Adam Kosan
Adam oversees key media partnerships and collaborations, as well as relations with longtime supporters, and is a producer on the television series.
Alek Abate
Alek Abate is an educator, activist, and writer. He received his BA in Philosophy from Dartmouth College in 2017. Since then, he has worked as an outreach coordinator for various non-profits and also taught middle school English as part of Teach For America. He currently works as an assistant at Richman Law & Policy, a social impact law firm that works to advocate for environmental, animal, and social justice causes. In his spare time, Alek writes and workshops screenplays and short fiction and studies narrative in all its forms.
Alexandra Malve
Alexandra Malve supports curriculum development and research for Poetry in America’s Health Humanities team. Certified as an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant with degrees in global health and psychology from Arizona State University, she brings an interdisciplinary approach to her work. She also has experience in nonprofit engagement, focusing on education and community building.
Alyssa Sylva
Alyssa Sylva is a professional secondary teacher who is thrilled to partner with Poetry in America as a teaching assistant. She graduated from Sterling College with degrees in English and Mass Communications, and completed her master’s in Literature at Kansas State University. She teaches high school courses in American Literature, British Literature, Theatre, and has taught undergraduates in Expository Writing and literature. Prior to teaching with Poetry in America, Alyssa completed all of the PiA courses for graduate credit. She has been a state Teacher of the Year semifinalist and a Yale Educator, and her professional interests include writing instruction and assessment, early American literature, and modern American drama.
Caitlin Ballotta Rajagopalan
Caitlin Ballotta Rajagopalan oversees Poetry in America’s education portfolio, which encompasses numerous programs on offer at Arizona State University and Harvard University; K-12 initiatives related to the Poetry in America television series; and collaborations with nonprofit, public, and private sector partners.
Caitlin has been with Poetry in America since 2014, serving in such capacities as instructional designer, curriculum developer, media producer, and project and program manager. Her first major project involved leading the design, build, and administration of the Massive Open Online Course Poetry in AmericaX: Modernism at HarvardX. In 2019, Caitlin led the design and implementation of the Poetry in America for High Schools Program (featured in the New York Times) at the Harvard Extension School; she subsequently oversaw the program’s mid-pandemic transfer to its new home at ASU, where it has seen major growth. Caitlin has also worked as an associate producer for the Poetry in America public television series, and she co-designed and co-taught the graduate practicum Teaching the Humanities with New Media at Harvard with Poetry in America founder and director Elisa New. Caitlin has a degree in English from Harvard University and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Pennsylvania.
Camille Jacobson
Camille Jacobson is an MFA candidate in fiction at Columbia University. She received her BA from Harvard University in 2018, where her research interests focused on twentieth-century poetry and culminated in a thesis that considered the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop and the semiotics of nostalgia as elaborated by the theorist Svetlana Boym. Her fiction and criticism have appeared in Catapult, Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, The Atticus Review, and elsewhere.
Carole Basile
Carole G. Basile is the Dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation at Arizona State University (ASU). Prior to joining ASU, Basile was Dean and Professor in the College of Education at the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL). As Dean at ASU, her work has centered on redesigning the education workforce and changing practices in teacher and leadership preparation. She is currently working with education organizations nationally and internationally to design systems and enable organizational change in these areas. She is recognized for her work in math and science education, teacher education, community engagement, and environmental education and has published numerous articles, books, book chapters, and technical papers. She is serving as Principal Investigator for multi-million dollar projects funded by the Kern Family Foundation and the Department of Education. Her community work is also extensive, as she has actively partnered with many urban school districts, nonprofit community and social service entities, and organizations focused on business, workforce, and economic development. Dr. Basile has 15 years of business experience in the areas of sales, management, and corporate training and human capital development.
Cathleen O’Connell
Cathleen O’Connell is a documentary producer whose broadcast credits include non-fiction programming for PBS, Animal Planet, The History Channel and Discovery Channel. Her independent films shine a light on lesser known but important facets of American culture — stories found when you exit the interstate and pull onto the blue highways and back roads. She credits Nancy Drew for her plucky tenacity and unapologetic curiosity.
Cathy Nicastro
Cathy Nicastro spent the first twelve years of her career in education working in early childhood classrooms, and the last twenty as a secondary high school English teacher. She earned her undergraduate degree at UMASS-Amherst and her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction through Integrating the Arts at Lesley. . A lifelong reader and lover of poetry, Cathy jumped at the chance to T.A. for them when offered in the fall of 2021, and has enjoyed doing so ever since. In addition to working for Poetry in America, Cathy works part time as a tour guide at Louisa May Alcott’s, Orchard House, and rooting for the Red Sox.