A – E
Douglas Berggren
An Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at New College with a B.A. from Carleton College; an M.A. from Oxford University, which he attended on a Fulbright Scholarship, and a Ph. D. from Yale University, where he also taught.
Kathy Black
Associate Professor and Hartford Geriatric Faculty Scholar at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. Doctorate degree from SUNY at Albany and Masters degrees in Social Work and Gerontology from USC and in Public Health from UCLA.
Len Blanchard
B.A. Washington & Lee University, M.A. and Ph.D. Emory University. Teaches in the Department of Language and Literature at the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota. He is a published poet and has presented courses on the Southern Literary Renaissance and on notable Southern women writers.
Rosemary F. Bowler
B.A. Wilson College, M.A. Columbia University, Ph.D. Boston College. Massachusetts teacher and school administrator. Executive Director of the International Dyslexia Society. Co-author of an award-winning book on learning. Governance consultant to non-profit organizations. Aficionado of the detective story. Founder and leader of the Boca Grande Sleuths.
Pablo Brescia
Associate Professor of Latin American Literature at the University of South Florida; Ph.D. in Hispanic languages and literatures, 2000, UCSB. A native of Buenos Aires, he is the author and co-editor of five books and more than sixty articles. He has also published one book of fiction and one book of poetry. Interested in all things philosophical and literary.
James Brown
B.S. Political Science Florida A&M University. M.A. Guidance Counseling University of South Florida. Completed doctoral coursework at Nova University. Taught social sciences for 9 years in public schools; 28 years as a counselor and college administrator at Manatee Community College (now State College of Florida, Sarasota-Manatee).
Harold Bubil
A University of Florida graduate, a humorous and engaging public speaker and 50-year resident of Sarasota. Real estate editor of the Herald-Tribune Media Group since 1994. Has covered architecture, green building and sustainable design in addition to residential real estate. Formerly a sports editor, he covered the Gators, Bucs and high school sports in the 1970s and early 80s.
Phillip Buck
B.A. and M.A. California State University, Hayward. Served 25 years as dean/professor of English at two campuses in the Colorado State University system. Currently teaching English and literature at the State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota. Present area of interest and research: realism and naturalism in the American short story.
Lena Cambis
Native of Montpellier, France. Violinist, Sarasota Orchestra since 2000. Graduate of Conservatoire National de Musique, Montpellier, France and Royal College of Music, London, United Kingdom. Director and Co-Founder of the Sarasota Music Academy.
Robert V. (Bob) Carlson
Ed.D. University of Rochester; Professor Emeritus University of Vermont, who has devoted fifty plus years as a classroom teacher, school administrator, and university professor. His research and scholarly interests have examined school change and reform, leadership and educational organizations and more recently older adult lifelong learning. He is the Executive Director Emeritus of Pierian Spring Academy.
Vincent Ciulla
A museum designer for forty years; an honors graduate of Pratt Institute. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he was one of the leaders of their design department, completing 75 projects. In 1973 he formed Vincent Ciulla Design Associates, Inc., adding 300 museum projects to his credit, including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Royal Ontario Museum, The Costa Rica Pre-Colombian Gold Museum, and El Museo de Las Americas in Puerto Rico.
David Cohen
B.A. Bowdoin College; LL.B. Boston College Law School. Practiced law in Portland, Maine for twenty years before appointment to the federal trial bench where he served for twenty years as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Maine before retiring in 2008. Among his other current activities, he teaches judges in post-autocratic countries in a program titled "Judging in a Democratic Society".
Owen Comora
An avid birder since his early teenage years. Directs the new Celery Fields Bird Naturalist Project for Sarasota Audubon Society. Established and directed Myakka River State Park's Bird Naturalist program for 14 years. Spent over 5,000 volunteer hours identifying birds for Myakka's visitors. Created the Park's Nature Adventure Series. Twice named Myakka's Senior Volunteer of the Year. With other experienced Audubon Society birders, leads Sarasota's Road Scholar birding programs.
