Our Story
Minerva began in 2006 when Preethi and Deepa Govindaraj offered humanities classes to their former teachers from Williamsville Schools after learning that teachers wanted more content-based staff development. The teachers observed, after the very first class, that Minerva delivered this content in a way that no other professional development class ever had. Many teachers replicated Minerva’s methodologies in their teaching, and kept telling their colleagues that this staff development experience really worked. Soon, three neighboring districts offered Minerva classes, which then grew to ten, twenty and eighty districts. In four years, districts as far south as Chautauqua Lake, as far north as Niagara Falls and as far east as Fairport provided opportunities for teachers to take Minerva classes.
Today, Minerva offers classes to a wide range of educational professionals and professionals in other sectors.
The Founders
Deepa Govindaraj leads the research and development team at Minerva. Raised in a bilingual household, Deepa spent much of her childhood in India and engaged with various texts from around the world before she was ten years old. She wrote her own editions of world epics and stories. When she was fifteen, Pat Conroy, a famous American author, read her writing and assumed she was a thirty-five years old. Deepa continued to study the humanities at the University at Buffalo’s Honor’s College, from which she graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts in 2006. She continued her studies and research through the University’s Sociology of Education program, from which she received her Master’s in General Education in 2008. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (2006), University at Buffalo Pillar of Leader Award (2006), Erie County Proclamation of Excellence in New York State (2006), 1st place Award in the University at Buffalo’s Presentation of Creative Projects (2006), and Kaplan Teacher of the Month (2006 and 2007).
Preethi Govindaraj leads the program development team at Minerva. Like her sister Deepa, Preethi spoke only Kannada at home, learning English in nursery school. She had a keen interest in viola and voice as well as softball and field hockey. This influenced her to create an undergraduate and graduate experience that combined the humanities with pre-professional fields. By the time she was twenty-three she had built an extensive consulting portfolio with professionals in a range of industries. Her work became international when she was stationed in Singapore as a Fulbright Scholar in 2003. Preethi graduated from the University at Buffalo Honors College in 2002 and the MBA Program in 2005. She is the recipient of the Academic Advising Extra Mile Award (2001), Phi Eta Sigma National Leadership Award and Scholarship (2001), Erie County Proclamation of Excellence in New York State (2002), University at Buffalo Pillar of Leader Award (2002), Outstanding Senior in Marketing Award (2002), SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence (2002), Center for International Leadership’s William H. Wendel MBA Award (2005), MBA Student Achievement Award (2005), Kaplan Teacher of the Year (2006), and Kaplan Teacher Trainer of the Year (2006).
Board of Advisors
Dr. Robert Daly
Dr. Robert Daly is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of English at the University at Buffalo. He has received a Leverhulme Fellowship (a year’s research in England), a Guggenheim Fellowship (another year’s research in England), and five National Endowment for the Humanities Grants to teach summer seminars. At Buffalo he has won the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Student Association Teaching Award, and the Chi Omega award for excellence in teaching. In 2001 he was selected by _Generation_ magazine as one of “our favorite professors,” and in 2005 he received a Career Services Award. He has held visiting appointments at Cornell, Cambridge, Chapman, and Essex, and he has published widely on American and English literature.
Bob Gallagher
Bob Gallagher comes to Minerva after 42 years in public education. Bob received his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science and U.S. History from Canisius College, and his Masters of Elementary Education and School District Administrator Certificate (SDA) from Buffalo State College. He taught at Buffalo City Schools for 21 years and became Assistant Principal and a Central Office Elementary Supervisor. Bob then became Coordinator of Staff Development for the Sweet Home School District in Amherst, NY, and recently retired as the Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in the Niagara Wheatfield School District. In that role, he was responsible for all areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Bob is a nationally certified trainer for the REACH (Respecting Ethic and Cultural Heritages) Center, a nonprofit organization located in Seattle Washington. Bob sees Global Awareness and skills in diversity in the toolkit of all learners whether they are school or business based.
Dr. K.S. Govindaraj
Dr. Govindaraj is Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Calspan. He first joined the organization as an engineer in February 1977 after graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His engineering experience is in flight controls, aerodynamic modeling, in-flight simulation and software development. As a program manager, he has managed many programs. He left Calspan and joined Equinox Solutions in early 1996 as the Director of software services. He left Equinox Solutions in late 1998 and joined Gemcor as the Director of production. He left Gemcor in early 2000 and went back to Equinox Solutions to oversee the quality assurance of the product development effort. He went back to Calspan in 2001 fall as the Technical Director of the Flight and Aerospace Research Group and was responsible for the overall technical management. Dr. Govindaraj received his PhD in Electrical Engineering.
Adam Pratt
Adam is Vice President of Sales & Engineering, and one of three founding members, of Sherex Fastening Solutions, LLC. Sherex is an industry leading manufacturer of engineered fasteners for the automotive, aerospace, truck & trailer and general industrial markets. Sherex operates facilities in Taiwan, Canada and Mexico, in addition to the U.S. Headquarters, and works with major manufacturers to improve methods of product assembly. Adam is a chair on the Buffalo Niagara Partnership Manufacturer’s Council and is involved in national associations relating to the fastener industry. Adam graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of Rochester.