CEHD News

Educational and Counseling Psychology

Natalie Kosine
Natalie comes to us from the Center for School Counseling Outcome Research at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where she was a Senior Research Fellow. She was engaged in studies and evaluations that focused on school counseling interventions and programs. Natalie is completing her doctorate in Counselor Education at the University of Wyoming, and her research focus is on transition issues and self-advocacy behaviors of students with learning disabilities and how those issues affect retention.

Kathleen Rudasill
Kathleen is an assistant professor in the department and her research focus is the examination of the self-beliefs of gifted children as they relate to parents’ perceptions and social stereotypes and the role of temperament in the effectiveness of classroom interventions for young children. She earned her Ph.D. in educational psychology in 2006 from the University of Virginia, where she was an Institute of Education Sciences pre-doctoral training fellow. She has published recently in Early Education and Development, Gifted Child Quarterly and Parenting for High Potential.

Michael Steger
Michael received his Ph.D. with a dual specialization in Counseling and Personality Psychology from the University of Minnesota in 2005. His research interests include understanding how people generate the sense that their lives are meaningful, as well as investigating the benefits of living a meaningful life, and better understanding the factors that facilitate human flourishing and ameliorate psychological suffering. Mike’s work has appeared in Psychological Science, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Behavior Research and Therapy, Journal of Psychological Assessment, and other professional journals and book chapters.

Jeffrey Valentine
Jeffrey received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Missouri, Columbia in 2001. His cross-disciplinary research interests include social, developmental and educational psychology. Jeffrey’s primary theoretical concern is the development of personal and group identities and the mechanisms, particularly motivation, through which these mediate academic behavior. He has also conducted a synthesis of the research on the relation between self-beliefs and achievement. Jeffrey has published in many journals and book chapters and has presented at conferences around the world.

Department of Teaching and Learning

Peter Alter
Peter graduated from the University of Florida with his Ph.D. in August of 2006. He currently has four articles that will be published in various peer reviewed journals, and he won the Carl Fenichel award for the outstanding dissertation in the area of emotional and behavioral disorders from the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders. Before coming to the University of Louisville, Peter spent more than ten years teaching and working with children with emotional and behavioral disorders. His areas of interest include classroom management, positive behavior support and functional behavior assessment.

Jennifer Bay-Williams
Jennifer is an associate professor in the college and received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and Mathematics Education from the University of Missouri, Columbia. She previously worked at Kansas State University and the University of Missouri, and is a nationally recognized mathematics educator. Jennifer has published over 25 articles in journals such as Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Teaching Children Mathematics and Mathematics Teacher. Some of her research interests include the impact and implementation of standards-based mathematics curriculum, and supporting English language learners in mathematics instruction. Her service to education includes hundreds of professional development workshops, President-Elect for the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), and member of the leadership task force for the National Council of Teachers in Mathematics (NCTM).

Lisa Kemmerer
Lisa is an assistant professor and received her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in special education. She has eight years of experience working as a behavioral clinician at the Center for Disabilities and Development in Iowa City, which included working with families and teachers in school and home-based settings. After receiving her Ph.D., Lisa joined the faculty at Portland State University in Oregon. Her expertise and research interests are in the area of applied behavior analysis and autism, specifically, the assessment and treatment of individuals with severe problem behavior and limited functional communication skills.

Teddie Phillipson-Mower
Teddie is a 2006 Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at Indiana University, Bloomington. She comes to us from Indiana University, Bloomington where she was the Program Coordinator for the Secondary Science Education Program. She will serve as co-director for the Center of Environmental Education and the co-facilitator for the Environmental Education Committee of the Partnership for a Green City. Some of her research interests include controversial issues, intellectual and ethical development and nature of science. Her most recent publication is “Who Says the Sky is Blue? Using Critical Literacy to Prepare Pre-Service Teachers” with Ingrid Graves in Akerson’s Interdisciplinary Language Arts and Science Instruction in Elementary Classroom: Applying Research to Practice.