Kevin Costello
Graduate of Chelsea School of Art and Goldsmiths College, University of London. Taught at the San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco Art Academy, Stetson University and Eckerd College; now teaches at Ringling College of Art and Design. He has worked as an art correspondent for Siesta Key Pelican, Bradenton Herald, Sarasota Herald Tribune and Sarasota Art Review.
Bill Cotter
B.A. Government Harvard College; J.D. Harvard Law School. President Colby College (1979-2000) and the Oak Foundation (2000-2006). Previously President of the Africa-America Institute, Ford Foundation Representative for Colombia and Venezuela, White House Fellow, associate NYC law firm, Assistant Attorney General Northern Nigeria, law clerk to federal judge.
Mary Jane De Genaro
B.A. Sarah Lawrence College; M.A. Columbia Teachers College. Eleven years lecturing about opera in Sarasota. Designer and implementer of various innovative approaches to music education.
Adam De Sorgo
Principal Oboe, Sarasota Orchestra since 2003. Principal Oboe, Utah Festival Opera. Masters Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Jeanne Dubi
Before moving to Florida in 1997, lived in New York City and was Vice-President/General Manager of Harper's Magazine. As president of the Sarasota Audubon Society, devotes much of her time to birding and conservation of bird habitat in Sarasota County.
Marilyn Eckberg
Avid cinephile. Grew up in a small Montana town watching movies in the last Art Deco Cinema Palace built in the U.S. Studied Art and Film & TV at Montana State University. Film Critic, Pelican Press. Instructor of film classes.
Al Eckes
B.A. Washington & Lee; M.A. Fletcher School, Tufts; Ph.D. University of Texas. Retired eminent research professor, Ohio University. Former Chairman/Commissioner U.S. International Trade Commission. Former executive director, U.S. House of Representatives committee; newspaper editor. Author of nine books on economic history.
Henry Ettman
With 50 years experience as a Ph.D. university educator and jazz drummer, he has brought jazz education classes to Sarasota for the last decade. A sociologist/musicologist and former student of Max Roach, Oscar Peterson, and Dizzy Gillespie, Ettman has taught and played in the Midwest, West, and Florida.
F – R
Abraham Feder
Principal Cello, Sarasota Orchestra since 2008. Chamber Music Coordinator at the Luzerne Music Center. Graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Doug Fernandes
Graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. A sportswriter and columnist at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune since 1987, Fernandes has covered a variety of topics, including the University of Miami and Florida State football teams, as well as the Tampa Bay Bucs. For the last nine years, he's provided commentary as the H-T's sports columnist. He is a lover of most sports, but baseball is his passion.
John Goodman
Boston University Professor Emeritus of Music Theory and Composition. Currently President of the Sarasota Concert Association, Director of "Second Sunday at Selby" series, lecturer for Selby Library's "Masters and Masterpieces of Music," and Sarasota Music Archive board member and volunteer.
Alan B. Grindal
B.A. Northwestern University, M.D. University of Illinois. Neurology training at Medical College of Virginia, where he served as a faculty member. Private practice of neurology in Sarasota since 1978. Currently a neurological consultant to the Memory Disorder Clinic at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor at Florida State University. Long-standing interest in the neurobiology of behavior and early American history.
L. Davis Hammond
Ph.D. in Romance Language and Literature Harvard University. After teaching French and Italian at Brandeis and Dartmouth, he taught these subjects at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire for 27 years.
Eileen Hampshire
Over 35 years of involvement in a second-generation Oriental rug business; founded Art To Walk On, Inc. in 1988. Opened a showroom in Montreal, Quebec, where she consulted with architects, interior decorators and individuals on the acquisition of antique and rare carpets. Opened Art to Walk On (www.arttowalkon.com) on Palm Avenue in Sarasota in 2006.
Bob Harrigan
Graduate of the University of Kansas with a B.S. degree in Atmospheric Science. Worked with the National Weather Service as weather observer. Taught micro-computing at the University of Kansas. Designated a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist by the American Meteorological Society. Forecasting weather for over 25 years at ABC 7 in Sarasota.
Goody Hirshfeld
A founding member of the Living Arts Seminars, an arts-in-education enterprise of which the New York Times wrote: "I never knew art could be so much fun." Co-author of the five books that comprise the "Meet the Masterpiece" series published by Scholastic, Inc. Lectures at various Sarasota venues.
