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Human Services Faculty

Julie Capozzi
Faculty
(978) 630-9302

My name is Julie Capozzi. I am happy to say that I am a new a full- time faculty member at Mount Wachusett Community College, teaching courses in sociology and psychology. I come to MWCC having taught at Northern Essex Community College and Axia College (affiliated with the University of Phoenix). I have been a faculty member at the NECC for seven years teaching psychology and sociology courses in the Behavioral Sciences Department.

My teaching experience has included developing ten college curriculum courses and teaching over fifty courses. These include Psychology, Sociology, Early Childhood Education, and English courses. At NECC, I have developed two online psychology courses, Introduction to Psychology, Psy 101 and Child Psychology, Psy 203. Portions of the Psy 101 course were dubbed as a model course on the Pearson publisher’s website. My past employment also included working for Pearson, Inc. I was a project manager for the University of Florida, and University of Hawaii in helping them adapt their current Introduction to Psychology course into an online course. I also edited college textbooks for Pearson, Inc.

I have a Masters Degree from Boston University in Counseling and Guidance, and a B.A. in both Psychology and Sociology from Rhode Island College. I have taken courses at Boston College and the Harvard University Extension School.

 My past work experience includes being an elementary, middle and high school guidance counselor. I have clinical and educational experience. This includes counseling students in regular education and Alternative Education. I worked extensively with students facing anorexia and bulimia, bi-polar, ADD, and other clinical disorders. I also have been a Girl Scout Leader for eight years with my girls’ troops.

Raymond Vincent Coleman
Professor of Psychology and Director of International Education

CAGS, University of Massachusetts
MA, Assumption College
BA, Assumption College

A professor since 1966, Ray came to MWCC after teaching high school students and working in a French subsidiary of Norton Company just outside of Paris. A Fulbright Scholar, he has attended Fulbright institutes at universities in Poznan, Poland and Kyoto, Japan. Ray teaches courses including Introductory Psychology, Human Growth and Development, and Abnormal Psychology. In addition to his instructional duties, he serves as Director of International Education and has traveled in China, Japan, India, Egypt, Russia, and most countries in Western and Eastern Europe. Ray encourages a cross-cultural perspective in his classes.

Ray belongs to the National Education Association, Massachusetts Teachers Association, New England Organization of Human Service Educators, and the Massachusetts Council for International Education, an organization with representatives from all 29 campuses of the state’s public institutions of higher education. He is a member of the Executive Board and head of the International Lecturers Series.

Janice Gearan
Professor of Psychology

BA, Anna Maria College
MA, Anna Maria College

Before teaching at MWCC, Janice worked as a social worker for the Head Start Program and a case manager and intake supervisor for the Montachusett Home Care Corporation, serving the elderly in thirteen surrounding cities and towns. Janice is a Massachusetts Licensed Certified Social Worker (LCSW). In addition, she serves on the Gardner Visiting Nurse’s Association Board of Directors, the Gardner advisory board for the Department of Mental Health as secretary, and the NEOHSE (New England Organization of Human Service Education) as secretary.

She currently teaches Introduction to Psychology, Human Growth and Development, Introduction to Gerontology, and Psychology of Aging. She also coordinates human services internship experiences.

Heather March
Dept. Chair, Human Services Program
Professor of American Sign Language, Developmental Reading and College Success
(978) 630-9224
h_march@mwcc.mass.edu

Heather March was a freelance ASL interpreter and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Assumption College. March also taught Deaf children for the CAPS Collaborative Deaf Program at Reingold Elementary School in Fitchburg, was an Educational Interpreter for Worcester Public Schools, and taught Deaf children at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf and the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, Connecticut.

March is a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, National Association of the Deaf, and the American Sign Language Teacher’s Association (ASLTA). She is ASLTA certified at the Qualified level.

Ms. March earned her M.Ed. in Education for the Deaf from Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; B.A. from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA; and A.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. She also completed the Interpreter Training Program at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, as well as numerous workshops in the area of ASL Linguistics and Language Acquisition.

Heather March has worked for many years in the Deaf Community as an interpreter, teacher of Sign Language and Deafness, and as a teacher of deaf children. She has taught in both public schools and schools for the deaf, including the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. She also served as department chair for the former ASL/Deaf Studies Program, which is now an option in the Human Services Program.

Sheila Murphy
Professor of Human Services and Psychology
Coordinator of Honors Program

MA, Boston College
BA, Regis College

A psychotherapist, Sheila worked at Boston City Hospital’s Narcotic Addiction Clinic as a staff psychologist and clinical supervisor before teaching at MWCC. She specializes in addictions, HIV related issues, depression, anxiety disorders, and stress management. Since 1993, she has taught at MWCC and has worked as counselor and assistant director of the college’s Connections Program, which served single parents and displaced homemakers. Active in her community, she frequently volunteers on political campaigns and is Massachusetts and Rhode Island Zone Co-Coordinator for the ABC Quilt Project (At-Risk Babies Crib Quilt Project). ABCQ is a national grassroots, nonprofit organization delivering hand-made quilts to babies and children born HIV positive, abandoned, and living in hospitals or foster care, or born affected by alcohol or other drugs.

Sheila uses service learning, job shadowing, and multi-media in the classroom to enhance student learning. Sheila co-authored an article on service learning published in the fall 2000 edition of the Academic Review Quarterly. Distinctions include a NISOD Award for Teaching Excellence in 1999 and recognition by Who’s Who Among Teachers in 1998. She currently teaches Introduction to Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Counseling Methods and Interviewing Techniques.

Candace Shivers
Instructor, Sociology and Human Services

MA, Assumption College
BA, American International College

After being an adjunct faculty member at MWCC’s Leominster Campus & Corporate Training Center, Candace became a full-time faculty member August 2004. Candace worked full-time at Worcester Community Action Council Inc. While there, she was an AmeriCorps supervisor, a GED instructor, an employment counselor, and a Reconnection Connecting Youth coordinator. Candace is the Vice President of Campfire USA Central Branch Board of Directors. She currently teaches sociology, basic psychology and other human service classes.

Ruth Thibodeau
Associate Professor of Psychology and Sociology

BA University of Massachusetts
MS University of California
Ph.D. University of California

Before joining the faculty at Mount Wachusett Community College, Ruth was the director of the college’s Visions Program, a federally funded project which provides a wide range of support services, including personal counseling, to MWCC students from low-income, first-generation backgrounds, and students with disabilities.  She previously taught full-time at the College of the Holy Cross and Keene State College, and was a part-time instructor at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she completed her doctorate in the field of social psychology.

Ruth teaches courses in psychology, sociology, and human services at the Mount.  She also has a special interest in learning communities, which involve team-teaching two or more courses with faculty members from other academic disciplines.  Along with her colleague Susan Blake from the English Department, Ruth co-designed and currently teaches “Self and Society,” a learning community that combines Introduction to Sociology and English Composition I.  The same students are enrolled in both courses, allowing for the integration of material and assignments and promoting strong bonds among students and between faculty and students.

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