WISR Staff

JOHN BILORUSKY, PhD, is WISR’s President. PhD in Higher Education, UC Berkeley, 1972. MA, Sociology of Education, University of California at Berkeley, 1968. BA cum laude, General Studies and Physics, University of Colorado, 1967. John is President of WISR, was a co-founder of WISR in 1975, and has served full-time on WISR’s faculty ever since. In 1970-71, John taught senior thesis seminars in the Social Sciences Integrated Courses and Field Major, as a Teaching Associate at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1971-73, he was Assistant Professor of Urban Affairs and Senior Research Associate in the Institute for Research and Training in Higher Education, at the University of Cincinnati. There he taught the required action-research course in the College of Community Services, created and coordinated the College’s Individualized Learning Program, and served as an in-house organizational and evaluation consultant for faculty at the University. Then, from 1973-75, he was Director of Graduate Studies at University Without Walls-Berkeley. He is the author of published articles and papers on higher education and social change, adult learning, and practical, community-based and participatory research methods, including a co-authored book published by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education, May 1970: The Campus Aftermath of Cambodia and Kent State (with Richard Peterson) and two books recently published by Routledge Press in 2021—Principles and Methods of Transformative Action Research, and Cases and Illustrations of Transformative Action Research. He has served as a consultant for community agencies in the area of participatory action-research, including directing a major study of needs and services for low-income elders for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, and using participatory research in collaboration with the Bay Area Black United Fund on three occasions for their African American Health Summits. In addition, he has done collaborative consultations with dozens of Bay Area groups over the years. He has conducted evaluations of colleges and educational innovations, for such institutions as De Pauw University (Indiana), Macalester College (Minnesota), Colorado College, New College of California, and Fresno State University. He has conducted feasibility studies for such groups as the California Housing Trust Fund and Cleveland State University’s Department of Human Services. John serves on the Advisory Board of the global network of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies https://www.humiliationstudies.org/. For more information, go to: john.bilorusky@wisr.edu.

BRIAN GERRARD, PhD, is WISR’s Academic Dean (Acd) and Director both of WISR’s Doctoral Program as well as the MS program in Education and Community Leadership. Brian is also WISR’s Managing Editor of the Journal for Transformative Action Research. PhD in Sociology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, PhD Counseling Psychology, University of Toronto. M.A. Counseling Psychology, University of British Columbia. Brian is Emeritus Associate Professor, Counseling Psychology Department, University of San Francisco. He holds teaching awards from two universities. He has extensive experience teaching a wide variety of Master’s and Doctoral level courses in counselor education. Brian developed USF’s masters MFT program and for 14 years served as MFT Coordinator. His orientation emphasizes an integration of family systems and problem-solving approaches. He is an experienced administrator and has been Chair of the Counseling Psychology Department three times. Currently, he is a member of the Board, WISR Center for Child and Family Development. The Center, co-founded by Brian, has for years managed the largest longest-running School-Based Family Counseling program of its type in the USA. Its Mission Possible Program has served more than 25,000 children and families in over 100 Bay area schools. Brian is also Chair of the Institute for School-Based Family Counseling. The Institute sponsors the International Journal for School-Based Family Counseling and the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling. He is also Symposium Director for the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling which is an international association with members in 22 countries and which meets at Brasenose College, Oxford University in even years and other international sites in alternate years. Brian is senior editor of the books, School-Based Family Counseling: an Interdisciplinary Practitioner’s Guide (Routledge, 2019), School-Based Family Counseling with Refugees and Immigrants (Routledge, 2022), and School-Based Family Counseling for Crisis and Disaster: Global Perspectives (in press, Routledge). He is co-author with Dr. Jacqueline Shinefield of Psychological Type Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide to Strengthening Relationships (Routledge, 2022). Brian is Co-Facilitator of the Disastershock Global Response Team that developed 30 language translations of the book Disastershock: How to Cope with the Emotional Stress of a Major Disaster and made them available free globally during the Covid 19 pandemic. For more information, contact: brian.gerrard@wisr.edu.

SERETE ITEBETE, WISR’s Technology Support Services Staff person, has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from San Francisco State University. He is an accomplished Business Technology Analyst based in Oakland, California, with expertise in both technology and business processes. Throughout his career, he has showed proficiency in researching and implementing cutting-edge technology solutions to boost organizational efficiency. With more than 20 years of expertise, he has led projects ranging from cloud-based system deployments, application development, and system maintenance to organizing cross-functional teams to build solutions that meet business requirements. He has also excelled at troubleshooting, system integration, and technical consulting, resulting in scalable and secure IT environments.

Serete is familiar with a wide range of technical environments, including cloud platforms such as Azure and Google Cloud, Microsoft 365 tenant solutions, and mobile app development frameworks. His hands-on experience includes IT project management, stakeholder engagement, and teaching end users to use new systems with ease. He has also overseen complicated health and education systems, collaborating with stakeholders to guarantee regulatory compliance and optimal performance. Serete, who holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science, continues to provide cutting-edge solutions to tough business challenges. For more information, contact: serete.itebete@wisr.edu. 

