ABSTRACT
It is amazing how often I am asked about Joe’s background and the early influences on his highly productive life. His life story is a fascinating one with difficulties, such as the early death of his father and later, a beloved brother. He was also influenced by an amazing and dedicated mother, who spoke English as a second language and worked as a housekeeper to support her three young boys at home after their father passed away. Joe’s early life is characterized by working hard to help his mother maintain the family home and his work 458ethic continued throughout his life. He worked as a caddy, selling vegetables, in an icehouse, and pursued a multitude of jobs to attend college. He became a teacher, pursued a master’s degree in school psychology, and worked as a psychologist before heading to the University of Virginia where he studied with the fascinating Virgil Ward. His early interests were creativity and evaluation, both of which led to his subsequent decades of scholarship. Perhaps because of his time as a teacher in New Jersey, Joe has never been satisfied to simply develop ideas at his desk at UConn, but rather, he wants to see and understand how these ideas can be implemented in schools and then make them easier to implement if educators encounter challenges. His work is never done, it is a constant process of evolution.
