Grant Partners & Staff
Project Director:
Susan Voradakis has 21 years of education experience and currently serves as the secondary social studies coordinator in Fort Bend ISD. She has served the district as a teacher, department chair, 6th grade social studies “helping teacher” and secondary social studies coordinator. Ms. Voradakis holds a BS in history and English education from The University of Texas and a MEd from Houston Baptist University.
FORT BEND ISD
Grant content and curriculum specialists:Debbie Pellikan has extensive experience teaching and writing curriculum for American history. She taught American history for 18 years and currently serves as the high school social studies specialist for Fort Bend ISD. She has received numerous honors including the 1993 Fort Bend ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year and 2002 United States-Eurasia Award for Excellence in Teaching. Ms. Pellikan holds a BA in secondary education and an MEd from the University of Houston.
Pete Yackus has 10 years of education experience and currently serves as the elementary social studies coordinator in Fort Bend ISD. He holds a BS in social studies education from Ball State University and a MEd from the University of Houston-Victoria.
Susan Voradakis, Secondary Social Studies Coordinator
SPRING BRANCH ISD
Grant curriculum specialist:Amy Thibaut is the past president of the Texas Council for the Social Studies and oversees the development of K-12 social studies curriculum in Spring Branch ISD. She has 28 years of education experience which includes teaching U.S. history and world history. In 1999, she was named a James Madison Memorial Fellow. Ms. Thibaut holds a BA in history from Stephen F. Austin State University and a MEd from the University of Houston.
RICE UNIVERSITY
Grant program director
Jennifer Gigliotti-Labay is the executive director of the Center for College Readiness at Rice University. She is a former world geography and sociology teacher and is certified by the State of Texas in Composite Secondary Social Studies. She has extensive curriculum writing experience and works closely with area social studies teachers on a variety of professional development opportunities. Jennifer holds a BA in psychology and history and a MEd in secondary social studies education from The Ohio State University, and an EdD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Houston.
teachers.rice.edu
MASTER TEACHER
Jim Smith will serve as the bridge between the secondary curriculum and the academic lectures. He recently retired after 29 years of teaching at Mayfield High School in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he taught AP U.S. History for 25 years. Mr. Smith has received numerous fellowships including the James Madison Senior Fellowship, and he is the author of “Ideas That Shape a Nation: A Survey of Historical Ideas Important to the Development of the United States.” He was selected the New Mexico Teacher of the Year in 2003 and the U.S. History Teacher of the Year by the Gilder-Lehrman Institute in 2004. Mr. Smith holds a BS in secondary education (music and history), an MA in history and an MA in government from New Mexico State University.
www.whyteachhistory.com
OTHER GRANT PARTNERS
Bill of Rights InstituteThe Bill of Rights Institute develops instructional material and educational programs on America's Founding documents and principles for high school American History and Civics teachers and students.
www.billofrightsinstitute.org
George H.W. Bush Presidential Library
bushlibrary.tamu.edu
Law Focused Education, IncThe mission of LFEI is to “plan, promote and support law-related education programs which are aimed at preparing elementary, middle and high school students for effective, responsible citizenship, and which are committed to liberty, justice and the Rule of Law.”
www.texaslre.org
Lyndon Baines Johnson, Presidential Library
www.lbjlib.utexas.edu
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
www.mfah.org
For more information contact your district representative listed above.