December 17, 2014
Leading Educators Selected for 2015 Gerstacker Fellowship at SVSU
This year, 11 outstanding Michigan educators have been selected for the Gerstacker Fellowship at Saginaw Valley State University. They will receive concentrated leadership training over a one-year period, including a capstone international experience that will send the Fellows to Poland in April.
Previous overseas trips have included Finland, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. These trips involve visits to educational institutions, where participants learn about international educational systems and corporate settings, where they discover how leadership plays out in different cultural and economic settings.
Established in 2005 and funded by an endowment from the Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation of Midland, the participants are known as Gerstacker Fellows and meet monthly on weekends. SVSU faculty from various disciplines instruct the Fellows on subjects dealing with organizational leadership, ethics, finances, communication, human resources, entrepreneurship and education with a global perspective.
Those selected for the Gerstacker Fellowship class of 2015 are:
• Lara J. Dixon, the principal at Troy Athens High School of the Troy School District
• Jennifer E. Egan, an adapted physical/health education teacher at the Woodland Developmental Center in the St. Clair County Regional Education Service Agency
• Erin Eastman, the director of Secondary Programs in the Port Huron Area Schools
• Lisa M. Fosnaugh, the assistant principal at Van Hoosen Middle School in the Rochester Community Schools
• Suzanne M. Grambush, the principal of Riverside Elementary School in the Waterford School District
• Dawn Linden, the executive director of elementary education for Ann Arbor Public Schools
• Kevin E. Moore, the assistant principal at Swan Valley High School in the Swan Valley School District
• Christian Mueller, the assistant principal at Jeannette Junior High School in the Utica Community Schools
• Laurie Pritchard, the principal at Jack Harvey Elementary School in the Utica Community Schools
• Eric Rutherford, the director of Hartley Outdoor Education Center, operated by the Saginaw Intermediate School District
• Vikki Wandmacher, the principal at White Pine Middle School in the Saginaw Township Community Schools
The participants were selected based on past academic and service accomplishments, along with outside recommendations. Each was nominated by a supervisor.
As a result of the Gerstacker endowment, there is no charge to program participants unless they elect to have the educational experience considered for graduate credit.