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Department: School of Education

Kathryn Young

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Kathryn Young, Ph.D., is a professor in Secondary Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver and served as a faculty fellow with the Office of Institutional Diversity at the University for a number of years. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in French Education from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Masters of Arts in Teaching in Special Education with a concentration in Emotional and Behavioral Disorders from North Carolina Central University and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy from University of California, Berkeley.

Young has worked as an educator for 25 years and in higher education for the past 14 years. Before becoming a professor she taught French for a year, then English, Math and Science in the Peace Corps, then went on to be a special educator specializing in working with students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities. Her research interests include disability studies in education, inclusive education, cultural competence, diversity in higher education, and (Hierarchical) microaggressions in Education and in the workplace. She is an Intercultural Developmental Inventory (IDI) qualified administrator. Young has more than 20 published papers, numerous presentations across her research interests, and a new co-authored book titled Fix Your Climate: A Practical Guide to Reducing Microaggressions, Microbullying, and Bullying in the Academic Workplace.

Alfred Tatum

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Alfred Tatum, Ph.D., is the provost and executive vice President of Academic Affairs and professor in the School of Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He has over 18 years of higher education experience and is passionate about relationship building and inclusive leadership. He is a leading authority and one of the nation’s prominent education scholars of African American boys’ literacy development.

Tatum currently oversees academic activities throughout MSU Denver, with direct responsibility for developing, delivering and evaluating academic program policies and procedures. He is also responsible for the promotion, tenure, retention processes as well as other faculty related plans within the university.

Prior to becoming provost at MSU Denver, Tatum was the dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 2013-2020 and directed the UIC Reading Clinic from 2007-2020. Also during that time, he hosted Boys College for three years aimed to advance the literacy development of Black boys in elementary school. Additionally, he led two Post-Release Education and Preparation projects for young men on intensive probation with Cook County after convincing the juvenile court judges to assign the young males to the UIC Reading Clinic instead of jail. Tatum’s most recent research project, focused on the roles of texts and writing to advance the literacy development of African American males in elementary school. His most recent scholarship focuses on moving U.S. students to advanced levels of reading, writing and intellect development across the academic disciplines.

Tatum has co-authored three books, four major reading and writing programs and 77 academic papers and publications. He authored the award-winning book, “Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males: Closing the Achievement Gap” in 2005. His second book, “Reading for Their Life: (Re) building the Textual Lineages of African American Males” was published in 2009. His third book, “Fearless Voices: Engaging a New Generation of African American Adolescent Male Writers” was published in 2013. A fourth book, “Teaching Black Boys in the Elementary Grades” is scheduled to be released by Teachers College Press in November 2021.

Tatum received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago and his bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University.

Dorothy Shapland

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Dorothy Shapland, Ed.D., is an assistant professor at MSU Denver, with expertise in a multitude of areas concerning early childhood education. She has more than 30 years of experience as an early childhood educator. Her research includes relationship building with students and families, social-emotional skill development in the early grades, and creating inclusive learning communities in the early grades. She has presented on a number of topics, such as “Born Scientists: Encouraging and Developing Scientific Inquiry with Young Children,” and “Reducing Challenging Behavior & Supporting Young Children’s Social Emotional Development.” She is a founding member of the VOICES Diversity Council, Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children, and a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children as well as the Association for Childhood Education International.

Todd Reimer

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Todd C. Reimer, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Secondary Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

In his professional career, Reimer has worked supporting student engagement and learning for over twenty years. He has researched and presented on a wide range of issues during that time, including research on learning communities, performance assessments, online blended learning, and student motivation.

Reimer earned his doctorate in Learning Sciences and a bachelor’s in Secondary Education and Teaching from Northwestern University.

Nhu Nguyen-Siedem

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Nguyen-Siedem, Ph.D. is a physical education professor in the School of Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She is an avid outdoors enthusiast, mother and teacher, and developed a progressive secondary methods course that became a part of required course curriculum for a K-12 physical education program. The program includes activities such as skateboarding, takraw, rugby, tchoukball and speedball.

When she isn’t teaching and advising her students, she can be seen coaching USA junior national volleyball, or playing the game herself.

Lupe Martinez

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Lupe Martinez teaches courses in diversity, classroom management and curriculum, language arts and social studies. He has been teaching at Metropolitan State University of Denver for over 25 years.