Si Isenberg
B.A. Syracuse University; graduate studies Syracuse and Columbia. Edited Shakespeare Bulletin. Publications: Fancies and Goodnights, A Shakespearean Journey. Secretary Drama Desk, Editor of Stages, the national theater magazine.
Dolly Jacobs, Pedro Reis
Sarasota-born Dolly Jacobs' path to stardom was nurtured by her parents, both circus performers. Her father was the legendary clown Lou Jacobs; her mentors were performers in The Greatest Show on Earth. Meanwhile, Pedro Reis, a celebrated trapeze artist, came from Cape Town, South Africa. Individually, Dolly and Pedro had been featured in circuses throughout the world when they met in 1984 while appearing with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Together, they created their own unique show. Inaugurated in 1997, Circus Sarasota fulfills their dream. As a non-profit arts, education and community outreach organization, Circus Sarasota provides entertainment, enrichment and education in the home of the big top for more than eight decades. The recent addition of the legendary Sailor Circus provides a venue where circus arts can be taught, circus artists cultivated, and circus skills employed to teach many of life's most important lessons. For more information about Circus Sarasota and Sailor Circus, visit www.circussarasota.org.
Phyllis Jaffe
M.A. New York University. Elderhostel lecturer, hospice volunteer, lecturer at Ventfort Hall and at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, MA. Continuing Education program lecturer at Heritage Hills, Somers, NY; facilitator of UNIFEM Book Club. New York City Teacher of the Year 1984. Docent at Tanglewood Music Center. Speaker for the James Joyce Society; facilitator for a book group at Sarasota Bay Club.
James W. Johnson
B.A. Philosophy, Cardinal Newman College, S.T.B. (Master of Divinity) from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, completed his education for the Roman Catholic priesthood in 1987. Taught courses in religion at Broward Community College for 13 years, and English as a Second Language (ESL) for 15 years.
Arthur S. Kesten
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh. Currently President of Nanocap Technologies. Led the United Technologies Research Center where, in 1997, was named its Distinguished Engineer of the Year.
Martin Kodish
M.D. George Washington University. Endocrinologist with significant experience in the clinical and business aspects of medicine. Positions held include Chief, Department of Medicine, Gallup Indian Medical Center; Chief, Department of Medicine, The Billings Clinic; Associate Chief of Medicine, Northeast Permanente Medical Group; Senior Medical Director, Aetna.
Baila Miller
B.A. and M.A. Memphis State University; 40 hours of doctorate coursework in curriculum development, University of Memphis. Her fine arts programs explore the role of art, architecture, sculpture, photography and music in the development of modern culture. Her Yiddish courses, taught in Yiddish and English, explore European Jewish life as it adapts to the world philosophies of The Enlightenment to Romanticism and, finally, to the Modern Era.
Kathie Moon
B.A. and M.S. University of North Carolina. Writer and movie critic at Sarasota's Pelican Press for 13 years. Has been involved in film studies through teaching film history and film appreciation, field trips, event programing, film societies, and film festivals.
Stan R. Nikkel
B.A. University of Colorado, M.A. University of North Carolina, Ph.D. University of Maryland. Taught at the universities of George Washington, Maryland and Massachusetts at Boston. The author of two books, he has personally explored many of the historical settings associated with his courses' subjects.
Nancy Paul
Locally trained horticulturist who has worked in the area for over 20 years. Site Horticulturist at Historic Spanish Point, Grounds Supervisor Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota County Parks and Recreation Horticulture Department, and Horticulturist for the Sarasota Kennel club. Provides landscape design and installation work for local clientele.
Mike Pheneger
A retired U.S. Army Colonel and intelligence officer. Served as Director of Intelligence for U.S. Special Operations Command and Deputy Director of Intelligence for U.S. Central Command. Had assignments in Germany, Vietnam, Korea, Panama, and the Middle East.
Jeff Rodgers
Director of Education for the S. Florida Museum and Director of the Bishop Planetarium. Joined the Museum in 2004 after 9 years at the American Museum of Natural History and Hayden Planetarium in New York City. A science communicator, he spends the bulk of his time trying to de-mystify the universe and our place in it.
