Adjunct Faculty
Laura Barbero Switalski, M.S., is Adjunct Lecturer at the ICSC. She is a partner of Darwin Associates, a consulting firm in Buffalo, New York, specializing in organizational growth, creativity and change leadership. She works with organizations across North America, Central America and Europe to facilitate creativity and innovation, help manage change and transition, and enhance teamwork and leadership. Born and raised in Italy, Laura lives now in the United States, in Buffalo, NY and has an extensive experience in working internationally and facilitating cross-cultural teams. She is a faculty member of the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute (CPSI) , a founding member and organizer of CREA Conference and President of the Board of Directors of CREA Italia, the association that sponsors CREA Conference. She holds a M.S. in Creativity from Buffalo State, State University of New York.
Carolyn Brunner, M.S., is the director of the International Graduate Programs for Educators at Buffalo State College and the Association for the Advancement of International Education. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Learning Styles Network and is a well-recognized instructional leader in the areas of learning, teaching, and administrative styles. As a teacher, professor, workshop presenter, and consultant, Ms. Brunner has worked throughout the United States and in over 660 countries for school districts, higher education institutions, and corporations. Her publications appear in numerous journals including ASCD's Educational Leadership, International Education, and Forum of Applied Educational Research. Additionally, she is the principal author of Guide to the Implementation of Learning Styles in Overseas Schools.
Nancy Cook, Ph.D. is a full-time technology facilitator at Casey Middle School in Williamsville, NY. In addition to teaching for over twenty years at the K-12 level, she is also an adjunct professor at the University of Buffalo and Buffalo State College. She has taught many inservice courses for several local teacher centers, and has presented at many local, state, and national conferences. Her research and teaching experience is in gifted education, differentiated instruction, creative studies, and technology integration. Her M.S. is in Creative Studies at Buffalo State College and Ph.D. is in Educational Psychology at the University of Buffalo.
V. Jim Cassandro, Ph.D., is a former full-time assistant professor at the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC). Known as one of he best young research minds in the field of creativity, Jim combines sound theoretical knowledge with practical experience gained through his employment at XEROX.
Lina Lamattina, M. S., is the director of Business and Employee Skills Training at Genesee Community College (Batavia, NY). She currently owns her own consulting business through which she provides OD expertise, creativity training, and facilitation services.
Marie Mance, M. Ed., M.S., has served as faculty member for more than five years. She is currently the manager of organizational development at Buffalo State. Marie has taught graduate courses locally an internationally. She also has worked as a trainer and facilitator for numerous organizations, including Disney, New York State Electrical and Gas, and Summit Educational Resources.
Blair Miller, M.S., is president of Blair Miller & Associates, a Chicago-based training and consulting firm that specializes in creativity, team building and problem solving for Fortune 500 clients. As a senior associate of the Niagara Institute, Blair specializes in creativity leadership development. He has co-authored "Creativity Unbound" and "Facilitation: A Door to Creative Leadership" and publishes the FourSight suite of creativity training materials.
Russ Schoen, M.S. is a facilitator, speaker and trainer in the areas of deliberate creativity, innovation, team-building and leadership. He has delivered programs worldwide including projects in Singapore, Italy, Australia, England, India, New Zealand, and South Africa. A sampling of organizations he has worked with include T. Rowe Price, International Flavor & Fragrances, SC Johnson and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Russ is a contributing author to a number of innovation related materials including the Foursight suite of creativity materials. In addition to his work with corporations, Russ is the co-founder of the Creative Youth Leadership Academy, a holistic 5-day experience for enhancing leadership, communication and problem-solving skills among teens.
John Sedgwick, M.Ed., is a retired faculty member from Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. John has vast experience in connecting creativity to organizational development and has provided creativity training to more than 100 organizations in Canada and around the world.
Tim Switalski, M.S., is president of Darwin Associates, a consulting firm in Buffalo, New York, specializing in organizational growth, creativity and change leadership. He has worked with a broad variety of organizations throughout North, Central and South America and Europe in public, private and not-for-profit sectors to help people develop their leadership potential, build cohesive teams, and enhance their creative thinking skills. He has developed expertise in a broad variety of fields, including: education, health care, behavioral health, financial services, consumer products, energy, nuclear services, telecommunications, publishing, retail, manufacturing, marketing, social services, youth services and community development. He is a founding member and organizer of CREA Conference and a long-time leader at the Creative Problem Solving Institute. He holds a M.S. in Creativity from Buffalo State, State University of New York.
Jonathan Vehar, M.S. is a Senior Partner at New & Improved, an organizational development firm focused on the people skills for innovation. Organizations that have benefited from expertise include: Disney; GE; Johnson & Johnson; McDonalds; Pfizer; Texas Instruments, and the US government. Investor¹s Business Daily calls Jonathan an "Innovation Guru' and he has written extensively about innovation and creative thinking. Jonathan has co-chaired the Innovation Network's annual conference multiple times and has taught at the Creative Problem Solving Institute since 1995. In addition to the International Center for Studies in Creativity, Jonathan is on the adjunct faculty of Northwestern University and the Federal Executive Institute.