Founder (in collaboration with all World Alliance Members: past, current, & future)
Dr. Reuben Mikhael Castagñö
Baccalaureate Degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the City University of New York, Hunter College and received his Masters and Doctoral Degrees in Developmental Psychology & Cultural Studies from Columbia University, Teachers College. He began as a public school teacher and school psychologist and rose to become Instructor, Associate Professor, Field Supervisor, Chair and Director of graduate programs in School Psychology, Special Education, Bilingual and Multicultural Education, TESOL at the City University of New York, Bank Street College, Adelphi University, Touro College (Graduate School of Education), and the former Dean of Academics at Guttman Community College, CUNY. In 2006, became the Director of Touro's first Graduate School of Psychology and Education in Miami and established 5 graduate programs: Administration & Supervision, Special Education, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, School & Guidance Counseling, and School Psychology. Under his leadership federal and state grants were written and awarded to implement and maintain graduate training programs in the areas of Bilingual Education, Special Education, and School Psychology.
Dr. Reuben Mikhael Castagñö's clinical and academic research interests are in the areas of cultural studies & philosophy, psychology, and education. Currently, as a research fellow from Teachers College Columbia University, he is exploring the relationship between popular film and pedagogy. He is building a research team in Tokyo, Japan in the areas of Learning, Political Practices and Theory, Discarding Information (to know intuitively what one doesn't need to know), Cultural Competence in Clinical Settings, Philosophy of Education & Psychology. He is currently writing on Rational Reconstructions and Discourse-Centered Acts, Capital and Symbolic Violence, and Private Engagements: Ways to Promote Relationships. Also, in previous publications he wrote the foreword and a chapter on Symbolic Violence in the Assessment of Bilingual/Multicultural English Language Learners. In Malgady, R.G. (Ed.). Cultural Competence in Assessment, Diagnosis, and Intervention with Ethnic Minorities.
Dr. Reuben Mikhael Castagñö in 2015 founded the Wellness Alliance Foundation (WAF) with the collaboration of two amazing and thoughtful world activists: Dr. Dina Sevayega & Philip Kellerman. The Foundation raises funds to pay for mental wellness services through licensed professionals, and coordinates financial support for transportation to access psychological and medical services. Funding is needed to purchase medical prescriptions; pay emergency rent and utilities, and educational scholarships including tutoring in basic academic skills, GED preparation and college tuition. The foundation provides legal guidance and counseling through our network professionals and affiliated institutions. The Wellness Alliance Foundation, Inc. is a 501c(3) non-profit organization.