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Keep up with all the news, events, people and emerging research at UIC’s College of Education.
Department Chair
Mark A. Smylie
Department Chair
Dr. Mark Smylie is a professor of Education and Chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies. His research interests include educational leadership, organizational change and urban school improvement, and the development of teachers and the teaching occupation. He is the author of numerous articles and books on these and related subjects. Smylie has served as a Director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago and as executive officer of the National Society for the Study of Education. He is the recipient of National Academy of Education and Spencer Foundation fellowships. Smylie began his career in education as a high school history teacher. He has continued his connections with education policy and practice by consulting regularly with national, state, and local education agencies and professional organizations, and working with school systems in the Chicago area and across the country.
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Professor
Danny Martin
Professor
Dr. Danny Bernard Martin is an associate professor of Education and Mathematics. His research has focused on understanding mathematical and racial identity development among African-American learners in middle school, high school, and community college contexts. He is author of Mathematics Success and Failure Among African American Youth (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000) and editor of Mathematics Teaching, Learning, and Liberation in the Lives of Black Children (Routledge, 2009).
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Associate Professor
David Mayrowetz
Associate Professor
Dr. David Mayrowetz studies the ways in which organizational and institutional factors influence the creation and implementation of educational reforms. His work has been published in Educational Policy, Leadership and Policy in Schools, Educational Administration Quarterly, Teachers College Record and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. He teaches courses regularly on educational policy, education and the law, case study research methods, instructional leadership, and special education policy.
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Department Chair
Kimberly Lawless
Department Chair
Dr. Kimberly Lawless researches the effectiveness of technology in classrooms toward improving reading comprehension skills of K-12 students. She writes and publishes widely on educational technology, instructional science, and reading. Lawless serves on the editorial review boards for several professional journals, including the International Journal of Instructional Media and the Journal of Research on Computers in Education, among others.
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Associate Professor
Norma Lopez-Reyna
Associate Professor
Dr. Norma Lopez-Reyna specializes in assessment and instruction of students with disabilities and who are English Language Learners, in parental involvement in their children's learning, and bilingual special education teacher education. She is director of the UIC Education Assessment Clinic , which provides services for children aged 5-18 who are experiencing learning difficulties; and she is also the director of the Monarch Center , which provides grantsmanship and program improvement & development services to special education faculty at HBCUs and minority institutions of higher learning.
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Clinical Lecturer
Marlynne Nishimura
Clinical Lecturer
Ms. Marlynne Nishimura studies mathematics and science teaching and learning, teacher preparation at the elementary and secondary level, and curriculum development. Her interest focuses upon issues of equity and advocacy for science education.
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Associate Professor
Carol Myford
Associate Professor
Dr. Carol Myford is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology. Her program of research focuses on scoring issues in large-scale performance and portfolio assessments. She has published studies related to rater training, rubric design, quality control monitoring, improving rater performance, and the detection and measurement of rater effects. During her career, Myford has held assessment and measurement-related positions in government, and in business and industry. Prior to coming to UIC, Myford was a senior research scientist at the Educational Testing Service (ETS).
In 2009, she was named a Fulbright Specialist. Working through the Fulbright Scholar Program, Myford is now able to consult with institutions overseas that are facing assessment and measurement challenges. She has authored and co-authored numerous publications, and serves as an advisory editor for the Journal of Educational Measurement and as a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Applied Measurement.
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Associate Professor
Aria Razfar
Associate Professor
Dr. Aria Razfar's research interests are grounded in sociocultural theories of language, learning, and human development. In particular, he draws on linguistic anthropological perspectives such as language socialization and language ideologies for the purposes of understanding learning and development in urban schools. He teaches courses in the Bilingual/ESL program as well as doctoral courses in Language, Literacy, and Culture. Razfar's work is anchored in communities whose language practices have been historically marginalized in many formal and official spaces of society; thus, there is an explicit social justice character to his research. He currently serves as a principal investigator or co-PI on several nationally funded grants aimed at improving teaching and learning for English Language Learners in urban contexts.
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Associate Dean for Programs and Evaluation, Associate Professor
Carole Mitchener
Associate Dean for Programs and Evaluation, Associate Professor
Dr. Carole P. Mitchener is the Associate Dean of Programs and Evaluation and associate professor of Curriculum & Instruction. Her scholarly interests include science education, teacher education and action research in urban contexts. Her publications have appeared in national and international journals (e.g. the Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Science Education), in monographs commissioned by the National Research Council on science teacher preparation, and in a professional handbook sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association on research in science teacher education. Her recent grant activity totals more than $2 million and includes three National Science Foundation grants on science teacher preparation, including a Noyce Urban Scholars program for beginning science teachers dedicated to working in the Chicago Public Schools.
