For a Pair of Graduates, Kean University Launches a Marriage and Parallel Teaching Careers

Kean University has long been a place where students discover not only what they want to do, but who they want to become. For Michele ’03 and Alex Martinez ’06, Kean shaped their academic passions, launched their careers and ultimately brought them together. Now educators in two of Jersey City’s most specialized programs, the couple still trace the roots of both their careers and their relationship back to their experiences on Kean’s campus. 

When Michele arrived at Kean, she wasn’t sure which direction to pursue, only that she wanted to work closely with people. A single sign language class changed everything. She fell in love with the language, eventually graduating with a bachelor’s degree in speech and hearing sciences, along with three teaching certificates.  

She carried what she learned at Kean into two decades of special education teaching at Joseph H. Brensinger School in Jersey City, where she was named Teacher of the Year in 2021. Michele is now an English and social studies instructor for grades 3–7 in Hudson County’s only Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, housed in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. elementary school in Jersey City. 

Jodi Zaleck, special education supervisor for Jersey City Public Schools, recalls being impressed by Michele’s “deep-seated empathy and unwavering dedication to her students’ success.” 

“Her unique combination of professionalism and compassion makes her an extraordinary educator,” said Zaleck. “She goes above and beyond to ensure her students' inclusion and to advocate for their educational equity.” 

“Michele has been doing remarkable work,” said JoAnne Cascia, Ed.D., chair of Kean’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. “Her dedication to fostering inclusive communication reflects the very best of what we hope our graduates will carry into the field.” 

Alex’s Kean story began when he transferred as a junior, drawn by how the University integrates its art and teaching programs. On campus, he found professors who pushed him technically and creatively, including the late Joseph Amorino, Ed.D., who taught him to prioritize process over product, a mindset Alex now instills in his own students. 

After graduating Kean with a degree in fine arts education, Alex taught elementary art in Jersey City before joining the district’s Arts High School Program, where his classes for freshmen include lessons about how to maximize the processes of observational drawing and painting. 

His Kean experience shaped his teaching philosophy and nurtured his artistic identity, leading him to complete an M.A. in studio art from Italy’s Florence Academy of Art in 2023. He also delivers a curriculum that he designed for adults at the Fine Art Academy of Montclair. Alex’s surrealist works in pencil, charcoal and oil have been featured in regional galleries and in The Best of Drawing magazine’s 17th Annual Strokes of Genius Competition in December 2025. The same year, he was also recognized as a finalist in the 18th Annual Salon hosted by the New Jersey-based Art Renewal Center. 

Joanna M. Wezyk, a faculty member in Kean’s Department of Fine Arts, recently invited Alex to participate in an alumni exhibition, and called him “a generous, skillful and brilliant art teacher.” 

Kean also provided Michele and Alex a community that supported their growth as first-generation college students. Michele worked multiple on-campus jobs and spent a year with Kean Dance Theatre, while Alex stepped into leadership roles with various student associations and joined the Psi Sigma Phi multicultural fraternity. It was through a mutual friend on campus in 2002 that they met, spent a night talking and began the partnership that would later become their marriage. 

Now living in West Orange with their two children, the Martinezes say their personal and professional identities remain tied to Kean.  

“It’s important to take chances and get out of your comfort zone,” Alex said. “If I hadn’t taken a chance on transferring to Kean, I wouldn't have met Dr. Amorino or Michele.”