Maria Palandra

Maria Palandra has enjoyed a distinguished career in education. With 20 plus years of management experience and knowledge, as a school district senior manager, system-wide improvement leader, curriculum developer, program designer and evaluator. From 2011 to the present, she has served as a consultant to the Brienza Academic Enterprise. Prior to that she was Associate Professor, Curriculum and Teaching (Administration and Supervision), at Hunter College, and adjunct Associate Professor, St. John’s University and Administrative and Teaching at the Elmont Public Schools, Elmont, N.Y. Widely published in the educational field, she has been a Trustee of La Scuola d’Italia in New York since 2011. She served as representative or Italy, Global Partnership Project, Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/CUNY New York, Advisory Council Member, Hunter College/CUNY New York, Committee to Redesign the Childhood Education Program, Co-chair; Italian American Committee on Education, New York, Executive Committee (treasurer); and the Higher Education Committee for the 21st Assembly District, New York State, Chair, CUNY University Faculty Senate, New York, Representative and holds a Ph.D. in Ed Research (Hofstra), PD-Administration, (CUNY), MS-Curriculum (Fordham), MA – Romance Languages (Hunter), BA-Romance Languages (Hunter) 1973, Lettere Moderne (Salerno), Diploma Magistrale, Istituto Magistrale, Foggio 1966. She has been honored by Italian Charities of America, Christopher Columbus Award, 2011, Elmont Women of Distinction – Sandra Day O’Connor Award, 2005, Long Island Language Teachers, Inc.-Friends of Foreign Languages, 2005, Association of Italian-American Educators-School Administration Award, 2004, New York State Governor-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award, 2003, and Italian Americans for Better Government-Educator of the Year, 1998.