S – Z
Beth Ann Salzman
B.A. from Smith College. Learned about women from 20 years in the retail business. Honed her Jewish knowledge as Education Director of The Manchester (NH) Jewish Community School. Her sense of humor comes from running a boxer shorts company called Gotkeys Unlimited.
Frank Slesnick
Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Minnesota. Taught economics full time at the university level for 36 years. In addition, for 30 years he has consulted with attorneys as an expert witness calculating economic damages.
Cheryl A. Smith
B.A. Barnard College, Columbia University; M.S.W. Smith College; Ed.D. Teachers College, Columbia University. Retired Associate Professor, Lesley University. Areas of expertise: Women's Business History, Adult Learning and Development, Interdisciplinary Studies. Author: Market Women: Black Women Entrepreneurs Past, Present and Future.
John (Steve) Smith
A retired U.S. Navy Captain, served 24 years as line officer, nuclear power
engineer and ship design manager. Senior V.P. of CDI Marine Company, a leading naval architecture firm. President of ROH, Inc., which provided Navy ship design and acquisition support.
Ayse Somersan
On the faculty of the University of Wisconsin for 25 years. Served as dean and director of the Wisconsin Extension Service, taking the University's knowledge out to the people. Claim to fame: making economics understandable and enjoyable.
Jonathan Spivey
Principal Keyboard, Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Piano Quartet since 1991. Associate Piano Faculty, Sarasota Music Festival. Doctorate in Musical Arts from SUNY, Stony Brook.
George Stassa
Since winning the History Medal in grade school, he has wanted to become a history teacher. Instead, he went to medical school in order to teach and earn a better living. Taught Anatomy and Radiology for thirty-five years and retired as a Clinical Associate Professor. Join his dream as a teacher of history.
Joyce Stith
Taught English at Kent State University and California State University at Hayward. Published works on Milton, Plato, Van Gogh and numerous travel destinations. Directed the film program at the Biblioteca Publica in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Spends winters in Sarasota and summers visiting great art museums of the world.
Charlie Stryker
B.A. Florida State University; M.A. University of South Florida. Last eleven years, Adjunct Professor of History, Hillsborough Community College, Tampa. Spent thirty years in the corporate world before concentrating on teaching history.
Mark Tlachac
Recognized Frank Lloyd Wright historian and lecturer. His lifelong passion for Wright's architecture has evolved into extensive work at Florida Southern College where he lectures and conducts tours of the campus. He has written and produced a DVD of Wright's work in Lakeland.
Betsy Hudson Traba
Principal Flute, Sarasota Orchestra since 1993. Flutist, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. Masters Degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
Justin Vibbard
Principal Librarian, Sarasota Orchestra since 2004. Librarian - Mostly Mozart Music Festival, New York, NY.
Noreen Wald
AKA Nora Charles, published ten novels for Berkley Prime Crime. In addition, she has published two nonfiction books - Contestant: Success Secrets of a Game Show Veteran, Avon; and Foxy Forever, St. Martin's Press; and she has mentored 44 published students.
Ted Weihe
Degrees from Georgetown and University of Virginia. Spent 30 years promoting small farmer co-ops in some 50 developing countries. He is currently managing a Fair Trade chocolate project in the Dominican Republic, Peru and Ecuador.
Jay Wilson
B.A. and Ph.D. Yale University. Taught English literature at the University of Rochester and held fellowships at Cambridge University and the Folger Shakespeare Library. Taught popular courses on the history of ballet and the English Royal Ballet. Courses are profusely illustrated with photos and videos of great performances.
William Wittig
Graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Studied in France as a Fulbright Scholar. Served as principal Flutist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, and is a member of the London Chamber Players. Recently retired as Professor of Music at Smith College where he served for 37 years.
J. David Yoder
B.A. Elementary Education Eastern Mennonite University; M.Ed. School Administration James Madison University; Ed.D. Educational Leadership Nova Southeastern University. Higher education administrator; educational resource consultant for higher education and seminary programs. Executive Director of Sunnyside Village, a retirement community sponsored by Sarasota area Mennonite churches.
