Presenters
*Current as of June 11, 2008*

Jane Bluestein, Ph.D. , Keynote Speaker
Dr. Bluestein works with educators, counselors, healthcare professionals, parents and other community members. She has written several award-winning books, including "The Win-Win Classroom," "Creating Emotionally Safe Schools," and "Being a Successful Teacher." A former inner-city teacher, crisis intervention counselor, teacher training program coordinator and volunteer with high-risk teens, Dr. Bluestein is currently president of Instructional Support Services, Inc., a consulting and resource firm in Albuquerque, N.M. Visit www.janebluestein.com to learn more.

Stan Davis, Keynote Speaker
Stan Davis is the author of "Empowering Bystanders in Bullying Prevention" and "Schools Where Everyone Belongs: Practical Strategies to Reduce Bullying." His interactive keynotes and workshops integrate research, practical experience and story telling. As a social worker and school counselor, Davis has been a human rights and civil rights advocate for many years. For over 10 years, he has focused on ways that schools can prevent and address bullying. He has trained school faculties across the country. His work has been featured in national newspaper and on radio programs. He also appeared on a special 20/20 report on bullying with John Stossel. For more information on Stan, visit www.stopbullyingnow.com.

Charisse Nixon, Ph.D., Keynote Speaker
Dr. Nixon is the co-author of "Girl Wars: 12 Strategies That Will End Female Bullying," and the author of numerous scholarly journal articles addressing prevention and intervention efforts in the realm of relational aggression. She is an assistant professor of developmental psychology at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and the director of research & evaluation for The Ophelia Project®. Dr. Nixon's research focuses on: the role of normative beliefs in RA, the construct of empathy with respect to RA, the exploration of cognitive and emotional correlates as they relate to RA, and examining children's cognitive and emotional coping strategies as a result of peer aggression.

Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., Featured Presenter (left)
Dr. Hinduja is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University. He received his Ph.D. in criminal justice from Michigan State University.

Justin Patchin, Ph.D., Featured Presenter (right)
Dr. Patchin is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University.

For the past several years, Dr. Hinduja and Dr. Patchin have been exploring the online behaviors of adolescents, including social networking and cyberbullying. They travel across the United States training educators, parents and others on how to keep kids safe online. They administer the Web site www.cyberbullying.us -- which serves as an information clearinghouse for those interested in learning more about cyberbullying. They also have a book on cyberbullying due out in the fall of 2008 called "Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and Responding to Cyberbullying."

Trudy Ludwig, Featured Presenter
Trudy Ludwig is a children's advocate, speaker and author of "My Secret Bully," "Just Kidding, Sorry!" and "Trouble Talk." Her nationally acclaimed picture books have received rave reviews from leading educators, experts and organizations for her passion and compassion in addressing relational aggression and helping children to cope and thrive in their social world. Ludwig has been profiled on national and regional television, radio and newsprint. She speaks at schools, assemblies and conferences around the United States and collaborates with leading anti-bullying experts and organizations. For more information about Ludwig, visit www.trudyludwig.com.

Workshop Presenters

Katie Allison
Katie Allison is the director of training for The Ophelia Project. Allison's professional expertise is in the areas of education and nonprofit administration. Prior to her involvement with The Ophelia Project, Allison provided counseling services, taught elementary school students and worked with children with special needs. She holds a master's degree in counseling, and studied at the Harvard Summer Institute under Dr. Burton White, author of "The First Three Years of Life." Today, Allison serves as a member of The Ophelia Project's national program development and training team, and is a CASS: Creating a Safe School™ consultant.

Jayne Anderson
Jayne Anderson received her B.S. in special education at Banbury College, Oxford, England. Anderson has worked within educational, social service and law enforcement background during her employment. At present, she is an education and training specialist at Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, presenting education programs on topics such as sexual harassment, sexual violence and risk reduction to a wide variety of audiences including students first through 12th grades, college students, parents, community groups and professional trainings.

Mary A. Baird
Mary Baird is the president and CEO of The Ophelia Project, and has been involved with the organization since its inception in 1997. Baird received her master's degree in health education and remains committed to promoting the health and well-being of children and adults across the country. She is responsible for directing all facets of The Ophelia Project, including management of all Ophelia programs and administrative activities, assisting with the coordination of national fundraising, public relations and marketing efforts and working collaboratively with The Ophelia Project's board of directors.

Gail Brown
Gail Brown is an education and training specialist for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR). She received her B.S. in elementary and kindergarten education from The Pennsylvania State University and is a Pennsylvania certified kindergarten through 8th grade teacher. Brown has worked at PAAR for six years doing education programs on topics such as bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, sexual violence and risk reduction to a wide variety of audiences including students first through 12th grades, college students, parents, community groups and professional trainings.

Erika Dauber
Erika Dauber has been involved with The Ophelia Project for more than eight years, both as a volunteer college student mentor and part of the national staff. A self-confessed technology addict and MySpace user, Erika presents on the issue of cyberbullying and the culture of the "always on" generation. She earned her bachelor's degree in communication and media from Penn State Erie, The Behrend College and continues to deepen her knowledge through working relationships with researchers in the field of cyberbullying and Internet safety. In the emerging field of cyberbullying and Internet safety issues, she takes a unique perspective on online social safety and bullying prevention.

