PLATO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Description:
The board of PLATO is both a governing board and a working board. Board members provide leadership, set direction and policy, and share overall responsibility for fundraising, development and financial management. Because PLATO has only two part-time staff members, the board also is responsible for the hands-on work required to fulfill PLATO’s mission and build a sustainable and strong organization. Board members should expect to devote roughly an average of 8 hours each month to the organization.
General Responsibilities:
  • Attend board meetings, including in-person, telephone and videoconference meetings
  • Chair or provide a significant leadership role for one of PLATO’s board committees, for a two-year term.
  • Monitor email regularly and participate in board email discussions.
  • Maintain annual PLATO membership.
  • Read all meeting materials prior to meetings, and openly communicate opinions.
  • Maintain confidentiality of board discussions.

Michael Burroughs, president of PLATO, also serves asbthe Director of the Kegley Institute of Ethics and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at California State University, Bakersfield. He recently published a co-authored book (with Jana Mohr Lone) entitled Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016). This book focuses on the theory and practice of doing philosophical and ethical work with young children. Michael also researches and has published several articles and chapters in the areas of community engaged philosophy, philosophy with children, ethics, education, critical philosophy of race, and social epistemology.


Allison Cohen
Vice President
Langley High School

Allison Cohen, Vice President of PLATO, is an Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Philosophy teacher at Langley High School in McLean, VA.  She is dedicated to bringing quality philosophy curricula to high schools across the nation and expanding opportunities for students to engage in philosophical questioning and reasoning. Allison has presented papers at several national conferences on topics such as: critical thinking, argument diagramming, affirmative action, and genetic enhancement.  She is an adjunct professor at American University where she teaches Essentials of Effective Instruction for the Department of Education.  Allison also serves on the Board of Directors for Street Law, a national nonprofit committed to preserving and enhancing civics education in our schools, and the Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum.

Kelly Laas, secretary for PLATO, also works as the Librarian of the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Here she works on developing resources and strategies to help integrate ethics into university-level courses and research projects in engineering and the sciences. She is also currently the Upper Midwest Regional Representative for the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl and has worked extensively with colleagues from the Chicago area to help organize the Chicago High School Ethics Bowl. Kelly is currently the secretary of the PLATO executive board and the managing editor of P4: Pre-College Philosophy and Public Practice.

Stephen Kekoa Miller, Humanities Department chair at Oakwood Friends School and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Marist College, has taught philosophy and religious studies for the past 15 years in Poughkeepsie NY. Stephen has developed a wide range of courses from first grade philosophy through upper level college courses, and a philosophy series for parents.  Stephen’s research interests lately have centered on pre-college philosophy, philosophy of education, virtue ethics and emotions.  Stephen is also on the board of the United Nations Association-Mid Hudson Valley and serveson  the Teachers Advisory Council of the National Humanities Center. Along with being PLATO's treasurer, he is also co-chair of PLATO’s Education Committee.


Jana Mohr Lone
Founder and President Emeritus
University of Washington

Jana Mohr Lone is Director of the Center for Philosophy for Children and Affiliate Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Washington, and the author of The Philosophical Child, co-author of Philosophy in Education: Questioning and Dialogue in Schools, and co-editor of Philosophy and Education: Introducing Philosophy to Young People. She works with pre-college teachers and students in Seattle schools and around the country and with UW students, parents, school administrators, and others interested in philosophical inquiry with youth. Jana is the founding president of PLATO and the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Questions: Philosophy for Young People.


Janice Moskalik
Board Member
University of Washington

Janice Moskalik is an Instructor in the Philosophy Department at Seattle University. She has also worked with the UW Center for Philosophy for Children for a number of years and is a member of their Board of Directors. Janice received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Washington, and her LLB from the University of British Columbia. Her main research areas are ethics, philosophy of law, and philosophical pedagogy. Recently, UW’s Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities has supported Janice’s research in philosophical pedagogy, awarding her two Andrew W. Mellon Fellowships through their project Reimagining the Humanities PhD.


Wendy Turgeon
Board Member
St. Joseph's College

Wendy C. Turgeon is a Professor of Philosophy at St. Joseph’s College-NY.  She has been involved in 'Philosophy with/for Young People' for many years and has developed courses and programs for undergraduates and graduate students in introducing philosophy in pre-college education. She has served on the boards of ICPIC, PLATO, and NAACI, three organizations that work to promote philosophy throughout education and advocate for children as thinkers and members of society.
 


Thomas Wartenberg
Board Member
Mount Holyoke College

Forthcoming


Roberta Israeloff
Board Member
Squire Family Foundation ex officio Member

Forthcoming



MEET OUR STAFF


Ariel Sykes
Communications Coordinator
Montclair State University

Kate Goldyn
Development Coordinator
University of Washington
Jana Mohr Lane, President
University of WashingtonThomas Wartenberg, Vice President
Mount Holyoke College

Roberta Israeloff, Secretary
Squire Family Foundation

Stephen Miller, Treasurer
Oakwood Friends, Marist College

Michael Burroughs
Rock Ethics Institute, Pennsylvania State University

Allison Cohen
Langley High School, Virginia

Jessica Davis
Teachers College, Columbia University

Jim Davis
BU Academy, Boston

Sara Goering
University of Washington

Steven Goldberg
Oak Park and River Forest High School, Chicago

Polly Hunter
University of Virginia

Megan Laverty
Teachers College, Columbia University

Janice Moskalik
University of Washington

Bart Schultz
University of Chicago

Wendy Turgeon
St. Joseph’s College

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