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Topic: Education

Chris Jennings

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Chris Jennings, Ed.D. is chair and professor in the Department of Journalism and Media Production at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

He has over two decades of experience in the media education field. Jennings has held positions as training analyst, instructional designer, director of digital media services, digital media producer, consultant and adjunct teaching faculty. He worked as education program specialist at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. In addition to teaching, Jennings was assistant director for An Adventure of the American Mind Grant at MSU Denver. He is a member of several professional organizations including e-Learning Consortium of Colorado, American Society of Training and Development, International Society of Performance Improvement and Society of Technical Communications. Jennings received the Humanitarian Service Medal, Expeditionary Medal (Panama), Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal and the National Defense Medal for his service in the U.S. Army.

His research interests include interactive realities, virtual realities, streaming media, usability testing and human factors with technology. Jennings has authored and co-authored several books with the most recent one in 2010 titled “Educational Virtual Environment Methodologies: Second Life as an Instructional Tool” a textbook for the University of Wyoming. He has given many presentations around the country and on a few occasions in China about the use of media and technology in education.

Jennings received his Doctor of Education in instructional technology from the University of Wyoming in 2010, a master’s in multimedia technologies from Regis University in 2002 and a bachelor’s in speech communication from MSU Denver in 1996.

Christian Itin

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Christian Itin, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Social Work at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Itin has over 30 years of experience working in the field as a senior counselor, clinical program director, substance abuse/mental health intervention specialist and various teaching positions. He has been teaching at MSU Denver since 2012 and was chair of the Department of Social Work 2012-15.

Itin has also been teaching at Humboldt State University as professor emeritus since 2012. He is the past president of the Association for Experiential Education. Itin co-wrote and funded several grants; and has been a keynote speaker and presented at many events around the world. He launched the online Master of Social Work program at Humboldt State and has been actively involved in the development of MSU Denver’s online Bachelor of Social Work and Master of Social Work program.

In addition, Itin has a long history of community service involvement. Currently, he is a member of the Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging, a member of the Association for Experiential Education, a member of Adventure Therapy International Committee and a committee member on the Institutional Review Board at MSU Denver. His research interests include group process, leadership, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy and experiential practice. Itin has published many articles over the years. His most recent publications are “Adventure Therapy: Nondeliberative Group Work in Action” for Social Work with Groups journal and “The nature and meaning of adventure therapy” for Connecting with the Essence of Adventure Therapy book.

Itin received his doctorate in social work and a master of social work from University of Denver in 1997 and 1987 respectively and a bachelor of social work from Cornell University in 1984.

Christina Huber

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Christina Huber, Ph.D., is an professor in the Department of Economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She teaches courses in development economics, environmental economics, natural resource economics and econometrics.

Huber’s main research interests include issues of maternal and child health in developing countries, economics of the family and determinants of student academic performance. She has published in the Journal of Human Capital, Demography, the Southern Economic Journal and Applied Economics, among others.

Huber received her doctorate and master’s in economics from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2008 and 2003 respectively and a bachelor’s in anthropology and environmental studies from Grinnell College in 2000.

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 an emerita dean and the 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.

Stacey Hervey

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Stacey Hervey, MSSc, is an affiliate professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She specializes in school safety, extremism, hate crimes/group violence and issues affecting juveniles.

Hervey has worked in Victim Services and spent a short time as a patrol officer before deciding to teach full time. She is a mayoral appointee to the City of Denver Crime Prevention and Control Commission and in 2009 received the FBI Director Leadership Award for her contributions to the community. Hervey has also received the Mile High Teacher Award and Distinguished Teacher Award. She is a member of the Rocky Mountain Association of Identification and has worked with Homeland Security and the Attorney General’s office to develop training resources for parents on internet safety and has presented throughout the United States.

In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses for Metropolitan State University of Denver, Hervey also teaches courses for University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with her primary role being a high school teacher for Denver Public Schools. She is most proud of her work advocating for marginalized communities and introducing law enforcement careers to underrepresented populations.

Hervey received a master of social science in Criminal Justice from University of Colorado Denver and bachelor of arts in Sociology and Deviance from University of Colorado Boulder. She also holds a Law Enforcement Certificate from Arapahoe Community College and a Teaching Certificate from Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Elmer Harris

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Elmer Harris, Ed.D., is a Wilton Flemon Postdoctoral and associate 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.

Lisa Kindleberger Hagan

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Research focus on pedogogy within higher education, constructivism, and children’s risk taking.

Krista Griffin

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Krista Griffin, Ed.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Elementary Education and Literacy at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She has been teaching in Colorado for the past twenty years. Griffin worked as director of a nonprofit childcare center where she worked with the youngest children and their teachers. As a primary and multi-age classroom teacher, she taught elementary aged children and worked with their parents in low-income schools. And now, as an assistant professor at MSU Denver, Griffin teaches pre-service teachers at both the graduate and undergraduate level. She serves on national committees for the International Literacy Association and helped develop the Elementary Education major at MSU Denver.

Her research areas of interest include motivation and engagement in literacy and research with younger children. She is the author of “Listening to the Voices of Boys: Exploring the Motivation of Primary Boys to Engage in Reading,” which was published in 2016.

Griffin received her doctorate in educational studies with a reading cognate and a master’s in reading from University of Northern Colorado.

Lawrence Glatz

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Lawrence Glatz, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Modern Languages at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He teaches elementary German, intermediate German, German civilization and German phonetics – theory and practice.

Glatz has been teaching at MSU Denver for nearly 25 years. Previously, he taught German language at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State University. Glatz also volunteered as a German-language instructor at the Waldsee German Language Immersion Camp in Bemidji, Minnesota, for two summers. Glatz has been awarded the Excellence in Academic Advising Award, the Award for Outstanding Service to Students and the Bright Ideas/Best Practices Award during his time at MSU Denver.

Glatz has published over 10 academic works independently and across many topics, including “Teacher Training Involving Technology” and “The Curious Rebels of Heinrich Böll: Witnesses, Felons and Nonconformists.” He has given presentations at the Annual Conference of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Annual Conference of the Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery. Glatz also teaches workshops for other educators. His current research focuses on the writings of Nobel Prize for Literature laureate Heinrich Böll.

Glatz received his doctorate and master’s in German literature from Pennsylvania State University in 1995 and 1988, respectively, and a bachelor’s with honors in German from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. During his master’s program, Glatz studied in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.

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