Faculty

Eric Sample

Biography

Eric Sample teaches Fundamentals of Music, Film Scoring, and Synthesis & Sound Design. He also facilitates the recording studio at Champlain College.

He is thrilled to have just completed a worldwide sabbatical, researching the music of the African diaspora and traveling to Cuba, Brazil, Kenya, Ghana, Gambia, and Senegal. He received his initial music training on the island of Jamaica, starting at the Jamaica School of Music before studying privately in Kingston with the amazing Michael Dyke (a lifelong mentor). After leaving Jamaica, Sample moved to the bright lights of New York City, and freelanced at 100+ different advertising agencies over a five-year period, getting a fascinating look at the New York media and marketing landscape.

A relentless lifelong learner, Sample has attended the following schools: the Jamaica School of Music, the Brooklyn Conservatory, the School of Visual Arts, UC Berkeley, the Berklee College of Music online, and the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Sample also loves architecture and design, having designed the layout of the Champlain Music Studio and his parents’ cottage. He is looking forward to his next project (with his mentor) entitled “Rock Hall Trilogy,” a cross cultural musical extravaganza featuring Love, Sex, Death and the Devil—all set in the teeming vibrant wondrous land of Jamaica.

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Gary Savard

Biography

Gary has over 30 years experience as a software engineer and 25 years teaching college. He is a successful entrepreneur and has a passion for passing his knowledge on to his students.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Leading Geeks
• Mythical Man Month

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Eileen Schiffer

Biography

Eileen Schiffer is an Industrial Organizational Psychologist (PhD) who has been fortunate to have had a wide range of opportunities to support students’ and clients’ in their pursuits of their professional goals. Those experiences have included individual counseling, comprehensive project management, program development and evaluation, and training and support of others who shared a commitment to facilitating academic and professional growth of students and clients.

She began her career consulting for several Fortune 100 companies, creating career resources centers and services, developing leadership succession programs, and counseling and coaching employees at all levels in their career planning processes, including those who were in crisis as a result of organizational reductions in force. Eventually she transitioned into higher education, where she has served as a professor, course designer, program administrator and innovator, and faculty trainer, mentor and coach.

Since her transition to the world of academia, she has been an advocate and driver for high quality online adult education. She has developed processes, guides and tools that facilitated faculty and student transitions during significant change initiatives. She has served as the Curriculum Specialist for School of Business undergraduate and graduate programs, as a contributor to the School of Business Strategic Planning, Curriculum Mapping, and Accreditation processes, and as Faculty Lead for both Development in Excellence Initiatives and for New Faculty Onboarding and Support. In the past few years, as a Higher Education Consultant, she has partnered with Instructional Designers at several Universities in the creation and revision of undergraduate and graduate online courses across multiple disciplines. The focus in each of those roles was on program innovation, quality assurance, and ““ always – on support of faculty and students.

She is a lifelong learner. She has completed graduate hours in education and assessment, curriculum development, instructional design, research methods, and psychometrics, and earned a graduate certificate in Sustainable Food Systems Management. She also participated as a selected member of a year-long Online Teaching Innovations Cohort, focused on assessing and improving online course quality, and served an appointment as a peer reviewer of submissions made to the Scientific & Paper Review Committee of the Global Conference on Business and Economics. She has published articles in Faculty Focus, Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, and Supervision.

Distinctions & Awards

Recipient of Champlain College merit award and recognition for Exemplary Teaching.

Publications & Abstracts

• Schiffer, E. F. (February, 2018). Time-saving tips for teaching large online classes. Faculty Focus Premium.
• Schiffer, E. F. (November, 2017). Teaching adult students with considerable professional expertise. Faculty Focus.
• Schiffer, E. F. (2017). The dreaded team assignment: developing essential leadership skills. Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, 92(4), 30-35
• Schiffer, Eileen (February, 2017). Tapping into the power of your introverts. Supervision, 78 (2), 23-26. (February, 2017)
• Schiffer, E.F. (Feb, 2013). Tips for online instructors: Managing files, feedback, and workload. Faculty Focus.
• Schiffer, E.F. (Feb, 2013). The learning relationships of online education. Marylhurst University Blog.
• Schiffer, E.F. (May/June, 2012). Is an online MBA a worthwhile investment in your future? Oregon Planner’s Journal (23-24).
• Schiffer, E.F. (2011). Resistance to Change: Implications of Individual Differences In Expression of Resistance to Change. Dissertation. University of South Florida, 123; 3443923

