Top row (l to r): Daniel Conine, Douglass Covey, Natalie Davis, Lisa Domke, Paula Garrett-Rucks; middle row (l to r): Charity Gordon, Chad Killian, Jonte Myers, Nickolaus Ortiz, Terri Pigott; bottom row (l to r): Ana Solano-Campos, Elizabeth Stevens, Elodie Wendling, Kathryn Wilson, Ryan Ziols.
The College of Education & Human Development added several faculty this year – faculty whose research, teaching and service make significant contributions to the college and its students.
Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Natalie R. Davis, who earned her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan – Ann-Arbor, is an educational ethnographer whose work explores critical intersections between teaching, learning and the sociopolitical development of children from non-dominant communities.
Lisa Domke, who earned her Ph.D. from Michigan State University, focuses her research on biliteracy – specifically, how elementary children develop reading and oral language skills in multiple languages.
Ana Solano-Campos earned her Ph.D. from Emory University and studies the sociolinguistic context of schools.
Ryan Ziols earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and his research focuses on the cultural politics of health in mathematics, STEM and STEAM education.
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Douglass Covey, who earned his Ed.D. at the University of North Florida, previously served as Georgia State University’s vice president for student affairs from 2006-2018. In that time, he made major contributions to the success of students, leading initiatives that have improved student services and introducing programs that have greatly enhanced the student experience.
Paula Garrett-Rucks earned her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and studies the teaching and learning of world languages (L2). Specifically, her research focus is on fostering intercultural competence in instructed language learning, L2 hypermedia text use and early language learning.
Terri Pigott, who earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago, has a joint appointment in the School of Public Health and the College of Education & Human Development. Her research focuses on methods for meta-analysis, including power, missing data and individual participant meta-analysis.
Department of Kinesiology and Health
Chad Killian, who earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, conducts research on the use of digital applications to support positive outcomes in physical activity environments.
Elodie Wendling earned her Ph.D. in sport management from the University of Florida. Her research focuses on the personal and athletic development of amateur and professional athletes, with primary interests in the career identity development during the transition to life after sport.
Kathryn Wilson, who earned her Ph.D. at the University of Georgia, focuses on understanding the role of personality and trait-like individual differences in the successful adoption and maintenance of physical activity and exercise behavior.
Department of Learning Sciences
Daniel Conine earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. He conducts research on behavior-analytic interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder, with a focus on learning and skill acquisition, verbal behavior and improving the efficiency of early intervention.
Jonte Myers, who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Florida, studies special education, mathematics instruction for students with learning disabilities and teacher quality and effectiveness.
Elizabeth Stevens earned her Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research explores effective reading and mathematics interventions for students with learning disabilities, as well as effective professional development models to improve student outcomes.
Department of Middle and Secondary Education
Charity Gordon earned her Ph.D. from Georgia State University and focuses her scholarship on critical and dialogic pedagogies in urban educational contexts. Through her work, she aims to construct knowledge about teaching and learning that promotes educational equity and social justice.
Nickolaus A. Ortiz, who earned his Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, focuses his research on Black/African American students and the ways in which ontological Blackness is manifested and/or stifled during high-quality mathematics instruction.