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Topic: Teacher 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.

Adriann Wycoff

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Adriann Wycoff, Ph.D., is a professor of Chicana/o Studies and holds a courtesy appointment as an associate professor of Women’s Studies at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Apart from teaching she is also Director of the MSU Denver Family Literacy Program and Co-Principal Investigator of the College Assistance Migrant Program. She has more than thirty years’ experience in community-based, non-traditional education. Her responsibilities have included teaching, program administration, curriculum development, grant writing, community outreach and public relations. Wycoff holds a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, also in Spanish.

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.

Marc Rodriguez

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Marc Rodriguez, M.A., is the Parents as Teachers Coordinator and Parenting Coordinator in the Family Literacy program at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include K-12 education, parenting skills, Sheltered (ESL) Instruction, and educational administration.

Rodriguez has been with MSU Denver for 10 years. In addition to working at MSU Denver, Rodriguez works as a Teacher Effectiveness Coach at Denver Public Schools.

Rodriguez received both his master’s degree in educational administration and his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from University of Colorado – Denver in 1995 and 1990, respectively.

Aaron Richmond

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Aaron S. Richmond, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

With almost a decade of professional teaching experience, he has taught over a dozen different psychology and education courses. Richmond has garnered several awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring, including the Psi Chi Excellence in Teaching Award, the Psi Chi International Regional Faculty Advisor Award for the Rocky Mountain Region and the Society for Teaching of Psychology Jane S. Halonen Award for Excellence in Teaching. He is a member of several professional associations. Richmond served as the Vice President for Programming for the Society of the Teaching of Psychology and is past-president of the Northern Rocky Mountain Educational research association. He currently holds several positions on editorial boards including the journals Teaching of Psychology, Journal of Educational Psychology, and the Journal of Experimental Education.

In more than 70 peer reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters Richmond has explored effective pedagogical approaches to instruction in both k-12 and higher education. He specifically investigates cognitive and elaborative processes, model teaching competencies, the efficacy of instructional strategies, and various other topics in the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Richmond received his doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Nevada-Reno in 2006, a master’s in applied cognitive psychology from Montana State University in 2002 and a bachelor’s in social sciences from University of Montana in 1999.

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.

Peggy O’Neill-Jones

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Peggy O’Neill-Jones, Ed.D., began her career as a newspaper photographer and moved to broadcast, corporate, and educational media. As media transitioned to digital, online, and virtual environments, Peggy led the way with innovative interactive media productions such as Wyzt’s Playground, a 4th grade interactive math program, WebDVD Demystified, Physical Chemistry in Practice for Purdue University, and 21st Century Learning Matters, a video that describes the strategies and tools needed to create powerful 21st century learning environments.

Keeping a strong foothold in both the academic and professional realms of emerging media, Peggy developed the Interactive Media concentration in 1995 and the Social and Mobile Media concentration in 2013 at MSU Denver. Peggy presents nationally and internationally about the connection between emerging media and learning. After 26-year career at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver), Peggy retired in 2016. She was recently awarded professor emeritus of journalism and technical communication and MSU Denver’s first-ever Extraordinary Service Award.

Peggy directs the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Western Region (TPS) program and the TPS Teachers Network at MSU Denver. TPS provides professional development that assists educators in finding, accessing, and integrating the vast reservoir of sources from the Library of Congress to deepen understanding and enrich instruction. Through Peggy’s leadership, the TPS at MSU Denver program grew from statewide outreach to a regional program that serves 14 western states.

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.