Janet Nay Zadina
Janet N. Zadina, Ph.D is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tulane University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. She is a cognitive neuroscientist and former community college instructor of reading and English. She has conducted award-winning research on the neurobiology of dyslexia. She is an internationally known speaker on brain research and instruction and author of several books and articles in the fields of science and education. Her background as a teacher and reading specialist, along with her neuroimaging of dyslexia experience in the lab, serves her in her passionate devotion to developmental reading students. She sees reading instruction through the eyes of a teacher and a scientist. Because research shows that students who learn about their brain become higher achievers than those who don't, she is passionate about the importance of educating students as well as teachers about the brain. She is the 2011 winner of the Society for Neuroscience Science Educator Award given to "an outstanding neuroscientist who has made a significant impact in informing the public about neuroscience." She is also a CLADEA Fellow, which recognized her lifetime achievement in helping college developmental students. She is a member of Society for Neuroscience, Neurobiology of Language Society, National Association for Developmental Education, and College Reading and Learning Association.
Rita Smilkstein
Rita Smilkstein, Ph.D, has spoken nationally and internationally on brain-compatible education and the Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP). She has taught in middle school through graduate school, including 26 years in the Humanities Division at North Seattle Community College. Currently she is Professor Emerita, North Seattle Community College, and invited faculty in Secondary Education at Western Washington University's Woodring College of Education, Everett Campus. She has received many teaching awards, including the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development's Excellence Award, 1991, 1995; the College Reading and Learning Association's highest honor, the Robert Griffin Award, 2005; Induction as a Fellow of the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations, 2006, the highest honor in the field of Developmental Education. Her B.A. was in English at the State University of Iowa; her M.A. in English was at Michigan State University; and her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology was at the University of Washington. Her book We're Born to Learn: Using the Brain's Natural Learning Process to Create Curriculum (Corwin Press, 2003, 2nd ed., 2011) won the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society's Educator's Award of the Year, 2004. A second edition of her book Tools for Writing: Using the Natural Human Learning Process was published by Many Kites Press, 2011. She also frequently gives presentations at national conferences of educational organizations such as the College Reading and Learning Association and the National Association of Developmental Education.
Deborah Daiek
Deborah B. Daiek, Ph.D. serves as the Associate Dean for Learning Support Services, Schoolcraft College, Livonia, Michigan. She oversees the College's Library, Collegiate Skills Reading Department, English as a Second Language courses, the Education Transfer Program, and the Learning Assistance Center (LAC) which houses tutoring, Peer Assisted Learning, Writing Fellows, Student-Athlete Support System, and University Bound. Under her direction, Schoolcraft's LAC was the recipient of the John Champaign Memorial Award for an Outstanding Developmental Education Program. She provides new faculty orientation workshops on ways to engage students in the learning process. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude as well as an MA in Adult Learning, both from Western Michigan University. Additionally she holds a doctorate from Wayne State University in Instructional Technology, with an emphasis on cognition. She is twice the Past President of MDEC, the Michigan Chapter of NADE, and remains actively involved. In 1998 she was given the Outstanding Developmental Educator Award. She is a member of NADE and CRLA as well. She co-chaired NADE's Brain Compatible Education SPIN, and received NADE's Administrator for Outstanding Support of Developmental Education Award. She served as Treasurer and President for the North Central Reading Association (NCRA).
Nancy Anter
Nancy M. Anter, MAT, MA is an educational consultant and freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in the field of developmental education. She has taught reading and writing at the high school, community college, and university level, and has offered national and local workshops and seminars on learning theory and composition. She coordinated the learning center at Wayne State University. Her work involved instruction for student athletes, ESL students, and the general university population as well as individual students preparing for graduate level exams. Because she witnessed student success at both ends of the academic spectrum, developmental level to graduate level, she understands the importance of starting instruction where students are comfortable and gradually leading them to higher levels. She holds a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and two M.A.s from Wayne State University -- one in English education and the other in English, with an emphasis in composition theory. Her publications include articles in the Learning Assistance Digest and American College Personnel Association. She currently sits on the Board of Directors for Pregnancy Aid and is a member of MDEC, the Michigan chapter of NADE.
