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Topic: Teacher Education

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.

Lunden MacDonald

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Lunden MacDonald, Ph.D., is a professor of modern languages at Metropolitan State University of Denver. MacDonald started teaching Spanish at MSU Denver in 1998 and has since held the positions of instructor, assistant professor, full professor, chair of the Department of Modern Languages and director of First Year Success program. She speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese and Galician. Her areas of expertise are in Spanish language, literature, teaching, contemporary trends in foreign language study, translation, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), SUDC (Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood), Investigative trends in SIDS and SUDC research.

MacDonald has published several articles including “The Virtual Language Lab: Virtually Painless, Simply Real” in the International Association for Language Learning Technology Journal in 2009 and Spanish Translation of “La próxima etapa en Panamá: la subcontratación de pensiones” in La Prensa, Journal of Honduras, in 2007. Her research topics include Joseph Blanco White, European Enlightenment, Enlightenment (or lack thereof) in Spain, paradigms of Enlightenment in the Spanish-speaking world, Spanish language learning and teaching methods; and technology and technological applications in the teaching and learning of Spanish language, literature and culture.

MacDonald received her Ph.D. and master’s in Spanish language and literature from Princeton University in 2006 and 1997. Additionally, she also received a master’s and bachelor’s in Spanish language and literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1995 and 1993.

Elizabeth Kleinfeld

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Elizabeth Kleinfeld, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of English and director of the Writing Center at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She began her teaching career at Red Rocks Community College in 2001 where she worked as a writing center coordinator while also addressing writing curriculum, tutoring and composition.

Kleinfeld conducts research on academic rhetoric, composition pedagogy and theory, digital rhetoric, intellectual property, and multigenre and multimodal composition. She has co-authored two textbooks: “The Bedford Book of Genres: A Rhetoric” and “The Bedford Book of Genres: A Rhetoric and Reader.” Kleinfeld has also written numerous essays, peer-reviewed journal articles and edited handbooks. She has done many presentations at conferences and held work’shops. Kleinfeld is a member of: International Society for Humor Studies, Alliance for Computers and Writing, International Writing Centers Association, Colorado and Wyoming Writing Center Association and eLearning Consortium of Colorado.

Kleinfeld received her doctorate in English studies and master’s in English from Illinois State University and a bachelor’s in history from Bradley University.

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.

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.

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