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Paul Schnabel

Biography

Paul Schnabel is an actor/director based in Vermont. In his long career, he has performed in leading theaters throughout the US and Europe and appeared in many feature films and shorts. More recently, he has shifted focus from performance to teaching. His work with Courageous Stage in Middlebury has taken him statewide as a teaching artist in schools at all levels. He has been at Champlain College since 2019 teaching directing and acting. He particularly enjoys working in this department and considers it his mission to strengthen the directing and acting components.
He is a long-standing member of the internationally acclaimed Riot Group out of NYC and has toured extensively with them. As part of the Riot Group, he has garnered many awards over the years, including twice for Best Ensemble from the Stage in London, and 5 Fringe First Awards from the Scotsman in Edinburgh including a First of the Firsts Award. He was a finalist for an Irene Ryan Excellence in Acting Award, and awarded Best Actor in the Vermont Stage and Screen awards.
He is co-founder and past president of Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, an incubator performance venue in the New North End of Burlington.
He has been a member of SAG AFTRA for over 25 years.

Distinctions & Awards

Irene Ryan Excellence in Acting Award, finalist
Vermont Stage and Screen Awards Best Actor, winner
Scotsmen Fringe Firsts Awards x4
First of the Firsts Award
The Stage London Best Ensemble x2
Herald Angel Awards x2

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“The stars are matter. We are matter. But it doesn’t matter.”

—Don VanVliet

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Gary Scudder

Biography

During his 20+ years at Champlain Professor Scudder has taught classes on topics such as history, literature, art, evil, film, and a variety of classes dealing with the Islamic world. He initiated and ran Champlain’s award-winning Global Modules program. In addition, he has created, taught, and led student classes with trips to Jordan, India, Zanzibar, Sri Lanka, Spain, and Portugal.

Distinctions & Awards

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Vermont Professor of the Year, 2010.

Community Contribution Award, National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE), 2010.

Andrew Heiskell Award for Innovation in International Education for Internationalizing the Curriculum, 2008-2009.

Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship, Champlain College, 2007-2008.

Teaching About Islam and Middle Eastern Culture Seminar, CIC Grant, Amman Jordan, January 2005.

Georgia Board of Regents Distinguished Professor for Teaching and Learning, 1999-2000.

Outstanding Award for Teaching, Georgia Perimeter College, 1997-1998.

Most Appreciated Faculty Member Award, Georgia Perimeter College, 1993-1994.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Charles Dickens, Bleak House
• Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet
• Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

Favorite Quote

“It was in vain that I lingered before the hawthorns.”

—Marcel Proust, Remembrance of Things Past

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Michael Sealy

Biography

Mike is the Creative Director of his own graphic design business in Burlington, Vermont. Following the completion of his Studio Art degree at the University of Vermont, Mike has been working in the local design community. Working in small design companies as well as medium sized agencies, he has more than 25 years of experience fulfilling clients’ needs. Mike is a versatile art director and graphic designer, making sure every detail is scrutinized from project conception through completion, constantly striving to deliver better solutions for his clients.

Mike loves the creative energy inherent in education; he enjoys staying involved, having taught graphic design and web design as an adjunct professor since 2014.

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Marie Segares

Biography

Marie Segares is a career intrapreneur in the non-profit health and education industries with expertise in program development, launch, and expansion. Her experience includes deployment as an assistant officer in the Community Relations unit at the American Red Cross in Greater New York during Disaster Response 787 (September 11 World Trade Center); managing administrative operations of a federally-funded public housing community health center for an academic medical center in the South Bronx; co-founding a public high school in Downtown Brooklyn; and developing an online bachelor’s degree-completion program for a faith-based, historically Black college in Dallas.

Dr. Segares earned her AB in Sociology from Barnard College, her MPH in Sociomedical Sciences with a concentration in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from Columbia University, her MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Leadership & Change Management from New York University, and her EdD in Organizational Leadership Studies from Northeastern University. Dr. Segares has taught business, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, human resources, management and organizational behavior, marketing, health education and public health, and health care management courses at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate levels in traditional/face-to-face, online, and hybrid learning environments. Her previous appointments were as an associate professor and director of the MS in Management program at St. Francis College and as an auxiliary professor and coordinator of the Health Care Management MBA program at Molloy College.

Dr. Segares is also an artisan entrepreneur, creating digital content to self-publish and for major crafts manufacturers and publishers. Her areas of research interest include artisan entrepreneurship, creative business, microenterprise, leadership, small business marketing, and gender and diversity in entrepreneurship and organizations.

Publications & Abstracts

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RMOcEWyWDomWOefX0yLzqk514dxlOZRc/view?usp=sharing

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Daniel Selicaro

Biography

Daniel Selicaro is an Assistant Professor and Program Director for Technology at Champlain College Online. He oversees bachelor degree programs for Software Development, Web Design and Development, and Computer Science, as well as the graduate program in Software Engineering and Project Management.

Dan has been at Champlain College since 2007, and has been teaching web design and development for Champlain since 2015. He began his career in print journalism as a newspaper reporter, and was the news editor for Upside magazine and the Red Herring magazine in California. After moving back to the East Coast, he worked on digital marketing at Champlain College, and was an active part of two redevelopments of the College website, champlain.edu, before he took a role in the Information Systems department.

Outside of Champlain, Dan runs his own website development company, and is on the board of directors for several local organizations — including as marketing chair at the Fellowship of the Wheel mountain biking club, the Green Mountain Montessori School, and the Essex United Soccer Club. He is an avid mountain biker, and loves to spend his time adventuring in Vermont with his two young children.

Distinctions & Awards

Outstanding Community Partner Award, ODI, 2009; Intercultural U Program 2013

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Erik Shonstrom

Biography

Erik Shonstrom is the author of several nonfiction books, including Wild Curiosity, The Wisdom of the Body, and I Probably Should’ve Brought a Tent. He has an MFA from Bennington College.

Publications & Abstracts

• Wild Curiosity
• The Indoor Epidemic
• The Wisdom of the Body: What Embodied Cognition Can Teach us about Learning, Human Development, and Ourselves
• I Probably Should’ve Brought a Tent

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

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Kristen Shull

Biography

Kristen Shull received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies, class of 2020. Her comics are featured bi-monthly in the state-wide free newspaper Seven Days. Her self-published books include three volumes of diary comics, three issues of a fantasy comic anthology, and several comic zines. She’s been teaching at Champlain College since Spring 2022.

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Warren Sides

Biography

Warren Sides is a professor of mathematics in the division of Information Technology & Science. In addition to mathematics, he has a passion for social justice and innovative teaching methods.

He is an active member of the American Mathematical Society and participates in a number of events related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as well as curriculum development and experiential learning.

Distinctions & Awards

Edward Phelps Lyman Professorship Award 2023

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

American Mathematical Society

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O’Neil

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

—Max Planck

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Barrie Silver

Biography

Barrie is an innovative, mission-driven marketing and communications professional who is passionate about social justice and social change and has been helping organizations share their stories for more than two decades.

Having spent the majority of her career working in the nonprofit sector (for large organizations like Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and hyperlocal ones like CCTV Center for Media & Democracy) she says she “specializes in performing miracles on shoestring budgets.” She is also a consummate volunteer and has been on the board of Slow Food Vermont since 2015.

A lifelong learner, Barrie likes to collect and archive information, craves to know more, and is energized by other people, new ideas, and, of course, her students.

Curriculum Vitae

READ MY CV

Favorite Quote

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

-Hillel

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Anie Sklar

Biography

Anie Sklar has been a Champlain College Online Adjunct Faculty since 2008. Anie’s classrooms emphasize self-reflection and applying topics to real life experiences. Some of Anie’s favorite comments from students are times when students’ real life personal and professional relationships improved because of what they learned in class. And students saying they appreciate Anie’s active engagement in class discussions resulting in them feeling heard, getting valuable feedback and resources, and saying they feel cared about which makes students want to care too. Anie’s teaching is always evolving including finding ways to incorporate appreciative inquiry strategies into her classroom. Increasing student engagement and identifying ways to help students thrive, excel and enable them to flourish.

Anie Sklar is a Vermont licensed Marriage and Family Therapy Therapist. For more information checkout her website at https://ottercreekcounseling.com/ There are similarities between Anie’s positive psychology approach with clients and the appreciative inquiry approach at Champlain College. Both focus on people’s strengths and successes.

Anie has been teaching bachelor level college classes since 2003. Courses include Introduction to Psychology and Interpersonal Communication.

Distinctions & Awards

Anie Sklar was the first Adjunct Faculty featured in the Champlain Online Faculty Newsletter. She has also been nominated multiple times for her Teaching Excellence at Vermont State Colleges.

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John St. Hilaire

Biography

Senior-level operations and financial executive with 32 years of experience in the natural gas industry and over 25 years in the credit union industry. Provided strategic leadership in growing Green Mountain Credit Union from a $4 million to a $95 million financial institution. Proven leadership in the Energy industry with a diverse team across the Engineering, Construction, Maintenance, Field Services, and special projects areas. Successfully operated 118 miles of transmission and 850+ miles of distribution pipelines with dynamic teams who were focused on the safe operations and integrity of the systems. Proven track record of developing teams, delivering results, and managing budgets to support financial objectives.

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Elaine St. Jean

Biography

Elaine holds a Master of Science in Leadership and a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Development and has worked in the training and talent development field for over 25 years. She is passionate about developing innovative and effective learning opportunities which utilize adult learning theory, brain science, and proven training methodologies. She enjoys sailing, kayaking, hiking, and is involved in community theater.

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