Otilia V. Gaidos, Founder & Director
Otilia brings over twenty-six years of combined experience in the entrepreneurial arena as well as the fields of higher education, federal and state government and public relations.
Otilia is a published author and was an Adjunct Professor for over twenty years. Before launching Socrates Roundtable, Otilia helped manage aviation security operations for five years and has been the owner of a small residential care home for over ten years. Otilia also served the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the State of Idaho.
Throughout her college level teaching career, Otilia taught Political Science, U.S. Government, U.S. History, Criminal Justice, Introduction to Law, International Relations, Comparative World Politics, Contemporary Politics, Political Economy, Sociology, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Geography, Ethnic Studies, Intercultural Communication and College Success. Otilia effortlessly inspired and empowered her students and fellow colleagues. Per her evaluators, what distinguished Otilia from other faculty members was, among other things, her healing and impactful presence along with her preoccupation with Socrates and passion for the Socratic dialogue which, based on Otilia's interpretation, is a circular instructor-student dialogue aimed to stretch independent thinking to new heights. Otilia passionately implemented the Socratic dialogue in her classrooms. While an Adjunct Professor, Otilia went above and beyond and was referred to as [a] "talented" and "natural" [faculty member] by Deans and Vice-Presidents of Academic Affairs. Otilia is also well-versed in top quality curriculum development. Among her college level teaching & learning accomplishments was the facilitation of the Institutional Learning Outcomes Program, a task aimed to meet accreditors' recommendations for enhancing students' learning experience. No matter what higher education institution she taught at, Otilia was passionate about student success and ensured that every student felt one hundred percent comfortable and had a voice in her classrooms. In addition, Otilia coached fellow instructors to do the same. While teaching at one of the colleges in the greater Treasure Valley area, Otilia was the founder of a pilot instructor program focused on student empowerment: she coached faculty toward formulating and identifying dynamic methods to transform educational projects that strengthened students' quantitative & qualitative reasoning and critical thinking while simultaneously cultivating inclusive, enjoyable & emotionally healing learning environments.
While her curriculum work as state government college professor working on state accreditation requirements included some metrics spelled out by government educational systems, Otilia's independent attention has always intuitively rested on a learner empowerment curriculum & assessment focused on joy for learning and individual emotional & intellectual growth. At Socrates Roundtable, learner portfolios and various other qualitative observation methods of learner emotional and intellectual growth are employed because those are ways to check learners' joy for learning temperature.
Otilia's skill and experience in building and sustaining positive social and emotional climates in and out of classrooms, cafes, airports, public speech platforms and residential care homes have generously equipped her to best serve Socrates Roundtable precious minds and souls. Because her life and work experience ignited in her an awareness of the urgent need to revolutionize the way learners learn, mentors mentor, families parent and leaders lead, she ensures that abundant amounts of emotional intelligence are consistently infused into the fabric of Socrates Roundtable's soul. Building growth mindsets and heightened awareness about the importance of expressing, understanding and regulating human emotion is a major part of Socrates Roundtable's educational philosophy.
Otilia obtained her Master of Arts Degree in Diplomacy & International Relations from Seton Hall University in 2002. In 1997 she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with a Minor in French from Western Washington University. She is in the process of obtaining PhD candidacy level in the realm of psychology.
Accolades to the side, Otilia's greatest accomplishment is motherhood. Bringing her son into the world is her greatest accomplishment, being the mother of her son is her greatest privilege.
Otilia's most cherished passions revolve around respect for and protection of minors, highest quality self-directed learning and artistic endeavors. An incurable idealist at heart, one of Otilia's lifelong dreams has been to start the highest quality K-12 learning space concept in the world and leave a legacy. Otilia's goal at Socrates Roundtable is to inspire tomorrow's leaders to continue her legacy of leading by example and empowering the youth to develop principles cultivating conservative values, wonder, freedom of thought, acclimatization against (institutionalized) bullying and propaganda, limited government involvement in citizens' lives, meritocracy, critical & authentic thinking, self-esteem, resilience, innovation & entrepreneurship, discerning minds, respect for and protection of minors, diverse thought, community service, ethics and transparency.
Outside of professional passions, Otilia enjoys her time with her family. Otilia is also a self-taught artist. Creating art is Otilia's escape from the uglier sides of life. Besides creating art, Otilia loves traveling and intercultural experiences, kayaking, Argentine Tango, fine & performing arts, philosophy, psychology, hosting dinners and various other purposeful events for friends and family, attending symphonies and ballet performances, reading, writing and publishing.