Helen Heineman, Ph.D.
Dr. Helen Heineman, President Emerita of Framingham State University, has had an extensive career in higher education, including 43 years in teaching and senior level administrative positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Queens College, a master’s degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Cornell University. She received an Andrew Dickson White Fellowship to Cornell, two Woodrow Wilson Fellowships, was a Radcliffe Fellow, and an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Fellow. Dr. Heineman was chair of the English Department at Framingham State University, and was then appointed Academic Vice President. In 1999, Dr. Heineman became President of Framingham State University, where she served until retiring in 2006. She has published four books and numerous articles in the field of Victorian literature. Dr. Heineman now spends her retirement years traveling, writing, and teaching in Lifelong Learning programming including Adventures in Lifelong Learning and the Lifelong Learning Lecture Series.
Dr. Heineman’s novel, Emma Redux, a continuation of Jane Austen’s Emma, was accepted for publication by TouchPoint Press, and was published in 2023. Dr. Heineman has also published poetry based on her life experiences.
Jessica Roscio, PhD
Dr. Roscio is an art historian whose work focuses on the intersections of historical and contemporary photography. She began her career at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and is currently the Director and Curator of the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University. While at the Danforth she has curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary art including, The Memory Palace: Domesticity, Objects, and the Interior (2016), Lois Tarlow: Material Vocabulary (2019), Visionary Boston: John Brook, Steven Trefonides, and Kahlil Gibran (2023), Ileana Doble Hernandez: My Dear Americans, It’s Not Enough (2024), and Rachel Loischild: Quarantine Islands (2025). She writes on gender, material culture, and photography and is a contributor to Aspect Initiative, an online gallery focusing on innovative photographic practices in New England. She has juried numerous exhibitions across media both regionally and nationally. Roscio has an MA in Art History from the University at Buffalo and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Boston University.
Harold Rosenbaum
Harold Rosenbaum is a retired professor from Juilliard and 3 other colleges. He taught Music Appreciation and MANY other courses during his 45-year teaching career. He is the founder of the all-professional choir, The New York Virtuoso Singers, now in its 37th season. He has conducted 600 world premieres, has toured with choirs 29 times in Europe, and has conducted about 1900 concerts in his 55-year career. See www.haroldrosenbaum.com and www.nyvirtuoso.org.
David Smailes, Ph.D.
Former Associate Professor, Political Science, Law & Global Studies
Dr. Smailes began his teaching career as an Assistant Professor at Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts in 1992; he was awarded a promotion and tenure to Associate Professor there in 1996 and served as department chair until 2006. From 2006 until 2017 he began as an Assistant Professor at Westfield State University, was awarded promotion to Associate Professor and tenure there in 2010, and served as department chair for several terms. At Westfield State, Dr. Smailes also served as the Director of the Master of Public Administration (MPA) program, and was named one of several Outstanding Teaching Award recipients each year between 2007 and 2010. He left Westfield State to begin teaching as an Associate Professor with tenure at Framingham State in 2017, where he has also served as Master of Public Administration program director from 2019-2021 and the director of the Civic Engagement Center on campus from 2021-2024. Dr. Smailes received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his B.A. from the College of Wooster in Ohio. His research interests include American political history, public administration, the presidency and American political thought. He recently retired from teaching full-time, but continues to work as an adjunct instructor.