Educator, researcher, and artist promoting self-awareness, mutual understanding, and collective responsibility at the intersection of creativity and embodied experience.
EDUCATION
Master of Arts in Social Justice Expected Graduation, May 2028
Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY
Doctor of Education, Art & Art Education February 2021
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Master of Education, Art & Art Education May 2011
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Master with Initial Certification, Art & Art Education May 2006
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
New York State School Teacher in Visual Arts K-12 (Professional), August 2011
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Fine Arts May 1990
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
SKILLS
Art Skills: printmaking (intaglio, silkscreen, lithography, linocut, cyanotype), drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, fiber arts, social media, presentations
Research: qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, ethnography, narrative inquiry,
Institutional Review Board
Software: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign) Google Workspace, NVivo
Languages: Greek: Independent User; French: reading knowledge
Research: qualitative, mixed methods, arts-based, ethnography, narrative inquiry,
Institutional Review Board
Software: Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, InDesign) Google Workspace, NVivo
Languages: Greek: Independent User; French: reading knowledge
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Art Education Department, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 2021-Present
Curriculum Coordinator & Faculty
Curriculum Coordinator & Faculty
• Coordinating, supervising, and developing both the MA Internship Program and the MAT Student Teaching Program PK-12.
• Teaching the corequisite Seminars and supplementary workshops, as well as teaching core courses,
• Designing and maintaining the departmental Teacher Preparation Assessments (SVA TPA) for New York State drawing on the most up-to-date approaches to teaching art through culturally responsive practice in the classroom,
• Preparing and guiding students through the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Research with Human Subjects.
• Founded and facilitating the Mentoring Committee monthly meeting for recent graduates and supporting teachers.
• Department Course Instructor:
Student Teaching Field Experience: Elementary and Middle Schools (Fall)
Student Teaching Field Experience: Secondary Schools (Spring)
MA Internship Seminar
Materials and Processes 1
Thesis 2: Artistic Research
Teaching Inquiry 2
• Continuing Education Instructor:
Introduction to Art Education
• Teaching the corequisite Seminars and supplementary workshops, as well as teaching core courses,
• Designing and maintaining the departmental Teacher Preparation Assessments (SVA TPA) for New York State drawing on the most up-to-date approaches to teaching art through culturally responsive practice in the classroom,
• Preparing and guiding students through the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Research with Human Subjects.
• Founded and facilitating the Mentoring Committee monthly meeting for recent graduates and supporting teachers.
• Department Course Instructor:
Student Teaching Field Experience: Elementary and Middle Schools (Fall)
Student Teaching Field Experience: Secondary Schools (Spring)
MA Internship Seminar
Materials and Processes 1
Thesis 2: Artistic Research
Teaching Inquiry 2
• Continuing Education Instructor:
Introduction to Art Education
P. S. 396 The Burnside Avenue School, Bronx, NY. 2006-2021
Art Teacher & Liaison
• Designed and delivered engaging art instruction for grades PK-5 to promote self-awareness, mutual understanding, and collective responsibility by thinking through artistic materials, tools, and mediums and the contributions of art history and contemporary art.
• Instructional materials invited students to investigate creative solutions for making meaning and gaining understanding across subjects such as science and social studies.
• Differentiated lessons and provided accommodations for students in our ASD NEST program and for all learners, with multi-modal entry opportunities for engaging with image-making, emphasizing collaboration and community building.
• Designed Instructional Strategies and Classroom management approaches to specifically integrate social-emotional learning SEL pedagogy using techniques and strategies such as RULER behavioral supports and restorative justice circles.
Art & Art Education Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY 2013-2021
Field Observations K-12 Seminar Instructor
Field Observations in Art Education: Children and Adolescents courses of study are designed to prepare pupils for student teaching by exposing them to “real world” issues in the art classroom as they make the transition from the theory of art education to the practice of teaching.
Art Teacher & Liaison
• Designed and delivered engaging art instruction for grades PK-5 to promote self-awareness, mutual understanding, and collective responsibility by thinking through artistic materials, tools, and mediums and the contributions of art history and contemporary art.
• Instructional materials invited students to investigate creative solutions for making meaning and gaining understanding across subjects such as science and social studies.
• Differentiated lessons and provided accommodations for students in our ASD NEST program and for all learners, with multi-modal entry opportunities for engaging with image-making, emphasizing collaboration and community building.
• Designed Instructional Strategies and Classroom management approaches to specifically integrate social-emotional learning SEL pedagogy using techniques and strategies such as RULER behavioral supports and restorative justice circles.
