Education Department Faculty

Professor Sandy Genduso

Education Department Chair/Professor of Education/Director of Teacher Certification.

Professor Sandra Genduso has a Bachelor of Arts in Education/English and a Master of Arts in Education. Her educational background consists of teaching at a high school, working with reluctant learners and athletes, teaching at a community college, serving on a school board, directing an academic skills center, and supervising Language Arts in a K-12 school district.

She holds the following education certifications: Principal, Supervisor, N-12 English, and K-5 Elementary. Currently, Professor Genduso is a full-time professor in the Education Department. She has taught introductory through to the capstone undergraduate classes as well as graduate Education classes. She also observes pre-service teachers in the field.

Dr. Thomas Brunner

Professor of Education.

Professor Thomas Brunner graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and received a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education/Broadfield Social Studies. He continued his graduate work at UW-EC, working toward a Master of Arts in Teaching with a History concentration. Professor Brunner later continued his graduate work at Kent State University, Ohio, and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Administration. Professor Brunner’s master’s thesis was titled Goss V. Lopez: Five Hundred Days in the Federal Circuit Courts of Appeals, and his dissertation was titled The Student's Right To Know: Basic Legal Tenets Of Academic Freedom and Their Relevance To the Public School and University Curriculum.

Professor Brunner taught social studies for six-and-a-half years in the State of Wisconsin, including five years in the Shawano Public School District that encompassed the Menominee Indian Reservation within its district borders. He also served as an assistant football and wrestling coach, and served his colleagues as the President of the Shawano Education Association for two years.

Professor Brunner began his career at Centenary College as the Associate Dean/Registrar, served as the College’s Vice President for Academic Affairs for seven years, and has been a full-time teaching member of the Education Department since 2002. Over the years he has taught numerous courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including Principles and Practices of Teaching, Curriculum Design, Social Studies Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching Practicum, and Student Teaching at the undergraduate level and Students, Teachers, Social Policy and the Law, Curriculum Development and Evaluation, Seminar in Instructional Leadership, and Critical Thinking, Moral Education and Ethics in the Classroom.

Professor Bob Cavo

Assistant Professor of Education.

Professor Cavo is a graduate of Glassboro State College where he earned his B.A. degree in 1975.  He received his Master’s of Arts degree in Education from Jersey City State College.  He has served as an Elementary, Middle School, and High School Teacher.  His Administrative positions include Athletic Director, K-12 Supervisor, High School Assistant Principal, and Elementary School Principal.

Professor Cavo is currently a full-time Professor in the Education Department at Centenary College, Hackettstown, New Jersey.  He is a trained mentor for new Administrators through the New Jersey Principal’s and Supervisor’s Association.  Most recently he served as the President of the Morris County Association of Elementary and Middle School Principal’s.  He is still involved with the Morris County Ice Hockey High School League and the Morris County Wrestling Tournament.  Bob and his wife Carol reside in Succasunna, New Jersey and have two grown daughters and one son.

Dr. Linda Schwartz Green

Associate Professor of Education
Director of Teachers of Students with Disabilities Certification Program
Director of Special Education Graduate Program

Dr. Green has a B.A. in English from University of Bridgeport, an M.A. in Special Education and Reading from Eastern New Mexico University, and a Ph.D. in Psychological & Cultural Studies and Special Education from University of Nebraska at Lincoln.  She holds certifications in Special Education and Teacher of English.

She has worked as a special education teacher and a consultant, preparing and implementing workshops on a variety of topics related to special education.

Dr. Green is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and the Teacher Education Division of CEC.  She presents regularly at national special education conferences, is a reviewer of conference proposals for national special education conferences, and a reviewer of manuscripts for special education texts for major education publishers.

Dr. Green has taught most of the special education courses at Centenary on both the undergraduate and graduate level, and she developed the M.A. in Special Education.  She serves as the director of the graduate program in special education. She received the Centenary College Distinguished Teacher Award in 2000.

She is the founding advisor of the Centenary College Student Chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Dr. Eric Nixon

Assistant Professor of Education.

Assistant Professor Eric Nixon graduated from William Paterson College and received a Bachelor of Arts in History Education. He began his graduate work at Montclair State College and earned a Master of Arts in Educational Psychology, as well as, a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision. Dr. Nixon continued his graduate work at Seton Hall University and earned an Ed. D. in Administration and Supervision. His dissertation was titled Validation Study of Hodson’s “Competencies for the Special Education Director Questionnaire”.

Dr. Nixon also earned New Jersey State Department of Education certificates as Teacher of Social Studies, Teacher of the Handicapped, Teacher of Psychology, Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant, Principal/Supervisor, School Business Administrator, Assistant Superintendent in Charge of Business, and School Administrator.

Dr. Nixon taught adjudicated delinquent adolescents for three-and-a-half years, worked for seven years as a Learning Disabilities Teacher Consultant on the Hackettstown, New Jersey public school district’s child study team, and for twenty years was a Director of Special Services in the Garfield and Rockaway Township, New Jersey public school districts.

Since April 2003 Dr. Nixon has served as a special education due process panel member for the Delaware Department of Education.