The highlight of his MSU Denver career has been the development and implementation of an urban teaching preparation partnership program with Denver Public Schools’ Math and Science Leadership Academy, which has been going strong for more than 15 years. The program is based off of a model, which has been refined and improved over the years, that he presented at an international conference in Barcelona, Spain, in 2013 and at a conference in San Francisco in 2014.

Martinez earned his Associate of Arts from San Francisco City College and his Bachelor of Arts from San Francisco State University. After earning his bachelor’s degree, Martinez joined the Teacher’s Corp. During that time he was a kindergarten and fourth grade elementary school teacher in his hometown neighborhood of San Francisco, interacting with children who reminded him of his younger self. He earned his master’s degree as part of that program and ultimately attained his doctorate from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Besides his presentations on the partnerships for teacher preparation, he has presented papers throughout the United States, in Singapore and in Beijing on diversity and the characteristics of a 21st century educator.

Janelle Johnson

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Janelle Johnson, Ph.D., is an associate professor with the School of Education at MSU Denver, where she teaches in STEM teaching and learning. Prior to her current role, she was the STEM equity specialist at MSU Denver and a coordinator for Project SEED-Scholarships for Education and Economic Development at the University of Arizona. Johnson was also the program coordinator for a State Department-funded leadership institute for indigenous university students from Latin America. During this time, she served as a guest researcher at the Center for Research and Higher Education in Social Anthropology. She has also taught math and science to elementary and middle school students.

Deborah Horan

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I began my journey as an educator in Denver Public Schools (DPS), as a Spanish-English bilingual elementary teacher. To better advocate for language minority families, I pursued a doctorate at a social justice-focused institution, Boston College, with an emphasis within Teacher Education on Language, Literacy & Culture. While in Boston, I collaborated with educators in Boston Public Schools around literacy for multilingual students.

My previous experiences include collaborating as a literacy specialist on the Ithuba Writing Project, as funded by USAID. This collaboration with the South African Department of Education focused on creating national public school “readers” (text materials), authored and illustrated by Bantu-speaking teachers and artists. English versions of these culturally relevant materials are available within three DPS Newcomer schools, as facilitated through a donation from the Ithuba Writing Project to support Denver’s African refugee population.

Elizabeth Hinde

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Elizabeth Hinde is Professor and Founding Dean of the School of Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to coming to MSU Denver, she was Director of the Division of Teacher Preparation at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, one of the largest teacher preparation programs in the country. Along with her work in teacher education, she specializes in social studies education. She is the author of over 50 publications concerning social studies education, curriculum issues, and teacher preparation.

Dr. Hinde was a featured speaker at the Educational Research Center Conference in Dubai, UAE in April, 2013, and is a 2013 graduate of Harvard Institute of Higher Education’s Management Development Program. Dr. Hinde has been recognized nationally for her work in curriculum development and integration and has conducted numerous presentations at the state, national, and international levels. She was a member of the National Geographic Assessment Committee of the 21st Century Roadmap for Geographic Education Project and was research director of the Arizona Geographic Alliance’s GeoLiteracy and GeoLiteracy for English Language Learners programs. She was also a member of the curriculum development team of the Sandra Day O’Connor Our Courts: 21st Century Civics project, now iCivics.org. In addition, in 2005 Dr. Hinde received the National Council for Geographic Education’s (NCGE) Distinguished Teaching Award and is the 2010 recipient of the Geography Excellence in Media Award by the NCGE. She is on the Board of the Directors of the National Council for the Social Studies, is past-president of the Arizona Council for the Social Studies, a Teacher Consultant with the Arizona Geographic Alliance, sits on the editorial boards of a number of journals, and is active in numerous state and national professional organizations.

Elmer Harris

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Elmer Harris, Ed.D., is a Wilton Flemon Postdoctoral and assistant professor of Early Childhood Education in the School of Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Prior to becoming a full-time university instructor, Elmer served in a number of public school positions. This included early intervention paraeducator, special education (autism), fifth-grade general education and district behavior interventionist.

His main research areas are in diverse teacher recruitment/retention and school-family partnerships. Additionally, he is a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and was one of six educators throughout the nation selected to serve as U.S. Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellows during the 2017-2018 school year. Harris has also served on the associate board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Denver. He was an inaugural participate in their mentor 2.0 program in 2015, which matched every incoming freshman from Sheridan High School with community members for personal, academic and vocational support throughout their high school career.

Harris earned his doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Colorado, with focuses on educational equality and special education. His teaching philosophy as a public school educator and university instructor is based on building and maintain a sense of community within learning environments, and using those relationships as a foundation for experiences that are individualized, relevant and highly engaging.