Fellows Inductees 2023

We are pleased to be inducting five distinguished science educators this year as STANYS Fellows. At the Annual Meeting in New York City on December 27, 1949, our organization inaugurated the STANYS Fellows Award Program to honor teachers who have served with distinction as science educators in New York State. These persons are chosen on the basis of their effective teaching and active participation in professional scientific organizations. Their leadership and scholarly endeavors in science education are noteworthy. The recipients are honored at the Annual Conference.

​​Please celebrate the accomplishments of these amazing leaders in science education on Sunday evening at the Fellows Induction and Dinner in the Oncenter Ballroom. For a list of current and past fellows, please click here. 

Lisa Brosnick

​Mrs. Lisa Brosnick earned her bachelor's Degree in Biology in 1993 and a Master's degree in Science Education in 1998 from SUNY Buffalo. She is currently a student in the Doctor of Education program in learning and teaching in social contexts at UB.  Lisa Brosnick's professional career includes over 20 years of teaching high school biology and AP Biology. In 2007, she earned the Western New York Science Teacher of the Year from the American Chemical Society, and in 2008, she was awarded NABT's Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year. In 2020, she received the STANYS Excellence in High School Teaching Award.  She is a Master Teacher, emeritus, graduating from the program in the first cohort of participants.  She is proud to be an active member of STANYS, serving through the executive cycle and most recently as Special Director for Professional Learning.  Lisa Brosnick is currently a Buffalo State faculty member in the Science Education program.  She is the proud mom of two young men - a 2nd lieutenant and a pre-med major.  She is forever thankful for the love and support of her husband, Randy.

Sandra George

Sandi has been a passionate and exemplary educator that  has developed and taught a wide variety of courses over her twenty five year career at Frontier Central School District in Hamburg, NY.  Her involvement in STANYS began over fifteen years ago at the local level as a Subject Area Representative for Physics and transitioned shortly after to becoming the section Chairperson and as an alternate Section Director.  Over the course of 5 years she organized the section Mini-Conference,  annual Awards Banquets and represented STANYS at the WNY Leadership Breakfasts and the WNY STEM Hub.  

When the call came out that the organization was in need of Association Treasure, Sandi stepped up to assume the role and worked tirelessly for the next 8 years.  During her tenure as Association Treasurer, she instituted many needed financial reforms and worked with Sections, Directors and the entire BOD to ensure the financial stability of the organization.   Since leaving that role within STANYS, she continues to be a member of the Conference Committee as the VIP Host, where she coordinates all hotel and registration needs for the STANYS BOD, awardees, speakers and invited guests.  She also volunteers outside of our organization as she just finished a three year appointment on NSTA’s Awards and Recognition Committee and is currently serving on the NSTA Financial Oversight Committee.   

Sandi has attended and presented at numerous conferences at the local, state and national level and was a NYS Master Teacher in the Western Region.  She thoroughly enjoys learning about new things and has engaged in hundreds of hours of professional learning opportunities throughout her career, making her an outstanding educator.   She has written two published articles for the STANYS Bulletin and is contemplating writing another in her free time.  

Sandi is excited to be recognized as an inductee to this year cohort of STANYS Fellows.  It is a great honor for her and a testament to her dedication to education and STANYS.

Gene Gordon

Gene has been a teacher of science for over 30 years. He has taught in urban, rural and suburban districts and has taught everything from math to electronics to physics to astronomy and robotics. He prides himself on wanting to learn everything about everything. Gene has created and run clubs encouraging gaming, science, astronomy, and has started multiple US FIRST robotics teams.  Eventually creating a NASA research club that grew into a full STEM class. A constructivist at heart, Gene tries to make everything a learning experience. He helped start the physics days at various amusement parks and even had students doing physics labs on their senior trip to Boston. If there was something new to try, Gene dives headfirst into it, many times failing. This is true, even in the classroom where he was not afraid to let the students create the labs for physics in true inquiry style. 
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Gene has been a National Board Certified teacher for the past 15 years. Gaining this certification inspired Gene to reach out and share his knowledge and methodology with other teachers, not only in New York state, but throughout the world using his presence on social media. It was during this time that he connected with NASA and started down a path of which would lead to his students creating projects that would fly to the International Space Station. Always learning, Gene even flew on board NASA’s Zero-G plane (TWICE!) and used that experience to help others understand the world around them.

It was during this time that he also pursued a leadership role in STANYS, where he would eventually become president and help New York State as it created and adopted the new NYSSLS standards. He has been the Central Western  Subject-Area-Representative, the physics Director-At-Large, the STANYS webmaster, served on multiple STANYS committees and led the team of teachers from across the state as they explored NGSS as they made it their own.

Although Gene retired from teaching in 2018, he did not fade into the woodwork. Asked to join NASA HUNCH he has spent the last years helping students across the country as they excitedly pursue their dreams of making things for space. He is currently the New York State mentor for NASA HUNCH, and has dreams of having  students from all over New York State designing and building things for space. Some of these students will have their own dreams come true and eventually will walk on Mars.

