Connie Williams Coulianos
Head of School
Connie Williams Coulianos has devoted the past two decades to the education of precocious preschool children, their teachers and parents. Through her work with this population, she has developed the child-responsive curriculum that will serve as the core for the development of The Speyer Legacy School. She has presented various aspects of her work locally, nationally and internationally. She is an award winning teacher who was named Outstanding Preschool Teacher of 2007 by the Blackboard Awards and is featured as one of the top preschool teachers in the nation by Scholastic Magazine. Her 23 years at Hollingworth Preschool at Teachers College Columbia University were recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Blackboard Awards ceremony in June of 2009. Connie holds masters degrees from Indiana University in Vocal Performance and from Teachers College, Columbia University in Early Childhood Education. Her undergraduate studies at Samford University in her hometown of Birmingham, Alabama were in music.
Dr. Esther Kogan
Executive Director
Dr. Esther Kogan served as an Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Early Childhood Graduate Program at Adelphi University for the past 10 years. She has been an advocate for children, teachers and parents for the past 20 years with a focus on early childhood, gifted education and bilingual education. She has worked as a teacher trainer, program developer, and educational consultant both in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Kogan has presented her research at National and International conferences. She is the author of several papers and books. Dr. Kogan earned a Masters degree and a Doctorate in Special Education with specialization in Gifted and Talented Education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1990 and 1997, respectively, and a B.A. in Psychology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City in 1988.
Dr. Julia Osborn
Director of Admissions and School Psychologist
Dr. Julia Osborn has been a psychologist in the New York area for 26 years. At Schneider Children's Hospital for many years, she was actively engaged in assessing a wide variety of children, understanding their educational needs and advising parents and schools. In her private practice, she specialized in gifted children and wrote several articles on the learning needs of gifted children which are available at the website of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. She has been a consultant to the Davidson Institute as well as to the Admissions Office of Hunter College Campus Schools. She has presented talks on gifted children to the APA, the New York State AGATE as well as at numerous schools and PTA meetings around New York.. Additionally, in her work at independent schools, she has focused on supporting children with learning differences. A graduate of Bates College, she earned her Ph.D. from Columbia University.
Lindley (Lindy) Uehling
Director of Development and Communications
Lindy Uehling has dedicated her professional life to the discovery and application of how children learn. She has brought her leadership skills to a broad spectrum of positions in independent and public schools, most recently as Director of Admissions and Communications at the Hunter College Campus Schools, where she was able to research and develop processes for identifying highly precocious children and explore how their learning environments are sustained. At HCCS, Packer Collegiate Institute, and Principal of the New York City Museum School, Lindy had responsibility for substantial development and fundraising efforts. Lindy’s administrative posts include The Pomfret School, Trevor Day School, and The Hewitt School. Lindy holds an M.A. in Education from the University of Hartford and a B.A. in English from the University of Connecticut.
