About the Contributors Karen Clark received her Ph.D. from Penn State University. Prior to completing her degree, she was a classroom special education teacher for almost 10 years in New York State. Most of her work was with elementary students identified as having learning disabilities, emotional disabilities, and mild mental disabilities. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the special education program, and enjoys working with IUSB students at all levels. She is a consulting editor for the journal Behavioral Disorders published by the Council for Children with Behavior Disorders. Her current research interests involve an examination of professional dispositions critical to being an effective educator. Dr. Clark is currently the assistant dean at Indiana University South Bend. Meryl Domina is Lecturer in Alternative/At-risk Education at Indiana University at South Bend. She is currently working on her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago in curriculum and instruction. She has extensive experience with the alternative schools in Chicago and northern Indiana that serve students who are unable to be successful in traditional schools. She holds a master s degrees from Northwestern University in the arts of teaching and from the University of Illinois at Chicago in educational leadership and administration. Ms. Domina is also a parent, an artist, and has served as Creativity Specialist in a private school in Chicago. Connie Dueschle has worked in public schools as a school nurse and a student assistance counselor for 9 years. She has consulted with the Indiana Department of Education for 13 years, and has been at IUSB as an assistant professor in counseling and human services for 6 years. Her focus on dispositional attitudes and behaviors is reflected in her research on supervision of school counselors and mentoring. Lynda Emigh, M.A., is currently a teacher in Sarasota County, Florida. She is a National Board certified teacher and has had extensive experience as a teacher in elementary and special education classrooms. Mrs. Emigh has an interest in the affective attributes of teachers and how they affect children in schools. David J. Freitas is currently dean of the School of Education and professor of education at Indiana University South Bend. He has also served as an elected city school board member, State Department of Education official in Massachusetts, an appointed member of the Illinois Teacher Certification Board, University Teaching Fellow, and a public school teacher and administrator. He is a frequent speaker at international and national professional conferences. His doctoral and master s degrees were earned at Boston University in educational leadership and his undergraduate degree was earned at the Boston Conservatory of Music. Various organizations, including Phi Delta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda, Pi Lambda Theta, and Phi Alpha Theta, have recognized his accomplishments through induction into their professional honor societies. Marsha L. Heck is an associate professor of education at Indiana University South Bend. She is committed to the transformation of individuals and communities through About the Contributors--1
their full self-expression. Her work addresses cultural understanding, the arts, and the wholeness of human experience in education. Daniel Holm has been in the field of education for 28 years. During his tenure, he has been an elementary school teacher, a teacher at a California Youth Authority facility, a grade-six teacher in England, and a university professor. As a university professor, he teaches reading and language arts methods courses, children s literature, psycholinguistics, and diagnostic reading. Dr. Holm s research interests center on the importance of story in reading development and in understanding the art of teaching. James Hurst is a faculty member of the Counseling and Human Services Program at Indiana University South Bend and interim director of the Campus Counseling Center. Dr. Hurst is a licensed clinical psychologist, and he teaches graduate counseling courses in counseling theory, ethics, psychopathology, and group counseling. His research interests include professional identity issues, youth violence and alcohol use, and the scholarship of teaching. Tanice Knopp is an assistant professor at the University of South Florida in the Department of Special Education. Before joining the faculty at USF, she worked extensively in the Florida public school system and as a program specialist for the Florida Department of Education. Dr. Knopp conducts research in the areas of teachers beliefs and dispositions, teaming models that empower school-based educators to meet the complex learning needs of students with disabilities, collaborative partnerships, and program evaluation. Dr. Knopp has been active as a principal and coinvestigator in $1 million in funded grants, and engaged in developing and facilitating formal collaborative partnerships among school districts and the university. Judith Oates Lewandowski earned her Ph.D. in educational technology from Purdue University. Prior to joining the faculty of IUSB, Judith served as a high school educator, professional development specialist, and K 12 outreach coordinator for Purdue University. Her research and pedagogical interests include technology integration, issues of privacy and security, and the development of authentic assessment within technology integration courses. Gwynn Mettetal is a professor of educational psychology at Indiana University South Bend. She received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Illinois in 1982, and has been teaching the dispositions course at IUSB since 1991. She is the author of numerous articles on classroom action research and her website (http://mypage.iusb.edu/~gmetteta) is a frequently cited resource for teacher-researchers. Kwadwo Asafo-Agyei Okrah is director of the Center for Global Education and assistant professor of education at Indiana University South Bend. Educated in Ghana and the United States, Dr. Okrah earned his B.A. degree in religious studies and linguistics with a concurrent diploma in education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He entered the Ohio University, earning an M.A. in international affairs and a Ph.D. in social studies education (curriculum and instruction). He is the author of About the Contributors--2
