Project Participants
Bill Doherty, Principal Leader
Bill Doherty, Professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, began developing Community Engaged Parent Education in 1999, along with Beth Cutting a group of 25 parent educators and parent leaders. This was one of the inaugural initiatives in his Families and Democracy Project, which aims to develop citizen professionals equipped to work with families as active citizens and not just consumers of professional services. He is the author of numerous academic publications and several award-winning books for the lay public including: Take Back Your Kids: Confident Parenting in Turbulent Times and Take Back Your Marriage: Sticking Together in a World That Pulls Us Apart.
Beth Cutting, Principal Leader
Beth Cutting, a parent educator for 30 years, teaches with ECFE on St. Paul's West Side and is curriculum consultant for Family Education at the University of Minnesota. In 1987 while doing her master's degree research, Beth discovered the importance of the community/public dimension of parent education. She helped initiate Community Engaged Parent Education in 2002. As a principal leader in the project, she mentors five mentors as well as three interns.
Marietta Rice, Project Coordinator
Marietta Rice has been a parent educator for 24 years and currently teaches with ECFE in the Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan school district. Her emphasis has included working with new immigrant families and promoting professional development in ECFE. She joined the Community Engaged Parent Education Project in 2002 and became the project coordinator in 2004. She also mentors 6 interns throughout Minnesota.
Jill Chisolm, Mentor
Jill Chisholm has taught ECFE for 22 years and is currently a parent educator with St. Paul ECFE at the Rondo site. She joined the Community Engaged Parent Education project in the summer of 2002 and is now mentoring 8 interns in the metro area. She has enjoyed working with culturally diverse parents and teen parents, and is the mother of two college-age daughters. Community Engaged Parent Education has provided her with fulfilling opportunities to work with other parents in bringing about positive changes for families.
Annette Gagliardi, Mentor
Annette Gagliardi has been an ECFE teacher in Minneapolis school district since 1986. She holds both Early Childhood and Parent Education licenses, along with an ESL license. She has worked with the Community Engaged Parent Education project since 2002 and currently mentors interns in Minneapolis and Moorhead. Working with the Community Engaged Parent Education project has increased her citizenship and energized her teaching in parent education.
Sue Harrington, Mentor
Sue Harrington has been a parent educator for 20 years and currently teaches with Early Childhood Family Education in the Minneapolis Public School district. She joined the Community Engaged Parent Education Project in 2002 and is now mentoring 7 interns throughout Minnesota. She enjoys practicing community engaged parent education in her inner city parenting groups and co-led a community family time initiative in southwest Minneapolis for two years using the community engagement model.
Todd Seabury-Kolod, Mentor
Todd Seabury-Kolod has been a parent educator and early childhood teacher in ECFE since 1983, and specializes in facilitating groups of fathers. He holds a Masters in Social Work, and has been a community activist for as long as he can remember. In 2003, he started as an intern with the Community Engaged Parent Education project in 2003 and now mentors two interns. Inspiration for his CEPE work comes from a quote by Federico Mayor: "The world we leave to our children will depend on the children we leave to our world."
Jenet Jacob, Research
Assistant Jenet Jacob is currently a 3rd year PhD student in Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota. She has been working with the Community Engaged Family Education Project since January, 2004, when she began volunteer work with Families and Democracy projects under Dr. Bill Doherty. Other research interests include family education, work and family issues, family policy and mothering.