Research Interview Series #22: Ray Pastore, Ph.D. interviews Janna Robertson, Ph.D., Professor of Education. We talk Art, Education, Impacts, and Community!

Links:

Forest of DREAMS article: https://wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com/flash/2020-1/page_39.html
Forest of DREAM Documentary: https://vimeo.com/224277353
End Racism Now Art Installation: https://www.eighteenforward.com/
School Justice Partnership: https://jannasrobertson.wixsite.com/sjpartner

Bio:

Dr. Janna Siegel Robertson has worked in the field of education for over 35 years and received her doctorate from University of California in Los Angeles in Educational Psychology. She is currently a Professor of Secondary Education at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Her research and multiple publications focus in the areas of dropout prevention, at-risk students, instructional technology, teacher preparation, arts education, special education, gifted education and community service learning. In the past, she was a general and special education teacher, a school administrator and a district administrator.

Dr. Robertson’s directed “The Forest of DREAMS” mural which was a 240-foot block long mural that transformed an entire Northside neighborhood by DREAMS Center for Arts. During 2016, she solicited 76 organizations including schools, churches, non-profits, businesses, neighbors, and individuals to sponsor their creature in the forest and supervised over 600 volunteers. The formerly neglected neighborhood is now a destination where busloads of children, tourists and locals come to visit the mural with its hidden creatures and stories. A documentary titled “Brushstrokes” describing the community service learning project. Several additional community murals have been painted around town including at Elderhaus, The Career Readiness Academy at Mosley PLC, DC Virgo Preparatory School, New Beginnings Church, Black Man Running, and Support the Port. Her most recent project was co-directing the “Black Lives Do Matter: End Racism Now” art installation for the City of Wilmington. This 135-foot sculpture consist of the 8-foot aluminum letters each painted by a diverse group of artists depicting positive contributions of Black culture to the city. The art installation will be at Jervay Freedom Walk Park for 2020-2021. She is involved with several additional projects through UNCW for 2021 that integrate social justice art, resilience, social emotional learning, and community service.

Ray Pastore Research Series Interview #21 – with Danielle Rourke, Dell Technologies Senior Higher Education Specialist

Danielle Rourke is a Dell Technologies Senior Higher Education Strategist with extensive leadership and technology skills. Prior to joining Dell Technologies, Danielle served as an Associate Director of Information Technology for the University of Colorado Boulder, where she championed new and innovative methods of utilizing technology to make education more accessible to under-served student populations. A technologist and analyst at heart, Danielle’s true passion is helping broker technological solutions to help students, staff, and faculty across the globe engage more fully in the power of education. In addition to undergraduate degrees in Psychology, Business Quality Management, and Computer Operations, Danielle holds a Master’s Degree in Information Technology from Capella University.

Follow Danielle on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellerourke
Follow Danielle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HiEdDanielle | @HiEdDanielle

Interview with Jared Tendler, MS, LMHC, Head of Sports Psychology at Team Liquid

Ray Pastore #19 – Interview with Elliott Masie, Founder of the Masie Center, Learning Consortium, and Learning Conference, author and speaker focused on the changing world of the workplace, learning and technology. Elliott is acknowledged as the first analyst to use the term eLearning and has advocated for a sane deployment of learning and collaboration technology as a means of supporting the effectiveness and profitability of enterprises.

Ray Pastore #18 – Interview with Bruce Baumgart, Ph.D. Entrepreneur, computer scientist, and winner of the first video game competition, Intergalactic Spacewar Olympics, in 1972!