Graduate Faculty in Education for the Teaching & Learning Doctoral Program Available to Chair or Serve on Committees

(*Adjunct, **Assistant, ***Associate Member; ****Full Member)

Note: Associate or full members of the graduate faculty may chair committees. An associate member chairing a committee must have a mentor who is a full member of the faculty. Assistant and adjunct members may serve on graduate student’s committees.

*Rilla Anderson (Department of Educational Foundations and Research)
I teach foundations of education courses including philosophical, social, and historical foundations, including a special topics course on foundations of Native American education. Two of the foundations courses I teach are done completely online. My most recent research area is school response to students' suicides, but I continue to be interested in notebook computer universities.

****Mary Baker (Department of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My research interests focus on the areas of technology in education, methods of teaching that promote conceptual understanding, and mathematics education issues and trends. I enjoy working with both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and frequently employ a mixed methods design to produce a more well-rounded and deeper analysis of the data.

****Shelby Barrentine (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My research interests are focused on qualitative investigations of assessment and instruction related to reading and writing. I am particularly interested in describing literacy practices that are language, literature, and process based; advance pluralistic views of society; and emanate from child-centered views of teaching.

***Kari Chiasson (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
I am an assistant professor in the special education program area of the Department of Teaching and Learning. Over the past 25 years, I have worked in the fields of early childhood special education and visual impairment as a teacher, consultant and trainer. My research interests include working with families of children who have disabilities, inclusive practices, and early intervention. My research background is in qualitative methodologies.

****Lynne Chalmers (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My interests are in the area of inclusion of special needs students into general education classrooms. More specifically the areas that I am currently focusing on include classroom modifications, the transition of students from special education classrooms to general education classrooms, and the use of a response to intervention model by both general and special educators.

****Barbara Combs (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
As a teacher educator in the area of literacy education, I have two strands of scholarly interest. The first involves the development of teachers, more specifically how they grow and change throughout their careers. The second, centers on the assessment and instruction of learners in the areas of reading and writing, especially for those learners who struggle. My research in both of these areas makes use of qualitative methodologies.

****Kathleen Gershman (Dept. of Educational Foundations and Research)
I teach Foundations of Educational Thought, Philosophical Foundations of Education, Issues and Trends, and Qualitative Research Methods. My current research interests include educational theatre, school culture, rural schools especially one-room schools, and adolescent views of the curriculum and school life. I also write in the area of the implications of process philosophy for curriculum development.

***Bonni Gourneau (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My research interests involve the study of people. I am interested in qualitative studies that focus on how people interact with others and the world around them. Such topics include teacher/parent/ student relationships, bullying, classroom management, and first year teachers.

****Mark Guy (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
I am interested in how learners of all ages make sense of our natural world and how conceptual development can be facilitated by various learning settings and experiences. I am also interested in the complex social, cultural, and individual interactions that occur naturally in elementary science classrooms.

****Lars Helgeson (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
As a member of the Dept. of Teaching and Learning faculty, I am interested in the area of science education, school science safety, curriculum theory & philosophy, American Indian education, and the brain in memory and learning. I enjoy working with students to promote development of concepts through laboratory experiences and a variety of science activities.

***Linda Holdman (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
I am a member of the Dept. of Teaching and Learning faculty and director of Field Placement, placing students in educational settings for all levels of field experience and student teaching. I teach Senior Seminar and Supervision of Student Teaching.

****Jodi Bergland Holen (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
I teach Foundations of Educational Thought in the summer. As well, I have taught Classroom Management, Introduction to Elementary and Secondary Teaching, Models of Teaching 542, and Music for Elementary Teachers. My research interests include: philanthropy in higher education, creativity and intellectual freedom, risk taking in the college classroom, and the philosophical underpinnings of teacher preparation courses especially in terms of the work of John Dewey, Maxine Greene, Paulo Freire and Henry Giroux. I am also interested in the processes of education with regards to core values and spiral learning.

****Woei Hung (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Instructional Design & Technology)
My research areas include problem-based learning, problem solving, types and difficulty levels of problems, systems thinking and modeling, concept mapping and formation, cognitive flexibility theory, epistemological beliefs, as well as integration of processing technology in K-12 and higher education.

****Gail Ingwalson (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My interests and area of research pertain to middle school education. In particular, my research interests are mentoring programs, brain-based research & early adolescents, middle school sustainability, experiential learning, service learning, gender, and parental involvement in schools. I teach undergraduate and graduate courses pertaining to middle school education and deal extensively with licensure requirements. Most of my research is conducted in the public schools through the means of action research.

***Richard Kahn (Dept. of Educational Foundations and Research)
I teach courses in educational foundations, including courses in the philosophy, history and anthropology of education. My major research interest is in broadly theorizing and promoting ecopedagogy, or education that cultivates forms of human development that accord with goals of ecological sustainability and social justice. I also frequently write on topics involving the intersection of technology, politics and education. Other areas of interest include: critical pedagogy, cultural studies, educational policy and indigenous issues.

***Jared Keengwe (Dept. of Teaching and Learning)
My primary areas of teaching include Educational Technology, Teacher Education, and Diversity Education. My research interests include: Pedagogical uses of computer tools to support meaningful learning; Educational technology integration practices in higher education classrooms; Constructivist pedagogy and the Net Generation learners; Cultural and linguistic tools for student diversity and empowerment; and critical pedagogy as a tool for understanding diversity in our educational institutions and the communities at large.

