Our Team_Old

Dr. Sniad is Associate Dean for Teacher Education at Temple University and faculty member in TESOL. In addition to university teaching and administration, she has held positions directing a college access program in Camden, NJ, teaching English as a second language in the US and abroad, and leading a national training program for out-of-school education at a non-for-profit. She is the proud recipient of the 2014 Temple College of Education Owlie Award for Innovative Teaching, the 2016 College of Education Graduate teaching award, and 2017 Temple University Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her B.A. and M.A. in Linguistics are from the University of Florida, and her Ph.D. in Educational Linguistics is from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Jill Swavely has been faculty at Temple since 2001. Her current research interests involve the study of teacher preparation for teaching literacy to English learners in secondary school content areas. She has also done research in the area of second language writing for both K-12 and college-level English learners. As coordinator of Temple’s ESL certificate program, her teaching interests involve designing and teaching courses in this program that prepare teachers for designing instruction, assessments and curricula that effectively address the needs of K-12 English learners

Dr. Megeara Glah Mabry is the Program Manager for the Transforming School LIFE program. As such, she oversees the integration and implementation of program components and works closely with school leaders to assess and revise school structures and practices to improve academic and social support for English learners and their families. Megeara has 10 years of teaching experience across contexts including high school language arts, high school ESL, adult ESL, middle school EFL, and as an instructor in the TESOL and Literacy programs in the College of Education at Temple University. Megeara’s research is focused on understanding the intricacies of and best methods for teaching English learners who have experienced limited or interrupted schooling.

Jennifer Kerrigan serves as the School Instructional Coach for the Transforming School LIFE program. In this role, Jennifer works individually with high school teachers in the School District of Philadelphia as they acquire, implement and refine best practices for differentiating instruction to meet the language and literacy needs of their English language learners. Jennifer’s 20 years of experience and broad interests in first and second language acquisition, early literacy vis-à-vis adult literacy teaching and learning, the transfer of literacy skills across languages, and the growth of the teenage brain undergird her work with teachers and students alike. In pursuit of making high school content accessible to all students, Jennifer is deeply committed to partnering with teachers as they make language comprehensible and facilitate literacy development for their English learners.

Dr. Lia Sandilos is a certified school psychologist and an assistant professor in the College of Education at Temple University. The overarching goals of Lia’s research are to improve teachers’ relationships with students and to enhance their instructional effectiveness with linguistically and culturally diverse learners. She serves as the Program Evaluator for the Transforming School LIFE for ELs program. In her role as the evaluator, Lia assists with data collection, coordinates data management tasks, and conducts all data analyses.

Erica Johnston is the Program Coordinator for the Transforming School LIFE team. Erica works closely with the entire team and all participating schools to ensure cohesion in program logistics. Erica has experience teaching in a variety of language learning contexts, including early elementary, bilingual/ESL, higher education and community-based adult ESL settings. Erica is currently an instructor in the College of Education at Temple University where she also received her Master’s degree in TESOL.

Our Team_Old

Tamara Sniad, Ph.D.

Jill Swavely, Ed.D.

Megeara Glah Mabry Ph.D.

Jennifer Kerrigan, MA TESOL

Lia Sandilos, Ph.D., NSCP

Erica V. Johnston, M.S.Ed.