MARILYN JACKSON, PhD, is WISR’s Administrative Dean (AdD). PhD in Higher Education and Social Change, Western Institute for Social Research, 2004. M.A., Holy Names College, Institute in Creation Spirituality and Culture, 1989, BA, Augustana College, 1981, Religion. For 18 years, Dr. Jackson was Executive Assistant to WISR’s President; for the ten years prior to that, she served as WISR’s Administrative Assistant. For 18 years she has been on WISR’s faculty as a Learning Support Instructor. Her roles have included: marketing and outreach; document production (including minutes); IT research, innovations and training; faculty, student and alumni communications and coordination; seminar planning, coordination and production; supervision of institutional filing; policy development; survey development, implementation, data collection and analysis; State and Federal compliance; registration activities. Until recently, she has worked for 25 years in two small law firms in administrative roles including document production, editing, court filing of legal documents, reception, legal research, preparation of legal exhibits, billing, and office filing. Prior to working in law firms, she had five years of experience in administrative, business and office management positions. For 25 years, while working for the non-profit Ecumenical Peace Institute, Berkeley, Dr. Jackson has acted as Board member and office manager and performed marketing and technology training. During this time also she has done volunteer work in community nonprofits, providing education, fundraising, volunteer coordination and outreach services. Additional training received includes FERPA compliance, assertiveness and conflict mediation. Marilyn is also a Learning Support Instructor at WISR. For more information, contact: marilyn.jackson@wisr.edu. 

CYNTHIA ROBERSON, MLS, is WISR’s Library Director. She earned her Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University, 2014. BA, Music, California State University East Bay, 2007. AA, Liberal Studies, Contra Costa College, 2003. Cynthia is WISR’s Library Director. She began her career as a teacher – first as a music teacher in the East Bay, then as a substitute teacher for West Contra Costa and New Haven Unified School Districts. Currently, she works as a Family Care Specialist in the funeral industry while working on library projects for WISR. She is working to get WISR’S library resources online and accessible to students and faculty. For more information, contact: cynthia.roberson@wisr.edu.

DAVID ROSS, EdD Candidate, is WISR’s Vice President for Continuous Quality Improvement (VP-CQI) and Compliance Officer. Graduate Studies in Theology and Philosophy, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hampton, MA. BA in English, Westmont College, Santa Barbara. David’s background in Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) includes experience as Director of CQI for ACI (Addictions Care Interventions), New York City in a community healthcare clinic facility where he trained doctors, nurses and clinicians in CQI philosophy and practices. His directives resulted in renewal of JCAHO accreditation and significantly improved hospital audit statistics. During this tenure, he earned a credential with the National Association of Healthcare Quality. In the field of education, David has also worked as the Director of Operations and CQI for the World School of Massage and Holistic Health (17 years) in San Francisco, and as Provost, Director of Operations and as a faculty member for Andrew University in Berkeley (11 years). For more than 20 years, David has volunteered as a CQI and Strategic Planning Consultant for a global humanitarian project, SUMS Global, in Scottsdale, AZ. David served as the Director of Admissions and Triage for ACI in New York City where he provided brief psychiatric assessment to more than 50,000 patients. While working as a psychiatric social worker at New England Memorial Hospital in Stoneham, MA, he received the Siegert Memorial Award for excellence in clinical psychiatry. Over a 25-year period, at both university and vocational educational institutions, David has provided certification training to hundreds of well-being coaches. In that role, he has developed novel approaches to holistic health and lifestyle coaching and self-coaching which integrate his experience in clinical psychiatry, cognitive behavioral therapy, positive psychology, communications, social-emotional learning, philosophy and business. David has worked full- and part-time in the field of IT, hospital and educational marketing providing website development, SEM and SEO services for approximately 20 years. In 1982, David had the privilege of serving with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity in Calcutta, India. Today, this experience continues to profoundly influence the nature of his career choices and commitments. For more information, contact: david.ross@wisr.edu.

SHEENA SATTARPOUR, MA, LMFT, is the Executive Director of the Western Institute for Social Research-Center for Child and Family Development and the Coordinator for the Oxford Symposium in School-Based Family Counseling (SBFC). Sheena is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She earned her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco (USF). Sheena has a Bachelor of Science in Family and Human Development with a minor in Biology. She also obtained a certificate in chemical dependency and substance abuse counseling, which further piqued her interest in counseling psychology, and the family systems model.

