The overarching goal of this ongoing project is to reduce the number of children who move through the education system while struggling to find peace.
The earliest iteration of this website was designed in December 2019 as a capstone project for the author’s Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. It was designed to recast academic research into accessible chunks of insight for busy education professionals. It filters a vast collection of published articles, so that educators can access published resources on their own. It also synthesizes information so that teachers, administrators, and the health agencies that regulate them will have an ongoing source of current, accessible, scholarly and empirical content to help with classroom management. The icons used to direct the reader were retrieved from Canva.com.
I am grateful to:
Erin Basinger, PhD who reviewed the final product and who was the first to grasp the message I aim to communicate. By serving as the capstone committee supervisor to my project, she supported the creation of the interdisciplinary bridge I wished to build.
Anne H. Cash, PhD, who reviewed the educational components of this work. She offered thought provoking commentary that guided refinement of the ideas I wanted to express. The bridge built between educational philosophy and the neural basis of empathy was strengthened by her insight.
Doug Markant, PhD, who reviewed the material relating to cognitive neuroscience. His comments helped me to ensure my explanations of the neural basis of empathy were accurate and clear.
Mark Faust, PhD, who directed the acquisition of my Cognitive Science graduate certificate, and who provided education in the area of cognitive neuroscience. The journal articles he offered to expand our understanding of complex neural circuitry were extremely useful.
Anita Blanchard, PhD the director of the Graduate Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies program, who provided insight regarding the literature review and the annotated bibliography.
Tiffany Gallicano, PhD, who significantly advanced my knowledge of how social media platforms can be applied to share information between those who care about children. She also cared about me in a way that models supportive and invested teaching.
Elizabeth Stearns, PhD, for grounding me in the science of sociological research.