Faculty Fellows (2023-2024)
Gina Riley (Special Education)
Senior Faculty Fellow
Dr. Gina Riley is a Clinical Professor and the Program Leader of the Adolescent Special Education Program at Hunter College. She has been involved in the field of online learning for over 20 years. She loves ACERT for its focus on innovative teaching and learning practices. Gina has been involved in numerous ACERT activities including the podcast club, the writing group, and various lunchtime seminars. She was the recipient of the Hunter College President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2022. She is known internationally for her work in the fields of homeschooling, unschooling, and intrinsically motivated learning. Her books include Unschooling: Exploring Learning Beyond The Classroom (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), The Homeschooling Starter Guide (Simon & Schuster, 2021), and the co-authored The Joys of Self-Directed Learning (Ricci Publishing, 2022). Dr. Riley is President-Elect of the New York State Association of Teacher Educators.
Jillian Báez (Africana, Puerto Rican and Latino Studies)
Senior Faculty Fellow
Dr. Jillian Báez is an Associate Professor of Africana, Puerto Rican, and Latino Studies at Hunter College. She is also an affiliated faculty member at the CUNY Mexican Studies Institute and the Center for the Study of Women and Society at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Trained as a media studies and cultural studies scholar, her research expertise lies in Latina/o/x media and popular culture, transnational feminisms, and issues of belonging and citizenship. She is the author of In Search of Belonging: Latinas, Media and Citizenship (University of Illinois Press), and a recipient of the Bonnie Ritter Award for Outstanding Feminist Book from the National Communication Association. Dr. Báez’s research is published in numerous peer-reviewed journals including Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Chicana/Latina Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Critical Studies in Media Communication, and Communication, Culture & Critique.
Liz Klein (Special Education)
Faculty Fellow
Liz Klein is a Clinical Professor and Program Leader for Childhood Education District 75 (Alternative Certification) programs at Hunter College. Her areas of focus in teaching are in teaching writing and reading to students with Learning Disabilities, Classroom Management and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Her research and professional development lens is on Teacher Self-Care, Belonging, Improving Classroom Culture, Behavior Management, Trauma-Informed Schools, Restorative Practices, Digital Storytelling, Pedagogy of Play in Reading and Writing Process/Creativity, Restorative Practices. Professor Klein is a Faculty Associate for the DDPC grant (Childhood Education), participant in the CITE grant for Program Leaders and Secretary/Membership coordinator of the Westchester Reading Council -New York State Reading Association. Her educational background includes Fine Arts/Illustration from Pratt Institute and advanced degree and certification from Hunter College School of Education graduate programs. Hobbies include writing for Medium and other creative outlets such as creative writing, jewelry-making, collage, drawing, fiber arts.
Deepsikha Chatterjee (Theatre)
Racial Equity in the Curriculum Fellow
Deepsikha Chatterjee (Deeps) is a Doctoral Lecturer of Theatre at Hunter College CUNY where she enjoys teaching a diverse student body. She helps students realize concepts on a page into living breathing characters through design, execution, and costuming. She received her undergraduate degrees from the University of Madras and National Institute of Fashion Technology before moving to the US for her MFA in Costume Design from Florida State University. In 2023 she finished her PhD on masked dances of South Asia at CUNY Graduate Center. Her costume design for Butoh Medea and Hide Your Fires received the Best Costume Design award at United Solo in 2014 and 2017 respectively. Her designs have been seen recently at San Jose Opera, Barnard College, Mabou Mines, Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, Women’s Project, New York Musical Festival, Drive East, United Solo, Pan Asia Repertory, and Capital Fringe. She researches costumes and masks in South Asian performances and has received notable grants for this work. Her presentations have been seen at conferences including USITT, Costume Society of America, ASTR, AAP, and the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. She has published articles on Indian and Asian theatre and Indian fashion. Her essay “Ahariya Aesthetics” on Indian dance costumes won the USITT’s Herbert D. Greggs Honor Award in 2021. Since 2017, applying her research into practice, she has served as the dance director for Indo-American Arts Council’s Erasing Borders Dance Festival bringing international dancers to the New York stage.
