Safe Schools Project
Leadership Team

Dan Feder
Gay-Straight Alliance Coordinator

Dan M. Feder is an award-winning graphic designer and art director. He has a B.A. in English from Trinity University (San Antonio, Texas). During his 16 year career, Mr. Feder has worked for clients across the nation. His print work has appeared in national publications and has been recognized with the highest awards from industry associations, and his broadcast and web-based media designs have garnered national awards. For the past seven years, Mr. Feder has volunteered his time as a mentor and group facilitator with youth organizations in San Diego, California and Toledo, Ohio. He also recently completed a two-year docent training program at the Toledo Museum of Art to work as an art educator for school children touring the museum.

Maara Fink, Esq.
Mediation Coordinator

Maara Fink, Esq. is a Clinical Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law.  Ms. Fink has worked in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution since graduating from the University of Toledo College of Law in 1996.  Prior to joining the faculty, Ms. Fink served as the Mediation Coordinator for the Franklin County (Columbus) Domestic Relations and Juvenile Court.  Through the Basic and Advanced Dispute Resolution Clinics, law students are able to provide mediation services to hundreds of youths and their families each year. 

Noah Gillespie
Student Resource Coordinator

Noah Gillespie is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toledo pursuing two separate Bachelors Degrees in Law and Social Thought and Economics. Mr. Gillespie fought unsuccessfully to institute a Gay-Straight Alliance at Centerville High School in the 2004-2005 school year, and has spoken regarding this experience on a Safe-Schools Panel at Wright State University. Mr. Gillespie attended a Sexuality Education Advocacy Training developed by Advocates for Youth, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association in Washington, D.C. and presented the results of his work with members of the U.S. Congress to representatives from the United Church of Christ, the Alliance of Baptists, and the Disciples of Christ at their annual gathering, held at the University of Indianapolis in June, 2006. Mr. Gillespie has presented papers on Peace and Social Justice research covering topics including homelessness, interracial relationships, and the degrees of bias in newspaper and news-magazine coverage of anti-GLBT hate crimes. Mr. Gillespie is currently the Community Service Chair for Toledo Campus Ministry Fellowship and the President of Spectrum, the Queer and Ally Community (or Gay-Straight Alliance) at the University of Toledo. 

Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach
Research Coordinator

Dr. Lisa Pescara-Kovach has her doctorate degree in Experimental Child Psychology with a minor in Child Clinical Psychology.   She is the creator of PEERS (Preventing, Eliminating, and Erasing Rejection in our Schools), an anti-bullying program that is currently being implemented in several Toledo-area elementary schools.  She has recently published a book titled School Shootings and Suicides:  Why We Must Stop the Bullies. The book describes the various types of bullying (physical, verbal, relational, and cyber), its causes and consequences, as well as how to prevent bullying/rejection in schools.  The book also features personal accounts as told by the mothers of bullying victims. 
 

She is a faculty member at The University of Toledo where she teaches courses in human development.  Courses she has taught, or is currently teaching, include child development, adolescent development, lifespan development, atypical development, abnormal psychology, and social psychology.  In 2006, she was selected as one of UT’s Outstanding Teachers. 
 

As an expert in the area of school violence prevention, Dr. Pescara-Kovach has appeared on WTOL-TV’s News Talk and morning show.  She was also a guest, speaking on the topic of anti-bullying programs, featured on “Inside Schools” on the WBGU PBS-affiliate.  She has given invited presentations at The Gathering Place, the Jewish Community Center, and the “What Works” conference in Washington, DC. She recently presented a paper on the long-term effects of bullying at the International Conference on Civic Education and has presented at the annual meetings of the National Association of School Counselors and the American Educational Research Association. 
 

Dr. Pescara-Kovach was recently selected as the Ohio Director of Bully Police USA, a watchdog organization that is dedicated to passing anti-bullying legislation throughout the United States. She is also a speaker for Lorman Educational Services and has recently given all-day seminars on Bullying and Social Aggression in Toledo, Cincinnati, and Columbus.

Rob Salem, Esq.
Legal Coordinator

Rob Salem, Esq. is a Clinical Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law.  He has devoted much of his career to issues affecting LGBT people.  As a faculty member at the UT Law School, Mr. Salem has spearheaded several projects to advance the rights of the LGBT community and people living with HIV/AIDS, including the Safe School Project, the HIV/Prison Project and the Domestic Partnership Project.  Mr. Salem serves on the Board of the Ohio ACLU and is a frequent speaker on civil rights issues. 

