Affiliated Trainers

Mary Gannon EdD
Being An Ally as a Person with Privilege
Organizing in Schools on Social Justice
Equity in Diversity

Mary Gannon has been an educator and independent consultant in social justice education and progressive school reform issues for over twenty years, working with schools to address issues of social justice, multicultural education, and harassment and bullying. She currently works with the Vermont Partnership for Fairness and Diversity as an equity consultant and trainer on issues of implicit bias, inclusion, and equity.  Mary has taught at Smith College’s School for Social Work since 1996, at SIT, and is a member of the Center for School Renewal at Antioch University New England She has co-directed the Governor’s Institute on Current Issues and Youth Activism, and Child Labor Education and Action project. She is a founding member of LOFT Foundation for Educational Reform. Mary has an Ed.D. in Social Justice Education, all from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 

Si Norton MEd
Youth Program Design
Project Management
Activities Facilitation

Simon ‘Si’ Norton is Co-Director of Governor’s Institute on Current Issues and Youth Activism. For many years he was Program Director of SIT/World Learning’s Youth Peacebuilding and Leadership Programs serving over 12,000 youth from around the world.  Si had taught graduate courses at SIT on Youth Program Leadership and Design, and Project Management.  Si is an accomplished teacher, trainer and facilitator of youth education, program design, leadership, team-building,  global issues, peacebuilding and dialogue, U.S. civics, communication skills and kayaking.  Si has worked with youth from more than 130 countries and all 50 U.S. states, running youth programs in Uganda, Rwanda, Iraq, Serbia, Mexico, Northern Ireland and Panama.  He has a B.A. in World Issues from SIT, and a M.A. in Global Education from Harvard.

Peter Gould PhD
Clown Dharma

Peter Gould is a popular novelist in the back-to-the-land tradition. He is a professor in the Peace & Conflict Studies Program at Brandeis University. Peter founded and directs youth Shakespeare programs around Vermont, and as a youth theater director and group leader, he has directed more than 80 productions, and has led expeditionary learning trips to places like England, Cuba, Costa Rica, indigenous Mexico, and the Arizona-Mexico border. Peter teaches workshops (and management trainings) in Clown Dharma--problem-solving explained!, and also Shakespeare, physical comedy, mindfulness strategies, and creative autobiographical story-telling, in both written and spoken forms.

Ryland White MA
Effective, Experiential Training Skills

Ryland White, a Professor at SIT, has been on the faculty since 1993. She teaches courses in training design for experiential learning, training for social action, dismantling disability, and ethics and intercultural training design. Her professional experience includes cross-cultural training for refugee resettlement, training Peace Corps volunteers and staff, worldwide cross-cultural “training of trainers,” and social justice. She has also served as a consultant to organizations that include Oxfam America, CARE America, EarthRights International, BRAC Bangladesh, the United Nations, and Heifer International. Her professional interests include experientially based education, training of trainers, intercultural communication, and social action work. 

Ken Williams PhD
Effective Leadership Styles

Kenneth Williams is the Graduate Dean at SIT where he has taught the courses on Organizational Behavior and Team Development; Social Identity; and Leadership, Community and Coalition-Building. Ken completed his doctorate in organization and leadership at Columbia University and his master's degree at the London School of Economics. Williams has worked, studied, and/or lived in the UK, Bermuda, Bangladesh, Thailand, Jamaica, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Oman, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States as well as in Barbados, where he founded a number of small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Susie Belleci MA
Restorative Justice
Group Dynamics

Suzanne Belleci is the director of the Greater Falls Restorative Justice Center in Southern Vermont and has been teaching conflict transformation, social justice, cross-cultural communication, and management courses at SIT for 17 years. She has also taught online global peacebuilding, conflict analysis, conflict Interventions, and restorative justice practices to international students in the CONTACT graduate certificate program. Susie has led workshops and trainings for peacebuilders in conflict and post-conflict zones in Iraq, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Israel, and Palestine.   She holds an M.A. in Conflict Transformation from SIT.