numerous books and articles on African culture and educational issues including: The Wisdom Knot: Toward an African Philosophy of Education, African Indigenous Knowledge and Science; Ghana Arts & Culture for Home and Classroom, Toward Global Conflict Resolution; Language, Education and Culture; Academic Colonization and Africa s Underdevelopment; Teachers as Transformative Intellectuals: Globalizing the Curriculum an Strategies for Classroom Instructions to name a few. Patricia A. Parrish is an assistant professor of education and the assistant director of graduate studies in education at Saint Leo University, where she teaches coursework in exceptional student education and educational leadership. Her research interests include caring in the student-teacher relationship and values-infused education. She has published and presented at national and international conferences on the topics of caring and the education of those with cognitive disabilities. Deborah Roose is professor of education and chairperson of the education department at Albion College in Michigan. She was previously chairperson of the Education Studies Department at Guilford College, a Quaker institution in Greensboro, North Carolina. She helped create the present teacher education program at Guilford, which is grounded in its Quaker roots, and is helping to develop a new teacher education program at Albion. Her interests and research focus on reform in teacher education and how liberal arts colleges can add to that conversation. Hilda Rosselli is the dean of the College of Education at Western Oregon University where she also is a professor in special education. She received her Ph.D. in special education and served as a faculty member in both secondary and special education at the University of South Florida. During her 19 years at USF, she served as the director of the Education Honors Program, both assistant and associate dean for teacher education, principal investigator on over $1.5 million in grants, and helped raise another $1.5 million in corporate gifts. Her research continues to focus on teacher preparation, professional development schools, and gifted education. Stephen Rushton is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary Childhood Education at the University of South Florida at Sarasota. He supervises student teachers and teaches courses in research, elementary education methods and the writing process. His research interests are teacher effectiveness, personality types using the Myers-Briggs, and brain-based teaching. Sara M. Sage is an associate professor of secondary education at Indiana University South Bend. A former special educator and research and professional development coordinator, she received her Ph.D. in curriculum, instruction and professional development from the Ohio State University in 1995. She is coauthor of Problems as Possibilities: Problem-Based Learning for K 16 Education. Sage s teaching and research interests include problem-based learning, psychological type and learning, constructivist theory and practice, differentiated instruction, and qualitative research. About the Contributors--3
E. Marcia Sheridan is a professor of education at Indiana University South Bend. She has taught at the university level in both China and Malaysia. Dr. Sheridan has a longstanding interest in the area of critical thinking. Her scholarly interests also include authentic assessment, professional dispositions, and teacher education. She teaches in the areas of middle/school secondary content reading and social foundations Denise Skarbek is currently an assistant professor and program coordinator in special education at Indiana University South Bend. Her publications and research interests include youth violence, special education, and teacher education, particularly in the areas of action research and safe schools. R. Lee Smith has published in the area of teacher education and special education. Dr. Smith s current research interests are in the area of affective traits of teacher, and in particular, a caring disposition. He has worked as a teacher and administrator in public school special education. R. Lee Smith is currently an associate professor in special education and the associate dean in the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend. Ella L. Taylor, Ph.D., is an associate research professor in teaching research at Western Oregon University. Currently she coordinates research and data analysis with the National Technical Assistance Center for Children and Youth who are Deaf-Blind (NTAC), is the project director for the NCLB Oregon University/School Partnership grant, is the lead evaluator for the Oregon Department of Education Advanced Placement grant, and participates in the evaluation of a number of other grants. Her background includes prior grants management and evaluation (Florida Virtual Varying Exceptionalities Grant, Florida Accountability in Gifted Education, Florida FutureThink, and several Florida Governor s Summer Program grants), graduate program coordination, graduate and undergraduate course development and delivery, and research within teacher education, gifted education, and the social sciences. In her previous position at the University of South Florida, Dr. Taylor coordinated two online master s degree programs and taught courses in special education, gifted education, and statistics. Dr. Taylor received her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Florida. Linda J. Young is director of student teaching and a member of the associate faculty in the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend (IUSB). Her teaching experiences have included courses on the integration of technology in the classroom, education, and social foundations. Ms. Young also supervises student teachers. Her research interests include teacher education, technology in education, Native American issues, and portrayals of Columbus in textbooks. Diane C. Youngs, M.S.Ed., is a lecturer in elementary education and coordinator of field experiences for the School of Education at Indiana University South Bend. She teaches upper level methods courses in developmental literacy and diagnostic reading. She also supervises students in field experience placements. Prior to joining the IUSB faculty in About the Contributors--4
1998, she taught students with disabilities at the elementary level in public schools for 19 years. A Note of Appreciation The editors wish to acknowledge Miriam Altman and Leslie Stockdale for their contributions in researching materials for several chapter authors. Ms. Stockdale currently is a doctoral student at the Ohio State University. Mrs. Altman is currently a teacher of preschool children with special needs in Gainesville, Florida. About the Contributors--5