August 17, 2009
Education college welcomes new faculty members
CARBONDALE, Ill. -- New faculty members Jonathan C. Baker, Valerie E. Boyer, Crystal Shelby-Caffey, Bobbi Knapp, Jennifer Koran, Michelle Salazar Perez and Terri S. Wilson join Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s College of Education and Human Services this academic year.
Baker, assistant professor in the Rehabilitation Institute and a board-certified behavior analyst, recently completed his doctorate in psychology at Western Michigan University, where he taught graduate courses in behavior analysis. He specializes in behavioral gerontology and is the co-author of three articles, with a manuscript in press and two other manuscripts under review. He also has given two invited presentations, 15 refereed presentations and seven posters.
Boyer, an assistant professor in the Rehabilitation Institute and a clinically certified and licensed speech pathologist, earned her doctorate from SIUC. She has served as a clinical instructor and lecturer at the University and has worked as a speech pathologist in a Carterville learning center and with Southern Illinois Healthcare. Her teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate courses in communication disorders and sciences; she also will provide clinical instruction and supervision. Her research focuses on children and social communication.
Shelby-Caffey assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, graduated from that department last year. As part of the college’s Teacher Education Program, she will focus on elementary and early childhood literacy. An education veteran, she has taught upper elementary grade students in both Chicago and Carbondale. Her research focuses on bilingual education with an emphasis on two-way immersion programs, access to education, family literacy practices and literacy development.
Knapp, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology, finished her doctorate in sport studies at the University of Iowa last December. An instructor at Northern Illinois University for the past three years, she also taught online classes for California State University East Bay. Her research interests include gender dynamics in sport, women in contact sports (she plays football) and the quality of life of student-athletes. Knapp’s teaching will focus on sociology of sport, gender and sport, and diversity issues.
Koran, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, graduated this summer in with a doctorate in measurement, statistics and evaluation from the University of Maryland, College Park. Her dissertation research received support from the Educational Testing Service’s Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship program. Koran’s expertise includes item response theory, structural equation modeling, factor analysis, latent class models, hierarchical linear modeling, and survey and program evaluation methods.
Perez, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, graduated this year from Arizona State University. Previous work experience includes coordinating Texas A&M University’s student teaching program, Learning to Teach in Inner City Schools, based in Houston. Her dissertation focused on using marginalized feminist, post-modern, and post-structural philosophies to reveal power structures that affect access of disadvantaged children to public education.
Wilson, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education, earned her doctorate from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Her dissertation looks at the significance of parents’ voluntary self-segregation in three charter school communities. She teaches qualitative methods courses and the doctoral seminar in cultural foundations of education. Wilson already has published essays in professional journals and has presented at national conferences.