Center for Independent Study

Joan Channickis managing director of the Long Wharf Theatre and Lecturer in Theatre Management at the Yale School of Drama. Her primary fields of interest are theatre(particularly how it fits our rapidly changing and increasingly technological world), law, and not-for-profit organizations.

Patricia DeMaio is currently working on a biography of the French actress, political activist, and author, Simone Signoret. In her day job, Pat is a cofounder and the executive director of the New Haven Public School Foundation, Inc., which identifies and supplies volunteers to the schools. She previously worked in a number of nonprofit organizations in management positions. Her writing and research on Signoret suggested to her that the Center for Independent Study offered an appropriate home for her avocation.

Sylvia Forges-Ryan, who has joined the reading group, is a poet. Her work is particularly focused on haiku, which are collected in Take a Deep Breath: The Haiku Way to Inner Peace, published in the United States, Japan, and Russia. Her work has also appeared in numerous journals and magazines, and she has garnered poetry awards from 1989 right up to this year. On another front, Sylvia's poetry and acting ability contribute to the play Outcry for Justice: Poetry in the Struggle for Freedom of Sacco and Vanzetti, which has been performed in a number of venues.

David Levinson is an anthropologist who is interested in issues of race and ethnicity. He is also co-Founder and President of the Berkshire Publishing Group in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.