INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP WITHIN THE COLLEGE

- FACULTY -

Ann Austin, professor in higher education, specializes in the study of faculty careers, institutional transformation and issues of teaching and learning in post-secondary education. While her international research initially centered on South Africa, she has now written on higher education in developing countries more generally.

Maenette Benham is an associate professor of educational administration. A Native Hawaiian, she takes a particular interest in educational research issues related to native/indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities. Internationally, she coordinates an overseas master's program in educational administration.
Sandra Crespo is an assistant professor of teacher education. Her specialty is mathematics education. Originally from the Dominican Republic, she has designed curriculum materials and professional development programs for her home country.
Lynn Fendler is an assistant professor of teacher education with specialties in the teaching of foreign languages and of English as a second language. She has extensive experience in China and Thailand. Her research interests are also informed by current European trends in Continental philosophy.
James Gallagher is professor of teacher education. He has done training and research in science and environmental education throughout the world, with a concentration most recently in Thailand and Vietnam.


Joyce Grant is an associate professor of teacher education. Her research centers on school change. Her international interests center on Africa where her most recent experience has been in Nigeria.

Elizabeth Heilman is an associate professor of teacher education. Her research focuses on the complexity of both the civic and the social imagination. This includes ideas of democracy, national and global citizenship, and identity and diversity, as well as how people develop a sense of power, political efficacy, human connection and responsibility to others.  She has done research on literacy campaigns in central America and Asia and has served as an education development advisor in Xinjiang, China. She is especially interested in how globalization influences education policy and is also interested in global education curriculum.

Reitumetse Obakeng Mabokela, associate professor in higher education, studies institutional transformation with an emphasis on issues of race, ethnicity and gender. Originally from South Africa, she has done extensive research on universities in her home country.

Susan Melnick is associate professor of teacher education and director of academic outreach programs. She has taught master’s degree courses for teachers throughout the world and is in charge of the Graduate Studies in Education Overseas (GSEO) program.


Punya Mishra is an associate professor of technology for teaching and learning. His research centers on the theoretical, cognitive and social aspects of computer-based learning environments. He is currently involved in the REACH India project as well as leading the Taleem Group @ MSU, an
informal group of faculty and students with an interest in educational
issues in the Indian subcontinent.


Lynn Paine is an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education with specialties in comparative education and sociology of education. She is known for pioneering cross-national research on teacher mentoring and induction. She has now done field research in China for over 20 years.

 

Susan Peters, associate professor of special education, brings a multicultural and international perspective to issues of disability, disadvantaged youth and urban education. Her international field work in recent years has centered on Zimbabwe and South Africa.


David Plank, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration and co-director of the MSU Education Policy Center, is a specialist in educational policy and finance. His international research and experience are mainly in Africa and South America.
William Schmidt is a University Distinguished Professor specializing in quantitative research methods. A leader in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), with numerous research publications, he also works directly with states and school districts on the implications of TIMSS.

Jack Schwille is professor and assistant dean for international studies in education. His international work has centered on the organizational and policy conditions which foster improving teaching and learning in civic education and core subject matters. His recent field experience has been in Africa.

Teresa Tatto is an associate professor of teacher education. Her primary research interest is in educational reform from an international perspective. She is noted for her research on teacher education in other countries as well as the U.S., most notably Mexico (her home country) and Sri Lanka.


Christopher Wheeler is a professor of teacher education with extensive experience in the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. His projects have shown how universities and schools can contribute to community development and environmental protection.

Yong Zhao is an associate professor of educational psychology. His research focuses on the social, cultural and psychological interactions between technology and education (e.g. in teaching English and Chinese on line). He is originally from China.

- ACADEMIC STAFF & OTHER RESOURCE PERSONS-

Ms. Betsy Bricker worked in the College of Agriculture (Crop and Soils) before joining the Egypt project in the College of Education. She supports fiscal accountability to MSU, AED and USAID. She is an MSU alumna with a BS degree in Zoology.

Sandy Bryson (GSEO) is a senior academic specialist and program manager for Graduate Studies in Education Overseas. He coordinates the delivery of three overseas MA programs to international school educators and serves as the College's liaison to international school professional associations. He also serves as the College's liaison to the Japanese Saturday School in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Lee Cogan is a senior researcher for the US National Research Center for TIMSS, with a strong publication record in national and international educational surveys. His current research interest is in measurement of curriculum and classroom instruction in mathematics and sciences.

Richard Houang is the associate director for the US National Research Center for TIMSS, specializing in quantitative research methods. Building on extensive earlier publications, his current research interest is in quantifying curriculum for relational analysis.


Sally McClintock (ISE) is founder and director of Linking All Types of Teachers to International Cross-cultural Education (LATTICE), an award winning study group for MSU international students and Lansing area K-12 teachers.

Gretchen Sanford an academic specialist and the project director of the Education Reform program in Egypt to enhance professional development of teachers and mentoring and induction programs for new teachers. Prior to her current position Gretchen administered and taught in a two year intensive Agricultural Business program at Michigan State University. Previous career experience includes work as a high school Agriscience and Biology educator at Lakewood High School. Gretchen has worked extensively with the MSU Study Abroad programs, traveling with students to Australia, Ireland and the UK. Gretchen has also been involved in an education reform project in Mali, Africa. Her current research interests are the impacts of foreign aid on education reform efforts in developing countries and gender equity issues as they relate to the education of women farmers in developing populations.
Gretchen received her BS in Animal Science and MS degree in Agriculture Extension Education from MSU and is currently working on her PhD in Higher Adult and Lifelong Education at MSU.


Anne Schneller (ISE) has lived and worked in various African countries for 14 years, and continue to have strong personal and professional connections. I taught in Zambia for 6 years, in Serowe, Botswana for 2 years, and directed a USAID-funded scholarship program in Zimbabwe for 3 years. I was an education consultant at the Ford Foundation in Kenya for 2 years, and designed community service projects for students in education at University of Durban Westville, South Africa, for one year.
In addition, I have co-directed study abroad programs in Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa since 1990. I have been co-PI on programs regarding the improvement of teacher education (specifically for women) in Ethiopia, and a study on USAID gender equality in education in Zambia. I have traveled extensively in Kenya and Tanzania, and in southern Africa.


Kazuko Thornton (ISE) grew up in Japan and subsequently had a long and successful career as an American teacher and administrator. Having kept her ties to Japanese educators, she has taken Michigan teachers and administrators to Japan for study.

[Faculty] [International Capabilities]