Dr. Haring has served as a practitioner and researcher in the field of education for more than 20 years. For the past 13 years, she has collaborated on federally funded grants measuring the impact of coaching and related interventions on outcomes for educators, students, home visitors, and families. As National Director of Education and Research for one of the nationā€™s home visiting models, she oversaw professional development and supported staff for more than 120 home visiting chapters across the country. In this role she was primarily responsible for evaluating the efficacy, effectiveness, and feasibility of early language and literacy interventions implemented to improve interactions between children and caregivers. She also oversaw the identification and implementation of assessment tools to capture changes in attitudes, beliefs, and practices of parents, children, and childcare providers.
Dr. Haring currently supports and trains regional literacy coaches who support more than 60,000 teachers across the state of Virginia. Prior to coming to the University of Virginia, she served as a speech-language pathologist, special educator, curriculum writer, research scientist, and university professor. She holds a Ph.D. in Special Education with an emphasis in learning disabilities and behavior disorders from The University of Texas. As a mother who benefited from home visiting, she believes strongly in programs that support children and families and the potential these programs have for strengthening families and communities.
Angela Rau is the owner of ACTT consulting. Her professional focus is on home visiting, family engagement, workforce development, and coaching. She informed the Parent as Teachers (PAT) relational approach to home visiting. The first virtual home visiting program, Parents as Teachers @ USC Telehealth, was co-designed by Ms. Rau. This program was selected as the winner of the Gary Community Investments/OpenIDEO Early Childhood Innovations Prize. As PAT Director of Program Innovations and Professional Development, Ms. Rau led training design and the professional development of national trainers. During her term, she drove transitions into virtual training and home visiting. She is an active consultant for The Rapid Response–Virtual Home Visiting (RR-VHV) collaborative. She actively participates in the Start Early Communities of Practice–Professional Development: Pathways to promoting home visitorsā€™ competence through coaching.
Dr. Innocenti is Director of the Research and Evaluation Division at the Center for Persons with Disabilities and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, Utah State University. Dr. Innocenti has over 30 years of experience working with infants and young children at-risk and with disabilities and their families in multiple research and model demonstration projects. Using an interdisciplinary model that recognizes the contribution of different disciplines and stakeholders, his research is conducted in and for communities. Recent projects focus on assessment and curriculum, home visiting effectiveness, and preschool intervention to prevent later special education.
Dr. Roggman is Professor in the Department of Family, Consumer, &Human Development at Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, Utah State University. Dr. Roggman's research focuses on parenting and children's early development. She has extensive experience in home visiting research, integrating theory-based inquiry with program evaluation, and training practitioners. She is a strong methodologist with expertise in observational data collection and longitudinal analysis and has authored several observation instruments used extensively by researchers and practitioners. She was principal investigator of a local research team for the national Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project.
Kimberly Allen, Ph.D., BCC, CFLE, is Interim Associate Dean and Director of Academic Programs and Professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University as well as co-creator of the Family Life Coaching Association.
Lori Bass, Ph.D., is a child language researcher and speech-language pathologist. As a researcher, she has a long-standing interest in the academic outcomes of children from CLD backgrounds, developing classroom-based instructional programs that benefit all children, and supporting the pragmatic development of students who are neurodiverse. Dr. Bass has more than 20 years of clinical experience supporting children and families from birth to young adulthood. Currently, she is the sole proprietor of Outside the Box Therapy Services. She provides home visiting support to children with complex communication needs in a large, urban city in the Southwestern United States.
Rebecca S. Beegle, M.Ed., began her career in education as a teacher in the 1980s. She transitioned to Reading Coach in 2003, then to Reading Technical Assistance Specialist with the University of Texas System a year later. In 2007, UT Houston's Children's Learning Institute invited her to become a Coordinator of Education Outreach. There, she developed and presented training on topics like research-based literacy instruction and effective coaching strategies, and then became Program Manager for the development and study of a reading intervention program. She retired from UT Health in 2020. Currently, Ms. Beegle consults for the University of Virginia and is the Early Childhood Coach for Midlothian ISD in Texas.
Joanne Bielecki, Ph.D., is Director of Training and Implementation for the National SafeCare Training and Research Center. She has experience in prevention education and curriculum development. Prior to joining NSTRC, Dr. Bielecki was Director of Guidance at a school in Corpus Christi, Texas. She also worked as a Behavioral Specialist for the U.S. Marine Corps. Dr. Bielecki was a SafeCare Consultant, evaluating the program's curriculum and recommending improvements prior to joining the SafeCare team in 2018.
