Staff Biographies

RONALD STOWE
President & Co-Founder
Co-founder and president of IEA, Ron provides professional experience in business management and planning, including domestic and international corporate, government and non-profit operations. A leader in multi-disciplinary program development and in local, national and international bi-partisan government relations, Ron also has a background in media relations, fund-raising, public speaking and advocacy. Prior to establishing IEA in 2002, Ron was the Vice President of Government Relations Worldwide at Eli Lilly and Company and before that had a 20 year business career as Vice-President of Washington Operations for Pacific Telesis Group, and VP of International and Legislative Affairs at Satellite Business Systems, an IBM/Comsat partnership. Before entering the private sector, Ron served as Assistant Legal Adviser of United Nations Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

With extensive board level experience in management of non-profit and cultural institutions, Ron is an active member of the Board of Trustees at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC, and has served on the boards of the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Washington Opera, and Arena Stage and on the corporate advisory committee of the Folger Shakespeare Library. He recently joined the Board of Directors for the Center for Creative Resources in New York City. Ron is a graduate of New York University School of Law, Brown University and the Interlochen Arts Academy.

DONNA POWER STOWE
Vice President and Co-Founder
Donna Power Stowe brings to the Institute thirty years of experience in classroom teaching, curriculum development, creative approaches to teacher training and professional development, management of national programs, and research and advocacy for national education reform. Based on her leadership and innovative inter-disciplinary work Donna was chosen as a fellow at the Salzburg Seminar on Youth Participation in Civic Engagement in August 2000. She is a graduate of Colby College and has done graduate study at the University of Southern Maine.

Donna’s extensive work in education has been driven by her desire for all children to engage in their learning and to succeed in school and life. The arts play a core role in children’s learning about the world and in communicating with others before they learn to read and write. The arts employ all of the human intelligences and styles of learning and should continue to play a core role throughout education. Integrating the arts into education, as both separate disciplines and as tools for teaching other subjects, enables students to make connections, understand concepts and apply learning in meaningful and lasting ways. Donna’s observation and study of arts integrated teaching and learning, and its powerful affect on students are core parts of the founding of the Institute for Education and the Arts. In her role as Vice President Donna guides and oversees the Institute’s programs and publications.

BARBARA GOMEZ
Manager of Local Initiatives
Barbara joins IEA with over 30 years' experience working on both the national and local levels in education and youth development program and policy development, and advocacy. The focus of Barbara's work in DC is to design and facilitate forums that connect educators and district administrators with local arts and cultural institutions and their educational and professional development resources to advance the effective use of arts and cultural resources in enhancing and supporting quality teaching and learning across the curriculum.

KRISTIN FONTICHIARO
Web and Publications Consultant
Kristin Fontichiaro, a consultant for the Institute for Education and the Arts, manages the Institute’s web site and also designs print and web materials. She is an arts education consultant and a media specialist with the Birmingham (Michigan) Public Schools. Previously, she was Youth Education Manager for the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan and a member of the Board of Directors for Concerts International in Memphis, Tennessee. She leads frequent workshops and professional development sessions for educators. For two summers, she has led in-depth seminars on arts integration for Lithuanian educators through the American Professional Partnership for Lithuanian Education. In 2006, she presented a workshop on drama and early childhood literacy for the International Association for School Librarians in Lisbon, Portugal, which will be presented again at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in 2007. Her presentations at the Michigan Association for Media in Education conference in 2006 included workshops on drama and early childhood literacy and a collaborative presentation on iPods for audio books in school. Her book, Active Learning Through Drama, Podcasting, and Puppetry, will be published by Libraries Unlimited in March 2007. A second book, tentatively titled Podcasting and iPods at School, will be published by Libraries Unlimited in 2008. A new retelling of The Mitten will be published by Mitten Press in 2008. She was selected as one of 100 Emerging Leaders by the American Library Association in 2007.

JENNIE SALMON
Publications Consultant and Editor
Jennifer Salmon received her BM in violin performance from the University of Michigan. She worked for University Musical Society's education department for four years, helping publish arts related teacher resource manuals and facilitating youth education events. She has also served as Vice President for a local chapter of American String Teachers Association, as Assistant Director of Rocky Ridge Music Center in Colorado, and in the apprentice program for Spoleto Festival USA. She is currently a graduate student in violin performance at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where she is also a member of the Rice Preparatory Program string faculty.