speakers & Presenters

Kelly Ayala

Kelly Ayala is a Supervisory Community Relations Specialist within the USCIS Office of Citizenship, Partnership and Engagement (OCPE). Kelly began her career with USCIS in 2005 as a District Adjudications Officer in the Newark, NJ Field Office. In this role, Kelly adjudicated a variety of applications and petitions, specializing in adjustment of status, the removal of conditions, and waivers. In 2010, Kelly was selected as Community Relations Officer for the Newark District. Through the years, Kelly has worked to grow the local community outreach program through transparency, responsiveness and specific attention to the varied needs of the diverse body of NJ stakeholders. In late 2022, Kelly transitioned from local USCIS Field Operations to the HQ External Affairs Directorate and most recently into her role as Supervisor covering the Northeast Region.

Ann Marie Barter

Ann Marie Barter is an educator with over 30 years of experience in teaching, training, curriculum development, and administration. She currently implements and supports new literacy programs for Catholic Extension after previously serving as the Senior Director of Curriculum and Training for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Ann Marie has served as Distinguished Educator for the Maine Department of Education, as a National Trainer and Coach for the United States Department of Education’s Student Achievement in Reading initiative, and as an instructor of continuing education and graduate level courses for the Center for Adult Learning and Literacy at the University of Maine, Orono. Ann Marie is a past recipient of the Maine State Director’s Award for Outstanding Leadership and the Maine Adult Education Association’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Marilyn Bellis

Marilyn Bellis is a consultant, coach, and professional developer providing these services through her relationship with NJPSA/FEA and Benchmark Education. Throughout her tenure in K-12 education as a former K-12 Humanities and ESL Supervisor, a Gifted and Talented Coordinator, a Literacy Coach, an Interventionist, and a Social Science teacher, she advocated for equitable access to engaging, challenging, and inquiry-driven opportunities for all learners. Marilyn holds a B.A. in Sociology from Montclair State University, and a M.A. in Psychology from Seton Hall University. She brings 23 years of experience in public education to her current consulting relationships and to her students as a volunteer ESL tutor.

Dee Crescitelli

Dee Crescitelli is a Director at the Kentucky Center for Mathematics, and Adjunct Faculty at Georgetown College. She also serves as a Professional Learning Coach for Kentucky Adult Education. She is working to improve mathematics education from pre-K through college. Her teaching experience ranges from elementary through graduate school, adult education, and teacher preparation- threading real numeracy and love of mathematics through all those levels.

Cary Esperanza Dawson

Cary Esperanza Dawson is a nonprofit development and fundraising professional with a career spanning over two decades. In her current role with United Way of Northern NJ/United For ALICE, Cary works tirelessly to bridge the gap between corporations and their communities across the nation She sits on the board of Women in Development NJ, a professional membership organization supporting other women in their nonprofit careers. Cary is also the President of the Board of Trustees for the Mary Jacobs Foundation based in her own community of Rocky Hill, NJ, where she lives with her husband Billy and three children.

Erica DeKranes

Erica DeKranes is a development professional and public servant with a passion for philanthropy in international development, education, and social justice. She currently serves as a Senior Officer of Resource Mobilization at VisionSpring, a social enterprise creating access to affordable eyeglasses, and as a Councilwoman in Allentown Borough (NJ). Erica is on the Board of Women in Development, NJ.

Andrea Echelberger

Andrea Echelberger has worked in the field of adult education as a classroom teacher and an instructional trainer for 20 years, providing training and support for English language teachers on both a state and national level. Andrea has worked extensively with refugee-background adult emergent readers, served as an EL Fellow and EL Specialist with the US State Department, and has developed a wide variety of workshops and classroom instructional materials. Andrea holds a M. A. in Teaching ESL from Hamline University and a MN ABE Teaching License from the University of Minnesota.

Todd Evans

Todd Evans is the Senior Director of Programs for ProLiteracy. He is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the services ProLiteracy provides to the adult education field, including professional development, domestic and international projects and partnerships, and membership. Todd has been with ProLiteracy since 1995. He has spent most of his time with ProLiteracy providing training and support to tutors, teachers, students, and program managers in a variety of subjects.

