Faculty
Kara BrownKara Brown is an Assistant Professor of Social Foundations of Education. She joined the Department of Educational Studies in 2006 after completing her PhD at Indiana University, Bloomington. Brown’s research focuses on language policy, forms of minority schooling, rural education, and gender in the Baltic States and former Soviet Union. Her most recent research, a multi-sited ethnography of language policy in Estonia, has resulted in articles in European Education, a chapter in the edited volume, Civil Society or Shadow State? State/NGO Relations in Education, and a forthcoming monograph. Brown’s current research examines the role of teachers and parents in experimenting with language policy in Estonian kindergartens. A second research project looks at international teacher recruitment and the global economy in South Carolina. Brown serves as an instructor for both undergraduate pre-service teachers and graduate students, teaching the foundation courses as well as Comparative & International Education and Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, Fulbright, and the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX). Brown is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS), the American Anthropological Association (AAA), and the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). You can contact Dr. Brown at 803.777.0629 or by e-mail brownk25(at)gwm.sc.edu or visit her website http://www.ed.sc.edu/brown/. |
 James C. CarperJames C. Carper is Professor of Social Foundations of Education in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina, where he has been a faculty member since 1989. He earned his B.A. in American History at Ohio Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. in Social Foundations of Education at Kansas State University. His research interests include history of education in the United States, education and religion, and private schools. His work has been published in History of Education Quarterly, Educational Forum, Journal Church and State, Educational Policy, Peabody Journal of Education, Educational Leadership, Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, and Kappa Delta Pi Record. Carper teaches an undergraduate foundations course as well as graduate courses in history of education. In addition, he serves on several educational advisory and editorial boards, including the Home School Researcher. His professional memberships include the American Educational Research Association, History of Education Society, and Associates for Research on Private Education. He has twice served as president of the latter. Dr. Carper can be reach at 803.777.3030 or jcarper@gwm.sc.edu. |
 Christine DiStefanoChristine DiStefano is an Assistant Professor of Educational Research. Her research interests include structural equation modeling, survey design, and latent class clustering/cluster analysis. She is also involved with the application of advanced statistics and measurement methods to issues related to school psychology. Dr. DiStefano teaches courses in educational research, statistics, and measurement. Dr. DiStefano can be reached at 803.777.4362 or cdistef@sc.rr.com. |
Kellah EdensKellah Edens is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Research. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of South Carolina in 1992. Kellah teaches courses on life span development, educational psychology, and cognitive psychology and co-ordinates a practicum for undergraduate teacher education students. Her scholarship focuses on technology-based instructional strategies, visually-based instructional strategies, and Professional Development Schools (PDSs). Kellah's research has been published in Contemporary Educational Psychology, Studies in Art Education, Action in Teacher Education, College Teaching, and Journal of Computing in Teacher Education. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, American Educational Research Association, International Society for Technology in Education, Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, National Art Education Association and the Society of Research on Child Development. She can be contacted at kellah@sc.edu or 803.777.2856, or at http://edpsych.ed.sc.edu/edens/. |
David FeldonDavid F. Feldon is Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California in educational psychology. His research primarily examines the development of expertise and its influence on educational policy and practice. This work encompasses a wide range of topics including automated (tacit) knowledge, instructional design, and learning theory. His current projects include studies of simulation-based assessment, the impact of cognitive task analysis on the effectiveness of instruction, and the definition of domain boundaries for assessing expertise. He teaches courses in learning, development, and motivation. His professional association memberships include the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Cognitive Science Society. Dr. Feldon can be reached at 803.777.3103 or feldon@gwm.sc.edu. |
 Margaret GredlerMargaret Gredler is Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of South Carolina. She earned her Ph.D. at Florida State University in instructional design and research. Her research interests include the applications of learning theory to the classroom, misconceptions of Vygotsky's cognitive-developmental theory, and issuesin program evaluation. She is the author of the text Learning and Instruction: Theory into Practice, which is in the fourth edition, Classroom Assessment, and Program Evaluation. She teaches learning theory, program evaluation, and a doctoral seminar on Vygotsky's theory. Her professional memberships included American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and American Evaluation Association. Dr. Gredler can be reached at 803.777.6609 or mgredler@sc.edu. |