Michaela Cotner, M.A., is a Research Associate at Georgia State University's School of Public Health and the National SafeCare Training and Research Center where she conducts studies on the implementation of interventions to prevent child maltreatment and to address secondhand smoke exposure. Previously, she worked as a Research and Evaluation Coordinator at a public health center in New York City. Ms. Cotner received her BA and MA in Psychology at the University of Georgia and New York University, respectively. Her research interests include race, gender, masculinity, and their impact on the mental health and body image of marginalized populations.
Arshya Gurbani, M.A., is a Ph.D. student in epidemiology at Georgia State University and a graduate research assistant with the National SafeCare Training and Research Center. She is a health communication specialist whose research interests lie at the intersection of chronic disease prevention, health equity, and statistical modeling.
Mary Louise Hemmeter, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on effective instruction, social-emotional development, challenging behavior, and on coaching teachers.
She has been a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on numerous projects funded by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services. Through her work on the National Center on Social Emotional Foundations for Early Learning and Institute of Education Sciences (IES)–funded research projects, she was involved in the development of the
Pyramid Model for Supporting Social Emotional Competence in Young Children and practice-based coaching, a model for supporting teachers in implementing effective practices.
She is currently the PI on on an IES–funded development project on programwide supports for implementing the
Pyramid Model, a co-PI on an IES developmental project on implementing the Pyramid Model in infant–toddler settings, and a co-PI on an IES efficacy study examining approaches to supporting teachers in implementing embedded instructions.
She is a co-author on the Connect4Learning Early Childhood Curriculum and the Teaching Pyramid Observation Tool (TPOT™). She was a coeditor of the
Journal of Early Intervention and President of the Council for Exceptional Childrenā€™s Division for Early Childhood (DEC). She received the Merle B. Karnes Service to the Division Award and the Mary McEvoy Service to the Field Award.
Adam Holland, Ph.D., is a technical assistance specialist at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His interests include motivation in early childhood, promoting cognitive development in young children, equity, and understanding the effects of proximal processes on children's social and emotional competence. Currently, Dr. Holland serves as the Chair for the International Early Childhood Inclusion Institute, an annual conference hosted in Chapel Hill, NC, and works as a co-investigator on the U.S. Department of Education-funded STEM Innovation for Inclusion in Early Education (STEMIE) Center.
Hyun-Joo Jeon, Ph.D., is a professor of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her Ph.D. from Iowa State University. She has been involved in a number of large research projects that include Project HOME, a part of the National Early Head Start Program Evaluation, and the Midwest Child Care Research Consortium Project, which is a collaboration involving individuals from four Midwestern states. The focus of her research is early childhood education teachers' well-being, child care and home visit program quality, parent-teacher relationship, and children's school readiness.
Susan Killmeyer, Ph.D., is Director of Training at the Parent Education, Advocacy, and Leadership Center in Pennsylvania. Previously, she served as Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut as Coordinator for the Early Childhood Personnel Center and has also served as Director of Training for Child First, Inc. Having worked for years in the Part C Birth to Three system in Pennsylvania, Susan returned to the University of Pittsburgh to earn her in Early Childhood Special Education, focusing on the critical importance of family partnerships and parent-implemented strategies to optimize outcomes for young children with disabilities, including those with ASD.
Jon Korfmacher, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. His research examines early childhood and family support interventions, with a particular focus on implementation, family engagement, and workforce development. He is a member of the leadership team of the Home Visiting Applied Research Collaborative (HARC), a national network funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). He also consults nationally and internationally on early childhood services. Dr. Korfmacher has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Zero To Three.
Debbie Kruenegel-Farr, Ph.D., is a parent coach and educator through her Flourishing Families business (http://familynh.com) and the author of
E.N.R.I.C.H. Your Relationship With Your Child (Kruenegel-Farr, 2021). Dr. Farr received her Ph.D. in Educational Research with an emphasis in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Texas and currently teaches Positive Psychology at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. Debbie has taught at all levels of education, worked as a family resource center director and substance abuse prevention educator, and presented numerous parenting workshops and trainings across the country.
Anne Larson, Ph.D., is a speech-language pathologist by training with several years of direct practice in early childhood settings. Now a researcher at the University of Minnesota, she studies early language screening, caregiver-implemented language interventions, and the systems (e.g., Early Intervention) designed to serve young children and their families. Her projects have an equity focus aimed at identifying and developing appropriate measures and strategies that are culturally and linguistically responsive to the families and children they are designed for.