Jhanna Even

Jhanna Even has been the Program Director for Literacy NJ Monmouth since 2019. Born in Latvia, Jhanna emigrated to the United States at the age of 6. Prior to Literacy NJ, Jhanna worked at many NJ nonprofits in the areas of program planning, fundraising and volunteer management. Jhanna holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from American University, speaks Russian and Spanish and loves meeting and interacting with people from different countries and cultures.

Barbara Hathaway

A former mathematician, Barbara discovered a passion for literacy as a volunteer tutor. In pursuit of that passion, she became a Literacy NJ ESL Specialist, Program Director, and Master Trainer. She is currently Literacy NJ's Program Services Director. Her area of expertise is group ESL instruction.

Julia Ibragimova

Julia Ibragimova is a program coordinator at Literacy NJ Burlington County. Julia has a degree in teaching from Russia and has worked with Literacy NJ for six years.

Erik Jacobson

Erik Jacobson has been involved in adult education in a variety of capacities for over 30 years. He is currently a volunteer English teacher with Make the Road New Jersey and a board member of the New Jersey Association for Lifelong Learning (NJALL). For NJALL, he coordinates the annual adult learner writing contest.

Cassie Jaeger

Cassie's passion for social justice and advocating for working-class communities led her to the development world. Using her knowledge of best practices in the development field, as well as her writing and graphic design skills, she has raised funds through appeal writing, individual asks, Capital Campaigns, grant writing, and events. Today, she is honored to be the Director of Development at Planned Parenthood Northern, Central, and Southern, New Jersey. In addition, Cassie is the President of Women in Development New Jersey (WID-NJ). Under her leadership, WID-NJ has expanded to become a state-wide organization. Cassie continues to work with the board to grow membership benefits including resources, networking, and learning opportunities to support the advancement of women in their fundraising and nonprofit careers.

Wendy Jager

Wendy Jager is a teacher and the director of the English Language Program at Interfaith RISE, a government funded refugee resettlement agency in Highland Park, NJ. She has been with the agency since its inception in 2016. She holds an undergraduate degree in education and an MA in TESOL. She has been both a classroom teacher and an ESL teacher at primary schools, an ESL instructor at the college level, and a Literacy NJ volunteer and teacher. She now focuses her teaching on English for pre-literate and beginner adults who have recently arrived in the U.S When not teaching, she enjoys reading, drawing and gardening.

Clarena Larrota

Dr. Clarena Larrotta is a full professor at Texas State University. She teaches graduate level courses in adult learning and teaching, adult and family literacy, ESL methods, applied linguistics, and qualitative research. She designs qualitative and mixed methods projects focusing on critical pedagogy as well as participatory and action research. Her most recent publications include a (2022) special journal issue on “Best practices teaching ESL: A lifelong learning approach” and a (2022) journal article on “Madres Latinas en convivencia: A family reading project.”

Enid Lee

Enid Lee has 15 years of experience in HR consulting. She has been an ESL Tutor with West Hudson Literacy NJ since December 2021.

Lauren Osowski

Lauren Osowski is the Senior Advocacy, Research, and Projects Manager at ProLiteracy. Since joining ProLiteracy in 2021, she has been responsible for the projects related to workforce development, technology, and advocacy in addition to managing the Journal publication and other special initiatives. Prior to coming to ProLiteracy, Lauren spent more than 15 years working in New Hampshire and abroad as an ESL/ABE teacher, mentor, facilitator, presenter, and program director. She holds a master's degree in education from Rivier University.

Steven Reid

Steven Reid is the Program Manager for Literacy Volunteers Charlottesville/Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia. He currently oversees more than 250 volunteer tutors, providing training and guidance with curriculum and instruction. In addition to his duties with LVCA, Steven leads a group of program managers and executive directors from Community-Based Literacy Organizations from across the Commonwealth of Virginia, focusing on sharing best practices and providing moral support. He has also taught in Texas, Slovakia, and New Hampshire. When not helping his volunteers and students, Steven enjoys working with his local community theater, reading, writing, traveling, and spoiling his two cats, Charlie and Alistair.

