Ellen
Rustico
, MEd
Assistant Professor of Education
Department:
Education
Location:
Elliott House
108
Degrees
BS, Saint Joseph College; MEd, Westfield State College
Contact
Phone: 413.565.1459
Email: erustico@baypath.edu
Profile
As assistant professor of education at Bay Path College, Ellen Rustico, MEd, has been educating future teachers since 2003. Rustico teaches in both the traditional undergraduate and One-Day-A-Week Saturday College programs, and her courses include reading and early literacy, introduction to special education, and inclusive settings in education, among others. She serves as a facilitator to first-year students in the First-Year Experience Seminar, and as part of the Bay Path Ethics Committee, Rustico helps to educate students on what it means to make ethical decisions. Her special interests are in the area of special education and how children of all abilities can be included in the regular education classroom.
Prior to her tenure at Bay Path, Rustico served in the Connecticut Public Schools as a special education, fifth grade, and second grade teacher. As a special educator, Rustico’s primary role was to support an inclusive environment for children receiving special education services. After teaching special education for a few years, she took her knowledge to classroom positions where she could educate children in an inclusive setting, while working collaboratively with other specialists. While teaching in Connecticut, Rustico was selected to be a mentor teacher and evaluate second-year teachers’ portfolios.
When teaching in the public schools, Rustico instituted a variety of special programs and activities for her students, such as language lessons. Students from the local high school visited her classroom every week to teach students Spanish. An author’s study on children’s author Robert Munsch served as another special activity designed for specifically for her second grade class. The students in her classroom wrote to Robert Munsch and in return, received a special story written by the author, who used their names as the names of the main characters.
Rustico holds a bachelor’s degree in special education and a master in education with a specialization in special education. Along with her degrees, she holds dual certification in Connecticut to teach special education in grades PreK through 12 and Elementary Education in kindergarten through sixth grade. She is currently enrolled in the Educational Psychology Doctoral Program at the American International College in Springfield, MA.