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Professor
Steve Tozer
Professor
Dr. Steve Tozer is a professor of Educational Policy Studies, and founding Coordinator, EdD Program in Urban Education. He began as a kindergarten teacher at Hull House, and director of an early childhood center in Uptown Chicago, later directing an alternative school for adjudicated Cook County youth. After doctoral studies at UI Urbana-Champaign, Tozer served as head of Curriculum and Instruction at UIUC; chair of Policy Studies at UIC; president of the American Educational Studies Association; Chair of the Governor’s Council on Educator Quality in Illinois; and Chair of a State Legislative Task Force on school leader preparation. His collaborations with colleagues at UIC and Chicago Public Schools have been funded by the Broad Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, MacArthur Foundation, and others. He is lead author of a textbook, School and Society, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives, 6th Edition (2009), and lead editor of The Handbook of Research in Social Foundations of Education (2011).
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Associate Professor
James R. Gavelek
Associate Professor
Dr. James Gavelek's scholarly interests focus on the role of language and other embodied semiotic processes in understanding the development of mind. He is especially interested in the implications of an integrated and embodied semiotics for rethinking teaching, learning and the school curriculum. Gavelek serves on the editorial boards of Reading Research Quarterly and the Yearbook of the National Reading Conference. He is the coordinator of the Ph.D. program in Literacy, Language, and Culture.
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Assistant Professor
Christopher Miller
Assistant Professor
Dr. Christopher Miller's research focuses on the diversity of school districts in the USA through an ecoevolutionary approach to organizations. He studies how the variability in organizational structures of school districts impact curriculum management, especially science curriculum and in particular how district central offices support elementary science teaching through such structures as K-12 departments. He is currently investigating the impact of NCLB on elementary science teaching.
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Clinical Assistant Professor
Victoria Trinder
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Victoria Trinder's teaching and research interests are: 1) to prepare high-quality graduate and undergraduate students in critical examination of schooling in the national and international realms, while preparing for meaningful inquiry into active participation in society through democratic structures and advocacy for its youngest members; 2) to integrate my creative and literary pursuits with those embedded in the world of progressive, holistic, and global initiatives in public education; 3) to share my unique experiences in narrative-inquiry research, teacher mentoring, and social philosophy with the intended and critical objectives of equity for young people and renewal of the public sphere, via innovative and interdisciplinary notions of learning.
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Clinical Instructor and Program Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education Program
Catherine Main
Clinical Instructor and Program Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education Program
Catherine Main is a clinical faculty member in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has 20 years of teaching experiences in preschool, kindergarten, primary grades, and university settings.Prior to working at UIC, Main taught in the Chicago Public Schools, including two years as a lead teacher at the State Pre-kindergarten Demonstration Center. As a clinical instructor, she continues to work extensively in early childhood classrooms throughout Chicago Public schools and Chicago community agencies supporting student teachers and developing mentor teachers. Her work includes innovative and responsive program development in Early Childhood Education at UIC. Main designed and developed a Blended Early Childhood/Early Childhood Special Education program and an Early Childhood Alternative certification program. She currently coordinates and teaches in both programs.
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Clinical Full Professor and Director of the MEd in Special Education
Michelle B. Parker-Katz
Clinical Full Professor and Director of the MEd in Special Education
Dr. Michelle Parker-Katz is clinical professor of Special Education and Teacher Education.Her research interests include teacher learning, especially early career urban teachers, with a focus on how teachers develop academic knowledge and learn to teach it to a range of students with disabilities; how collaborative work in teaching can support such learning; the role of literacy in supporting access to all students' learning; ways to assist teachers in use of evidence-based practices to promote academic and social learning and improvement of postsecondary opportunities for students with disabilities.
Her research is funded through federal grants from the Institute for Education Sciences and National Science Foundation.Her work is widely published in peer-reviewed journals.Parker-Katz coordinates personnel preparation master's programs in Special Education and has several grants from the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs that support that, as well. She also does clinical instruction for UIC students in Chicago Public Schools.
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Department Chair
Elizabeth Talbott
Department Chair
Dr. Elizabeth Talbott is an associate professor and department chair in Special Education. Her research addresses the social and emotional development of children and youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Talbott teaches courses that focus on classroom management, prosocial behavior, and peer-mediated interventions, as well as courses in academic content (math and science) and social and emotional development and disabilities.
