Gradalis Collegium & Adjunct Faculty
Click Photos Below For Collegium Biographies
EDUCATION STEWARDS Collegium
Donna Newberg-Long, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Donna Newberg-Long joined Gradalis in 2015 while teaching at Rudolf Steiner College. She founded an independent Waldorf School in Hawaii while receiving her Waldorf training and M.Ed. at Antioch University. She was a class teacher for 24 years, a school administrator, as well as a principal in the public Waldorf school movement. Donna received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Denver.
Tim Long, M.B.A.
Director of Finance
Tim Long, MBA, spent his career in Healthcare Administration and hospital development both domestically and internationally. He provides financial insights for Gradalis and supports schools through strategic planning, Board Training, bond development and financial consulting.
Bonnie River, M.Ed.
Director of Understanding Waldorf Education
Bonnie River has led numerous teacher-candidates over a 40-year career in Waldorf education. She designed the Gradalis Teacher Training implemented at Rudolf Steiner College (RSC) where she directed this program as RSC Hybrid Teacher Training motivated to meet the world's demand for trained Waldorf teachers.
Thom Schaefer, M.A.
Director of Elementary Education
Thom Schaefer, also a founding member of Gradalis, has been a lifelong educator, teaching and administering from elementary school through college. He has taught at elementary and high school levels both public and private Waldorf settings. Thom is currently Pedagogical Director at Credo, a Public Waldorf High School in California.
Martha Gollogy, B.A.
Director of Early Childhood
Martha grew up in Austria & completed her Waldorf Early Childhood Training in Germany. She has been a kindergarten teacher & director in independent and public Waldorf education. She shares her love of music with students in the training.
Alice Stamm
Director of the Arts
Alice has been teaching eurythmy since 1975. She began her eurythmy training in Eckwalden, Germany and finished with Else Klink in Stuttgart.
Collegium
Lin Welch M.A.
Early Childhood & Field Mentor
Lin has been teaching for 27 years. She has taught Kindergarten in private and charter Waldorf Schools. She has an M.A. degree in Transpersonal Counseling and Education from Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Stephanie Skinner M.A.
Early Childhood & Field Mentor
With a background in sustainable development, Stephanie Skinner, MA, has worked within Waldorf education for 25 years. She has served as a Kindergarten teacher in both independent and public Waldorf Schools, administrator for the Alliance for Public Waldorf Education, director of Live Oak Waldorf School’s Sunflower Nursery, and a teacher-trainer for the Hybrid Program of Rudolf Steiner College. Currently she runs a small forest-and-farm-based early childhood program in Grass Valley, CA.
Cristina Drews, M.S.Ed.
Grade One & Elementary Field Mentor
Cristina has been an educator since 1975 & has taught in public and private elementary & Waldorf schools, adult literacy programs, and teacher trainings. She did her Remedial Training at RSC and completed her Master's in Curriculum/Instruction, Reading & Children's Literature.
Ireneo De Leon
Grade Two
In 2015, Ireneo and his family moved to the United States to join the Prairie Moon Waldorf community. In the same year, he took the Waldorf teacher training course in Antioch University, New England and pursued his Masters in Education in the same institution which he completed in 2020.
Catalina De Luna Garza M.Ed.
Grade Three & Field Mentor
Catalina was born and raised in Mexico. She moved to the USA in 2010 with her two daughters. She has been an educator for over 30 years, 20 of those in Waldorf Schools, including Atlanta Waldorf School, as a Class Teacher as well as teaching foreign language.
Sandra Kirschner, B.A.
Grade Four & field mentor
Sandra led two classes (1-8) at Shepherd Valley Waldorf School. She is currently teaching at Shining Mountain Waldorf School.
Thesa Callinicos
Grade five & Visual Arts
Born and raised in South Africa, Thesa attended Johannesburg Teachers’ Training College before graduating from Emerson College in Sussex England. She's been a Class Teacher & mentor for 35 years.
Karl Johnson, M.A.
Grade Six & Field Mentor
Karl has been an educator for 35 years and has taught in the Waldorf movement since 1986. He is currently Pedagogical Director at Santa Fe Waldorf School. Karl teaches science and music in the Gradalis training program. He has a B.A. in Music and is passionate about Outdoor Education.
Vernon Dewey
Grade Seven
Vernon moved to Hawaii in 2022. He taught for 14 years at The Denver Waldorf School, first as an assistant, then serving as a class teacher for two classes, one from grades 1-8 and another from grades 6-8. He then served as Education Director for the 2021-22 school year.
Roel Op'tende
Grade Eight
Roel began teaching in 2011 at the Rudolf Steiner College in Rotterdam. His dedication to Waldorf education transcended borders, leading him to teach at the Wasatch Waldorf Charter School in the United States. Having previously served as a social science teacher at Credo High School, Roel now holds the position of Education Director.
Jane Mulder, B.A.
Field Mentor
Jane has taken two classes through the full 8-year journey at Live Oak Waldorf School where she has also been active in leadership and administration. She was a mentor for teachers at Rudolf Steiner College and is a member of the Pedagogical Section. She graduated from Stanford University with honors.
Helen Lubin
Speech Arts
Speech artist/educator Helen Lubin has taught in Waldorf teacher education and worked with anthroposophic therapeutic speech arts for 35 years. She has brought some 250 'school speech visits' to dozens of Waldorf schools, where she works with classes, teachers, individual students, faculty groups, office staff and parents. Helen also has 10 years experience in anthroposophical curative education, is a certified TESOL instructor, and freelance editor/translator.
Andrea Pronto
Singing & Instrumental Music
Andrea Pronto was born and raised in Germany and has been a music teacher in the Waldorf School Movement in North America for over 30 years in both a private and public Waldorf School.
Jennie Baudhuin
Watercolor Painting Grades 1-8
As both a founder and teacher at Santa Fe Waldorf School, Jennie Baudhuin has dedicated her adult life to Waldorf education for over 35 years.
Thomas Baudhuin
Clay Modeling & Field Mentor
With over 39 years of teaching and using beeswax, plasticine, clay, wood, and alabaster, Thomas has created a developmentally appropriate curriculum for use from kindergarten through grade eight.
Prairie Adams, B.A.
Curriculum Frameworks & Eurythmist
Prairie Adams is Author of the Gradalis Curriculum Frameworks which have been available to schools since Fall 2020. She is a founding member of Gradalis and was Pedagogical Director of a large Public Waldorf School.
Van James
Visual Arts
Van James, B.F.A. (USA), Arts Dip. (England), Visual Arts Dip. (Switzerland) He is an international advocate of the repeat lecture and teaching experience globally. He has been a Hawai’i-based teaching artist at the Honolulu Waldorf School for over thirty-five years. As an artist, he has exhibited in Europe, America, and Asia where his work has received awards and is found in numerous collections. He is active as a painter, freelance graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, teacher and writer.