Marisa Corso

Nominated by Katja Engetschwiler, LeBow College of Business

Marisa Corso has been working at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington for 16 years. She attended the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington where she earned her Master’s in Teaching. Over those years, she has taught primarily sophomore composition and literature, junior International Baccalaureate Program (IB) Literature HL 1, as well as IB Theory of Knowledge, creative writing, and AVID 11 & 12. Though no longer teaching in the classroom, she works at the same school as an Instruction Technology Curriculum Leader—essentially an instructional coach—and the AVID Site Coordinator. She lives in Seattle with her partner Ben and their 2 year old daughter, Nova.

Kathleen Glacken

Nominated by Anna Marie Pierce, College of Nursing and Health Professions

Kathleen Daley Glacken, M.Ed., BSN, RN, has been in the health care world for over 40 years. She began her career as a medical assistant for an ophthalmologist, received her nursing degree from Frankford Hospital School of Nursing, her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Excelsior University (formerly Regents College of New York), and her Masters of Education at Temple University. She has continued living her dream of impacting lives and helping others in the classroom of Central Montco Technical High School in Plymouth Meeting, PA.  She is honored and humbled to have been nominated for this prestigious award and proud to have been a part of the academic life of her student, Anna Marie (Annie) Pierce, but is especially excited to see what Annie will accomplish next. As she always says in her classroom, “don’t ever give up because you only fail when you stop trying.”

Angel Roberto Garcia Gutierrez

Nominated by Nicole Naranjo, College of Arts and Sciences

Angel Gutierrez was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and was interested in engineering since he was a teenager. He attended Guayaquil’s State University and earned a BS in Industrial Engineering where he studied Electronic Engineering and quickly became a TA for many subjects such as calculus, physics and chemistry. It was in college where he found his true passion in education. Soon after graduation, he started working as a Math educator in different High Schools around Ecuador until he became the general coordinator of the math department at Centro Educativo Bilingue Interamericano (CEBI) High School in Guayaquil, Ecuador. His purpose has become to incorporate experience based learning as well as to continue innovating the curriculum in all the math classes.

Justin Kast

Nominated by Amanda Bellafatto, College of Engineering

Justin Kast taught in the Pennsbury School District in Fallsington, PA for fifteen years. It was there, at the first year teacher induction where he met his beautiful wife, Shannon. He has three lovely children: Donny, Claudia and Amelia. He attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA and Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA earning Master degrees in Engineering (Energy Systems Engineering) and in Education (Secondary Education in Mathematics), respectively. He currently is an engineering/STEM teacher at Highlands Ranch High School in Highland Ranch, Colorado. Teaching is his vocation and the rewards that the profession has provided him are immeasurable. He is very proud to be an educator and is honored to be a Harold W. Pote award recipient.