New faculty add experience, enthusiasm to EHE’s mission
The College of Education and Human Ecology’s three departments have welcomed 15 new faculty members.
“Our new faculty members bring a wealth of expertise to Ohio State,” said Cheryl Achterberg, dean of the college. “Students will benefit from their strong teaching and innovative research projects, while the community will be strengthened by their service.
“We are proud to introduce them.”
The college’s 162 faculty members teach and conduct research with 3,500 undergraduates and 1,100 graduate students. Its research expenditures reached $21 million in 2012-2013. Its outreach arm of OSU Extension Family and Consumer Sciences enrolls approximately 200,000 citizens in programs across Ohio in a year.
Department of Educational Studies
Christopher Wolters, Professor Interests: Self-regulated learning models
Wolters, who directs the Dennis Learning Center at Ohio State, focuses on investigating and extending a model of self-regulated learning that can be used to understand and improve students’ engagement, learning and academic achievement. He is interested in motivation as both an impetus for students’ self-regulation and as a target of the process. He also studies the contextual factors that impact students’ motivation and self-regulation, as well as measurement and validity issues central to these areas of research. He has five journal articles in press and is associate editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology. Previously, he was professor of educational psychology at the University of Houston. He received his PhD in Education and Psychology from the University of Michigan. Wolters and the Dennis Learning Center staff apply expertise in education, psychology, technology and instruction to enhance college student learning and motivation.
Shirley L. Yu, Associate Professor
Interests: Relationship of self-regulated learning to achievement in STEM
Yu is interested in the self-regulated learning and achievement of women and ethnic minority students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). She previously served as associate professor of educational psychology at the University of Houston and executive director and co-principal investigator of the UH Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning, part of a national network of 22 institutions committed to advancing the teaching of STEM in higher education through graduate student professional development. She conducted research and evaluation for the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Teachers program at UH. There, she received several teaching excellence awards, including the university’s group award in 2011 and the core award in 2006. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of Experimental Education.
Marc Johnston, Assistant Professor Interests: Social identity, equity and social justice in higher education
Johnston’s interests center on the concepts of race and multiraciality in higher education across changing contexts. He is investigating racial thinking in a purportedly “post-racial” and “post-genomic” era, including the influence of racially-biased incidents. His recent writing includes an article exploring college students’ racial conceptions, to be published in the Journal of College Student Development in 2014. He serves as an editorial board member for the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. He received a PhD in Higher Education and Organizational Change from the University of California-Los Angeles.
Department of Human Sciences
Sanja Ilic, Assistant Professor and OSU Extension State Specialist in Food Safety
Interests: Microbial food safety of fresh vegetables
Ilic, previously a postdoctoral researcher in microbial food safety of fresh vegetables at the Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center, developed on-farm food safety risk communication and educational programs. Her knowledge and expertise strengthen the continuum of safe food from the field through consumption. For instance, she has performed OSU Extension work with vegetable growers in Ohio. She is coauthor of “Evaluating Microbial Hazards and Controls During Production that Pertain to the Quality of Agricultural Water Contacting Fresh Produce that May Be Consumed Raw” in the Journal of Food Protection (2012). Her PhD is in Food Science and Technology from Ohio State.
Tonya Orchard, Assistant Professor
Interests: Polyunsaturated fatty acids and musculoskeletal diseases
Orchard, director of the didactic program in dietetics in the college, is investigating the relationship of polyunsaturated fatty acids and fracture risk, as well as prevention of chemotherapy-induced side effects with fatty acids. She recently partnered with Dr. Rebecca Jackson, Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, to find that higher omega-3 fatty acids in women's blood decrease risk of hip fractures. Among her honors is an Outstanding Poster Travel Award from the Women’s Health Initiative, funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. She was a visiting assistant professor from 2011 to June 2013. She received a PhD in Human Nutrition from Ohio State.
Keeley Pratt, Assistant Professor Interests: Family-based pediatric obesity and diabetes treatment; parent and family factors that contribute to or are modifiable in childhood obesity treatment
Pratt is dedicated to preventing and treating childhood obesity by studying the influences of parent and family relationships on children’s physical health. She is developing studies involving parent and adolescent attitudes toward sustainable healthy habits. Previously, she was a visiting assistant professor in the college’s Couple and Family Therapy PhD program and prior to that was a postdoctoral fellow at RTI International. She is approved as a supervisor by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a reviewer for seven journals pertaining to pediatrics, child health and family therapy. She earned a PhD in Medical Family Therapy from East Carolina University.
Michael Betz, Assistant Professor and OSU Extension State Specialist, Family Policy/Decision Making Interests: Ohio’s Appalachian family policy issues
As an OSU Extension state specialist, Betz researches household and family decision making, household well-being and rural and regional economics. In particular, he examines census, labor statistics and economic data to determine how differences in county-level economic structures, characteristics and policy decisions affect household poverty. He also has studied factors affecting poverty in rural East African communities using household survey data. He completed his PhD in Agricultural, Environment and Development Economics at Ohio State and held a two-year postdoctoral position in that program before coming to the college.
