Joe Aieta, M.A.
Professor of History
Course: Honors Junior Seminar (HON 305)

“Lasell as an institution has afforded me the opportunity to think about and teach ideas. Over the years, I believe that I have learned more about life, its hopes, and its disappointments from my students than they have from me. I have come to appreciate the value of different, fresh approaches to the same material by succeeding generations of students. Also, Lasell has supported me in my quest for ever more knowledge by presenting me with the opportunity to offer challenging specialty courses in addition to those that are more general. Finally, I have been fortunate in having colleagues who have encouraged me in my research, writing, and presentations. When it comes to learning and teaching, often small can be far more beneficial than large.”

Stephanie Athey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

Stephanie Athey is editor of Sharpened Edge: Women of Color, Resistance and Writing (Praeger, 2003), a collection of transnational feminist scholarship concerning the armed resistance, human rights organizing, cultural resistance in the arts, and development strategies of women of color and indigenous women in Africa, India and the Americas. Her book-in-progress, Torture’s Echo investigates representations of torture in American print journalism, recent military and detainee memoirs from Afghanistan, Guantánamo and Iraq, and fiction by major novelists since 2001.

Steve Bloom, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Course: Honors Senior Capstone (HON 401)

“It is gratifying to engage students in learning and to watch as they become transformed and empowered through this engagement; at Lasell, it happens in innovative and exciting ways every semester.”

Linda Bucci, J.D.
Associate Professor of Legal Studies
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

Linda Bucci currently serves on the Program Committee of the Second Step (a community organization providing services and housing for victims of domestic violence and their families). She also is a member of the City of Newton’s Relationship Violence Action Committee. Professor Bucci has a special interest in experiential learning, working with colleagues to continue to develop international service learning opportunities for Lasell students.

John Carroll, Ed.D
Associate Professor of Education
Course: Honors Component (Education)

Richard Dodds, M.Ed
Assistant Professor of Information Technology
Course: Honors Senior Capstone (HON 401)

Jennifer Drew, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

Hortense Gerardo, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Humanities
Course: Honors Junior Seminar (HON 305)

“The College provides a creative and supportive environment for students, faculty and senior residents to engage in academic and artistic exploration. It is inspiring to be an active member of the vibrant community that makes up the Lasell College experience. ”

Jennifer Gerstel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
Course: Honors Junior Seminar (HON 305)

Jennifer Gerstel enjoys the strong focus on teaching and learning in small classes that Lasell provides and the opportunity to interact with students both in and out of the classroom. Designing and teaching courses that excite students about writing and reading is what motivates her as a teacher, as does the challenge of showing students the relevance of literature and the humanities to their daily lives.

Neil Hatem, (candidate for Ed.D.)
Associate Professor of Sociology
Course: Honors Sophmore Leadership (HON 205)

“Working with Lasell’s honor students on various philanthropic journeys has given me a satisfaction I cannot describe in words. Lasell is a great community, from students to faculty to the administration, and that is why I chose Lasell!”

Margo Lemieux, M.Ed., M.F.A.
Assistant Professor of Art and Graphic Design
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

Margo Lemieux is interested in many aspects of the arts - formal concepts, history, and contemporary practices. Her practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking, as well as new media. In addition, she is currently making handmade books. She has written articles for American Artist magazine, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators Bulletin, and for many years wrote a book review column for the Attleboro Sun Chronicle.

Tessa LeRoux, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Sociology
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

“The great poet Yeats said: ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.’ From my very first working days training fieldworkers in a family planning program, through my experiences as a substitute teacher, professor at various universities and volunteering as a teacher naturalist for the Audubon society, I have always been most fulfilled when I was teaching - interacting, being instrumental in "lighting the fire." My position as Sociology Professor and Director of the Donahue Institute and of International Programs allows me to light the fire of social justice in the classroom and beyond - what more can anyone ask?”

Sharyn Lowenstein, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of English
Course: Honors Sophmore Leadership (HON 205)

Sharyn Lowenstein’s primary academic interests include student leadership, social justice, service-learning, the internship experience, student development, first year experiences, and international adoption. She is the author of Frame by Frame: A Visual guide to College Success, and she has written articles on student success and academic learning centers.

James Ostrow, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Course: Honors Sophmore Leadership (HON 205)

“Nothing matters to me more than converting subject matter into a perspective on the world for my students, a perspective they are driven to have and use toward positive change in the world. Students acquiring and proving that they know certain information is unimportant to me if I haven’t succeeded in affecting this conversion. I find that there is no better way to succeed in this way than collaborating with students on activities and projects where we are actually using ideas and methods of exploration in creative ways leading to actual discoveries. ”

Stephen Sarikas, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101) & Honors Junior Seminar (HON 305)

“I enjoy teaching at Lasell because the College encourages its faculty to experiment and to be creative in the classroom.”

Sidney Trantham, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Course: First-year Honors Colloquium (HON 101)

“One of the things that excites me about teaching at Lasell College is the freedom to explore unique and innovative approaches to learning: the opportunity to teach ‘outside the box’ so to speak. The fact that class sizes are relatively small, and one tends to have repeated contact with students who stay in the major, help to build a sense of continuity in education that might not happen at a larger institution where one may see a student for only one or two courses.”

Nancy Waldron, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Marketing
Course: Honors Sophmore Leadership (HON 205)

“Education affords me the opportunity to reach out to people and enable them to reach their goals and achieve better lives. Teaching at Lasell has been especially rewarding due to its small size and the ability to get to know each student individually.”