Biography
I received a BS in Special Education from the University of Illinois. I taught six years at Englewood High School on the south side of Chicago. I lived and worked in Israel for three years; one year as a metapelet on a kibbutz and one year teaching English as a second language on a moshav. I received my MS in Early Childhood Education from the University of Illinois – Urbana. Served for three years as the Executive Director of Bloomington Developmental Learning Center (BDLC) a progressive, parent-run child care facility with an annual budget of half-million dollars.
While working on my Ph.D at IU Bloomington I worked with Dr. Howard Spicker, first as a graduate student, then for three years as the project coordinator for a federally funded Jacob Javit’s grant, which identified rural, low SES, potentially gifted and talented children in southern Indiana and later in New Mexico and South Carolina. This longitudinal study became the topic of my dissertation. Whilst working on my dissertation, I taught undergraduate and graduate-level Education students at IU Bloomington. In 2002 I came to IU Kokomo. In 2008 I received tenure. My research interests include the preparation of teacher-candidates, equity for young children, especially children and their families’ marginalized or isolated, and gifted and talented populations. I am currently the IRB Chair and IU Kokomo representative for Graduate Faculty Council.
