Nikole Brugnoli Sheaffer is a writer, a creator, a strategist, a collaborator, a mother, an artist, and an educator. She strives to engage students and adults daily in her work, and works stubbornly to make her corner of the world a bit brighter.

She asks hard questions, pokes holes in solutions or proposals, and drives change from all levels of the organization. Nikole assists educators in achieving professional transformation, and provides students a safe haven for talking through personal or academic challenges. She is passionate about thoughtful, rigorous discussion, and tries to incentivize the importance of feeling uncomfortable. Nikole’s job at ECS has evolved from being a environmental science educator to a coordinator to a director of academic planning and implementation to being a facilitator for educator innovation and transformation. Nikole is infinitely inspired by the work of the educators around her –the best, brightest, and most creative bunch of learners ever assembled, eager to make the entire system better, one student at a time.

In her current position as Innovation Director continues to evolve, ECS will benefit from an educational designer and architect, rather than the traditional job description of an academic director. Nikole looks forward to taking on this challenge –and pushing opportunities for innovative teaching and learning to the front and center of educational reform conversations in the city of Pittsburgh.