Diane Gess

An educator since 1956, Diane combined a career as a teacher and administrator in New York State with national involvement. In addition to her responsibilities that included staff development and special projects for a large school system, Diane served as a member of the Executive Board of ASCD and is past President of the Nova University Alumni Association. Her writings, for a number of major educational publishers, cover topics on reading, language arts, career education, and social studies. She has also authored articles on computers in education and parenting education. Added to her credits are two nationally syndicated holiday television specials for which she wrote the screenplay and lyrics. An outgrowth of one of these productions, Sunshine Porcupine, was a book for young children. Dr. Gess has received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from both the State University of New York at Oswego and from Nova University. She was the recipient of the New York State P.T.A Achievement Award, and was presented with the first ASCD National Award for Leadership Potential, an honor that recognized her visionary approaches to curriculum design and implementation. In the 1980s, Dr. Gess was an elected member of the National Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Board of Directors, and Executive Council. Diane is the co-founder of the Write Track™ and currently serves as the President of the company. Dr. Gess was awarded an honorary doctorate from Gratz College in recognition of her contribution to teachers and students in the teaching of writing in schools within the state of Pennsylvania and all the schools in the United States where the strategies of the Write Track™ program are used.