Irene Hatsu, Assistant Professor and OSU Extension State Specialist in Food Security Interests: Food security issues among chronic disease sufferers
Hatsu is the OSU Extension state specialist in food security, with a commitment to addressing health and food security issues among some of our most vulnerable citizens. She has examined the effect of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and nutrition education on individuals living with HIV. She also studied the prevalence of diabetes among those patients. She received her PhD in Dietetics and Nutrition from Florida International University, where she also received a certificate in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Mindi Rhoades, Assistant Professor
Interests: Multimodal critical literacies; active and arts-based pedagogies; interdisciplinary arts integration; digital media and visual culture; science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM); equity and diversity in education
Rhoades investigates the intersections of multiple literacies, critical/creative thinking, active learning and multiple media. Her work around equity and diversity includes serving as the co-president of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issues Caucus of the National Art Education Association; studying gender and technology; and teaching in the college’s dual-degree master’s program partnership with Indonesia. She is videographer for the Ohio State/Royal Shakespeare Company program, is atelierista in the Schoenbaum Family Center Elmer’s Art Studio, and active in combating homophobia with Youth Video Outreach. Rhoades received her PhD in Art Education from Ohio State.
Department of Teaching and Learning
Michelle Abate, Associate Professor
Interests: Children’s and adolescent literature, LGBTQ studies, women’s studies and gender studies, U.S. literature and culture
Abate is the author of Bloody Murder: The Homicide Tradition in Children’s Literature (2013), Raising Your Kids Right: Children’s Literature and American Political Conservatism (2010). Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History was a finalist for the 2008 Lambda Literary Awards in LGBTQ Studies. Her essays cover topics such as the Muppet Show, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Louisa May Alcott, Caddie Woodlawn, Where the Wild Things Are, Mark Twain, Snow White and the Left Behind novels for kids. Her work has been featured by the Boston Globe and on NPR, and she wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times. A member of the The Journal of Lesbian Studies editorial board, she formerly edited Children’s Literature and has served on the executive board of the Children's Literature Association.
Mileidis Gort, Associate Professor Interests: Bilingual language acquisition in early childhood and emergent bilingual writing development
Gort seeks to understand the nature of emergent bilingualism and biliteracy in early childhood, particularly the language and literacy processes of young Spanish-English emergent bilingual children. She also studies instructional practices and educational policies that support children's dual language, biliteracy and academic development. She is co-editor of Early Biliteracy Development: Exploring Young Learners’ Use of Their Linguistic Resources (Routledge, 2012), a national advisor to Sesame Workshop, and chair of the American Educational Research Association Bilingual Education Research Special Interest Group. She is active in professional organizations. At the University of Miami, she headed the Early Childhood Bilingualism Research Lab. Gort has a dual appointment in the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy. She received an EdD in Developmental Studies from Boston University.
Youngjoo Yi, Associate Professor Interests: Multilingual learners, Asian students, immigrant students, foreign language pedagogy
Yi’s teaching has revolved around middle and secondary students’ English language learning in the U.S. and Asia, K-16 foreign/heritage language instruction and graduate-level courses in TESOL and literacy education. Her major research interests include English language learners’ literacy learning, with most of her research focusing on adolescent multilingual students’ literacy practices in and outside of school and their identity construction. She has recently examined issues around digital and multimodal literacies of multilingual students (including their navigation between print-based and digitally-mediated multimodal literacies) and TESOL teachers’ perceptions, experiences and implementation of multimodal literacies and technology in the classroom. Previously, she was an associate professor at Georgia State University. She received her doctorate in Foreign and Second Language Education from Ohio State.
Sarah Gallo, Assistant Professor
Interests: Bilingual/biliteracy education, elementary education, family/school involvement, Mexican immigrant fathers, urban education
Gallo is focused on issues facing Latinos in schools. Her research centers on the impact of U.S. immigration legislation on immigrant fathers’ relationships with their children. Recently she has written about Latino parents and the new Latino diaspora. She is a reviewer for Anthropology and Education Quarterly, Journal of Latinos and Education and Working Papers in Educational Linguistics. She received a PhD in Educational Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania, where she taught courses in cross-cultural awareness and sociolinguistics. She received a Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship Award and a National Science Foundation doctoral dissertation improvement grant in cultural anthropology.
Timothy San Pedro, Assistant Professor Interests: Native American urban education, Native American adolescent literacies, equity and praxis
San Pedro focuses on the links of motivation, engagement and identity construction to curricula and pedagogical practices that refocus content and conversations upon indigenous histories, perspectives and literacies. He worked with the Phoenix-area Native American Next Step program and led professional development workshops on the Navajo Reservation. He and faculty co-author Valerie Kinloch examine transformative resistances and praxis in academic, community and research settings in “The Space between Listening and Story-ing: Foundations for Projects in Humanization” in Humanizing Research. He received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, English Education (concentrating on Native American Urban Education) from Arizona State University.
Francis Troyan, Assistant Professor Interests: Foreign language education; the language assessment; functional linguistics
A National Board certified teacher, Troyan has taught at the elementary, middle school, high school and university levels in the United States and France. His interests include classroom-based performance assessment, functional linguistics in foreign language teaching and learning, and high-leverage teaching practices in foreign language teacher preparation. His work has appeared in The Canadian Modern Language Review, Foreign Language Annals, The NECTFL Review and The Language Educator. He is co-author of Implementing Integrated Performance Assessment published by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and “A Descriptive and Co-Constructive Approach to Integrated Performance Assessment Feedback” in Foreign Language Annals.
