Grant Recipients

Lynne Ann Collier is a resident of Madison, where she lives with her husband and five boys, ages 17 to twins who are 10.  She graduated from Ithaca College with a B. A. in History and a minor in English.  Lynne Ann received her M. A. in History from the University of Connecticut.  After college she worked in a large law firm doing legal research until the birth of her first son.  For the next fifteen years she was a stay at home mom volunteering in schools, sports and extracurricular activities.  When her youngest boys entered first grade she became a substitute teacher in Madison.  She enjoyed the classroom and decided to go back to school to earn her New Jersey State Teaching Certification.  She will complete her classes and student teaching in May 2013.  This will certify her to teach History in grades 6 – 12 and English in grades 6 – 8.  She is looking forward to teach English at the Middle School level. Lynne Ann was selected as our Angela Stuehler award recipient.  This award is given in memory of a former member and president of the AAUW Madison Branch.

Jessica Falzarano a Chatham resident, graduated with a degree in liberal arts and a concentration in business from County College of Morris in 2008. Since then she got married, had a daughter, bought a house, and worked as an Office Manager for an Accounting firm. With the birth of her daughter, she started to think about what is truly important to her. She listened to her dad’s advice “…to do what you love and it will never feel like a job.”  She realized that she chose to go into the business and accounting field because she was good with numbers, and not because she liked it. She enjoys working with and helping others, especially women and adolescents and is now enrolled at the College of Saint Elizabeth as a Psychology major.

Patricia Boettger from Chatham, has been a nursery school teacher for the past 12 years with a passion for baking. This September, she will be following her dream and will attend The Institute of Culinary Education. With a certificate in Pastry and Baking Arts, she would like to start out working for a hotel chain with the hope of one day owning her own business. 

Mary Donohue lives in Chatham with her eighth grade son and seventh grade daughter.  She teaches third grade at Deerfield School in the Millburn Township School district.  She has an M.A. and is currently taking classes at FDU to earn a State of New Jersey Reading Specialist Certificate.  With this certification, she will become a reading authority in her building who will be called upon to instruct colleagues with strategies for struggling readers.  In addition, she will be qualified to give workshops to audiences on the topic of reading and reading assessment.  “While it will be gratifying to be in a position to help my peers,” she said, she will be satisfied knowing that she can best serve the students in her own class from year to year.