Robert Rowlett

Robert Rowlett is an Adult Education GED instructor dedicated to making mathematics valuable, non traditional and useful to adult learners preparing for their GED exams. He uses class activities and creative student activities to get mathematic concepts across to adult learners who have not absorbed these concepts in their earlier years in education.

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson

Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson is a product of the Trenton public school system and has obtained advance degrees from Trenton State College/The College of New Jersey and earned a Master of Science in Administration from Central Michigan University. Her career as a Social Worker coupled with a commitment to public service led her to the elected position of East Ward Councilwoman, where she became the 1st African American female to serve in that position, and Council Vice-President, where she legislated laws for the City of Trenton. Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson proudly served 7½ years on City Council before being elected to fill the vacant New Jersey Assembly seat in the 15th Legislative District. Ms. Reynolds-Jackson is currently serving her 4th term in the New Jersey Assembly and has ascended to Senior Leadership where she serves as Constituent Outreach Chair, Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Schools, and Vice-Chairwoman of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. She is a member of the Assembly Budget Committee, the Assembly Children, Families and Food Security Committee, and the Joint Committee on Economic Justice and Equal Employment. Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson is a former literacy volunteer.

Tamar Samuel-Siegel

Tamar Samuel-Siegel is Program Coordinator for Literacy NJ West Hudson. She received her BA in Creative Writing before entering the non-profit and education field, later returning to school to complete an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Tel Aviv University. Her research interests include narrative and creative language development and storytelling in ESOL contexts.

Neha Shah

Neha Shah is a Literacy Specialist at Literacy NJ Gloucester County Programs.

Ilan Stavans

Ilan Stavans is the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities, Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, the publisher of Restless Books, and a consultant to the Oxford English Dictionary. His books include "On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language" (2000), "Latino USA: A Cartoon History" (2002), "Becoming American: Four Centuries of Immigrant Writing" (2011), "How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish" (2020), and "The People's Tongue: Americans and the English Language" (2023). His work, translated into two dozen languages, has been adapted into film, TV, theater, and radio.

Kyle Stich

Kyle Stich is an English language and citizenship instructor at Heartland Human Care Services in Illinois. Kyle has been teaching for HHCS since 2019 and has been teaching remotely since April 2020.

Greg Stultz

Since 2008, Greg Stultz has served as an educational sales consultant and product trainer for New Readers Press, the publishing division of ProLiteracy. Greg’s prior work experience in adult education includes eight years in Japan as a teacher-trainer and ELL instructor.

Alisa Takeuchi

Alisa Takeuchi has been in adult education for over 25 years. Her broad range of experience spans from ESL instructor, technology integrator, mentor teacher, and most recently, a CTE instructor. She has had the privilege of being a Subject Matter Expert in technology integration for the California state leadership project OTAN-Outreach and Technical Assistance Network as well as a Content Developer for USA Learns through the Sacramento County Office of Education for the past 7 years. Teaching and sharing what she knows with others is her passion and remains at the forefront of her priorities.

Smita Tilak

Smita Tilak is a Literacy Specialist with Literacy NJ Burlington County Programs.

Mark Trushkowsky

Mark Trushkowsky started his adult education teaching career in a small basement classroom in Queens, NY in 2001. Since then, he has taught classes in adult basic education, adult numeracy and HSE math. Since 2009, Mark’s work has focused on teacher training and curriculum development with the Adult Literacy Programs at CUNY (literacy.cuny.edu) and the SABES Mathematics and Adult Numeracy Curriculum and Instruction PD Center (https://www.sabes.org/pd-center/math-and-numeracy). He is a board member of the Adult Numeracy Network (ANN - adultnumeracynetwork.org) and a founding member of the Community of Adult Math Instructors (CAMI - nyccami.org).

Elizabeth M. Wilk

Elizabeth Wilk was an elementary school teacher for 34 years. Shortly after her retirement in 2003, she trained to be a tutor for Literacy Volunteers of Mercer County. Since then she has had the opportunity to participate in various roles for Literacy New Jersey as tutor, Pro Literacy Tutor Trainer, and Master Trainer for Literacy Volunteers New Jersey.

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