---------------------------------------------------------- Case Study: Media & Democracy ---------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Biographies



Stuart Chandler - As the proud son of two retired Jeffco teachers and a graduate of Jeffco schools, Stuart knew in fourth grade that he wanted to be a teacher.  As fate would have it, he is now in his 15th year of education in Jeffco schools.  It’s possible that the profession is in his blood as he won the Sallie Mae First Class Teacher Award for Colorado in his first year of teaching.  After teaching 5th and 6th grades for 13 years, Stuart now finds himself as the Curriculum Content Specialist in Social Studies for grades 3-6.  He links his passion for Social Studies to his experience as a classroom teacher attending Jeffco’s Teaching American History Institute, and as they say, things haven’t been the same since!  Outside of education, Stuart loves traveling to see live music, physical fitness, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, and being an uncle.


Dorian N. De Long - Obama Delegate, CD 7 -Dorian has been a social studies teacher at Thornton High School for over ten years. This is his first time participating in the Democratic National Convention. He plans to use his experience as a delegate to bring meaning and relevance of the democratic process to his students. Prior to his career as an educator, Dorian served six seasons as a trail crew laborer, wildfire firefighter in Rocky Mountain National Park. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Metropolitan State College of Denver, and he is completing his master’s degree in the humanities from Colorado College. Dorian is married to Shaylyn, also an educator, and has a daughter Genevieve.


Chris Elnicki - A fourth generation Coloradoan, Chris is beginning his 23rd year as an educator, in which he has taught all levels, from preschool to college. He is currently the K-12 Social Studies District Coordinator for Cherry Creek Schools. Previous to his current assignment, Chris taught students social studies, humanities and technology at Thunder Ridge Middle School for 16 years. Prior to his years in Cherry Creek, he taught high school and middle school students in Englewood and Elizabeth. In 1995, Chris was recognized with a James Madison Memorial Fellowship, a $24,000 award provided to one teacher from each state, each year, to assist with graduate studies. He received his masters from the University of Colorado at Denver in History and Political Science with an emphasis on the Constitution, the environment, and the West.
He is the President of the Colorado Council for the Social Studies and actively involved as an advisor for social science, history, and civic educational outreach programs at the local and national level. Chris enjoys wilderness experiences, including fly fishing, backpacking, and just plan silliness. His wife Amy teaches 2nd graders at Antelope Ridge Elementary, and both his daughter and son attend Cherokee Trail High School.


Will Elsbury - Serves as the Pre-Twentieth Century Military History Specialist for the Library of Congress Humanities and Social Sciences Division. The majority of his work in the division focuses on Civil War era military history, and he also serves as a generalist in the field of American History. He has been a history teacher and reference librarian for 20 years and has worked in various schools, libraries and archives, including the University of Nebraska, the University of Missouri, the Missouri State Historical Society, Baker University, and at the award-winning Johnson County Library in Overland Park, Kansas, serving as a supervisory reference librarian in charge of the genealogy and local history collections.  He received his MA in American History from the University of Nebraska in 1990, and his MLS from the University of Missouri in 1996.

His daily work at the Library Congress presents him with research challenges of many kinds. He has conducted research for former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and various agencies and organizations such as the Pentagon Library, the White House Commission on Remembrance, the U.S. Army Military History Institute, and the Smithsonian Institute.

Will recently contributed a review article on the C.S.S. Shenandoah to H-CivWar and also contributed research to a 2005 American Heritage Magazine article on the history of missing-in-action American servicemen. He has been interviewed for a segment on the Grand Army of the Republic by the PBS television program History Detectives. In 2003, Will presented a series of lectures on Library of Congress digital history collections at the University of Nebraska, focusing on Civil War materials. He has given opening remarks for several book lectures at the Library of Congress focusing on Civil War era topics, including Walt Whitman’s time in Washington, DC and the Soldier’s Home cottage that President Lincoln used as his wartime retreat.


Barb Figg


Carla Frenzel - Northern Minnesota is where I hail from.  I earned my BA in Social Science Secondary Education from the College of St. Scholastica, a small liberal arts college in Duluth Minnesota and my MA in School Administration and Education Policy from the University of Denver and the Ritchie Program for School Leaders.

During the last ten year I have taught middle school Social Studies, the last eight have been in Denver Public Schools at both Grant Middle School and Bruce Randolph Middle School. In 2004-2005 I had the opportunity to take a leave of absence and teach in Kenya for the year.  It was a life changing experience rich with learning about culture, history, geography and the people of Kenya. 

