2025 Summer Conversational Series Presenter Biographies

Mathieu is the Teacher Leader of the Math and Science Department at the International School of Boston and a Research Associate at UMASS - Boston.  His current research interests include the concept of time in quantum physics, the philosophy of science, and the role of AI in education.  He has authored lecture notes, conference papers, and many publications in scientific journals and magazines.

Clare is Professor Emeritus in the College of Management at UMASS - Lowell, where she specialized in services marketing and buyer behavior.  She received a PhD in Marketing from the University of Cincinnati and has written numerous articles in the area of the marketing of services and sustainability in higher education and the airline industry.  Clare co-authored a book on sustainability—Sustaining the Military Enterprise:  Enhancing its Ability to Perform the Mission—with Joel Manary and Dennis F. X. Mathaisel (CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group, Spring 2010; ISBN 978-1-4200-7858-9).

Cathlin read Little Women for the first time at the age of 11.  Since then, she has never stopped reading, thinking, and talking about Louisa May Alcott.  Cathlin owns over 100 copies of Little Women, as part of an extensive collection of Alcott and related works.  She is a full Professor at CSU - Stanislaus, where she leads the Liberal Studies department, preparing undergraduates for work in the field of education.  Cathlin has presented at the Summer Conversational Series for many years, and volunteers as an Orchard House Guide whenever she has the opportunity.

Gabrielle was born and raised in London and has worked as a show business celebrity journalist for most of her adult life.  In 1980, she visited Los Angeles for a six-month working vacation, from which she has never returned.  In addition to her journalism, she has published six novels, including the critically acclaimed 2011 March sisters tribute, The Little Women Letters, through which she became involved with the Louisa May Alcott community at Orchard House, where she travels most years to present at the annual Summer Conversational Series.  She lives with her husband, Los Angeles native Owen Bjørnstad, in an impressively untidy house in Mar Vista, near the Ocean, and is the author of the popular humorous blog The Immigrant Chronicles (theimmigrantchronicles.substack.com).

Mike served as Executive Director of The Thoreau Society from 2006 to 2024.  He is currently a non-profit consultant who has served on several non-profit boards.  Mike is skilled in fundraising, strategic partnerships, and public relations.  His expertise includes graduate work on Thoreau’s social philosophy and ethics, and his degrees include a Master’s in History from Harvard University.

Jason is the author of Chrysalis, The Adventures of Layman P ’ang, Modern Art in Context, and Naked Zen.  He has been part of the Summer Conversational Series for over a decade.  Jason has lectured on the New England Transcendentalists and has taught philosophy at various colleges and universities.  He also facilitates the Eshoji East Zen Center.

William is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist at the Laboure in South Boston, and an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy and Counseling Psychology at Framingham State University.  William also serves as the secretary on the board of a non-profit organization entitled Flo’s Journey.  He earned his PsyaD from the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, and his MSW from Boston College. 

Kristi is an independent scholar, writer, and historical consultant and interpreter specializing in Concord’s 19th Century literary circle.  She has studied the Alcott family for 30 years, and worked at Concord’s many literary-historic sites, including Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House, since 2010.  Kristi holds a PhD in American and New England Studies and a Master’s in Museum Studies from Boston University, and has been honored to be a regular participant in the annual Summer Conversational Series.  Her current research and writing projects include works on 19th Century literary tourism in Concord; Transcendentalists’ experiences of death, grief, and mourning; and, a comprehensive biography of the Alcott sisters.
 

Julie has been fascinated and inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s life and writing for over 50 years. She holds a doctorate in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, and is a longtime writing instructor at both Berkeley’s Fall Program for First Semester and De Anza College in Cupertino, CA.  Julie’s short story, “Leaving the Lighthouse,” is included in The Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association anthology A Beacon Amidst Shadows.
 

Mark has spent time as an award-winning audiovisual producer for museum exhibitions and public learning spaces; a creative technologist for public broadcasting and higher education; and, a communication designer for the recording industry.  More recently, he has sought to maximize the “human factor” in professional life while working in community nutrition, outdoor education, and public history.  Mark is currently at work on an illustrated and annotated visual re-interpretation of Bronson Alcott’s Orphic Sayings.
 

Roberta is a writer, poet, and screenwriter who received an MFA from the University of Maryland College Park.  She was awarded an American Antiquarian Society Fellowship, an Eccles Visiting Fellowship (the British Library), a New England Regional Fellowship Consortium Grant, and a Maryland Independent Artist Award.  She was shortlisted for the Historical Writers Association Dorothy Dunnett Award, the Eyelands International Prize, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Roberta is currently working on a novel, Sally Forth, about two enslaved brothers who fight on opposite sides during the American Revolution. 

David teaches courses on the Great Books of Western Culture, climate change, emerging technologies, pilgrimage, and philosophy as a way of life.  He has also completed a certification in integral coaching through New Ventures West, and is a certified mediation teacher through the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults.  David is the author of Naturalizing Heidegger:  His Confrontation with Nietzsche, His Contributions to Environmental Philosophy, and has published essays in numerous scholarly journals, such as Environmental Ethics, and popular venues, such as the Breakthrough Institute.  He also hosts the podcast, Wisdom at Work:  Philosophy Beyond the Ivory Tower.