Shannon Wanless, University Co-Lead for the 3Rs Initiative, Associate Professor, and Director of the Office of Child Development

Shannon is the Director of the Office of Child Development, a large university-community partnership center in the School of Education, that is focused on ensuring that all children thrive. Having been in Pittsburgh for almost a decade now, Shannon continues to focus on young child’s development and the adults that help them thrive. Her current work is on social justice and equity (SJ&E). She explores ways that children, preservice teachers, and organizational leaders develop SJ&E skills and how to create classroom, school, and organizational climates that reflect SJ&E tenets. Shannon currently teaches Attentional Teaching Practices (ATP), PSYED 1004, which is part of the CASE program for early childhood preservice teachers.

Shallegra Moye, Community Co-Lead of the 3Rs Initiative, and Founder & Executive Director of Brilliantly Blessed Community Health and Wellness

Shallegra is the founder and Executive Director of Brilliantly Blessed Community Health and Wellness; a non-profit organization that supports students, families, and educators. Shallegra Moye is also the Program Manager of the Heinz Fellowship within the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Urban Education. In this role, she liaises university, school, family, and community partnerships that maximize social justice and equity for students in several local school districts. Shallegra has over two decades of education advocacy and navigation experience, including leading projects for The Heinz Endowments and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and 50CAN. Other experience includes national conference presentations, a multi-term Parent Teacher Organization appointment and providing training and development. Shallegra is a doctoral student, pursuing Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh, where her research is focused on strengthening the capacity of non-traditional educators.

3Rs Community Champions 

	Jocelyn Artinger	Mother of 2 Early School Age Children, Literacy and Professional Development Expert and Elementary School Principal.
	John Burwell
	Wanda Henderson	Mother, Grandmother, Community Advocate and Pittsburgh Public Schools Equity Advisory Panel Chairperson
	Gordon Hodnett	Father, Grandfather of Early School Age Children and Community Organizer
	Solimar Iori	Mother of 2 Early School Age Daughters and Bilingual Educator
	Dhana King	Mother of 3 young adults and grandmother of 1.  Worked as a para educator and early head start home visitor before becoming a certified teacher who primarily teaches kindergarten and first grade
	Brandi Lee	Mother of Early School Age Children, Advocate, Entrepreneur and Patient Service Coordinator
	Gina Masciola	Mother, Director of Education Partnerships, WQED Multimedia
	Tina Raspanti	Mother of two Young Adults, High School Psychology Teacher
	Sally Rushford	Elementary School Principal
	Erin Zambataro	Mother of an Early School Age Child and Preschooler and Coordinator of Children’s Services and Family Engagement, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
	Kara Viggiano	Literacy Program Manager and Scott Primary Clubhouse Director, Boys and Girls Clubs of Western PA
	Renona Sherer	Mother of Early School Age Children, Health Care Professional
	Shavonne Lowry	Mother of three school age children, past PTO president, and a Family Service Specialist.
	Bekezela Mguni	Librarian, activist, and artist who believes that the collective sharing of knowledge, beauty and inspiration is a part of life’s purpose.

3Rs with Classroom Teachers

Caitlin Forbes Spear, PhD, is the Director of Literacy and Learning, and Interim Director of Evaluation and Research at the Office of Child Development. Caitlin received her doctorate in special education from the University of Oregon, followed by a post-doctoral research appointment at the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy at the Ohio State University. Caitlin’s research and practice interests focus on early childhood and early elementary learning, around the topics of special education, positive racial and disability identity, and language and literacy development.  She brings a strong set of analytic, data and project management skills to her research and evaluation work, including a diverse methodological background across single-case, qualitative, and quantitative methodologies. A former special education teacher, Caitlin also has significant education content-expertise, including a focus on early childhood special education, educator training and professional development, culturally relevant pedagogy, and measuring complex classroom processes.

Jennifer Briggs, PhD, is a developmental researcher in the Literacy & Learning Division at The Office of Child Development. Jenn received her doctorate in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh before beginning her role as a research and evaluation manager with the Evaluation & Research Team. Jenn’s research and practice interests focus on early childhood learning and development around the topics of social justice and equity, particularly as they relate to teacher training and practice. She brings a strong background in mixed-methodological research, with a particular focus on qualitative methods and translating research into practice. As a former special education coach and practitioner, Head Start advocate, teacher educator, and parent, Jenn brings multiple perspectives to inform her research and practice.

