Explorations Online Faculty
Karen Atkinson, M.Ed.
Long-time Waldorf class teacher, former AWSNA Leader for the Mid-Atlantic Region, Program Director of Renewal Courses, and Coordinator of Administrative Leadership Program and Mentoring Services at the Center for Anthroposophy. Provides pedagogical leadership support for faculty chairs, pedagogical administrators, professional development coordinators, and school mentors.
David Barham, M.Ed.
Director of CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP) as of 2022, David has worked in four North American Waldorf schools, including one in Mexico, both as class and high school teacher. Before joining CfA, he taught humanities at the Maine Coast Waldorf School in Freeport, ME, for more than a decade. In the fall of 2021, he was appointed to AWSNA’s Leadership Council as Leader for the Northeast/Quebec region.
A graduate with a master’s degree in Waldorf education from Antioch University New England, David recently completed a CfA certificate program in Waldorf Leadership Development. His undergraduate degree at Tufts University was in English and Religion.
An ardent folk singer and guitar player, David came to anthroposophy first as a biodynamic farmer, then as a worker at a Camphill village before signing on as a class teacher.
Beverly Boyer, M.Ed.
Director of Explorations at the Center for Anthroposophy
A graduate of the AUNE Waldorf Teacher Education program, Bev has divided her 25-year teaching career between the Waldorf School of Princeton, where she was a class teacher, and High Mowing School, where she taught a variety of subjects, ranging from Health and Human Sexuality to English for international students. Currently, she is enjoying her work in adult education as Director of CfA’s online Explorations program. She is also a certified therapeutic musician and plays harp for the ill and dying.
Meg O'Dell Chittenden, M.Ed.
Meg is a Waldorf music teacher, community songleader, and somatic coach, supporting individuals and couples in healing and transformation. She has been part of the faculty of The Bay School, a pre-K through Grade 8 Waldorf school, since 2007. She is also the founding director of Misty Mountain Singers, a large intergenerational all-comers community chorus. She serves as Music Director and Adjunct Professor for Antioch University's Waldorf Teacher Training and CfA's Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program and is a regular instructor for the Renewal Conferences. She has also taught with LifeWays North America and the Essential Online Conferences. She received her M.Ed and Waldorf Certification from Antioch University in 2008 and her B.A. from Connecticut College in 2000. Meg and her fellow Waldorf teacher co-parent are raising their two children on a hand-built homestead between the salt water and the white pine forests of Wabanaki Confederacy Territory (coastal Maine).
Carla Beebe Comey, M.Ed.
Antioch University faculty. Served as a Waldorf teacher, pedagogical eurythmist, mentor, and pedagogical administrator for twenty-six years prior to joining the Waldorf Teacher Education Program at Antioch.
Torin Finser, Ph.D.
Director of Building Bridges and Waldorf Leadership Development programs, founding trustee of CfA, Director of Waldorf Programs at Antioch University New England, post doctoral certification in Management Development, Harvard, author of 14 books, including Organizational Integrity and Leadership Development.
Douglas Gerwin, Ph.D.
Himself a Waldorf graduate, Douglas Gerwin, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Center for Anthroposophy (CfA). He has taught history, literature, German, music, and life science at the university and Waldorf high school levels for over 40 years and helped prepare high school educators to teach these subjects for over a quarter-century. He is also an adjunct faculty member of the Waldorf Teacher Education Program at Antioch University New England.
In 1996, he founded CfA’s Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program (WHiSTEP), a graduate-level training specifically for high school teachers, which he chaired for 27 years. During that time, he also served as advisor or mentor to well over three-quarters of the Waldorf high schools in North America and helped train Waldorf teachers on four continents.
Editor of ten books and author of numerous articles on Waldorf education and anthroposophy, Dr. Gerwin is also Executive Director of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education (RIWE). A founding member of the Leadership Council in the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA), he now sits on the Pedagogical Section Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America. In addition, for the past decade he was a member of the Hague Circle, an international leadership group of some 45 Waldorf teachers from around the world.
Alison Henry, M.Ed.
A graduate of the AUNE Waldorf Teacher Education Program, Alison has found her home in Keene, New Hampshire, just a short walk from Monadnock Waldorf School where she recently took a class through the grades.
She now divides her time between doctoral studies, part-time class teaching, and teacher development. She finds inspiration in the lively dance between these roles.
Kim John Payne, M.Ed.
Independent and public school consultant, author, researcher, private and public school counselor for individuals and families. Founder of Simplicity Parenting.
Leonore Russell, M.A.
Founding Director of Crossroads Farm, a project of Nassau Land Trust, Director of the Winkler Center for Adult Learning, a consultant for Antioch University New England and for schools and businesses using eurythmy as a vehicle for self-awareness and transformation of both personal and organizational life. She brings a wealth of experience as a long-time faculty member and administrator for the Waldorf School of Garden City, NY.
Heather Scott, M.A.
Heather Scott, she/her(s) has worked as a teacher in the Waldorf method for close to twenty years. She has an MA in Creative Writing from The University of New Hampshire and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. Heather has had a decades-long interest in the work of Black women writers and artists and is continuously inspired by African-American artistry. Heather is currently a high school Humanities teacher at The Waldorf School of San Diego, where her daughter attended kindergarten to Grade 12. Heather is an Alma Partner and a core faculty member of Sunbridge Institute's High School Teacher Education Program. She has been a guest presenter for CfA and Explorations. Heather is African-American, of Scottish and West African descent.Â
Nikki Shoneman
Nikki has been a high school and middle school Fine Arts teacher over the last 20 years in Waldorf schools as well as in alternative education settings such as group homes, residential treatment facilities, community centers, and clean & sober schools. In Waldorf settings she has taught outdoor Parent-Child classes and Parent-Baby groups, and has offered Fine Arts classes to a wide variety of ages. She has also worked in administration and has served as Faculty Chair.
Nikki has a degree in Fine Arts from UCSC. She is also a graduate of Antioch University’s Waldorf teacher training program and has completed the Waldorf Leadership and Development training as well as Explorations, and the Lifeways program. She is currently enrolled in CfA’s Kairos program and is working towards a MEd. through Antioch University.
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