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IEA Staff
Vivian Arceo, Program Coordinator - Yunasa
Vivian Arceo graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.A. in Communication. She has previous experience with nonprofit organizations, working with the Kesem chapter at Santa Clara as a summer camp counselor and serving on their coordinator board. She is passionate about fostering community and seeks to create positive social change. She is excited to be a part of the team to support families through Yunasa and the other IEA programs. Outside of work, Vivian enjoys catching up on her latest novel, discovering new food spots with friends, and stress watching her favorite sport teams.
Nicole Fugette, Senior Program Manager
Nicole Fugette has been a part of the IEA team since 2017 and has enjoyed getting to know countless amazing young people and their families during that time. Before IEA, she worked in a variety of educational roles, both in a formal classroom setting as well as informally through outdoor and museum education. She has a B.S. in Biology from Azusa Pacific University, with an emphasis in Ecology, and an M.A. in Science Writing from Johns Hopkins University. She is passionate about helping young people find a sense of belonging and supporting them as they find balance between the diverse parts of themselves. Outside of her work at IEA, Nicole spends her time reading, playing with her dog, exploring new places, and solving crossword puzzles.
Active Fellows and Facilitators
Amy Gaesser, Ph.D. - Yunasa Fellow
Dr. Gaesser is currently an Associate Professor at The College at Brockport, State University of New York. She received her PhD in Counselor Education with a concentration in Gifted Education from the University of Connecticut, her Masters in Counselor Education from SUNY Brockport, and her Bachelor of Science in Social Work with a minor in Religious Studies from Nazareth College of Rochester. She is a certified New York State School Counselor and a Nationally Certified Counselor with more than 20 years of experience in mental health and academia, specializing in school-based interventions to assist gifted students with a variety of developmental, social, and emotional concerns. Her research interests include the social and emotional well-being of gifted students and interventions blending Eastern, Western, and Energy Psychology to assist students in overcoming challenges and reaching their greatest potentials. Her present research examines anxiety experienced by gifted students and the efficacy of therapies incorporating acupoint stimulation, such as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), to reduce anxiety.
Shelagh Gallagher, Ph.D. - Yunasa Fellow
Dr. Shelagh A. Gallagher is the current president of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), the nation’s largest advocacy organization addressing the needs of children with advanced abilities. She comes to this role with 30 years of experience in gifted education. Some of her past positions include classroom teacher, research associate at Duke TIP and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Director of Research and Assessment at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, and 13 years as a professor, researcher, writer, and director of two national curriculum grants at UNC Charlotte. Today, Dr. Gallagher is the director of Engaged Education, where she works with groups from Charlotte to Kazakhstan, writing curricula, building programs, conducting research, and contributing to policy initiatives. She provides professional learning on topics including personality characteristics of giftedness, advanced curriculum and instruction, and Problem-Based Learning. Dr. Gallagher is a 9-time winner of the NAGC award for outstanding curriculum for her Problem-Based Learning units. A life-long advocate for gifted students, she co-authored the national policy report Americans Agree and led the groundbreaking advocacy initiative Talent Delayed/Talent Denied II in North Carolina. In addition to her NAGC service, Shelagh served six terms on the NCAGT Board of Directors and two as a US delegate for the World Council for Gifted and Talented. Most importantly, she mentors in a 4th-grade reading program and spends summers with gifted youth at Camp Yunasa.
Elizabeth Jones, President Emeritus & Co-Founder
Ms. Jones has been an educator, researcher, and administrator of educational programs for over 45 years. She holds a master’s degree in special education from the University of Southern California and has completed doctoral work in the field of educational policy and learning theory. Ms. Jones served as the Associate Director of Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) and the Director of the Western Region for 10 years prior to founding the Institute for Educational Advancement (IEA) in 1998, a nonprofit dedicated to serving the unique educational needs of gifted children and their families. While at CTY, Ms. Jones served as Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Sally Ride and Dr. JoBea Way for a NASA and National Science Foundation-sponsored educational initiative called KidSat. She received recognition from the National Diffusion Network for the creation and implementation of exemplary programs for underserved gifted students and specialized in the intellectual, social, and emotional needs of students. She also created and implemented the Sarah D. Barder Fellowship teacher recognition program and expanded the scope of services at CTY. As President of IEA Ms. Jones was contracted to assist in the creation and implementation of the Davidson Young Scholars program. With IEA, she went on to lead in the creation and implementation of the award-winning Yunasa summer camp for the gifted and the Caroline D. Bradley Scholarship program. Since its inception, IEA has impacted the lives of over 12,000 young people through direct programs and services. Ms. Jones currently serves on the Advisory Board for GRO Gifted, the Advisory Board for Young and Healthy, and the Board of Directors for Math Academy.
