Program Directors
Dr. Faye Gary, EdD, RN, FAAN, Director, is the Medical Mutual of Ohio Kent W. Clapp Chair and Professor of Nursing at the Bolton School of Nursing at CWRU. Dr. Gary also holds a secondary appointment with the Department of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. Her passion for excellence and assisting the next generation of Provost Scholars inspired her to build and expand the Provost Scholars program through the plans of two visionary leaders: Provost William Baeslack and Superintendent Ms. Myrna Loy Corley. Her work with these leaders has resulted in the Provost Scholars serving over 95 students in the city of East Cleveland and impacting the future of middle and high school students over the past six years. Dr. Gary received her bachelor's degree in Nursing and Sociology from Florida A & M University, her master's degree in Psychiatric Nursing (Child and Adolescent) and Anthropology from Saint Xavier College in Chicago, Illinois, and her doctorate degree in Childhood Behavioral Disorders and Anthropology from the University of Florida in Gainsville, Florida. You may contact her at fxg21@case.edu
Dr. Lee Anne Thompson, Associate Director, is the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and is a professor of psychological sciences at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). She received her bachelor of arts degree from CWRU in psychology and sociology and her master’s and PhD degrees from University of Colorado Boulder in psychology. As interim dean, Thompson leads 21 departments across the college, along with major centers including the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities, the Schubert Center for Child Studies, the Emerging Scholars Program, the Dittrick Medical History Center and the Leonard Gelfand STEM Center (K-12 programming). She joined the faculty in 1987 and has held many leadership positions at the college and university level including serving as the inaugural department chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences when the Departments of Psychology and Communication Sciences merged in 2011. Thompson most recently served as the senior associate dean for faculty affairs in the college. A developmental psychologist, Thompson’s research program has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2002 where she has focused on understanding how children acquire reading skills, comprehend what they read and acquire mathematical skills. She along with her colleagues and students have published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles. As an award-winning teacher, she received the Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education Award for Teaching Excellence in 2005 and received the McGraw-Hill Excellence in Teaching First-Year Seminars in 2013. She has been nominated for the Bruce Jackson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Mentoring as well as for the Wittke Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. A strong believer in partnering with local communities, Thompson has served as a mentor in the Provost Scholars Program since 2015 and as the associate director of the program since 2019. The program is a partnership between CWRU and East Cleveland City Schools and Cleveland Metropolitan School District that provides mentoring and tutoring for middle and high school students. Thompson and her husband Paul Appelbaum, a retired high school physics teacher, are the proud parents of Drew (CWR ’12; GRS ‘13, Civil Engineering) and Ian (CWR ‘15, sociology). She enjoys hiking with her dogs, cycling through the Cleveland Metroparks, camping and cooking.
Ms. Latona Shazor, MEd., is the Assistant Director of the Provost Scholars Program. She received her first Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education and K-12 Reading from Cleveland State University. She has worked in the education field in many capacities, including as an Elementary Teacher, Curriculum and Instruction Leader, School Administrator of a 6th- 12th grade behavioral health center, and Site Coordinator of the Coach Sams Literacy Program. In 2014, Ms. Shazor earned another Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership. She went on to become a faculty member at Baldwin Wallace University where she taught the principles of diversity and an education course. She also served as Education Field Supervisor at Baldwin Wallace where she was responsible for providing professional development, monitoring, and evaluating teacher interns who were completing their curriculum requirements. With a passion to work in under-resourced communities, Ms. Shazor has partnered with Cuyahoga Community College to teach General Education Development (GED) sessions in the evenings. She has also taught GED courses at the Lorain Community-Based Correctional Facility, where she worked with individuals in confinement. She is eager to share her expertise in curriculum design, networking, research approaches, and best practices that are proven strategies to address the needs of the Provost Scholars, and all aspects of its multifaceted programming. In addition, she has long-standing linkages to the East Cleveland City Schools and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). Ms. Shazor is committed to the Provost Scholars Program and its relentless pursuit for excellence. You may contact her at lxs854@case.edu.
Program Staff
Livia Timpanaro-Perrotta is a recent graduate of CWRU with a Masters in Medical Physiology with honors in Clinical Neuroscience. As a component of her studies, she worked at University Hospitals of Cleveland in the General Neurology, Neuromuscular, and Stroke departments. She conducted research to determine patient outcomes after health-related interventions, and is currently co-instructing a Clinical Reasoning course series at CWRU School of Medicine. Ms. Timpanaro-Perrotta grew up in California, but her family is originally from Rome, Italy. She enjoys working with and empowering youth to pursue excellence in their academics, which led to her mentoring and working with the Provost Scholars Program.
George Bukenya completed his Masters in Medical Physiology from Case Western Reserve University in Spring of 2023. He holds an MBA in healthcare management and an MS in Biomolecular Science. He will be applying to medical school to earn both his MD and PhD with an interest in Clinical and Translational Research and has an interest in expanding health education, resources, and accessibility locally, nationally, and internationally. He is currently the president of the CWRU NAACP Campus chapter and is entering his second year as a tutor and mentor with the Provost Scholars while investigating brain cancer therapies at Lerner’s Research Institute.