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Clinical Assistant Professor
Karen Bean
Clinical Assistant Professor
Dr. Karen L. Bean is clinical assistant professor of Curriculum & Instruction. She teaches literacy methods courses in the undergraduate and graduate elementary education programs, as well as the first field-based course in the teacher preparation sequence. Her past experience includes teaching elementary students in grades K to 8, working as a reading specialist, and teaching English Language Learners.
Bean’s dissertation explored discourse change in 4th grade students working in a collaborative practice setting over the course of one school year. Her professional interests include literacy instruction in the general education classroom, learning in a second language, learning contexts within classrooms and teacher professional development.
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Assistant Dean for Programs and Technology
Kathleen Sheridan
Assistant Dean for Programs and Technology
Dr. Kathleen M. Sheridan is an associate professor and assistant dean of technology and programs. Dr. Sheridan received her PhD in Child and Family Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MA from Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests include online learning and course development in higher education. Sheridan has been published in leading academic journals, delivered keynote speeches, and has presented her work at workshops and at national and international conferences. She can be contacted at ksherid9@uic.edu.
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Professor
Taffy E. Raphael
Professor
Dr. Taffy E. Raphael is professor of Literacy Education. Raphael’s research interests include strategy instruction in comprehension and writing, and frameworks for literacy curriculum and instruction (e.g., Book Club Plus). She directed Partnership READ (2002-2011), a school-university partnership to improve literacy instruction through professional development, which was recognized with the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education’s 2006 Best Practices Award for Effective Partnerships.
She has published several books, and more than 100 articles and chapters. She received International Reading Association’s Outstanding Teacher Educator in Reading Award in 1997, the 2007 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Distinguished Alumni Award, and the 2008 National Reading Conference Oscar Causey Award for Lifetime Contributions to Literacy Research. She has been a Fellow of the National Council of Research in Language and Literacy since 1996, and member of the Reading Hall of Fame since 2002. She served on the Board of Directors of International Reading Association (2007-2010).
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Professor
George Karabatsos
Professor
Dr. George Karabatsos is a Professor of Educational Psychology. His research deals with the development and application of statistical models; to improve data analysis for regression and prediction, for causal analysis of educational and other interventions; and for the measurement of examinee performance. His work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals, and he has been Principal Investigator for research supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, The Spencer Foundation, and the National Institutes for Health. Karabatsos also serves as an associate editor for the journal Psychometrika.
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Professor
Stacey Horn
Professor
Dr. Stacey S. Horn is an associate professor of Educational Psychology and Human Development, and director for the MEd program in Youth Development. Horn is interested in adolescent development; social and moral reasoning about peer groups and intergroup relations; and prejudice and discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender identity. Her applied work investigates the relationships among institutional structures and adolescents' social and moral reasoning — specifically related to peer interactions. Her research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, and has been supported by grants from the Ford Foundation, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Wayne F. Placek Fund of the American Psychological Association and other foundations.
Horn serves on three editorial boards, the Equity and Justice committee of the Society for Research in Child Development, and the governing board for the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance. She is a former high school English teacher, and has worked with young people for more than 20 years.
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Assistant Professor
Marisha Humphries
Assistant Professor
Dr. Marisha L. Humphries is an assistant professor of Educational Psychology. Her research seeks to develop an integrated approach to studying African-American children’s normative development, and utilizing this basic research to create culturally and developmentally appropriate school-based behavior promotion programs. She examines African- American children’s emotional and social competence, and the ways in which schools can support children’s development in this area. Her research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Research on Adolescence, Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Journal of Black Psychology, and Infant Mental Health Journal.
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Associate Professor
Lisa Cushing
Associate Professor
Dr. Lisa Cushing's research and teaching interests focus on increasing the quality of life for individuals with significant disabilities through the improvement of educational, social and behavioral outcomes in inclusive settings. Her current scholarly interests include: the inclusion of students in middle and high school settings, differentiated instruction such as peer mediated supports, individuals with low incidence disabilities including those identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder, transition from school, and positive behavioral interventions and support.
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Assistant Professor
Aerika Brittian
Assistant Professor
Dr. Aerika S. Brittian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Psychology. Her research examines person-context relations that exist between ethnic minority youth and their environment, such as aspects of identity (racial, ethnic, religious) and family cultural socialization, that promote positive developmental outcomes. She has conducted research in the United States and in South Africa, and her research has been published in journals such as Developmental Psychology, Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, and Sex Roles.
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