Throughout her career, she has participated in research projects at Arizona State University such as observational coding of children’s behavioral, physical and emotional interactions and academic success; and investigating through telephone interviews the raising of successful teens in Mexican and Mexican-American families. As an Associate Substance Counselor at Court Counseling Services, Inc. (CCS) and a Marital and Family Therapy Associate during her practicum at the University of San Francisco (USF) and in many other internship positions, Sheena gained clinical experience and Crisis Intervention Support (CIS) skills while working with the developmentally disabled. Sheena has taught groups about substance abuse, family systems dynamics, bullying/cyberbullying and Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). Sheena has conducted several presentations at the Oxford Symposium in SBFC and is a member of the Executive Committee, and a Fellow of the Oxford Symposium in SBFC. For more information contact: ssattarpour.ccfd@wisr.edu.

JULIAN TAO, MS. Julian is WISR’s Finance Director and Coordinator of Academic Administration. MS in Taxation, Golden Gate University; BA, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, China. Mr. Tao possesses over 26 years of accounting experience including work with nonprofits and universities. He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and earned a Master of Science in Tax Accounting from Golden Gate University. He has been employed at various accounting firms, including Ernst & Young, LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers. His corporate experience includes employment with Chevron, USA and Visa International. Mr. Tao is a member of our Board Finance Committee and the Administrative Executive Committee. For more information, contact: taojulian@gmail.com. 

CHRISTINE L. TIPPETT, MSW, LCSW, LMFT is the Clinical Director of the Western Institute for Social Research-Center for Child and Family Development. MSW, Social Work (Mental Health Concentration), California State University, Sacramento 1977. BA, Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara 1974. Christine has extensive experience teaching a wide variety of Master’s-level courses in counselor education. With the support of WISR’s current Academic Dean, Brian Gerrard, she created and administered a private practice model of the Mission Possible Program in school-based family counseling, which operated for 16 years, served over 3000 youth and families, helped more than 70 graduate students obtain practicum experience, and earned the 2020 Award for Best Practice in School-Based Family Counseling from the Oxford Symposium of School Based Family Counseling. In addition, she presented at the symposium several times, contributed a chapter to School Based Family Counseling: Transforming Family- School Relations [Chapter 48], by Gerrard and Soriano (2013), and to the International Journal for School-Based Family Counseling, Vol VII (2016). She was thereby made a fellow of the Oxford Symposium of School-Based Family Counseling.

Her interest in community mental health has included work with a variety of vulnerable populations deserving respectful justice:

• Youth needing coordinated care following passage of AB 3632 (now written into code as EC26), so that payment and responsibility for delivery of services flows through the department of primary duty (e.g., education, mental health, juvenile justice, care and custody)
• Mental health clients in need regardless of ability to pay, following the passage of: Lanterman/Petris/Short Act, Mental Health Act, Prop. 63
• Clients requesting information prior to making “informed decisions” regarding birth control both before and after Roe v Wade
• Veterans in higher education responding to “Move Up” preparation for college courses and “About Face” advocacy for (re)instatement of VA benefits
• Advocacy with colleagues, administrators and, (eventually) families who are expanding their nucleus through adoption.

In therapy practice and in clinical supervision, Christine uses a humanistic systems approach to inform her perspective with regard to the person in situation. For more information, contact christine.tippett@wisr.edu

MARK WILSON is WISR’s Learning Experience Designer\Technologian (LxD). In this role, Mark provides leadership in the development, implementation, and evaluation of all technology-related activities at WISR to ensure a realistic balance between the opportunities technology provides and the goals of faculty’s instructional programs so students, teachers, librarians, and clerical staff work together. He is involved in user experience design and online course design, so that technology meets the needs of members of the WISR learning community. He is strongly committed to helping WISR improve its learning technology in support of our long-standing mission to promote self-directed adult learning.

Mark Wilson is a retired craftsman. After studying the art and science of glass, he worked 20 years as a scientific glassblower in Silicon Valley making gas LASERs, X-ray tubes and high intensity short-arc lamps to manufacture computer chips. He returned to college in Oakland’s Peralta Community College District (PCCD) and has completed Liberal Arts and Sociology Associate’s degrees from Berkeley City College. Inspired by the lack of support for adult students, Mark was deeply involved in the shared governance of the PCCD, collaborating with other student leaders in creating a four-college Peralta Student Council and serving two years as its first Communications Officer. He represented students on the PeopleSoft Financial Aid Upgrade Steering Committee, to automate financial aid disbursements. Mark was also a student worker at the Peralta Colleges Foundation, helping run fundraising events and supporting the RSVP pilot program; a cohort of first year students committed to graduating from Peralta in two years.

Mark belongs to the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), and the Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence- Based Learning (AAEEBL), the group leading ePortfolio research. He has attended many education conferences and is a member of the AAEEBL Practices & Pedagogies Special Interest Group. He is also a Digital Storytelling facilitator trained at Berkeley’s StoryCenter. He was selected as a HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory) Scholar for the 2017-19 cohort. An “innovative student-driven community”, HASTAC is the “world’s first and oldest academic social network.” “We are building a community of students working at the intersection of technology and the arts, humanities and sciences.”

For more information, contact mark.wilson@wisr.edu.  See more at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcorbettwilson.