18 RUTH S.
AMMON SCHOOL OF EDUCATION Spring 2008
Faculty Focus
Diana Feige:
A Passion for Service and Learning
“I looked forward to that kind of interaction,” she
said. “Adelphi allowed me the opportunity to supervise
students in the field as a full-time professor, and that
has been an enormous blessing.”
Dr. Feige currently teaches a course on “Service
Learning and Composition,” during which students
learn how to integrate service learning into their
lesson plans. During the course, Dr. Feige and her
students work with Habitat for Humanity, local
soup kitchens, and Heifer International, a charitable
foundation dedicated to ending hunger. In addition,
they collaborate with service learning practitioners
in the Mineola, East Meadow, Bellmore, Merrick, and
New York City schools. “University students work with
high school students, which gives them the opportunity
to appreciate experiential learning, and to see how
their teaching can be deepened by offering their
future students opportunities to actively participate in
building better worlds,” said Dr. Feige.
Students in Dr. Feige’s courses continuously reflect on
what they are learning and examine how their fieldwork
impacts the world. Dr. Feige’s research focuses on
the impact of service learning on the educational
process and the use of narrative inquiry as it explores
the complex dynamics of teaching. She is presently
working on a chapter for a book entitled In the Spirit of
C
Ubuntu: Stories of Teaching and Research, which will “focus
linical Associate Professor of Education Diana
on how service learning elevates the humanity of the
Feige specializes in the fields of adolescent
profession,” said Dr. Feige.
education and service learning, the latter
of which emphasizes an experiential approach to
In her rare free time, Dr. Feige is active with the Long
education that allows students and teachers to connect
Island Regional Service Learning Network, and she also
the curriculum with the larger community. As part of
lectures at local and regional conferences. Her long-
their course work, Dr. Feige’s students volunteer in the
term goals, she said, include deepening the School of
community.
Education’s collaboration with local school districts,
making her own classroom at Adelphi as alive and
A self-described “romantic idealist,” Dr. Feige is a
engaging as possible, and helping her students become
social worker and high school teacher by training. “I
more reflective and contemplative about their own
put myself in situations where I can do whatever I can
practice as teachers.
to make this world a bit saner,” she said. “Working in
schools and the University seems like a natural place to
As if this wasn’t enough, Dr. Feige has an even loftier
be for who I am and what I want from life.” She came
aspiration. “In my dream of dreams, to write my
to Adelphi roughly 15 years ago, attracted to the small,
memoirs about my own years as a teacher,” she said.
intimate environment and close student-teacher contact.
PHILIP CICERO M.A. ’78 AND ADELPHI:
THE BEGINNING OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP
“I
probably wouldn’t be sitting here today if of Education Miriam Pepper-Sanello, an expert in
it weren’t for Adelphi,” said Philip Cicero, special education and literacy, has contributed to the
superintendent of Lynbrook Union Free School Committee’s efforts.
District. Dr. Cicero earned his master’s degree in
1978, taking courses in special education and adaptive Lynbrook High School will soon host participants in
physical education. the Adelphi Model Program, an innovative program that
allows teacher-candidates to work with a partner district
“I was always involved with special education,” said for an entire school year. Dr. Cicero’s future goals are to
Dr. Cicero. “That’s my first love.” Prior to his current continue to forge bonds between the Lynbrook School
position, he was a special education teacher and District and the Ammon School of Education.
chairman of special education at Lindenhurst High
School. He was also previously the director of After all, he is deeply indebted to his alma mater. “Adelphi
special education services at Elwood and assistant prepared me for becoming a teacher,” said Dr. Cicero.
superintendent at Island Park Public Schools.
There is no typical day on the job for the busy
superintendent. His and his crew’s routine varies from
day-to-day, but certain activities remain constant:
interacting with parents, teachers, and school
administrators, as well as finding creative solutions to
meet the many needs of all the students in the district.
“A lot of our goals are common and full of enthusiasm,”
Dr. Cicero said. “People are self-reflecting and
assessing. Everybody wants to work for the benefit of
the students in Lynbrook, which is a great place to be.”
Dr. Cicero is also on the advisory board of the Ammon
School of Education.
“I think (the advisory board is) where school districts
and colleges create partnerships with each other,” Dr.
Cicero said. “There are some common needs—it’s about
partnerships, sharing resources, and learning.” He relays
the needs of school districts to the advisory board,
while the University, in turn, presents its own unique
challenges, such as better teacher preparation and
increased teacher training in the fields of mathematics
and science, to the board for members’ advice.
Adelphi successfully collaborated with Lynbrook
School District on hosting the “High-Stakes Testing
Conference” in October 2007, and on forming
the Lynbrook School District Reading Committee,
comprised of professors, teachers, parents, and
administrators, in June 2006. Assistant Professor