Brenda Spurlin
Education Coordinator

Brenda Spurlin is a graduate of the University of Toledo School of Education.  Ms. Spurlin taught 7^th and 8^th grade English in the Toledo Public Schools for thirty-five years before retiring this past summer.  In addition to her classroom experience, Ms. Spurlin was a member of the Teacher Corps, a national teacher program to train new teachers to teach in diverse, urban centers, and received recognition and several awards for teaching methods, developing cross-curricular units, and integrating tolerance and understanding into day to day lessons.  Ten years ago, Ms. Spurlin founded Toledo’s Rainbow Area Youth (RAY) and continues as the organization’s Executive Director.

Rev. Dr. Michelle Stecker
Project Coordinator

The Rev. Dr. Michelle Stecker is a founding member and co-president of EqualityToledo and co-chair of the Education Working Team. 

Michelle was born and raised in Longview, Washington, and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in music from George Fox College in Newberg, Oregon.  Upon completion of her master’s of divinity degree at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, Michelle was ordained in the Presbyterian Church USA and served as an associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Findlay, Ohio, for seven years.  Michelle has served as an interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Waterville, Ohio; First Presbyterian Church, Blissfield, Michigan; Christ Presbyterian Church, Toledo, Ohio; and at Faith Community United Church of Christ in Toledo.  Michelle earned her doctorate in American History at the University of Toledo and has taught history part-time at UT, and is now a third year law student at the UT College of Law. 

During her sixteen years of ordained ministry, Michelle has passionately worked for justice for women, children, and the LGBT community.  Michelle believes that grassroots activism and education will change our culture, and she looks forward to the day that LGBT folks will enjoy equality and will be universally embraced and celebrated for their enormous gifts and contributions to society.

Dr. Susan Telljohann
Curriculum Coordinator

Susan K. Telljohann, HSD, CHES, is a Professor of Health Education at The University of Toledo. She received her doctoral degree in health sciences from Indiana University with an emphasis on school and college health education. Her experience in health education spans over 25 years, including health instruction from the junior high to the university level.

She has conducted research and published over 60 articles on health education in professional journals, presented over 50 papers and professional conferences and is the co-author of Health Education: Elementary and Middle-Level School Applications, 5^th Edition(McGraw-Hill, 2004). She is the co-author of the HealthSmart K-12 curriculum and Teach and Reach health series published by ETR Associates.  She served as the President of the American School Health Association from 2000-2001, was the Contributing Editor for the Teaching Ideas Column in the American Journal of Health Education and has served on many professional health education committees throughout her professional career.

She currently is on the Board of Directors for the American Association of Health Education and is on the National Health Education Standards Revision Committee.  She is the recipient of several honors and awards, including the Distinguished Service Award from both the American School Health Association and the American Association of Health Education, The Howe Award from the American School Health Association, The University of Toledo Outstanding Teacher Award, the Phi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year Award, the Patty Outstanding Alumni Award from Indiana University and the Ohio Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Outstanding Young Professional Award. 

Sherry Tripepi
Mental Health Coordinator

Sherry Tripepi, MSW, LISW, is a Visiting Professor in the Social Work Department at The University of Toledo.  She received her Masters of Social Work from Wayne State University and is a Licensed Independent Social Worker in the State of Ohio.  Her experience working in the area of mental health in the Toledo area spans over 23 years.

Sherry is currently teaching undergraduate and graduate social work courses at The University of Toledo.  She was a Clinical Social Worker with the University of Toledo Counseling Center for 10 years providing GLBT affirming services to students.  She has also provided numerous training workshops for social workers, counselors and psychologists regarding clinical considerations when working with the GLBT community.  She is an active participant in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) serving on several committees at the State and Regional level.  She is recipient of the 2005 Outstanding University Women award from the University of Toledo’s Women’s Commission and the 2007 Outstanding Service Award from the NASW Ohio Chapter, Region 1. She currently serves on the Equality Toledo Board.

Kim Welter
Project Resource

Kim Welter M.A. is a founding member and past Executive Director of EqualityToledo.  She currently serves on the Board of Directors .

Ms. Welter received her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan. She moved to Ohio over ten years ago and has earned her secondary teaching certificate at the University of Findlay and her Master of Arts and Education at the University of Toledo. Ms. Welter has completed the Curriculum for Life through Landmark Education in Livonia, Michigan. After teaching high school English for two years, she worked for five years teaching seventh and eighth grade English at St. Joan of Arc in Toledo, Ohio.  While with St. Joan of Arc, Ms. Welter became familiar with several current approaches to anti-bullying and worked frequently with her students to investigate the power of language to hurt or help. In addition to her work with EqualityToledo, Ms. Welter teaches Composition part-time for the University of Toledo.

Sharyl Hankin
EqualityToledo Executive Coordinator
Contact: 419.344.0045