BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS ---
The Board provides stability and direction for the future of the Constructivist Conference, and preserves the history of the Institute’s past. 
SECRETARY Carol Amberg is a member of the Core Planning Team for the Institute’s Autism Initiative; as a former high school English and drama teacher, she has worked with several students diagnosed with autism over the years and has a much-loved member of her extended family on the autism spectrum. She has provided professional development workshops in association with BOCES, the Institute for Learning Centered Education, and the national New Standards Project.
BOARD PRESIDENT Jim Pelech, Ed.D. president of the Institute for Learning Centered Education Autism Initiative board of directors, has worked with two administrators who are involved with autistic awareness, and he has incorporated their ideas into his teaching. Jim retired as professor of mathematics education at Benedictine University in Illinois and has authored three books on constructivist theory with a fourth book coming out in a few months.
TREASURER Tim Rudan has been teaching high school for 24 years with the Toronto District School Board and cannot remember having a class without students exhibiting signs they could be on the spectrum. Tim says, “It's not my role to judge but teach and continue in my professional development to better understand and reach the needs of people.”
VICE PRESIDENT Julie Saunders is an elementary math teacher and former special education teacher in the Granville, New York Central School District. Julie says, “As an educator since the 1980s, I love to teach and learn in various settings with people of all ages and all types of brains.
Raamitha Pillay is a STEM educator and an adjunct at SUNY Canton, Canino School of Engineering Technology. Raamitha has previously taught at Ogdensburg Academy CSD, and in the Innovations in Science and Technology Program at St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES. Raamitha is passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for all students at schools and all members in the community.
Marlene Pickering is a Care Manager with LIFEPlan. She works with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She has over 40 years’ experience in the field of human services. She has worked with individuals with disabilities, including children and adults who are on the spectrum for close to 15 years.
John Myers is a retired Curriculum Instructor, Elementary and Secondary Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning Professor at University of Toronto, retired, has a stepson on the spectrum, and has taught students on the spectrum
Alicia Peletz , Rochester, NY, is the owner of Applied Coaching for Projects. Her work centers around progressive education, helping districts and schools to reimagine ways that will help them to serve students and families more equitably. Her work has helped to establish and maintain learner-centered school environments that emphasize constructivist pedagogy to shift education towards the needs of all learners.
Julie Mitchell is a veteran educator of 24 years currently teaching English 10 and 12 at Fairport High School in a suburb of Rochester, NY. Julie continues into her 20th year of union advocacy with New York State United Teachers currently serving on the statewide Women’s Committee and as a delegate to the Rochester Labor Council. is a veteran high school educator who was starving for resources and strategies to ensure connections amongst all of us in our classroom including one exceptionally bright student with autism