As the Secondary Social Studies Coordinator I am excited to work with the teachers in DPS at both the middle and high school levels.  With all the recent work over the last few years in redesigning the curricula at all grade levels for Social Studies we have the unique opportunity to engage students in learning about their community, their world, their history and themselves in a way we never have before.  “Never doubt that a small group of committed, caring citizens can change the world.  In fact it is the only thing that ever has.”  This quote by Margaret Mead is certainly being acted upon with our committed Social Studies teachers in DPS and I am honored to work with these committed, caring teachers!

I have been a part of the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers since 1997, first a volunteer and now as a board member.  The Colorado Vincentian Volunteers invites young adults from around the United States to come and live and work in Denver for a year. The volunteers work in non profits near downtown Denver. When I was a volunteer I was an educator with Project PAVE.

Colorado is the perfect location to do all the things I enjoy:  hiking, camping, walking, gardening and snowshoeing.  I also enjoy cooking, entertaining and spending time with my family, especially all of my nieces and nephews. 


Laura McCall - A Professor of History and member of the honors faculty at Metropolitan State College of Denver. She holds the Ph.D. in American History and a Masters' Degree in French History from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and a Bachelor of Arts from Northwestern University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. Other academic honors include Phi Alpha Theta Historians' Honorary, Alpha Lambda Delta Scholastic Honorary, and Delta Kappa Gamma Women's Education Honorary. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant and a Newberry Library Fellowship. The Golden Key National Honor Society awarded her Professor of the Year for Metropolitan State College in 1996 and as the Outstanding Researcher/Scholar in 2001.

Dr. McCall is a dedicated teacher who believes ongoing research enhances a scholar's pedagogical skills. She has co-edited A Shared Experience: Men, Women and The History of Gender (New York University Press, 1998) as well as Across The Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West (Routledge, 2001) and has published extensively in women's history, American family history, and the history of the American frontier. She has twice served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the Early Republic as well as its Advisory Board. As of this printing, McCall has presented over fifty papers at professional conferences throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. Primarily a cultural and intellectual historian, Dr. McCall seeks to understand how ideas influence behavior and how events shape thought.


Michelle Pearson - A Social Studies teacher at Hulstrom Options School in the Adams 12 school district. She is the recipient of several fellowships which have focused on the design of primary source lessons for PBS, Walden Family Playhouse, NEH, the White House Historical Association, and the National Consortium of Teaching Asia. She was recognized as the 2007 Colorado Technology Teacher of the Year, the 2008 Elgin Heinz Award Winner in Humanities, and received a Colorado State Honors Award for excellence in Historic Preservation in 2008.

She designs lessons as a volunteer for the White House Historical Association, National Park Service, and the Smithsonian Institution while working with educators across the state to infuse hands-on teaching of history into the curriculum with the use of primary sources and technology. She is committed to the Preserve America program and works to bring preservation education and activities to the classroom on a regular basis.

Michelle has a B.A. in History, Geography, and Historic Preservation from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Her publications and projects include a lesson collection based on the journal White House History, two books on the history of Denver entitled Historic Sacred Landmarks of Denver, and Historic Denver Landmarks for Children and Families, and several American history articles for Cobblestone Magazine and other local history and preservation journals. She has three boys who are active Junior Rangers and love the presidents as much as she does and is married to a husband who tolerates history but lives for technology.


John Steinle - A native of Hamilton, Ohio, earned his bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Dayton in 1972.  After several years as a commercial artist, he decided to pursue a career in history.  After receiving a Master’s Degree in Museum and Archival Management from Wright State University, Steinle worked as a Curator and Archivist at the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Cincinnati Historical Society.  He then served as Director at several Ohio museums before emigrating to Colorado in 1992.  In 1994, Steinle became the Administrator of the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, Colorado.  From 1995 to 2005, he taught history classes at Red Rocks Community College and the Community College of Aurora.

Steinle is the co-author with Richard Scamyhorn of  Stockades in the Wilderness: The Frontier Forts and Settlements of Southwestern Ohio, 1788-1795.   

Since 1975, Steinle has been a member of many different living history and reenactment groups, participating in many of the Revolutionary War Bicentennial and Civil War commemorative events and reenactments, and in programs in France, England, and Canada. He participated in many events across the Unites States celebrating the history of the Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike expeditions. Steinle has given presentations on Lewis and Clark and Pike at the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, Travelers’ Rest State Park in Montana, Adams State College in Alamosa, the Longmont History Museum, the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and many other locations.


Kelly Jones-Wagy - Kelly is a Social Studies teacher at Brighton High School. Currently in her third year of teaching, she integrates primary source learning and technology daily into her classroom, including PowerPoints, Wiki's, Blogs, Primary Source Research and CPS Clickers. Kelly has a B.A. in History and a minor in Social Studies Education from the Metropolitan State College of Denver.