Staff Profiles

Daniel Newman, Director

Donna Cole, Associate Director

Writing Specialist, Assistant Professor of English, Lesley College

Donna is an Assistant Professor in Humanities, and teaches composition and literature in the Lesley College. Her professional interests include teacher-student writing conferences, writing process, writing groups, and writing poetry. She works one-on-one with undergraduate and graduate students from all programs and conducts writing workshops each semester.

Anhar A. Mulla, Online Tutoring Manager

Anhar Mulla is the Center's online tutoring manager. Her responsibilities include the orientation and training of online tutors as well as the managing of all aspects of the online tutoring program to ensure effective and timely processing of all tutoring requests. She is a graduate of Wellesley College (B.A.), Cornell Law School (J.D.) and Lesley University's School of Management (M.Sc.M.).  She enjoys working with students to achieve their academic objectives and realize their full potential through the improvement of their writing skills.

Maureen Riley, Director of Academic LD Services

Associate Professor, School of Education

Maureen Riley is Associate Professor of Special Education in the Lesley College and in the School of Education. In the Lesley University Center for Academic Achievement, she is Director of Support Services for Students with Learning Disabilities. Her area of specialization is cognition, in particular, as applied to different ways of knowing and learning. Her research is in the areas of alternative assessment and curriculum development for the inclusive classroom.

Susannah Buzard, Learning Specialist

Susannah Buzard is the newest member of the senior staff and the learning specialist at the Center. She graduated from Mount Holyoke with a Bachelor's in Psychology and Russian Literature, and attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a post-baccalaureate in Creative Writing. After working with adolecents at the University of Chicago, Susannah came to Boston, where she spent a few years working in the field of Publishing before making the decision to return to higher education. She is currently in the final stretch of her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology at Lesley University. Her research interests include the relationship between giftedness/talent and LDD/ADD, and writing and the literary arts in therapy. For the past three years, she has tutored students with learning differences at the Center under the close supervision of Maureen Riley.

Cheryl Vander Schaaf, Office Coordinator

Cheryl Vander Schaaf manages the day-to-day affairs of the Center. She maintains the master schedule for tutoring and alternative testing accomodation, supervises tutors, and serves as the contact person for inquiries about the Center and its services. She is a graduate of Lesley University, where she received her B.A. in Human Development.