Art & Art Education Program, Teachers College, Columbia University, NY 2013-2021
Field Observations K-12 Seminar Instructor
Field Observations in Art Education: Children and Adolescents courses of study are designed to prepare pupils for student teaching by exposing them to “real world” issues in the art classroom as they make the transition from the theory of art education to the practice of teaching.
Collaborative Teaching Internship Program co-founder & coordinator 2017-2021
The Collaborative Teaching Internship Program was an eight-week immersive teaching experience for first year students enrolled in the Field Observation seminar. This program was a joint collaborative effort between the Art & Art Education Program at Columbia University Teachers College, the NYC DOE Office of Arts and Special Projects, and the participating NYC public schools.
The Collaborative Teaching Internship Program was an eight-week immersive teaching experience for first year students enrolled in the Field Observation seminar. This program was a joint collaborative effort between the Art & Art Education Program at Columbia University Teachers College, the NYC DOE Office of Arts and Special Projects, and the participating NYC public schools.
Cooperating Teacher 2009-2021
Mentored and supported the educational growth of a student teacher in an art classroom environment for fulfillment of program and EdTPA requirements.
Mentored and supported the educational growth of a student teacher in an art classroom environment for fulfillment of program and EdTPA requirements.
Printmaking Instructor 2008-2020
AWARDS/GRANTS/SCHOLARSHIPS
Designed and taught an introductory studio course providing students with a working knowledge of silkscreen printing processes including photo emulsion techniques and use of Photoshop, printing upon non-traditional materials and collaboration with the ceramic studio. The classroom experience combines demonstrations and hands-on troubleshooting with presentations, critiques and discussions that facilitate creative exploration of these processes, knowledge of the history of printmaking and the work of contemporary artists using the medium.
Exploring Cultural Diversity Instructor 2013
This course invited future teachers to reflect on how they might help every student succeed in the diverse art classroom and how they might negotiate issues related to diversity in their teaching through reading and discussing perspectives across a variety of fields: psychology, urban education, literacy, special education, museum education and art education, written reflection, and art-based projects.
Processes and Structures Instructor 2012
This course was about exploring and adapting ideas for art lessons in the classroom inspired by direct experience with art materials. The objective of this class was for students to delve into seriously playful interaction with materials and creative techniques as they discover ways in which these experiences speak to their teaching practice.
New York City Department of Education, Office of Arts and Special Projects 2016-2018 Workshop Facilitator for Teacher Effectiveness in the Arts
New Rochelle High School, New Rochelle, NY 2006
High School Interim art teacher: short-term leave replacement
•Drawing & Painting II
•9th grade Intro to art
•11th & 12th grade Studio Art
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
New York, U.S., Molaos, Greece, Wadie Adwumakase, Ghana 2021 Doctoral Thesis: The Network of Influences that Shape the Drawing and Thinking Of Fifth Grade Children in Three Different Cultures: New York, U.S., Molaos, Greece, and Wadie Adwumakase, Ghana
Using an ecological systems approach, this quasi-ethnographic study examined how personal living experiences and the ideologies and attitudes of their material, folk, and school culture come to be (re) presented in the construction of images and meaning in children’s artwork.
Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 2012-2014
Research participant “Fusing Philosophy and Fieldwork in a Study of Being a Person in the World”
This study of a sixteen-teacher cohort from New York City public schools led by Professor David Hansen explores responses and reactions to the question, "What does it mean to be a person in the world today?"
Research participant “Fusing Philosophy and Fieldwork in a Study of Being a Person in the World”
This study of a sixteen-teacher cohort from New York City public schools led by Professor David Hansen explores responses and reactions to the question, "What does it mean to be a person in the world today?"
Agona Methodist Primary School, Agona, Ghana, Africa 2013
Pilot Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking About the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
This study aimed to explore and examine the ability of elementary-age children to think reflectively about their art-making process.
Pilot Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking About the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
This study aimed to explore and examine the ability of elementary-age children to think reflectively about their art-making process.
P.S 396, Bronx, NY 2012
Pilot Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking About the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
This study explored and examined the ability of elementary-age children to think reflectively about their art-making process.
Pilot Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking About the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
This study explored and examined the ability of elementary-age children to think reflectively about their art-making process.
P.S 396, Bronx, NY 2011
Master’s Thesis: Universally Designed Art Lessons: A Multi-Modal Approach for Motivating Students to Enter Into Image Making
This study was conducted at a public elementary school with the purpose of developing and observing the effectiveness of art lessons whose prime motivation is focused on sense modalities as points of entry into artistic expression.
