Staff

Dr. Daniel A. Wagner, Professor and Director

Ruth Boyle, Administrative Assistant

Andrew Babson, In-Field Assistant

Allison Glassman, Research Assistant

Romilla Karnati, In-Field Assistant

Gauri Kirtane Vanikar, In-Field Assistant

Nazli Oguzsimsaroglu, Web Designer/Coordinator

Tamara Peace, Research and Technical Assistant

Jennifer Riggan, Learning Connections Project Manager and Research Assistant

Sara Strickland, Research Assistant

Senior Advisors

Nathalie Applewhite

Prof. C. J. Daswani

Dr. Bob Day

Ashley Del Bianco

Dr. Iddo Gal

Dr. Lynda Ginsburg

Steve Linberg

Dr. Janet C. Smith

Board Members

Jarl Bengtsson (Vice-Chairman; Counselor, OECD-Paris, retd)

Nolan Bowie (JFK School of Government, Harvard University)

Donna Cooper (Cabinet, PA State Government)

Alice Emerson (A. W. Mellon Foundation)

Milton Feldman (Dilworth Paxon LLP)

Graham Finney (Chairman; founding CEO, Public/Private Ventures)

Milton Goldberg (Education Commission of the States)

Martin Meyerson (President Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania)

Michael Omolewa (Nigerian Ambassador to UNESCO-Paris; Professor, University of Ibadan)

I. V. SubbaRao (Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India)

Daniel A. Wagner (e-mail: wagner@literacy.upenn.edu)

Dr. Daniel A. Wagner is Professor in the Penn Graduate School of Education and was founding Director of the Literacy Research Center at the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. Since 1990, he has served as Director of the federally funded National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL), as well as Director of the International Literacy Institute, which was co-established in 1994 by UNESCO and the University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Michigan, was a two-year postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, a Visiting Fellow at the International Institute of Education Planning in Paris, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and Fulbright Scholar at the University of Paris-V. Dr. Wagner has extensive experience in national and international educational issues. Among his more than 120 professional publications, Dr. Wagner has published the following books: World Literacy in the Year 2000: Research and Policy Dimensions (1992); Literacy: Developing the Future (1992/1997; in 4 languages); Literacy, Culture and Development (1993); What Makes Workers Learn: The Role of Incentives in Workplace Education and Training (1994); International Perspectives on the School to Work Transition (1999); The Future of Literacy in a Changing World: Revised (1999); Literacy: An International Handbook (1999); and New Technologies for Literary and Adult Education (2005). Back to top.

Ruth Boyle (e-mail: boyle@literacy.upenn.edu)

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Andrew Babson (e-mail: ababson@umich.edu)

Andrew Babson is a doctoral candidate in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. He studied social anthropology at the London School of Economics (MSc., 2002) and liberal arts at the University of Paris IV- Sorbonne and Xavier University (Honors A.B., 1998). Currently Andrew is working with Jay Lemke at the University of Michigan and Dan Wagner at the University of Pennsylvania, managing the BFI project in South Africa. Through his affiliation with Professor Wagner and ILI, he has presented his work on BFI at the CIES, Penn Forum, WSIS and ICT4D conferences. His dissertation research is in South Africa's Limpopo province on multilingualism, the role of technology in social change, and the history of education.   Other research interests include socio-cultural considerations in software development, the impact of ICTs for literacy among disadvantaged, rural, low-literate populations. Back to top.

Allison Glassman (e-mail: glasmann@dolphin.upenn.edu)

Allison is in her second year of the Inter cultural Communication master's degree program at the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Penn, Allison worked as a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin, We st Africa where she taught high school English and pioneered a project to establi sh a library at her school. She also taught high school French in the States for four years. Allison is very interested in international education and development and plans to return to francophone West Africa following graduation. Back to top.

Romilla Karnati (e-mail: prabhu@dolphin.upenn.edu)

Gauri Kirtane Vanikar (e-mail: gmkirtane@hotmail.com)

Gauri Kirtane Vanikar just completed an EdD in the Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum program at the University of Pennsylvania. She is interested in understanding the influence of culture related socialization on children's moral development. She carried out her doctoral research in India. Her research interests include cultural research, education in developing countries, and education and gender. She is currently working with the BFI team on the research project in the West Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh, India. Back to top.

Nazli Oguzsimsaroglu (e-mail: nazli@wharton.upenn.edu)

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Tamara Peace (e-mail: tpeace@dolphin.upenn.edu)

Tamara Peace is a second-year doctoral candidate in the Reading/Writing/Literacy division of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She has most recently worked as a career and education counselor for clients transitioning from welfare to work. Her research interests include: the development and testing of theories of adult workplace literacy practices; the cognitive and social development of visual literacy and their effects on pedagogical practices; and the impacts of state-sponsored policy initiatives and legislation upon local program efficacy and efficiency. Back to top.

Jennifer Riggan (e-mail: riggan@literacy.upenn.edu)

Jennifer is in the advanced stages of the Education, Culture and Society doctoral program at the University of Pennsylvania and expects to receive her doctorate in May 2007.   She received grants from Fulbright/ IIE and the Social Science Research Council to conduct an ethnographic study of teachers, policy reform and political climate in Eritrea.   Her research interests include international education, development, and nation-building and she has a particular interest in Africa. Additionally she has a background in non-profit management and youth development in Philadelphia and other parts of the United States. Back to top.

