early Childhood educator and administrator in the United States and abroad. Her research interests include curriculum design and children’s formation of identity. In addition, she is also interested in place-based education as a means of linking children to their communities.

Tori Damjanovic

Tori Damjanovic has a B.S. in Behavior Analysis and a M.S. in Development in Family Studies from the University of North Texas. She spent years as an early childhood teacher in various preschools. She transferred her knowledge to working with children with special needs, primarily children diagnosed with Autism as well as their families. Tori's current area of focus is inquiry-based learning in early childhood settings and developing university-school partnerships to mentor pre-service teachers.

Suzette Kelly

Suzette Kelly is an instructor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Shortwood Teachers' College, Jamaica. Before her tenure at Shortwood she taught at the primary level (first and second grade) and was also the administrator for a basic school (Jamaican community school for 3 – 5 year olds). Suzette is a Fulbright Grantee for 2009-2011. Currently her research interest is in the area of special education for early childhood and the integration of information and communication technology in Jamaican kindergarten/and or basic school classrooms to foster creativity and divergent thinking.

Lissa Ledbetter

Lissa Ledbetter is working on a cognate focused on the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics into early childhood education, and is particularly motivated to learn more about how the incorporation of technological tools can support young students’ authentic investigation of scientific and mathematical phenomena.

Though she admits it is a challenge to balance her life as a scholar with that of her role as a mother of young children, she is thankful for her twin five-year old boys who give her the opportunity to practice “early childhood education” on a daily basis! Although Lissa has lived and worked in five other states, she is a seventh generation Floridian (with pirates for ancestors) and is excited to have returned to Florida to be working and learning in her home community. Lissa looks forward to a year of, perhaps no swashbuckling on the high seas, but academic adventures that may just prove no less tame!

Carol Long

Carol Long is a lecturer at Shortwood Teachers College (Jamaica) in the Early Childhood and Physical Education Departments. She previously taught secondary Physical Education as well as Movement Education and Dance at the preschool and elementary levels. Her research focuses on children's and teachers' perceptions of rough and tumble play or recess in the curriculum and the contributions to children's socio-emotional development.

Susan Weber

Susan Weber applies her studies daily in her employment as the SunCoast District Training Coordinator for Pinellas County Schools. She is responsible for four counties, overseeing foundational training for the Department of Children & Families in education and examinations for Child Care Facilities and Family Day Care Homes. Susan has two brilliant children, a thirteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter, and she has been married for eighteen years to a wonderful man. She also has a Boxer and a Chihuahua that make her family complete. Susan has a special interest in play and creative storytelling.