Master’s Thesis: Universally Designed Art Lessons: A Multi-Modal Approach for Motivating Students to Enter Into Image Making
This study was conducted at a public elementary school with the purpose of developing and observing the effectiveness of art lessons whose prime motivation is focused on sense modalities as points of entry into artistic expression.
Teachers College, Columbia University 2005
Research Assistant to Professor Judith Burton
Research project for the development of an early childhood art education program in cooperation with the Rita Gold Early Childhood Center, Teachers College.
Research Assistant to Professor Judith Burton
Research project for the development of an early childhood art education program in cooperation with the Rita Gold Early Childhood Center, Teachers College.
SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Kourkoulis, L. E. (2024). Container of the uncontainable: In dialogue with women about pregnancy in the 21st century. In R. Bourgault & C. Rosamond (Eds.), Disruption and convergence: Generating new conversations through arts research. Brill Academic Publishers.
Kourkoulis, L.E. (2021). The network of influences that shape the drawing and thinking of fifth grade children in three different cultures: New York, U.S., Molaos, Greece, and Wadie Adwumakase, Ghana. [Doctoral dissertation, Teachers College, Columbia University].
Kourkoulis, L.E. (2021). Morality, Consciousness, and the Phenomenal World: A Future Art Curriculum. Art Education, 74(1).
Kourkoulis, L.E. (2018). Legacy of a Poet, Knight, Anarchist. In Coutts, G. & Torres de Eça, T. (Eds.), Learning through Art: Lessons for the 21st Century? InSEA Publications.
Kourkoulis, L.E. (2013). Pilot study: Reflective thinking about the artistic process at the elementary level.
SCHOLARLY PRESENTATIONS
National Art Education Association, New York, NY, 2027
Presenter: Centering Art and Social Studies: Elementary Art Curriculum
Presenter: Centering Art and Social Studies: Elementary Art Curriculum
School of Visual Arts-SVA Art Teacher Symposium, New York, NY, 2024
Mediator: “SPARK- Fresh approaches in the classroom.”
Mediator: “SPARK- Fresh approaches in the classroom.”
National Art Education Association, Minneapolis, MN, 2024
Presenter: Reclaiming Perspective Through Photographic Explorations
Presenter: Reclaiming Perspective Through Photographic Explorations
National Art Education Association, San Antonio, TX, 2023
Presenter: Teaching Children to Draw as a Matter of Agency
Presenter: Teaching Children to Draw as a Matter of Agency
National Art Education Association, New York, NY, 2022
Presenter: Breathe and Lean Into Culturally Responsive SEL Art Lessons
Presenter: Breathe and Lean Into Culturally Responsive SEL Art Lessons
Art School Pedagogy 2.0 Symposium, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2021
Moderator: Investigation of Art Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching COVID-19
Moderator: Investigation of Art Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching COVID-19
National Art Education Association, Boston, MA, 2019
Presenter: A Place to Nest: Creating A Supportive Art Learning Environment For ASD Children & Peers
Presenter: A Place to Nest: Creating A Supportive Art Learning Environment For ASD Children & Peers
Harvard Graduate School of Education Research Conference, Cambridge, MA, 2015
Panel Presenter: "The Network of Influences That Shape the Artistic Self"
Panel Presenter: "The Network of Influences That Shape the Artistic Self"
National Art Education Association, New Orleans, LA, 2015
Presenter: Designing Printmaking Processes: Form, Function and Content Promoting Global Awareness
Panel Member: Meet Your Match: Supporting Art Educators Working With Diverse Learners
Presenter: Designing Printmaking Processes: Form, Function and Content Promoting Global Awareness
Panel Member: Meet Your Match: Supporting Art Educators Working With Diverse Learners
National Art Education Association Conference, San Diego, CA, 2014
Presenter:
1) An International Comparative Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking about the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
2) Using Multimedia Approaches for Art Lesson Motivations in the Elementary Art Classroom and Beyond
Presenter:
1) An International Comparative Study: Promoting Reflective Thinking about the Artistic Process at the Elementary Level
2) Using Multimedia Approaches for Art Lesson Motivations in the Elementary Art Classroom and Beyond
National Art Education Association Conference, New York, NY, 2012
Presenter: Universally Designed Art Lessons: A Multi-Modal Approach for Motivating Students to Enter into Image Making
Presenter: Universally Designed Art Lessons: A Multi-Modal Approach for Motivating Students to Enter into Image Making
Social Justice Grant, Union Theological Seminary, New York, NY 2025-2027
Myers Fund Art Prize, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY: 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018
Teachers College Scholarship 2004-2006
Myers Fund Art Prize, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY: 2008, 2009, 2013, 2018
Teachers College Scholarship 2004-2006