Campus & Community

Area teachers receive Conant Fellowships

3 min read
Dionne M. Campbell, Jill Harrison Berg, Elizabeth A. Hall, Bobbie D'Alessandro and Jerome T.
The Conant Fellows from Cambridge, Dionne M. Campbell (foreground from left), Rindge and Latin School; Jill Harrison Berg, Cambridge Public Schools; and Elizabeth A. Hall, Longfellow School, chat outside the Faculty Club, while Bobbie D’Alessandro, Cambridge Superintendent of Schools, and Jerome T. Murphy, Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, confer. (Staff photo by Rose Lincoln)

The Graduate School of Education (GSE) has awarded six fellowships to outstanding Cambridge and Boston public school teachers. The Conant Fellowships, named after Harvard president (1933-53) and School of Education champion James Bryant Conant, fund a full-year of study at the GSE.

In the 15 years since their inception, the Conant Fellowships have supported the professional growth of 94 Boston- and Cambridge-area educators.

This year’s Conant Fellows are as follows:

Jill Harrison Berg, who has taught in the Cambridge public schools since 1993, serves as a teacher-researcher for Harvard’s Project Zero, and as the supervisor of Clinical Practice at Simmons College. She is involved in several national teaching standards initiatives. Berg also chairs the Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is in Boston and directs Camp Green Acre. She will pursue a doctorate in the area of Learning and Teaching.

Dionne Marie Campbell teaches social studies at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, where she has taught since 1993. She advises students, and has served as an adviser to the Black Student Union as well as to the junior and senior classes. In 1995, she received the Youth Peace and Justice Corps Award. Campbell will seek a master of education degree in the Technology in Education program.

Elizabeth Alexandra Hall has taught middle school mathematics since 1993. She currently teaches at Longfellow School in Cambridge in addition to her role as staff developer for kindergarten through eighth grades. Hall also teaches horseback riding for a therapeutic riding program. She plans to obtain a master of education degree in the Individualized Program within the area of Learning and Teaching.

Guadalupe Castenada Guerrero III is a fourth-grade advanced work class teacher at the Ohrenberger Elementary School in Boston, where he is also a literacy inclusion specialist. He acts as mentor and supervisor to student teachers at Boston College. Guerrero has worked as an early literacy teacher and a Spanish bilingual teacher in the Boston public schools. He will pursue a master of education degree in Principal Certification within the School Leadership Program.

Sandra Lee Johnston has taught at Mather Elementary School in Boston for the past 15 years. She is the author of “Moving Mountains,” a curriculum guide to spiritual and physical health for women of color. Johnston has chaired the Mather School African Heritage Committee, the Black Educator’s Alliance Education Committee, and the Black Educator’s Alliance for Massachusetts Membership Committee. She will pursue a Certificate of Advanced Study in the Arts and Education program.

Stacey Barbara Lewis, a fifth-grade teacher at the John Marshall Elementary School in Boston since 1998, serves as an education adviser to the State of Young Black Boston, a local community group. She also tutors students in Boston and Cambridge schools in math, literacy, and comprehension strategies. She plans to pursue a self-designed degree in the Individualized Master’s Program.