Before coming to CIE, Jean spent 3 years in the Peace Corps working in several teacher training colleges in Cameroon, West Africa. She then worked as a lead trainer for new volunteers in Cameroon with CHP before moving on to spend two years as a Training Coordinator with the International Rescue Committee in Guinea, West Africa.

While doing her graduate studies she worked four years as both a resource person and an instructor in the Elementary Teacher Education program at UMass.  She then worked for seven years as an Assistant Residence Director and then a Residence Director at UMass.  In the residences she worked to foster the development of living and learning communities such as Lewis International Hall and Thatcher Language Program. From 2007 until 2010 she worked as a Pre-Practicum Coordinator at UMass.

Since graduating she has worked as a Library Assistant at the Free Public Library in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a very diverse community with people from all over the world. There she has helped organize a variety of creative, participatory activities for children.   These have included a program of activities called Spring Fling, focused on flowers, and a program called Money Masters, designed specifically for teens to learn how to manage their money, using a project-based, hands-on approach to finances.  

She helps organize educational activities at the library including a variety of reading and gaming clubs, crocheting and stitching activities, Homeschool Potourri, Earth Day Poetry, Discussions of Medicare, as well story times for younger children.

Of her work in Upper Darby Jean says:

I'm working in a public library doing programs for children and teens and love it.  It's not the path I had planned on taking but I have found that even though I'm not in academia or formal education, the lessons I've learned along the way have been helpful in my work.  Plus, I love feeling like I'm making a positive contribution to the community [5-23]

Email: jean.kosha@gmail.com