Dr. Nixon joined the Centenary College faculty in September 2007. He has taught courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, including Current Issues and Trends in Special Education, Psychology of High and Low Incidence Exceptionalities, and Assistive Technology.

Professor Marianne Pratschler

Assistant Professor of Education.

Professor Marianne Pratschler is an alum of Centenary College with an A.A. in Early Childhood Education and a B.S. in Elementary Education. She holds certifications in Elementary Education (K-8) with Nursery School endorsement, Teacher of English (K-12), Teacher of Psychology, Teacher of Students with Disabilities, and Supervisor. Professor Pratschler received an M.A. in Counseling from Montclair State University and is a Licensed Professional Counselor.

Currently Prof. Pratschler is pursuing a Ed. D. in Teacher Leadership with Walden University. Her research interests are in the Professional Development School relationships that Centenary College has with a number of public school districts in the northwest New Jersey. Professor Pratschler has taught most of the courses in the education curriculum, as well as psychology and sociology courses that support the teacher preparation programs. Each semester she teaches the Practicum and Student Teaching Seminars and supervises pre-service teachers in their field placements.

Dr. Simon Saba

Assistant Professor of Education.

Dr. Simon Saba graduated from the Lehigh University with a Masters of Education in Elementary Education and Doctor of Education degree in Educational Technology. During his doctoral studies, he served as the Assistant Director of the Educational Technology Resource Center for the College of Education at Lehigh.  He specializes in online learning and the use of technology in classrooms for teaching and learning.

Prior to arriving at Centenary College, Dr. Saba was a classroom teacher at the Marian McKeown Elementary School in Hampton Township Sussex County, New Jersey. During his 30 years with the district, he was a sixth grade teacher primarily in Language Arts and Mathematics. He also served as the district’s technology coordinator for 10 years.At Centenary, Dr. Saba teaches in both the undergraduate teacher preparation program and the online Masters of Education in Educational Practice. He also serves as the coordinator for the online Masters program. In addition, Dr. Saba coproduces professional development workshops for area teachers and a Summer Teachers’ Academy.

Mr. John Sandri

Director of Field Placement.

Mr. Sandri received his B.A. from Montclair State University and his M.A. from New Jersey City University. He has served as a vocational education teacher, special education teacher, and school counselor. His administrative positions have included Vice Principal, Principal, Director of Guidance, Director of Student Personnel Services, and Community Adult School Director. He has experience in public, private and parochial education serving elementary, special, and vocational education as well as middle school and high school.

Currently, Mr. Sandri is the Director of Field Placement for the Education Department at Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey. His responsibilities include student admissions to the Education Department, hiring and supervision of Field Supervisors, placement of students in clinical field experiences and maintaining the TEAC accreditation archive documents and files. Along with his college duties Mr. Sandri is a member of the NJ Field Directors Forum and NJ Principals and Supervisors Association.

Professor Kristine Tucker

Assistant Professor of Education.

Professor Kristine Tucker is a graduate of Kean University where she earned her Bachelor of Social Work Degree in 1996, Teacher of the Handicapped Certification, and a Master of Arts in Special Education in 2006. She also holds Elementary School Teacher Certification and Elementary School Certification with Subject Matter Specialization: Language Arts/Literacy Specialization in Grades 5 – 8.

Professor Tucker has served as a Reading Coach for the New Jersey Department of Education, Office of Early Literacy and as a K-5 Literacy Coach for the Newton Public School District. In addition, she has served as an adjunct professor at Kean University teaching graduate courses within the Department of Special Education. Prior to her work in the fields of literacy and adult education, Professor Tucker has taught students in kindergarten through eighth grade as a special education teacher, as well as students in the second, third, and fifth grade as a general education teacher.

Currently, Professor Tucker is a full-time professor in the Education department teaching undergraduate literacy courses. She is also continuing her education as a doctoral student at Rutgers University specializing in literacy education.  Her research interests include anthropology and education, literacy coaching, holistic education, school reform, and international education.  Professor Tucker is blessed with a husband and three sons.

Professor Jerome Wilson

Assistant Professor of Education.

Professor Wilson graduated from William Paterson College with a B.A. in English Education and began his career as a middle school teacher in 1972.  He completed his M. Ed. in elementary education from William Paterson College and completed additional graduate work in School Administration and Supervision. His career in public school education spans over thirty-four years.  After teaching for fifteen years, he worked in various administrative positions in New York State and in Northern New Jersey.  He spent the last ten years of his career as the principal of the Upper Greenwood Lake School in West Milford, New Jersey.  

Professor Wilson holds New Jersey Certification as a Teacher of English, Elementary Teacher, Supervisor, and Principal.  He is also certified as a school administrator in New York State.  Professor Wilson has served as a member of the Sussex-Wantage Board of Education, has taught as an adjunct professor at Sussex County Community College, and has worked as one of the Faculty Observers for Centenary’s CAPS program.

Currently, Professor Wilson is a full-time professor in the Education Department where he teaches undergraduate courses and supervises student teachers. He and his wife, Carol, live in Wantage Township and are the parents of three young adults.