As the program coordinator for the Master of Arts in Irenic (Peace) Studies program at the Graduate Institute, Lisa is working to establish effective peace studies curricula built upon the principles of nonviolence, sustainability, compassion, and dialogue. In conjunction with developing and facilitating this program, Lisa is an educator, storyteller, and writer who uses ancient mythology, folklore, wisdom tales, personal narrative, comic books, graphic novels, and theater to generate healing, ethical reasoning, and shared understanding.
She has explored these issues with university and elementary school students, youth at risk, hospital patients, and residents of homeless shelters. Lisa believes listening empathically to our individual and collective stories is one of the most effective and lasting ways to unify humankind. Now completing her doctorate in peace studies, Lisa has spent the last five years researching how creative engagement with narrative fosters moral imagination, develops empathy, and transforms conflict, particularly surrounding issues of bullying.
Her work is featured in the book The Storytelling Classroom: Applications across the Curriculum (ed. Sherry Norfolk, Jane Stenson, and Diane Williams; Greenwood Press, 2006).Lisa has a B.A. in theater and an M.A. in oral traditions. She has performed in regional theater throughout the Midwest and in Seattle, Chicago, and New York, and was a founding member of the Moving Target Theatre Company in Brooklyn, New York.
Committed to public service, Lisa has served on many boards and committees over the past 30+ years, including a variety of cultural and diversity committees throughout Connecticut. She was Connecticut’s state representative for the Campaign to Establish a U.S. Department of Peace, and is currently on the advisory board for Connecticut’s Center for Nonviolence: A Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Institute, and the Connecticut Community Foundation’s Lit Links Committee.