Sara Strickland (e-mail: sarastric@gmail.com)

Sara Strickland is an intern at the National Center on Adult Literacy (NCAL). Prior to joining NCAL, she has spent her summers working in College and Career Access with KnowledgeWorks Foundation in Ohio. She has also worked to connect students with careers in socially responsible businesses with Action Without Borders/Idealist.org's Idealist on Campus program. She is particularly interested in the provision of academic and social support services for nontraditional students returning to postsecondary education. Sara is currently majoring in Urban Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Back to top.

Nathalie Applewhite (e-mail: naa2109@columbia.edu)

Nathalie Applewhite is Senior Research Advisor for NCAL/ILI. She has worked on the media development of several projects including BFI, TECH21, PDK and Project Connect. Nathalie produces, directs, shoots and edits educational video materials and helps design and manage multimedia-based, learning technology projects. Nathalie received a BA in Visual Anthropology from Temple University and a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. She has worked nationally and internationally on documentaries, educational and commercial productions and is the recipient of the Leeway Foundation's Harmony grant for projects that promote racial, religious and ethnic tolerance for her independently produced, award-winning documentary, Picture Me an Enemy. Nathalie recently worked as a consultant for the United Nations and is currently a Research Associate at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington DC where she oversees the development and distribution of projects. Back to top.

Prof. C. J. Daswani (e-mail: cjdaswani@gmail.com)

Dr. Bob Day (e-mail: bday@scientia.co.za)

Dr. Bob Day is ILI Senior Advisor, specializing in the appropriate applications of science, technology and innovation (STI) to the eradication of poverty. He currently heads up his own consulting firm, Non-Zero Sum Development. Dr. Day   received his Ph.D. at Imperial College (London), is currently acting as Special Advisor to the Mozambican Minister of Science and Technology in developing and implementing their National S&T Strategy (MOSTIS).   He is actively involved in the ongoing development of the strategic STI relationships between the Finnish and South African public, research, private and civil sectors.    He is assisting NEPAD, the CGIAR and regional stakeholders in the development of ReSAKSS, a Pan-African knowledge system of systems for agricultural development.   Prior to that, Dr. Day was Executive Director of ICT at UNISA (Pretoria).   He has consulted to UNESCO, UNDP, UNECA, IDRC, World Bank (InfoDev), Imfundo (DFID), ILI, ILRI, CSIR, HSRC, as well as several private sector organisations. Back to top.

Ashley Del Bianco (e-mail: adelbianco@tccgrp.com)

Ashley Del Bianco is Senior Research Advisor with the National Center on Adult Literacy at the University of Pennsylvania.   Ashley directed TECH21, the national technology laboratory for the improvement of adult education funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Ashley also guided the online implementation and developed the instructional design for the LiteracyLink Project (a Star Schools project funded by the U.S.   Department of Education) and has designed and delivered numerous   professional development activities on adult education and technology. Prior to coming to NCAL, she was responsible for program quality and professional development at a community-based literacy agency, and she developed and implemented special program quality projects for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Mayor's Commission on Literacy. Ashley holds an M.S.Ed. in Reading/Writing/Literacy from the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania and an M.G.A. from the Fels Institute of Government, University of Pennsylvania. She is currently a consultant with TCC Group in Philadelphia. Back to top.

Dr. Iddo Gal (e-mail: iddo@research.haifa.ac.il)

Dr. Iddo Gal is ILI Special Senior Advisor for Literacy/Numeracy Assessment. Dr. Gal received his Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and worked for five years as Assistant Research Professor at Penn's Graduate School of Education, before accepting a position at the Department of Human Services, University of Haifa, Israel, where he is a Senior Lecturer. His areas of interest and research include development and assessment of numeracy (mathematical literacy), statistical literacy and functional skills, adult learning, empowerment of workers and clients in human service organizations, and managerial and organizational processes in service organization. He serves as the Co-Editor of the Statistics Education Research Journal (2003-2007). Recently he led the team responsible for numeracy assessment in the Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL) survey, a joint international project managed by Statistics Canada, the National Center on Education Statistics, in collaboration with OECD. Back to top.

Dr. Lynda Ginsburg (e-mail: ginsburg@rci.rutgers.edu)

Steve Linberg (e-mail: steve@silicongoblin.com)

Steve Linberg heads Silicon Goblin Technologies, a technology consulting company that works with NCAL on key projects, including PBS LiteracyLink and the Professional Development Kit. He has been programming professionally since 1983, and from 1994-1997 taught adult literacy in Massachusetts and helped in a number of statewide technology efforts related to literacy. His NCAL work reflects his ongoing commitment to bring the highest standards of quality and cutting-edge technologies to the field of adult education. Back to top.

Dr. Janet Smith (e-mail: smithjc@pobox.upenn.edu)

Dr. Janet C. Smith is Senior Research Advisor at NCAL/ILI, with the University of Pennsylvania. Her most recent responsibility was as the project manager for the TECH21 website portal and resource database. Dr. Smith received her Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania and a Masters of Science in Instructional Design and Technology from Philadelphia University. Back to top.