ITEP Faculty
Charles Tesconi, Jr., Director of ITEP (Ed.D., University of Cincinnati) Dr. Tesconi is a Professor of Education at American University, Washington, DC, where he served as Dean of the School of Education from 1989-1993 and 1996-2000. He was Dean of the College of Education and Social Services and Professor of Education at the University of Vermont (1978-1989), served on the faculties of Ithaca College, University of Illinois (Chicago), and has been a Visiting Professor at the Ohio State University. Tesconi is the author, coauthor, and coeditor of six books and numerous articles emphasizing the relation between socioeconomic background and educational opportunity. His most recent book, Good Schools (Hampton Press), examines the local policy environments of public schools unusually successful with economically poor students. With Janice Wright, he is completing a book, Schooling for What: Conserving, Transmitting, Rectifying, Expanding, and working on a new book-length project, Child Poverty, Schooling, and Lost Possibility. Tesconi has served on the editorial boards of major social and educational journals, and has held appointive and elective office in professional and scholarly associations, including service as the elected President of the American Educational Studies Association. He consults for state and federal agencies, schools, universities, and foundations.
Lynn C. Cohen, Associate Director of ITEP (B.A., International Relations, University of Pittsburgh, 1977; M.Ed. International Education, University of Pittsburgh, 1980) Since 1980, Lynn has worked in the field of international education. She started as a teacher educator in Liberia as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1980-1982, and continued in the field consulting for such international agencies as UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP, USIS and the World Bank. In addition to Liberia, Lynn has worked or conducted research in many countries including Kenya, Israel, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Azerbaijan, and her work has focused on education sector analysis, teacher education and professional development, school leadership and parent/school partnerships, nonformal and adult education, participatory educational management, and education in emergencies and recovery. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lynn worked in education both during the war and for several years in the post-war recovery period.
Yosuke Chikamoto (PhD in Health Education from The Pennsylvania State University, MA and BA in Psychology from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan) Dr. Chikamoto is an Assistant Professor at School of Education, Teaching, & Health, American University. He conducts international comparative studies on health care services and human services. Prior to joining the faculty at AU, he was an Assistant Professor of health science at California State University, Fullerton for four years, the Director of Research and Development for the Health Improvement Program at Stanford University School of Medicine for seven years, and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Dokkyo Medical College for three years. In addition to publishing articles in scholarly journals such as American Journal of Health Promotion, American Journal of Health Education, Keio Business Forum, Japanese Journal of Public Health, and Japanese Journal of Nursing Research, he served as a co-editor for the special issue of American Journal of Health Promotion titled, “"Health Promotion in U.S. and Japan: Comparative Perspectives." In 2005-2006, he served as an acting coordinator of the Japan Program at Center for Asian Studies, School of International Service, American University.
Michael Gibbons (Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Development, Fieldings Institute) Michael Gibbons has worked in basic education, community development and social justice since the mid 1970s in Asia, Africa, Latin America and low-income areas of the USA . He specializes in basic and nonformal education, child development, adult learning processes, training of educators and organizational learning. He holds a Ph.D. from the Fielding Institute in human and organizational development, with a focus on organizational learning processes within educational programs. He is particularly interested in the role learning plays in personal development and social transformation. Currently, Mr. Gibbons teaches courses in the International Training and Education Program ( ITEP ) at the American University School of Education, coordinates the Education Partnership for Children on Conflict at the Council on Foreign Relations and has begun “Leadership <> Learning”, a program supporting inter-agency learning in basic education. Michael has also served as deputy director of basic education programs at Save the Children US, guiding field staff in 40 country programs design and implement basic education projects worldwide.
Frederic Jacobs (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) Dr. Jacobs has held positions as the Dean of Faculties, Dean of the School of Education, and Director of the Doctoral, Educational Leadership, and Specialized Studies programs at American University; provost and academic vice president at John Jay College, City College of New York; and Assistant Dean at the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. He is a contributing author to The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Report and Analysis of Barriers to Adult Participation: Findings from the National Household Education Survey of 1991 and 1995; Accentuating the Positive: Effective Teaching and Evaluation Strategies for Traditional and Non-Traditional Learners; and Selected Papers on CreativeTeaching with S. Hundley. His research and teaching interests include the role, function, and impact of higher education; theory and practice in adult learning; public policy and education; and quantitative research.
Anne Marie Kupferer (B.A. Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, 1983; M.Ed. Secondary Social Studies from the University of Virginia in 1987; Ph.D. Human and Organizational Systems from the Fielding Graduate Institute, 2000) Dr. Kupferer's areas of specialization include Adult Nonformal Education, Participatory Evaluation, and Training Design. Whether as a Peace Corps volunteer, associate of Dr. Jane Vella or organizational development consultant, for the past 18 years Anne Marie Kupferer has designed and led community-based educational efforts which emphasize participation and dialogue.