Jocelyn Artinger is a principal at Markham Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon School DIstrict, and has expertise in racial equity, professional development and literacy instruction.  Jocelyn has previously served as the Literacy Coordinator for the Pittsburgh Public Schools Office of School Transformation, principal of Propel Braddock Hills Elementary School, and co- principal of Propel Northside and Propel Pitcairn. She also taught elementary school in the Propel Charter Schools, Homestead; Weil Accelerated Learning Academy, Pittsburgh Public Schools; and Sto-Rox Elementary School, Sto-Rox School District. She is currently enrolled in the Ed.D. program at the Unievrsity of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, has a master’s degree from Chatham University in Teaching-Elementary Education, Teaching Certification in Elementary Education K-6, and Principal K-12 Certification from the University of Pittsburgh. .

3Rs with Leaders

Tina Raspanti started her teaching career in Virginia, where she earned an M.Ed. from the College of William and Mary in Inclusion, Teaming, and Collaboration. Moving home to Pittsburgh, she joined the Mt. Lebanon SD where she teaches AP Psychology and Positive Psychology, a high school elective she created, rooted in mental well being, peak performance, social emotional learning and mindfulness. She earned a Certificate in Positive Psychology from the Flourishing Center and holds several certifications related to mindfulness, compassion, and social emotional learning programming for both students and teachers. Tina is a catalyst for connection and collaboration; she hopes to work side by side with others interested in building equitable and compassionate learning communities. Tina likes to cook and garden, loves trees, live music, mountains and open water. She has two daughters, and is thrilled they are all living in the same city after a decade of college and out of town jobs.

Michelle King is a learner and first and foremost, an instigator. She’s a retired middle school teacher. She is constantly seeking to create dynamic learning experiences and opportunities that inspire wonder, discovery, contradictions, frustrations, and joy. In making connections locally and globally, Michelle pushes the envelope and boundaries of where learning should occur for all students. Through her partnerships with the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, Hear Me, the Kids+Creativity Network and other provocateurs; Michelle is helping to create equitable, empathic, learning experiences for all students. ---Shannon, Is Michele still involved with Kids+ Creativity?  Most folks gave me their bio.  Michele did not reply so I found this on line.

Shannon Wanless is the Director of the Office of Child Development, a large university-community partnership center in the School of Education, that is focused on ensuring that all children thrive. Having been in Pittsburgh for almost a decade now, Shannon continues to focus on young child’s development and the adults that help them thrive. Her current work is on social justice and equity (SJ&E). She explores ways that children, preservice teachers, and organizational leaders develop SJ&E skills and how to create classroom, school, and organizational climates that reflect SJ&E tenets. Shannon currently teaches Attentional Teaching Practices (ATP), PSYED 1004, which is part of the CASE program for early childhood preservice teachers.

3Rs with the Community

Meghan Orman is a third-year PhD student under Dr. Shannon Wanless in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her current research interests are in using network analysis to explore equity-focused literacy development across learning ecologies in the local community. Her broader lifelong interests are in the philosophy of science and education, systems thinking, community ecology, and (as a personal hobby) beekeeping.

3Rs with Families

Rhonda Hall, Director of Community Programs, Office of Child Development

Rhonda L. Hall, Ed.D., has over 25 years of experience working directly with families in schools and communities. Rhonda previously worked for the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ Early Childhood Education Programs in Family Services. She has a particular interest in working with early childhood and school age educators and leaders to help create and sustain mutually beneficial partnerships that are built on trust and respect. Rhonda is committed to working with families, communities, and educators to support the healthy development and academic success of young children

Evaluation Team Members

Dr. Amanda Brown Cross is the Director of Evaluation & Research at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development. Her research interests are in school-and community-based prevention and intervention and in experimental methods and program evaluation. She has extensive experience working collaboratively with child- and family-serving agencies in the Pittsburgh region to conduct program evaluations and provide support for program improvement.

Courtney Grondziowski, MS, LBS, is an Evaluation and Research Manager. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Saint Vincent College and master’s degree in applied developmental psychology with a focus in applied research methods for child and youth serving organizations from the University of Pittsburgh. Her experience includes interdisciplinary program research and evaluation, as well as direct practice with neurodiverse populations. Courtney hopes to help improve equitable outcomes across early childhood as part of the 3Rs Evaluation Team.

Cross-Strand Consultant

Aisha White, Director of Positive Racial Identity Developed in Early Education (PRIDE), University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development.  Aisha is a mother of 2 and grandmother of 4. She was born and raised in Pittsburgh where she grew up in the housing projects in the Hill District. She earned her bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD, all at the University of Pittsburgh. She has held coordinator and director positions at several early education organizations including Family Communications, Inc., -now Fred Rogers Productions- where she currently is a consultant to the Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood children’s television program. Since the late 1970s, she has been engaged in arts and social activism efforts and she has also been involved in racial awareness work for more than 10 years. She currently directs the P.R.I.D.E. Program (positive racial identity development in early education) at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development.