Jamie MacDougall – Yunasa Facilitator
Jamie MacDougall has been working with gifted kids for over 20 years with positions including classroom teacher, undergraduate educator at Purdue University, Indiana high ability field coach, NAGC middle grades chair, and Head of Middle School at Sycamore School. She was the Indiana Association for the Gifted Teacher of the Year, as well as NAGC’s A. Harry Passow’s Teacher Scholar Award winner. From book clubs to hiking trips to plays, musicals, and dances, some of Jamie’s favorite educational moments include experiential learning. When not in the classroom, camp is Jamie’s second home. A long-time camp counselor, Jamie’s camp work has taken her to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, the Smoky Mountains, the Florida Keys, Rocky Mountain National Park, Yosemite, and endless trails and waterways in between. Jamie has heard and seen first hand the palpable power of Yunasa through some of her all-time favorite students and has been counting down the days until camp.
Samantha Outcalt, PH.D. - Yunasa Facilitator
With a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a graduate certificate in Gifted Education, Samantha Outcalt works as the staff Psychologist at Sycamore School in Indianapolis, an independent school serving gifted students. There she directs the social-emotional wellness program and offers individual and group counseling to students as well as consultation to teachers and parents. Dr. Outcalt integrates her expertise as a board-certified health psychologist into her work with an emphasis on the psychology of emotion, mind-body interventions, and a prevention-oriented approach of building emotional and interpersonal intelligence. She recharges in the wilderness and loves any outdoor travel adventure with her three kids, whether kayaking, rock climbing, hiking, rafting, snorkeling, or whatever the local landscape may invite.
Gordon Smith – Yunasa Facilitator
Gordon Smith of Gifted and Growing is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor with 24 years of experience. He works exclusively with gifted adolescents and adults as a counselor, coach, and instructor of Improv Comedy. Gordon has lived in Asheville, MC for about 30 years and served two terms as an elected member of Asheville’s City Council. He is a published poet as well as the organizer of The Big Asheville Science Salon. Gordon loves travel, chess, leisure sports, yard art, and all things neurodivergence.
Counselors
Senior/Retired Fellows
James Delisle, Ph.D. Emeritus
Dr. James (Jim) Delisle has taught gifted children and those who work on their behalf for more than 35 years. Jim retired from Kent State University in 2008 after 25 years of service there as a professor of special education. Throughout his career, Jim has taken time away from college teaching to return to his “classroom roots”, volunteering as a teacher as well as teaching gifted middle school students one day a week. Currently, Jim works part-time with highly-gifted 9th and 10th graders. The author of more than 250 articles and 19 books, Jim’s work has been translated into multiple languages and has been featured in both professional journals and in popular media, such as The New York Times, People Magazine, and on Oprah!
Patricia Gatto-Walden, Ph.D.
Patricia Gatto-Walden, Ph.D, is a nationally recognized psychologist, who has worked therapeutically with gifted, highly and profoundly gifted children, adolescents and adults for over three decades. In her consulting practice, she aids individuals to embrace their whole self, which promotes contentment, health and well-being. Her foundational book, “Embracing the Whole Gifted Self,” personifies giftedness. She is a featured speaker at international, national and state gifted conferences and teacher trainings. She is a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Educational Advancement and has received two national awards: Anne Marie Roeper’s 2014 Service to Gifted Youth, and SENG’s 2016 Clinician of the Year.
Elizabeth Meckstroth, M.S.W. Emeritus
Ms. Meckstroth earned a master’s in education and a master’s in social work. She has worked in the field of gifted education since 1979, serving families and their social/emotional and educational issues. She has published numerous articles and is a co-author of Teaching Young Gifted Children in the Regular Classroom and Guiding the Gifted Child. Her work focuses primarily on self-development and the highly gifted.
Michael M. Piechowski, Ph.D.
Michael M. Piechowski, Ph.D, is the author of “Mellow Out, They Say. If I Only Could: Intensities and Sensitivities of the Young and Bright and Living with Intensity” (with S. Daniels). Earning a Ph.D first in Molecular Biology and later in Counseling Psychology, he served as a faculty member at three universities and one small college. He has published extensively in the areas of emotional development, developmental potential of the gifted, and emotional and spiritual giftedness. He is one of the original designers of Yunasa. In 2016, he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by SENG and the NAGC Global Awareness Network Annemarie Roeper Award. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Stephanie Tolan, M.A.
Stephanie Tolan, M.A. is author of 28 books of fiction for children and young adults, including the Newbery Honor Award-winning novel “Surviving the Applewhites” and “Applewhites at Wit’s End”, “Listen!, Welcome to the Ark”, “Flight of the Raven”, and “Ordinary Miracles”. Her non-fiction writing includes “Guiding the Gifted Child” (co-author), “Change Your Story, Change Your Life” and “Out of Sync: Essays on Giftedness”. Additional writings include, an article about highly gifted children that has been translated into more than 40 languages, “Is It a Cheetah?,” and a chapter titled “Profoundly Gifted: Outliers Among the Outliers”–in the “SAGE Handbook on Gifted and Talented Education”. She is a well-known lecturer and advocate for highly gifted young people.
Dan Tichenor, M.A.
Mr. Tichenor is a journalist, editor, storyteller, and teacher of gifted and special needs students. He is also the father of six gifted (now adult) kids and has been active in summer programs for gifted kids in the college and private school sector. Mr. Tichenor is a firm believer in the notion of “taking it outside” and his activities are firmly rooted in being outdoors and in learning from the environment. He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism and has two master’s degrees from Northeastern Illinois University.