Gene describes himself as loud and chaotic. But don't mistake the loudness or the chaos as lack of purpose or drive. Through chaos comes learning. It is from the cycle of trying and failing that we truly learn. Chaos provides the opportunity for success and failure. Gene believes success is the inevitable conclusion of people who learn from their failures and therefore he has devoted his life to helping others experience learning with as few guard rails as possible. 

Jason Horowitz

Jason Horowitz of the Nassau Section of STANYS is an exceptional colleague, educator, leader, mentor, and friend. As described by members of the science department at Division Avenue High School in Levittown, “his deep understanding of science education is fueled by a compilation of passion, brilliance, and lifelong learning.” 

During his career in Levittown School District, Jason has taught at and served as Chairperson of Science in three of four of the district’s secondary schools. He has taught Regents Biology, Regents Chemistry, Accelerated Chemistry, Living Environment, Science Research, Middle School Biology, Middle School Earth Science, and is taking on the challenge of AP Chemistry this school year. Jason provides differentiated instruction and targets multiple learning styles for student success. He is an exemplary teacher that establishes high expectations for students by providing consistency and fairness in and outside of the classroom. His enthusiastic approach to life and learning, as well as a superbly curated collection of science-related novelty t-shirts, has impacted both students and teachers beyond the Levittown School District. Jason has earned certifications in Chemistry, Biology, and General Science, and is an accomplished Pyrotechnician—assembling dazzling fireworks displays worldwide, and igniting inspiration for both students and fellow educators. Jason has also served as a volunteer firefighter/Emergency Medical Technician for the Long Beach Fire Department and an Emergency Medical Technician for the Long Beach Lifeguard Patrol. 

Jason Horowitz is a 21 year STANYS member, who maintains his Nassau Section membership. He is currently the Special Director of Organizational Oversight after serving STANYS in several other roles: a member of the Executive Board; President 2014-2015; Assistant Association and Conference Treasurer; Chair of the Nominating Committee; Section Newsletter Editor; Section Webmaster; and Nassau Section Chairperson/Director.

Officially nominated by Donna Banek, 2020 STANYS Fellow, Jason’s Fellows recommendation spurred letters of support from science teachers across the state. His contributions to this organization are immeasurable. His leadership and decision making is always directed towards one goal: improving the experience of science teaching and learning throughout New York State. He has taught members and leaders of the organization to listen, think critically, make sure all initiatives match intention, and always move the organization forward. 
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Jason is magnet for new and experienced teachers to join in STANYS membership. Jason supports the organization locally and statewide, while still actively teaching in the classroom. He demonstrates unending dedication with honesty, out of the box ideas, in depth analysis of policy vs. intent, and enduring advocacy. On behalf of the Nassau Section, I ask you to join us in celebrating as Jason Horowitz becomes a Fellow of STANYS.

Helen Pashley, Ph.D.

Helen was a “science kid” from an early age. She was encouraged to satisfy her curiosity about the world by her parents, Joyce, and Gordon Fray, who did not mind a rock collection, and caterpillars and tadpoles in her bedroom. Her high school in the UK used the Nuffield science curricula, which focused on designing your own experimental investigations and making sense of your collected data. This “joy of finding things out,” stayed with her throughout her career, and was her guiding principle when designing curriculum for students. Following a B.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Bristol, Helen received teaching and doctoral qualifications from Cambridge University. She taught Biology Grades 6-12 at Saffron Walden County HS including the equivalent of Regents and AP level courses. On moving to the U.S., she was happily employed and intellectually challenged as a workshop facilitator and curriculum developer with P/NW BOCES Elementary Science 21 program for 26 years. During this time, the program grew from serving 8 districts, to 87 districts and 235 schools. Helen also enjoyed collaborating with teachers on projects in the Hudson Valley, New Jersey, and Central America. These ranged through grades and subject areas from Kindergarten, ELL/ENL, LE and Earth Science Regents, to AP Chemistry and Physics! Her primary expertise is in STEM and science curriculum design, but she created popular workshops on topics as diverse as Makerspaces, Engineering in the classroom, Teaching reading in the content area (without tears), Interactive Notebooks and Sustainability. She also regularly taught in-class enrichment workshops in many local elementary schools. As an elementary SAR, Vice Chair of the Westchester Section, as well as President of this association, Helen said that her time spent in STANYS as part of the leadership was an incredible experience. It provided opportunities to collaborate with some of the most creative and talented educators throughout the state. She found the challenges of supporting members starting to implement the NYSSLS particularly rewarding. 
 
Helen currently serves as Awards Chair and delegate to NYS Council of Education Associations. She hopes that as a Co-facilitator of the New York State Science Education Consortium, she can continue to provide useful resources and share timely information about the new state assessments with teachers. 

Helen would particularly like to thank her husband Michael, and her daughters, Harriet, Jennifer, and Elizabeth for their love and support over the years.