Resident Program Faculty
Benjamin Weiss is a certified permaculture designer and teacher. He has studied sustainable systems at The Farm Ecovillage Training Center, Growing Power, and the Central Rocky Mountain Permaculture Institute. Ben lives and works in the fertile cultural and agricultural soil of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Lynda Black is a Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting member and a graduate student at La Salle University, where she is working toward a Masters Degree in Education. While pursuing her degree, she became deeply interested in conflict resolution models.
Qaadira Allen, founder of The Center for Transformative Art, is an award-winning artist and educator who has facilitated more than 400 transformational group experiences in the United States and the Caribbean.
Celia Kutz is a social justice trainer and artist-facilitator with Training for Change, a nationally based group that supports grassroots movement building. Her particular focus is on cross-cultural relationship building, strategic effectiveness, non-violent direct action, and conflict transformation.
Niyonu Spann - Niyonu D. Spann is a member of Chester Monthly Meeting in Chester, PA. She joined the staff of Friends Council on Education and later served for eight years at Oakwood Friends Boarding School in Poughkeepsie, NY. After completing graduate studies in Organization Development, Niyonu founded TrV Consulting, which specializes in whole-systems transformation.
Doug Gwyn is a well-traveled Friend. He has worked for the American Friends Service Committee and served among Friends as a pastor and as a teacher at Pendle Hill and at the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham England.
Carol Sexton is Pendle Hill's core teacher in Arts and Spirituality, led to a ministry of encouraging creative growth and expression in others. She has expertise in many art forms and a passion for sculpting in clay, plaster, wood, and stone.
Michael Gagne serves as the Eco-Justice organizer for Philadelphia Yearly Meeting and as the executive director of Envision Peace Museum, an emerging museum dedicated to peace and active nonviolence. A graduate of the Green Corps Environmental Leadership Program, Michael has worked on a number of grassroots campaigns in Canada and the U.S. and has facilitated workshops on ecophilosophy and social change for a wide variety of organizations.
Jacqueline Coren teaches music at George School in Newtown, PA, and is the artistic director of the nationally recognized Anna Crusis Women's Choir in Philadelphia. She founded the Pendle Hill Chorus in 1992.
The focus of Eileen Flanagan’s work is to help people discern divine guidance and live with less anxiety. She has taught Discerning Our Calls many times for the Pendle Hill Resident Program. She also gives talks and leads related workshops for a range of organizations.
Amanda Kemp practices Reiki and Radical Forgiveness, and has completed the Landmark Curriculum for Life. She will be teaching Hatha Yoga on a drop-in basis throughout the Resident Program terms.
Gregory A. Love is a pianist, producer, writer, composer, and arranger who since the age of five has had extensive training in the arts. A classically trained musician, he earned a BA in Music from Morehouse College and has had additional training in the arts from the University of Pennsylvania.
