SOCIAL STUDIES

Jessica Jolliffe - Administrative Supervisor:

(jjolliff@austinisd.org) Jessica Jolliffe is a 1999 graduate of Bryn Mawr College. She began her career in education in 1999 as a middle school social studies teacher in the Rio Grande Valley through Teach for America. She earned a Masters in Curriculum Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003 before joining the faculty at Bailey Middle School as an 8th grade U.S. history teacher. She arrived at CAC in 2008 and has been a Curriculum Specialist for both the Social Studies Department and Department of English Language Learners. In 2012 Jessica was named the new Administrative Supervisor for Social Studies. Jessica and her husband Tom have two daughters, Jean and Robin.

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Montie Dare - Administrative Assistant:

(mdare@austinisd.org) Montie graduated from McCallum High School and attended the University of Texas at Austin.  She and her husband, who has retired after many years in the insurance business, raised three amazing children - two daughters and a son - and now enjoy every opportunity to be with their five grandchildren.

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Janie McClam - Elementary Specialist:

(jmcclam@austinisd.org) Janie is a graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in History. She has a Masters in Education from Lesley University. She is certified in Texas to teach General Elementary 1st through 8th Grade, Social Studies, 1st through 8th grade, and has a mid management and supervision certificate. She has taught in public schools for 24 years and in private schools for two years. She is married to Jim McClam, who is retired military (Army) and who works for Motorola. They have two sons, Kevin, a NASA engineer and Dwayne who works for the city of Austin in the GIS department. She has a daughter-in-law, Serena who works in business and two super grandsons James and Michael. Janie has two granddogs, Misty, a loyal German Shepherd and Diva, a friendly Italian Mastiff.
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Janie Maldonado - Middle School Specialist:

(jamaldonado@austinisd.org) Janie Maldonado earned a B.A. from Our Lady of the Lake College in San Antonio, Texas.   Her major was history with a minor in Spanish. She earned a Masters degree in educational management from UTSA.  Her post masters' work includes certification in administration and supervision.  She began her teaching career at Martin Junior High where she was also department chair and team leader.  Janie transferred to Lanier High School where she taught, World History, United States History (honors and A.P.), Government, and Mainstream and Minorities, a course offered during the quarter system.  In 1982, Janie completed an internship with Dr. Frances Nesmith as a Social Studies Coordinator Intern. At Lanier, Janie was department chair, served as co-chair of the CAC, scholarship committee, Faculty and Staff Appreciation Committee and other committees.  Janie has also served on many district committees such as the District Safety Committee, 125th Anniversary, Committee, Reserve Force Committee, Professional Compensation Committee, and the AISD Committee for Teacher Evaluation. Janie has been in the Social Studies Curriculum Department since 2002.
She is also a member on four executive boards all focused on education. Janie is a member of several educational organizations.
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Robert Hillhouse - ELL Specialist:

(robert.hillhouse@austinisd.org) Rob Hillhouse graduated from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, in 2000 with an MA in International Relations. From 2000-2002 he taught ESL to freshmen students at Charles’ University in Prague, Czech Republic. After marrying his sweetheart, Emily, he moved to Austin. After working for a year teaching ESL classes for Texas State in San Marcos in 2005, he was hired to teach World Geography and World History for Austin ISD's International High School. During that time he was a recipient of the National Council for Geographic Education's Distinguished Teaching Award and created the first AP course specifically designed for ELLs. He is a National Board certified teacher and has an MA in Educational Administration from the University of Texas in Austin. He has a 4 year-old daughter, Molly, who is very imaginative and artistic! Rob joined the Social Studies team in August 2012.
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Celeste Smith - High School Specialist:

(celsmith@austinisd.org) After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin in May, 1977, Celeste began teaching World Geography at Crockett High School in August that same year. She spent her entire 30 year teaching career at Crockett, serving as the Social Studies Department Chair from1992-2007. In August, 2007, she began her new job as a social studies curriculum specialist with AISD.
Celeste and Gary Smith, Director of Pharmacy at Central Texas Rehabilitation Hospital, have been married for 27 years and have two sons, Christopher, a petroleum engineer and graduate of UT Austin, and David, a senior political management major at St. Edward's University in Austin.
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Terry Loessin - Curriculum Technology Specialist:

(tloessin@austinisd.org) Terry Loessin is a 1986 graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown. He received his Masters of Divinity from the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1990. In his fourth year of pastoral ministry work he began doing post-graduate work, selecting courses that appealed to his interest in history. He received his history certification through Southwest Texas State University in 1994, having completed his student teaching at Round Rock High School. He began his high school teaching career there the following year, teaching his passion - World History. In 1999 he and several other Round Rock veterans joined the founding faculty of Austin's newest high school in south Austin named for W. Charles Akins. In 2006 he received the Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities award presented each year by Humanities Texas and, in that same year, began his new job as a curriculum specialist in the Bureau of Curriculum's Social Studies department. He enjoys helping teachers find the resources they need and providing as many of those resources as he can on the department's web site - a project he helped develop and continues to enjoy managing. He's happy to receive your feedback, corrections, and recommendations of resources at anytime. In 2009 he was recognized by the State Bar of Texas with the Honorary Leon Jaworski Award for Teaching Excellence in Law Focused Education.

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Jennifer Brewer - Special Education Specialist:

(jennifer.brewer@austinisd.org) Upon graduation from McCallum High School, Jennifer attended Tarleton State University and graduated from Southwest Texas. In 2010, she graduated from Texas State with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Leadership that includes principal certification. Her teaching experience began at Temple High School and includes thirteen years at Hopewell Middle School in Round Rock where she served as a resource and inclusion teacher, as well as, the special education department chair. Jennifer has two sons, Jacob and Christian.

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