Meet the CTLE Staff
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Dr. Joshua D. Kanies
Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence Director
Dr. Joshua D. Kanies, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence Director, has been working in Higher and Post-secondary Education for over 20-years. He has led educational institutions in Faculty Development, Curriculum and New Program Development, Workforce Development, Instructional Design for Virtual and Hybrid courses and LMS Management. He holds a BFA from Iowa State University, an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and completed his Doctorate with Argosy University. His dissertation investigates how institutions address adult learner needs and how they understand learner motivations in their field of study. His continued research considers the correlations among students and faculty within the Self-Determination Theory framework and how to improve both the teaching and learning experience. He is passionate about innovation and experimentation in and outside of the classroom and takes an engaging and active listening approach with students and faculty in support of their academic and professional journey.
Email: kaniesj@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-207-5050
Campus: Lake Worth
Dr. Emmanuel Alvarado
Faculty Developer
Emmanuel received his BA in International Relations from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as his MA in Spanish and his PhD in Comparative Studies from FAU. Emmanuel has taught Spanish and sociology at FAU, Lane College (Tennessee), Coastal Bend College (Texas), and PBSC. He has published numerous articles and presented various conference papers in the fields of Sociolinguistics and Hispanic Studies. More recently, Dr. Alvarado has co-authored Intimacies and Cultural Change (2014, Routledge), Transnational Popular Psychology and the Global Self-Help Industry (2016, Palgrave), and Neoliberalism and the Negotiation of the American Dream in Contemporary Latina Narratives (2019, Bristol University Press).
Emmanuel has worked at Palm Beach State College for the past 7 years. During that time, he has served Palm Beach State College in various roles such as foreign language cluster chair, general education committee chair, institutional review board chair, faculty liaison for the district diversity council, as well as the advisor of the Spanish club at the Palm Beach Gardens campus.
Email: alvarade@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-207-5050
Campus: Palm Beach Gardens
Office: AA 0210
Ebony Collier
Instructional Designer
Ebony Collier, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence Instructional Designer, joined Palm Beach State College in the Summer of this year. She is currently working for the Title V Grant, leading the Reading Apprenticeship and PBSC Innovation Grant programs - both are initiatives to aid the retention and completion rates for the target group of the Title V Panther Strong Project. Before joining the CTLE, Ebony worked for the Orange County School District, where she held various roles and was an adjunct professor for Valencia College. She enjoys changing environments into actual experiences, which fuels her career. She has a B.A. in English Literature and an M.S. in Instructional Design Technology.
Email: colliere@palmbeachstate.edu
Campus: Lake Worth -
Dr. Lisa Byard
Continuing Contract Coach
Dr. Lisa Byard serves as a Professor II in the College Readiness department at the Lake Worth Campus. Lisa has served as a CTLE fellow and is currently the Introduction to the College Experience Cluster Chair. Prior to her work at PBSC, Lisa worked as the Higher Education Leadership/Student Affairs Liaison at Florida Atlantic University where she provided educational, career and personal advising to graduate students.
Lisa earned her bachelor’s degree from Stony Brook University (State University of New York) and her master’s in higher education leadership from Loyola University Chicago. She spent several years as a K-12 educator and earned her single-subject teaching credential in Social Sciences from Notre Dame de Namur University. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Florida Atlantic University. Lisa is eager to serve as continuing contract coach for her peers.
Email: byardl@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-868-3771
Campus: Lake Worth
Office: TC 118
Dr. Lauren Chambers
Continuing Contract Coach
Lauren Chambers received her BA and MA in English from Radford University. She also earned a Ph.D in English Literature from The University of Georgia in 2013. She joined Palm Beach State College as an English faculty member in 2014 and currently works on the Gardens campus.
During her time at Palm Beach State College, she served on a variety of campus committees, professional development opportunities, and as co-advisor of the Dream It, Do It student club. Her active engagement allowed her to learn more about the College and to gain additional knowledge that she uses to ensure student success. She also currently serves as the Dr. Floyd F. Koch Honors College Liaison for the Gardens campus.
Email: chamberl@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-207-5609
Campus: Palm Beach Gardens
Office: AA 223
Professor Laura Clouse
Continuing Contract Coach
Laura is in her seventh year as Professor I of English at Palm Beach State College on the Belle Glade and Loxahatchee Groves Campuses. In addition to her teaching and coaching duties, Laura is Department Chair for both campuses. In 2020, she earned her Continuing Contract at PBSC and won the 2019 PBSC Employee Excellence Award for Collaboration, and in 2018 she was the recipient of the NISOD Excellence Award.
Laura earned her Bachelor’s Degree in English from Michigan State University in 2000 and her Master’s Degree in English from DePaul University in 2006. She has been teaching since 2006 and before coming to PBSC, Laura spent three years as English I Coordinator and Continuing Lecturer at Purdue University, and nine years as Adjunct English Instructor at various colleges. Laura’s love of instruction is what often helps students achieve excellence in their work. She says her best lessons are the ones where she is teaching most passionately, and those messages are the ones that really resonate with students.
Email: clousel@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-790-9055
Campus: Loxahatchee Groves
Office: LGA 0212
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Piccolino
Lead Coach and Coordinator of Faculty Continuing Contract Coaches
Dr. Anthony (Tony) Piccolino serves as Professor III of mathematics at the Lake Worth campus and is Honors College Faculty Coordinator. Dr. Piccolino also coordinates the training program for continuing contract coaches. Prior to joining the Palm Beach State faculty in 2010, he taught undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral courses in mathematics and mathematics education for 17 years at Montclair State University in New Jersey and served on several dissertation committees. In addition to his years in higher education, he also served for 25 years as a mathematics teacher and K-12 supervisor in public schools in New York State. Tony’s educational background includes an B.S. in mathematics from Iona College, Master’s Degrees from Yeshiva University and Fordham University, and a doctorate in mathematics education from Columbia University (Teachers College).
Tony is co-author of several high school level textbooks and a frequent presenter at AMATYC conferences. Tony’s research interests are in the History of Mathematics with emphasis on the reform in algebra in Victorian Britain and the rigorization of analysis in the nineteenth century.
Email: piccolia@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-868-3472
Campus: Lake Worth
Office: TE 0210
Professor Lystra Seenath
Continuing Contract Coach
Email: seenathl@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-868-3334
Campus: Lake Worth
Office: SS 210
Professor Candace Walker
Continuing Contract Coach
Professor Candace Walker has her B.S. in Marine Biology and M.S. in Biology with a focus on aquatic biology. She currently teaches Concepts in Biology, Introduction to Environmental Science, Principles of Biology I and II and their associated labs. She serves as a department chair for Biological Sciences, Nutrition and Health Education, Music, Art, and Foreign Languages for the Belle Glade and Loxahatchee Groves Campuses.
Email: walkerc@palmbeachstate.edu
Phone: 561-993-1425
Campus: Belle Glade
Office: TEC 0214 -
CTLE is grateful to PBSC Foundation for sponsoring the Fellows program for the 2021-2022 Academic Year.
2021-2022 Academic Year CTLE Fellows CTLE Fellows Pillar of Instructional Excellence Jang-Young Bang KNOW Pamela Mason-Egan THRIVE Africa Fine MANAGE Laura McCallister ASSESS Helena Zacharis ENGAGE Marcy Katz INCLUDE