Jane Finkenbine
Jane Finkenbine is the director of The Ophelia Project of Southeast Wisconsin, an Opheliate of the national office. OP of SE WI offers programs and training to schools and community organizations. During the 2007-2008 school year, through partnerships with Girl Scouts, local schools, GIrls, Inc., area churches, University of Wisconsin-Parkside and the Racine YMCA, OP of SE WI served over 2,000 youth and 500 adults. Finkenbine has worked for various non-profit organizations for the past 15 years and is a former middle school English teacher. In addition to her responsibilities at OP of SE WI, she works with community organizations as a diversity trainer and facilitation specialist.

Chivon Fitch
Chivon Fitch holds a B.A. in psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and an M.A. from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She has served in administrative roles at a university research center and The Ophelia Project, where she is associate director of research. In addition, she has also worked as a research consultant for a number of organizations and clients. Her work has included educational evaluations, public health issues and behavior health. Fitch's areas of expertise include statistics, research methodology and social inequalities.

Judy Freedman
Drawing from more than 20 years of experience as a social worker in suburban Chicago schools, Freedman has created a groundbreaking program to teach children and parents how to deal effectively with teasing and develop life-long coping skills. She is creator and author of "Easing the Teasing" which empowers children and teens with strategies to manage and overcome painful teasing incidents. "Easing the Teasing" has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, and Freedman has had articles published in ERIC Digest and the Chicago Parent Magazine. She has appeared on NBC, Fox News Channel and local media to comment on school violence. Her book, "Easing the Teasing-Helping Your Child Cope with Name-calling, Ridicule and Verbal Bullying" was published by McGraw-Hill in 2002.

Marilyn Goldhammer
Marilyn Goldhammer is an expert in teacher training, parent education and curriculum development. She earned her master's degree in early childhood education at George Washington University and uses her knowledge in writing curricula for The Ophelia Project. Marilyn also serves as an adjunct professor at American University's School of Education, where she is responsible for mentoring student teachers and teaching educational psychology at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Laura Hammel
Laura Hammel is an assistant professor and program director for the public relations and marketing communications degree program at Ursuline College in Pepper Pike, Ohio. She is ABD at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, with plans to graduate in December 2008. Hammel's area of research interest is the impact of electronic media on adolescent girls' relationally aggressive behavior. She is conducting research in late spring 2008 in a Midwestern middle school on the efficacy of intervention on the behavior.

Denise Koebcke
Denise Koebcke has taught for the Valparaiso Community School Corporation for 15 years. She graduated with highest distinction from Purdue University and received a master's degree in educational technology from Indiana State University. In 2003, she partnered with The Ophelia Project to bring the CASS: Creating a Safe School™ program to Valparaiso. She works as a consultant to help schools address the negative social climate and lack of positive leadership that permeates adolescent relationships today. Koebcke is the creator and coordinator of Team LEAD, the first bystander-based leadership program in the field.

Christine Linkie
Christine Linkie is The Ophelia Project's director of school programs and program development. She has worked with children and families for many years, most recently as a therapist in public education inclusion programming for students with special needs. Linkie has a master’s degree in occupational therapy; her background also includes curriculum development and theater arts-in-education. Linkie oversees school programs across the country. She is responsible for the advancement of new programming to address the development of prosocial skills, healthy relationships, and safe environments to help create schools and communities that are caring and productive.

Nancy Mullin
Nancy Mullin is the director at Bullying Prevention, Inc. Previously she worked as a research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women where she directed both the Project on Teasing and Bullying (since 2000) and the Preschool Empathy Project (since 1998). She is also a training director for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Group (Clemson University). Mullin currently conducts research-based training and consultation about bullying prevention nationally. Her work focuses on bringing research and best practices about bullying prevention into schools and promotes awareness about the negative effects that bullying and related gender role stereotypes have on both school climate and student performance.

Michelle Gwinn Nutter
Michelle Gwinn Nutter is a safe schools coordinator with the Center for Safe Schools and is a Pennsylvania-certified teacher. Prior to joining the safe schools team, she was a civil rights investigator with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. During her 10 years with that office, she conducted numerous presentations to schools, communities and law enforcement departments on the topics of: organized hate groups, hate crimes, school-based harassment, prejudice reduction, diversity, gangs, terrorism awareness and First Amendment issues. As a safe schools coordinator, Nutter continues to provide technical assistance to schools and communities on these issues by speaking at various workshops, conferences and teacher-in-service trainings and student assemblies.

Dan Sackheim
Dan Sackheim is the program consultant in the Educational Options Office of the California Department of Education. He is responsible for monitoring and supporting the establishment and operation of community day schools and opportunity education. Sackheim serves on a number of advisory boards and statewide workgroups including the California Collaborative for Youth Development, Improving Transition Outcomes for Youth with Disabilities, Real Game California, CDE NCLB Professional Development Workgroup and the Community Day School Network. He has presented at numerous state and national conferences.

Dr. Mini Wallace
Dr. Wallace is a board certified pediatrician, currently working as a pediatric hospitalist fellow at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. She went to medical school at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in Erie, Pennsylvania, and then completed her residency at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. While in Cleveland, she studied resident perspectives on bullying and designed educational measures for residents and attending physicans to further increase awareness about bullying.

Joy Wenke
Joy Wenke has been a bilingual educator for 22 years. The last six years have been spent at a high-poverty school with 87% English language learners. She has been an integral member of the leadership team in creating a safe social, emotional and physical environment for the students at McKinley Elementary School in San Jose, California. She has created and maintains a mentor program and girls group to nurture emotional well-being of students. Her current position is English language development facilitator.