Emera is the associate director/outreach coordinator at the Syracuse University’s South Asia Center. She is also a PhD candidate in Anthropology whose research focuses on tourism and work in North India. She joined the SABA committee in 2014.
2022 Committee Member
Burke, Jennifer
Jennifer is the Children’s Librarian at DeWitt Community Library where she has worked since 2008, straight out of library school! She received her B.A. in English Literature from Wells College and her M.S. in Information Science from University at Albany, State University of New York. She served on the Empire State Award committee and is an active member of the Youth Services Section of New York Library Association. She has been on the SABA committee since 2012.
Gutti, Sudha
Sudha Gutti has a masters in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. She has about 8 years of experience in Community Development in India, and about 2 decades as a grade school teacher in several Waldorf Schools in the United States. Currently she works as a Clinician/Therapist with a non-profit organization that provides behavioral health services. Sudha is passionate about Social Justice, Multiculturalism and Alternative Education systems.
Khan Vlach, Saba
Saba Khan Vlach is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at The University of Iowa. She is a Pakistani-American, Muslim woman. Saba taught elementary school for 17 years in Arlington, Texas. She earned her Master’s at Texas Woman’s University in Reading Education and her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Texas at Austin. Saba’s research interests include teachers’ enactment of critical pedagogies, (diverse) children’s literature, literature discussions, young children’s reader responses, and inservice teacher education. Saba’s scholarship and practice draws on the conceptual frameworks of Freire’s theory of critical literacy, Kumashiro’s theory of anti-oppressive education, and Brown’s theory of humanizing critical sociocultural knowledge. Saba is thrilled to be on the SABA Committee!
Khan, Mleeka
Kowalczyk, Sandra
Sandra, a recently retired reading specialist, has infused SABA titles into literacy curricula since its inception. Her many awards include: Wisconsin Global Educator of the Year; Wisconsin Middle School Teacher of the Year; Association for Middle Level Education Educator of the Year; Wisconsin Education Association Council Excellence in Teaching Award; Global Teacher Prize Finalist; National Council of Teachers of English Outstanding Educator; United States Board on Books for Young People’s Bridge to Understanding Award; James Patterson Foundation PageTurner Award; and National Board Teacher Certification in Literacy.
Laslow, Amy
A lifelong learner, Amy enthusiastically cultivates a passion for learning and promotes a transdisciplinary curriculum approach in her Visual Arts and Technology Education classes at Dover AFB Middle School in Delaware. Serving as curriculum consultant for several National Science Foundation programs utilizing Contextual Learning Units integrating STEAM, she designs authentic assessments for students to demonstrate personal growth. Desiring to infuse global citizenship into her lessons, Amy has journeyed to numerous countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia via fellowships spawning an after-school enrichment program in International Education and sponsoring student ambassadorships to Japan. Holding a B.F.A. in Studio Art and M.I. in Curriculum/Instruction from the University of Delaware, Amy continues her artistic pursuits through wildlife photography/fiber arts/bookbinding and resides in Dover with her husband, Marc and their Sheltie, Mikokoro.