Biography
MacLean Gander grew up in Manhattan, where he attended the Collegiate School before studying at Harvard, where he received an A.B. in English and American Literature and Languages, cum laude. He was the Hoyt Fellow in creative writing at Boston University in 1981, where he took his Master's in Creative Writing (Poetry.)
In the 1980s he worked for several years as a researcher, writer, and reporter for Newsweek's international edition in New York, and then spent two years in the Philippines covering the 1985 elections and 1986 "People's Revolution" as a freelancer accredited to The Nation. After returning from Manila, he decided to relocate in Vermont and change his career path, taking a faculty position at Landmark. In 1988, he was appointed English department chair, a position he held for nine years. In 1997 he was appointed Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College, a position he held for 11 years, a period of rapid growth and change for the college. During this time he earned an Ed.D. in Educational Learship and Change from Fielding Graduate University. As Vice President for External Affairs and Strategic Planning from 2008-2009 he led and participated in Landmark's consulting initiatives with the Kipp Charter Schools, The Prince Salman Center for Learning Disabilities Research in Riyadh, and with several other organizations and groups.
Since returning to full-time faculty status in 2009, he has taught a variety of courses, including a first-semester writing course he designed for gifted students with executive function disorders, a course in "journalism in the digital age" that also produces Landmark's student newspapers, Landmark's advanced writing course, required in Landmark's new baccalaureate programs, as well as workshops in poetry writing, fiction writing, and creative non-fiction. He also teaches a 4000-level course called "Learning Differences, Politics, and Culture." His first book of poems, "The New City," was published by 21st Editions in 2007, and he writes regularly for a variety of journalistic publications. He is presently completing two books, one focused on memoir, and the second a book of poems he has been working on for several years. He has two grown daughters, one now a Nurse Practitioner at a clinic in Taos, New Mexico after attending St. Lawrence as an undergraduate and Vanderbilt for her nursing degree, and the second an undergraduate student at Denison University, majoring in communications. He splits time in Windham County between a Brattleboro apartment and a summer home in Green River that has been in his family for sixty years, where he enjoys writing, fishing, hiking, and back-country Nordic skiing.
Education
Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Change, Fielding Graduate University
M.A., Creative Writing, Boston University
A.B., English and American Literature and Language, Harvard College
Publications
“Teaching Students in the Age of Autism,” Southeastern Education Network Journal (2011).
“Failure to Launch,” Newsday op-ed piece on executive functions and first-year failure (2010).
The New City: Poems in the Form of a Fugue. 2008: Stephan Albahari / 21st Editions.
Teaching Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities: A Landmark College Guide for Teachers, 1999: Landmark College.
“Teaching Developmental Writing: A Process-Based Approach,” (with Lynne Shea).
Teaching Diverse Student Learners, 1998: National Association of Developmental Education monograph
Presentations
Selected Presentations, Papers, Workshops and Invited Talks
July, 2016: Presenter, Landmark College Summer Institute: Teaching Writing to Students with Executive Function Disorders
July, 2014: Presenter, Landmark College Summer Institute: Teaching Writing to Students with Executive Function Disorders
Oct. 2013: Presenter, TYCA regional conference: Addressing the writing problems of students with executive function disorders
Sept., 2011: Invited Presenter, Colorado Mountain College: Two-day workshop on understanding and addressing learning differences in the mainstream classroom
Aug., 2009: Invited Presenter, KIPP Schools Summit: Presented six sessions on various dimensions of learning differences and instruction
Feb., 2009: Invited Presenter, “The Gifts and Challenges of AD/HD,” Education Update Special Education Conference
Feb., 2009: Invited Workshop (with Lynne Shea): Executive Functions and the First-Year Transition, pre-conference workshop
Feb., 2009: Invited Presenter, KIPP Foundation Special Education Retreat: Presented on Understanding and Addressing Learning Disabilities in the Mainstream classroom, and on Effective Approaches for Teaching Writing
June, 2008: Executive Function and the First-Year Transition: Presentation at the International Conference on the First-Year Experience
Feb., 2008: Addressing the Challenges of the Transition to College for the Disabled: Invited 3-day workshop sponsored by the Prince Salman Center for Disability Research and Prince Sultan University (with Steve Fadden, Ph.D.)
Feb., 2008: Meds, Parents, and AD/HD: What Service Providers Need to Know: Presentation at the National Conference on the First-Year Experience
April, 2007: Invited Speaker, Dutchess Community College
June, 2004: LD, AD/HD and the First-Year Transition: Presentation at the International Conference on the First Year Experience
1992-1998: Teaching Writing, a weeklong training institute for educators carrying three graduate credits through Norwich University
Sept., 1998: Professional Development: Incorporating Advances in Teaching, Testimony on Professional Development and Learning Disabilities for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources
Sept., 1998: Deafness and Learning Disabilities: An Approach to Writing Instruction. Three-hour workshop, Gallaudet University
Dec., 1996: Effective Classroom Teaching Strategies for Students Who Learn Differently, Merrimack College
Sept., 1995: Developing Skills for Improving the Writing of Students with Learning Disabilities, National Conference of the National Writing Centers Association (Invited Post-Conference Workshop)
Sept., 1995 Learning Disabilities and Writing Instruction, Gallaudet University
Nov., 1994 From Expression to Analysis: Teaching College Writing Skills to Students with Learning Disorders, (with Lynne Shea); Annual Conference of the National Orton Dyslexia Society
May, 1994 Teaching Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities (with Lynne Shea); National Conference of the Community College General Education Association
Jan., 1994 Effective Classroom Teaching for Students with Learning Disabilities, Elizabethtown College, Full Day Workshop
May, 1993 Developing Critical Writing Skills in Students with Learning Disabilities, Full Day Workshop, St. Petersburg Community College
March, 1993 Effective Classroom Teaching for Students with Learning Disabilities, Full Day Workshop, The Pennington School
Dec., 1992 Teaching Composition: Diagnostic Assessment, Teaching Methods and Curriculum Development, Full Day Workshop, Landmark Training Institute for Educators
Oct., 1992 Teaching Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities, Two-Day Workshop, Suffolk County (New York) Branch of the Orton Dyslexia Society
April, 1991 Start Where They Are: Teaching Writing to Students with Learning Disabilities, Invited Presentation, Edinboro State College Conference on Learning Disabilities
Nov., 1990 Expressive Language Deficits: The Hidden Disability, (with Dianne Wood, Joyce Klucken, and Lydia Greene), Three-Hour Presentation, National Conference of the Orton Dyslexia Society
Academic Interests
The first-year experience for students with learning differences
Teaching writing to students with executive function challenges
Literature, history and politics of the 20th century
Contemporary journalism and politics
Writing poetry, fiction, memoir, and long-form journalism