 Richard HultRichard Hult is an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Research. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975. His research interests have focused on Professional Developmental Schools and learning processes in teacher education. He is currently working on a research project supported by a grant from the National Education Association and focusing on the effectiveness of PDSs. His publications have appeared in in such journals as The Journal of Psychology, Educational Theory, Teaching of Psychology, and the Journal of Education for Business. He teaches courses in teacher education, human development, and classroom learning. He is a member of the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Hult can be reach at 803.777.2387 or rhult@gwm.sc.edu. |
 Huynh HuynhHuynh Huynh is currently the program coordinator of the Program of Educational Psychology, Research and Foundations. He is also the E. Smythe Gambrell Professor in the College of Education and Adjunct Professor of Statistics in the Department of Statistics. He was director of the USC Technical Support Group (1982–95) that handled major technical work for the South Carolina BSAP tests. Currently he is an associate editor of Psychometrika and Applied Measurement in Education and an advisory editor of Journal of Educational Measurement and Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. He serves on technical advisory committees for Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), Voluntary national Tests (VNT), General Education Development Tests (GEDT Series 2002), and the state assessment programs of Arkansas, Maryland, and South Carolina. In 1997 he was elected a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Over several years, he taught training courses in robust statistics and Rasch applications and other assessment issues at meetings of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). He has taught courses on technical aspects of educational assessment, item response theory (IRT), and applied statistics. He current research interests are in IRT and technical and policy issues in large-scale assessments. He has about 60 formal publications in statistics and educational assessment. Dr. Huynh can be contacted at 803.777.7364, Fax Number: 803.777.7741, Office: Wardlaw 138. |
Michelle JayMichelle Jay is an Assistant Professor of Social Foundations in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of South Carolina where she has been a faculty member since 2006. She earned her B.A. in American History and African American Studies, M.A. in Teaching (Secondary Social Sciences) and Ph.D. in Culture, Curriculum and Change from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michelle teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on the role of race and racism in education, sociology of education, and qualitative research methods. Her research interests include critical race theory in education, anti-biased and anti-racist education practice, the use of qualitative methodology in educational research and evaluation, and culturally-responsive evaluation practices. Her work has been published in Multicultural Perspectives: The Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education. She also has a book chapters inThe Role of Culture and Cultural Context: A Mandate for Inclusion, the Discovery of Truth and Understanding in Evaluation Theory and Practice and theforthcoming Minority Women's Health: Current Issues in Research, Education and Training She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Evaluation Association, American Educational Studies Association, and the National Association for Multicultural Education. She can be contacted at mjay@sc.edu or 803.777.0538. |
Louise B. JenningsLouise B. Jennings is an Associate Professor of Educational Research and Social Foundations of Education. She joined the Department of Educational Studies in 1996 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Through collaboration with teachers and community participants, her research focuses on social and cultural processes of education, including issues of equity and justice, classroom and school ethnography, humanizing and liberating pedagogies, and the intersection of inquiry and literacy classroom practices. She teaches courses on qualitative research, social foundations of education, teacher-research, and critical multicultural education. Her current writing is grounded in a 6-year ethnographic study at the Center for Inquiry, a public magnet school, supported by a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation postdoctoral research fellowship. She is also contributing to an interdisciplinary study with the School of Public Health regarding youth empowerment and examining democratic practices of education in Brazil. She is on the editorial review board of Language Arts and the Journal of Classroom Interaction. In addition to the book, Looking closely and listening carefully: Learning literacy through inquiry (2005, NCTE Press), co-authored with Dr. Heidi Mills (ITE) and collaborating teacher Tim O’Keefe, publications have appeared in Teachers' College Record, Language Arts, and Multicultural Perspectives. Dr. Jennings can be contacted at louise@sc.edu or 803.777.5765. or visit her website http://www.ed.sc.edu/jennings/ |
