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Veronica Ramos,
Education Program Director, is
an artist and an educator, with experience teaching visual arts to
students at every grade level from K-12.
She earned a Master of Science in Art Education from Massachusetts
College of Art and Design and
currently teaches high school art.
Veronica is the primary
author and designer of New England Primate Sanctuary's curriculum,
which includes lesson plans
for grades K-12. She and her team have developed the Education
Center's unique curriculum for use by educators both here in New
England and across the nation.
Outside of the classroom, Veronica has manifested her passion for
health, environmental and animal advocacy in her participation in a
variety of organizations. She was co-founder of a statewide animal
advocacy group involved in animal protection and legislation, and
was also a co-founder of CPU, a central Massachusetts watchdog group
focused on air and water quality in central Massachusetts, where she
and her husband live with their canine and feline family
members DaVinci and Aries.
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Erin
Cooney-Lefort is a
Behavior Analyst, Certified Dog Trainer, and owner of Community
Canines, of an animal
behavior training and consulting business in Providence, RI. Her
compassion for both human and nonhuman animals guides her in the
individualized works she does to help learners adapt and thrive in
their daily environments. Confident that every individual brings
their unique life experiences to the learning context, Erin is
continuously fascinated and inspired by the behavioral puzzles she
faces on a case-by-case basis, be they with companion animals, pet
owners, children affected with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or adults
with developmental disabilities.
Erin earned her M.S. in Behavioral
Analysis from Simmons College in Boston, MA and plans to sit for the
board exam for behavior analysts in 2011, making her the first of
only three Board Certified Behavior Analysts with an animal
specialty in her field. Familiar with the effects had on people and
animals that have survived under socialized, institutional
environments by necessity, Erin came to NEPS ready to employ the
science of behavior change for the primate veterans of biomedical
research as they learn to adapt to their peaceful and enriching
retirement experiences. |
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Debra Curtin is New
England Primate Sanctuary's founder. For 25-years, Debra developed
and delivered presentations, workshops and training seminars for
professionals in multiple industries.
Well-versed in the plight of
captive nonhuman primates and their need for sanctuary, Debra
launched New England Primate Sanctuary's outreach programs in 2004,
speaking at a variety of venues on behalf of the Sanctuary's mission
and addressing students from elementary to university and graduate
school programs. She developed the Sanctuary's original Education Center
curriculum, produced the accompanying educational videos, and
organized the education team.
Canines Scrappy and JellyBean,
and feline Cleo share office space with Debra and impart
their wisdom and advice about animal protection. |
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Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Foley
is a Primatologist and Conservation
Biologist. She obtained a MSc in Primate
Conservation from Oxford-Brookes University
in the UK and a BA in Anthropology from the
University of Rhode Island. Her main
interests are wildlife trade, primate
welfare and behavior, and environmental
conservation.
Kaitlyn has extensive
experience working with non-human primates:
in the UK with capuchin monkeys, in Thailand
with gibbons, and in Malaysia with macaques,
siamang and slow loris. In addition, Kaitlyn
is a certified wildlife rehabilitator and
has over 8 year of experience working with
raptors and small mammals.
Currently Kaitlyn
is a researcher with the Oxford Wildlife
Trade Research Group and
TRAFFIC Southeast
Asia. Over the past 6 years Kaitlyn has been
living abroad in Italy, UK, and
Malaysia. She writes monthly Letters
From the Field blogs to support New
England Primate Sanctuary's lesson plans. She has two beautiful dogs, Stella
and McGreggor. |
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Bethany
Heywood has a PhD in Cognitive Science from Queen's University
Belfast in Northern Ireland. Her studies have focused on
teleological reasoning concerning important life events (i.e.,
believing that things "happen for a reason" or were "meant to be").
She has done research on social cognition, and she finds the social
relationships in primate societies fascinating and thinks that a
better understanding of our closest evolutionary cousins will lead
to a better understanding of ourselves. In addition, Bethany is
interested in teleological reasoning about the natural world, and
whether we take natural resources for granted because we think they
exist in order to serve our needs. She thinks primate conservation
and sanctuaries are of great importance to try to heal some of the
damage humans have done.
Bethany developed and created the
What Makes Us Human? and
Primates in Mythology
presentations specifically for New England Primate Sanctuary. She is very pleased to be able to help
NEPS achieve its education and outreach goals. Bethany lives in
Keene, NH with her husband and Chewy, her sweet Yorkshire terrier. |
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Cynthia Taylor
is a Biological Anthropologist. After completing her M.A. degree at
the University of Arizona, Cynthia traveled to La Suerte Biological
Field Station in Costa Rica to help teach an undergraduate field
course on primate behavior, ecology, and conservation. When she
wasn't in the classroom, she was out in the rainforest with
students, tracking and observing wild capuchin, howler, and spider
monkeys.
Currently, she is an adjunct instructor of Anthropology at
the University of Rhode Island where she teaches courses on Human
Origins and Human Biological Diversity. Cynthia has also worked on a
variety of research and outreach projects for the University of
Rhode Island's Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America, the
University of Arizona's Gwembe Tonga Research Project, Santa Clara
University's Anthropology Department, and the University of Rhode
Island's Cancer Prevention Research Center. |
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