Moktar Bouba PhD
Intercultural Understanding

Mokhtar Bouba is a lecturer in the Middle Eastern Studies Program at Dartmouth College. He was a faculty member at SIT, teaching Intercultural Communication and Organizational Development. Mokhtar teaches Arabic language and about Amazigh culture as well as intercultural relations, particularly in North Africa.

Michelle Cromwell PhD
Diversity Coordination
Power, Privilege and Positionality

Michelle Cromwell is an experienced Conflict Resolution practitioner, circle facilitator, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion practitioner and researcher.  She runs Creative Conflict Consultants and works with organizations to facilitate creative definitions of problems, help recognize opportunities, and develop new products and services by finding out-of-the-box solutions to critical needs, crises, and conflicts.   Her work addresses organizational crisis management, equity-diversity- inclusion, cross cultural conflict, and race relations.

Craig Cullinane MA
Theater as Transformation

Craig Cullinane runs theater trainings in the state prison system in New York. He was Associate Director of Diversity Services at Suffolk University and Assistant Director of Residence Life at Amherst College. He has an M.A. from SIT in Social Justice and Intercultural Relations.

Fadia Thabet, Ashley Storrow, & Fabio Ayala
Coalition Building
Being An Ally

Fadia Thabet is an M.A. Candidate in Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation at SIT. In 2017, Fadia received the International Women of Courage Award from the U.S. State Department and she is a Fulbright Alumna at the University of Minnesota Law School. In Yemen, Fadia was a Child Protection Officer with UNICEF for five years, during which time she reported about Children Affected by Armed Conflict (CAAC) and the Six Grave Violations. Through her courageous work, she dissuaded young boys from joining Al-Qaeda, exposed its Yemeni branch “Ansar al Sharia” as a recruiter of child soldiers, and documented for the United Nations Security Council cases of mining, abduction, rape, and other human rights violations by various armed groups.  She holds a B.A in Computer Science Engineering from Aden University.

Ashley Storrow teaches music at Vermont Academy and has worked as Assistant Director for the State of Maine Refugee Resettlement Program where she also taught English as a Second Language to adult refugees. Her study abroad experience with SIT in Bolivia sparked her interest in community driven development and program design. Ashley is currently pursuing her Masters in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management at SIT where she is focusing on designing programs in arts for social change. Ashley as a singer‐songwriter who has performed across the United.  She graduated from Skidmore College in Development Studies and Social Change with a minor in Spanish.

Fabio Arnaldo Ayala is an M.A. candidate in the department of Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation at SIT Graduate Institute and an Intern at the Greater Falls Community Justice Center. He is bilingual with skills in bicultural fluidity, systems thinking, secondary education, multicultural team leadership and conflict resolution. Fabio has seven years of experience as an educator, chaplain, and youth development specialist and holds two undergraduate degrees in Spanish & Religious Studies. His work emphasizes the value of investing in communities that are inclusive, restorative, and equitable for all its members. 

Tai Mesches MA & Jayson Gilbert MA
Heart of Basketball: Leadership, Teamwork, & Success

Tai Cho Mesches is a founder of XY Bridges which bridges the cross-cultural divide and transition for Chinese students coming to study at U.S. educational institutions. He holds an M.A. in Intercultural Services, Leadership, and Management from SIT. Tai spent 6 years living in China and Taiwan working with IES Abroad programs where he became fluent in Mandarin and Classical Chinese at the National Taiwan University. He has over 15 years of experience in international youth programs and pedagogy.

Jayson Gilbert has been active in the field of global education for almost 18 years. His involvement on the international stage has put him in roles that have ranged from collaborating with and training Japanese Teachers of English in Japan, to facilitating youth dialogue for high school students participating in service learning in Haiti.  He is co-founder of the Heart of Basketball leadership training program.  Jayson has an M.A. in Intercultural Services, Leadership, and Management from SIT.