Robert Lewis JohnsonRobert Lewis Johnson is an Associate Professor of Educational Research in the Educational Studies Department at the University of South Carolina. He teaches courses on classroom assessment and survey design. Robert also serves as Director of the Center for Excellence in the Assessment of Student Learning. Dr. Johnson's research focuses on the scoring of performance assessments, educators’ perceptions about ethical classroom assessment practices, and the implementation of collaborative evaluations. His work has been funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), South Carolina Commission of Higher Education, the South Carolina Teacher Recruitment Center, the South Carolina Department of Education, the North Carolina Department of Education, and Richland School District Two. Robert's research has been published in Applied Measurement in Education, Assessing Writing, Language Assessment Quarterly, Written Communication, The American Journal of Evaluation, Evaluation and Program Planning, Studies in Educational Evaluation, The Journal of Experimental Education, and Educational Leadership. He also co-authored Assessment in the Literacy Classroom with lead author Margaret Gredler and Put to the Test: Tools and Techniques for Classroom Assessment with lead author Therese Kuhs and co-authors Susan Agruso and Diane Monrad. Dr. Johnson can be reached at 803.777.5273 or rjohnson@gwm.sc.edu. |
Craig Kridel
Craig Kridel is Professor of Educational Foundations and Research and Director/Animateur
of the McKissick Museum of Education. His research interests include progressive
education, documentary editing, and educational biography, and he is currently completing
a history of the Eight Year Study entitled With Adventurous Company and
initiating an historical examination of African-American progressive schools in
the American South. He teaches EDFN 300 course (Schools in Communities), EDFN 592
course (Historical Foundations of American Educational Thought), and EDRM
842 course (Educational Biography) and currently serves as Associate Editor for
the Encyclopedia of Curriculum Research (Sage) and Consulting Editor for
the Handbook of Curriculum |
 Xiaofeng LiuXiaofeng Liu is an Assistant Professor of Educational Research. He was awarded the Ph. D. from MichiganState University. His research interests include statistical power analysis, hierarchical linear model, and information technology. Dr. Liu can be contacted at 803.777.6084 or xliu@gwm.sc.edu. |
 Val MortonVal Morton is the Administrative Assistant for program areas in Educational Psychology, Research, and Foundations. Her office is located in Wardlaw 135. Office Phone: 777-5738; Fax Number: 777-7741; Email: vmorton@gwm.sc.edu |
 Ellen PotterEllen Potter is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology. She earned her A. B. in Sociology from Emory University, her Ed.M. in Guidance from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1974. Her research interests center on motivational processes in classrooms, especially those related to self-evaluation in a variety of curricular areas. She conducts research on classroom learning and motivational processes in writing, art, and science, and does observational research in preschool classrooms. Her research has been published in Childhood Education, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and Studies in Art Education. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Educational Research Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, and the National Art Education Association. She is currently serving as President of the University of South Carolina Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. She teaches courses in human development, including development in children, adolescents, and adults. Her courses reflect her involvement in teacher education and in Professional Development Schools. She is currently involved in research in art classrooms and in evaluating four-year-old child development programs across South Carolina. Dr. Potter can be reached at potter-ellen@sc.edu or 803.777.2715. |
Michael SeamanMichael Seaman is Associate Dean for Administration and Research and Associate Professor of Educational Research. He has been a member of the College of Education faculty since 1990. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interests include nonparametric statistics and reading education. Seaman has taught both introductory and advanced courses in educational statistics and currently teaches the course in nonparametric statistics. In addition to teaching, he has served as an evaluator for projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the South Carolina Department of Education, and the South Carolina Arts Commission. He is a member of the American Statistical Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Educational Research Association (AERA). He is a past president of the Educational Statisticians Special Interest Group of AERA. You can contact Michael Seaman at mseaman@sc.edu or 803.777.2562. His website address is www.ed.sc.edu/seaman. |
 Alan WiederAlan Wieder is Professor and the Chair of the Department of Educational Studies. Along with teaching courses in social foundations of education and qualitative research, he has studied race and education throughout his career. For the last six years he has worked on an oral history of South African teachers who fought apartheid. The South African work has included numerous journal articles and a 2003 book, Voices from Cape Town Classrooms: Oral Histories of Teachers who Fought Apartheid. He has also completed a follow-up South African book called Teacher and Comrade, a narrative biography of Richard Dudley, a man who taught for forty years and lead apartheid opposition resistance. In addition, Wieder writes articles on oral history methodology, most recently an article that was published in the Educational Researcher. Wieder can be reached at awieder@gwm.sc.edu or 803. 777.6519 or visit his website http://edpsych.ed.sc.edu/wieder/ |