****Richard G. Landry (Dept. of Educational Foundations and Research)
I am especially interested in applied research and program evaluation and enjoy a wide variety of approaches to evaluation and research questions. I have graduated numerous doctoral students over the years and served as coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Doctoral Program. Currently, I direct the Bismarck cohort.

***Steven LeMire (Educational Foundations and Research)
My main research interest is statistical argument as it relates to type I and type II error rate qualification and their relationship to research claims about educational constructs. A secondary interest relates to the process of how we use quantitative data to make decisions about education practices. I am interested in teaching statistical methods including: regression, multivariate, experimental design, research methods, and factor analysis.

**Patti Mahar (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Special Education)
As a member of the Special Education faculty, I teach courses in teaching students with disabilities, developmental cognitive disorders methods, and transitioning students with disabilities. My interests are in the area of inclusion of students diagnosed with disabilities into the general population and working with families that have children diagnosed with disabilities.

***Sue Offutt (Dept of Teaching and Learning/Early Childhood Education)
My interests in the field of early childhood education include family centered involvement, home, school and community partnerships, Head Start, standards of quality, policy, and the integration of early childhood with early childhood special education.

****Glenn Olsen (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Teacher Education)
My research interests in the PK-12 settings include conflict resolution and mediation, males/fathers in the schools, and teasing, bullying and school violence. My research interests in the university setting include the case study method in higher education, teacher education, multicultural issues, and cooperative learning in higher education.

****Myrna R. Olson (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Higher Education/Special Ed.)
My current research interests are focused upon strategies for supporting faculty and graduate teaching assistants in their role as college teachers as well as the use of therapy dogs in educational settings. Past areas of research remain areas of interest and include: traits of healthy single parent families; parent involvement in schools; use of effective discipline; development of self-esteem; stress management; crisis survival; teaching of Braille reading; teaching strategies with visually impaired students and gifted students in general education classrooms; and strategies for addressing the emotional needs of gay/lesbian students and staff in school settings. I teach courses for higher education and special education as needed!

***Grace Onchwari (Dept. of Teaching and Learning)
My teaching interests lie in assessment, curriculum, play development, guidance and behavior, literacy, infant and toddler development and pre-K methods and materials. My research interests focus on teachers and multicultural teaching competencies, immigrant children's academic achievements, technology, and emotional intelligence.

***Donna K. Pearson (Dept. of Teaching & Learning/Teacher Education)
My academic course work includes Introduction to Education, Curriculum Development & Instruction, Secondary Social Studies Methods, and Models of Teaching. Incorporating both quantitative and qualitative research methods, the axis of my research interest is teacher education. Specific areas include international/comparative education, professional development, and civic education.

***Kathy Smart (Dept. of Teaching and Learning)
My research interests are in the use of technology in education, program administration, technology planning and policy development at the at the program and institutional level. I have experience in technology support program development and administration leadership, pedagogy, and assessment. The focus of my current research is technology integration in teacher education. Technology access for rural and underserved populations are additional areas I have a growing interest.

*Lori Swinney (Dept. of Educational Foundations and Research)
As assistant director at the Center for Instructional Learning Technologies/ITSS, I enjoy working with students, faculty, and staff at UND. I also teach in educational foundations and research, and instructional design and technology. My research focuses on the use of web-based learner management systems in traditional classrooms and in distance courses. Another area of interest is classroom and instructional learning space design. My research background is in qualitative methodologies.

***Katherine Terras-Anderson (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Special Education)
My research agenda involves qualitative studies that investigate educational outcomes for students with emotional or behavioral disorders. Particularly, I am interested in the effects of canine companionship through the incorporation of dogs into school settings or through service learning projects. Additionally, assessment of students' academic, social, emotional and behavioral development is of interest. Lastly, my research agenda involves online teaching and learning.

****Richard Van Eck (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/Instructional Design & Technology)
My research interests focus primarily on simulations and games for learning, including the design of learning games and the integration of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) games in K-12 classrooms. I have helped teachers develop dozens of lesson plans on integrating games into their classrooms, and have published and presented frequently on games and am a frequent invited speaker on this topic. I have also published articles and books chapters on pedagogical agents (talking heads), artificial intelligence, intelligent tutoring systems, authoring tools, Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS), and gender and technology. I also have good research design and statistical analysis skills as well. I am primarily a quantitative researcher.

****Anne Walker (Dept. of Teaching and Learning/ Elementary/Literacy/ELL)
My research interests are broadly based in literacy and multicultural education. My scholarly expertise is in literacy education for culturally and linguistically diverse learners. I am also interested in international education, teacher education, issues of social justice, and the role of policy and politics in education. My current research focuses on teacher education in Russia and Saudi Arabia.

***Marcus Weaver-Hightower (Dept. of Educational Foundations and Research)
I teach qualitative research methods, social foundations of education, and gender and education along with various special topics courses. My main area of research focuses on the education of boys and the intense politics that surrounds those debates. I write on the learning of males across the life course, including cultural studies and autoethnographic views of such learning. Other areas of interest include the use of documentary films and sequential art (comics and graphic novels) in education and research, critical theory and critical ethnography, masculinity studies, educational policy, English education, literacy, and critical pedagogy.

****Margaret Zidon (Dept. of Teaching and Learning)
My research interests involve qualitative studies related to student experience of curriculum and instruction and to intercultural communications. I teach Action Research, Models of Teaching and other teacher education courses in addition to the undergraduate secondary education course, Adolescent Development.

 

Last Updated: 2/9/09