Field Experience Program Team

Eileen McGowan, Ed.D., Program Director

Eileen is the Director the Field Experience Program, Lecturer on Education, and Special Assistant to the Urban Superintendent's Program at Harvard. Her work focuses on the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation of mentoring programs in multiple contexts. In addition, she teaches advanced methods courses to doctoral students in researching and writing literature reviews. Her latest research is forthcoming in the Handbook of Mentoring (Kram and Ragins, Eds., in press)

Eileen consults with a number of different types of organizations including urban school systems, institutions of higher education, and for-profit organizations. Eileen received her Ed.D., C.A.S., and Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She also holds an Ed.M. from Boston College. She was a teacher of children with special needs for 14 years.

Sarah Deighton, Ed.M., Program Specialist

Sarah is the Field Experience Program Specialist and collaborates closely with Eileen in managing the program and developing the future strategy for this course. Her work includes outreach to internship sites, development and facilitation of seminars, and providing career guidance to students interested in the program.

Most recently, Sarah was the Director of Career Services and Alumni Relations at the Stanford University School of Education (SUSE). Prior to working at SUSE, Sarah worked at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. Before working in a university setting, she held a variety of roles in recruiting and marketing at Korn/Ferry International, the executive search firm.

Sarah graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2003 and continues to be an active alumna. She currently serves as a member of the School's Recent Alumni Circle.

Teaching Fellows (2009-2010)

Rachel Currie-Rubin is an advanced doctoral student in the Human Development and Education concentration. Her background includes teaching reading and writing to adults and children. She recently helped develop a reading comprehension program for first graders in Peru. Rachel's research interests include children and adult literacy in general, and specifically how perception of spoken language may be related to various aspects of reading. In addition to working on a number of research projects at HGSE, she works at Children's Hospital on a multi-disciplinary team as an educational specialist. Rachel graduated from Ithaca College with a B.S. in Speech and Language Pathology and from HGSE with an Ed.M. in Language and Literacy.

Meredith Mira is an advanced doctoral student in the Culture, Communities, and Education concentration.  Her current research focuses on the development of sociopolitical awareness among high school aged youth who are involved in youth organizing efforts to reform education.  She is currently part of the Community Organizing for School Reform Doctoral Research Practicum and has spent the last year conducting fieldwork with an intergenerational organizing group in Denver.  She is also a part of HGSE's Everyday Antiracism Working Group.  Meredith began her professional career in Chicago as a management consultant with Keane Consulting Group.  Prior to coming to HGSE, Meredith earned her M.A. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Michigan and served for three years as the Assistant Director of the Women in Science and Engineering Residence Program.  Meredith graduated from Indiana University with a B.A. in Communication & Culture, a Certificate of Business through the Liberal Arts & Management Program, and a Minor in Germanic Studies.

Wendy Robison is an advanced doctoral student in Education Policy, Leadership and Instructional Practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For the last nine years, Ms. Robison has worked on domestic and international education reform projects in the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Most recently, Ms. Robison worked as the Director of Development Operations for Citizen Schools, where she helped design a national expansion strategy, conducted programmatic and financial sustainability assessments, and lead the development of systems and operations for national and regional fundraising. Ms. Robison’s international work focuses on issues of educational access, teacher quality, and systemic reform in Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East. For three years, she helped manage a U.S. government-funded primary education program in Afghanistan. Her responsibilities included directing a $2M grants program that enrolled and tracked over 10,500 teachers in a national radio-based teacher training program offered throughout the country. Wendy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Foreign Affairs and Religious Studies with a concentration in the Middle East and Islam from the University of Virginia. She has a Master’s in Education from the International Education Policy program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Kenneth Russell is an advanced doctoral student in the Cultures, Communities and Education concentration at HGSE. His research interests relate to how education, and specifically schools as institutions, can help fulfill human rights by building empowered communities. Currently his work is focused on school/community partnerships - how these partnerships are initiated and sustained, their impact on students and communities, and the role of participation in accessing other human rights. Kenneth is from Jamaica where he worked professionally with the Ministry of Education and UNICEF before entering the doctoral program. His work with the Ministry of Education’s National Centre for Youth Development was focused on researching issues affecting youth and using these findings to inform youth programs and policies. At UNICEF he had responsibility for monitoring, evaluation and social policies and supported activities such as evaluation of UNICEF-funded programs, development of policies and legislation, and the strengthening of institutions serving children. He also taught Grade 6 in the Jamaican education system for three years as well as served as Chairman of the board of management of a school. Kenneth is advised by Fernando Reimers and works with Mark Warren and Karen Mapp on a study of organizations involved in community organizing for school reform. He holds a B.A. in Journalism form Howard University and an Ed.M in International Education Policy from HGSE.

Jennie Weiner is an advanced doctoral student in the Education Policy, Leadership, and Instructional Practice program. Her current research focuses on systemic school reform and building internal capacity at the school site. Prior to HGSE, Jennie taught middle school and high school in Los Angeles, and worked extensively in curriculum development and student mentoring.  As a senior research associate for the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) at the Milken Family Foundation, Jennie researched a variety of educational and pedagogical issues for TAP schools.  She conducted yearly program reviews at TAP sites, assisted with program development, and provided technical assistance to schools.  Most recently, she has worked for the Boston Plan for Excellence serving as a research intern focused on studying the success of a teacher leadership and induction initiative. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Amherst College and a Master’s in Education in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from HGSE.