Matt Lyons, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in the WellStar College of Health and Human Services at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Lyons is an implementation scientist whose work engages communities to address the social determinants and biological mediators of health, with a particular focus on the relationships between poverty, discrimination, and health outcomes among vulnerable populations. He employs community-based participatory and mixed-methods research designs, and his methodological toolset includes longitudinal data analysis, multilevel modeling, social and geospatial epidemiology, survey design, structured interviewing, focus groups, and ethnography.
Margaret E. Machara, Ph.D., CFLE, is a professor of Human Sciences at Tennessee State University and co-creator of the Family Life Coaching Association. She currently oversees the Child Development/Family Studies concentration at TSU and is actively involved in several Family Science professional organizations. Dr. Machara has worked with diverse groups of children, adults, and families in a variety of settings. Her areas of expertise are Human Development, Family Relationships, Parenting, Interpersonal Dynamics, Play-Based Learning, Experiential Education, and Outdoor Activity.
Patricia H. Manz, Ph.D., Professor of School Psychology and Associate Chair, Department of Education and Health Services at Lehigh University, received her doctorate in professional psychology from the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. Operating from community‐based research approaches, Dr. Manz partners with families and service providers, including home visiting programs, to improve developmental and health outcomes for children experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. Dr. Manz has developed the Little Talks program, a parent‐mediated intervention to enrich language interactions between parents and young children. Dr. Manz is co‐chair of a national community of practice focused on home visitor professional development.
Patty Marickovich, M.S.Ed., is Senior Program Analyst/FM Talent. Ms. Marickovich's child development career spans more than 30 years, in various capacities. Her regard for home visiting began as a Head Start director for a program with home visiting services. As part of the first cadre of Infant and Toddler Specialists in Virginia, she fulfilled the certification requirements from West Ed's Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC). While a community college adjunct faculty member, she developed early childhood course curricula for the Virginia Department of Social Services Division of Child Care. At FM Talent, Ms. Marickovich focuses on promoting the home visiting profession. She was bestowed on the company's inaugural Presidential Award in 2022.
Rihana S. Mason, Ph.D., received her doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology with an emphasis in Cognitive Psychology from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. She is an experimental psychologist with more than 20 years of social science research experience including 5 years of program evaluation. Dr. Mason offers her experience in culturally relevant evaluation and the application of psychosocial theoretical frameworks to large-scale research investigations involving culturally diverse populations in a variety of settings. Dr. Mason currently serves as a research scientist at the Urban Child Study Center in the College of Education and Human Development at Georgia State University.
Kimberly Meunier, M.B.A., is Executive Director of the Abecedarian Education Foundation and has more than 19 years of experience in leading and managing new ECED initiatives focused on improving the lives of young children and families. She is an expert on the Abecedarian Approach and has worked in multiple countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Jordan, Mexico, Singapore, etc.) and settings to adapt and apply this approach and other research-validated early childhood curricula and programs. Ms. Meunier has an M.B.A. from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and has done graduate studies in Applied Developmental Psychology and Education.
Oluwatobi Mogbojuri, D.V.M., is a doctoral student in the Human Development and Family Science program and a Graduate Dean Fellow at the University of Nevada, Reno. He earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has played some key roles and made substantial contributions to donor-funded education and health research by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). His work has been used to inform national policies that have direct implications on the health and well-being outcomes of families, and at-risk populations. He loves music and the company of friends and loved ones.
Nicole Pyle, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University. Her research interests include interventions for youth with multiple risk indicators in secondary education, reading difficulties/disabilities, dropout prevention, college readiness, inclusion, evidence-based practices, and alternative and adult education. Dr. Pyle partners with educational leaders and researchers to design and deliver interventions aimed to reduce dropout risk indicators and improve diverse learners' reading comprehension of informational texts, school engagement, and college readiness, to ultimately graduate from high school prepared to access and succeed in postsecondary education.
Mollie Ramano, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication Science and Disorders. Dr. Romano directs the Communication and Early Childhood Research and Practice Center at Florida State University. Dr. Romano's work focuses on caregiver-implemented interventions to support caregivers, infants, and toddlers who experience dual vulnerabilities (i.e., early childhood poverty and disabilities). She also engages in a range of professional development efforts for early childhood providers in statewide Part C programs and early care and education.
Shannon Self-Brown, Ph.D., is a child clinical psychologist and Professor in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Dr. Self-Brown co-directs the National SafeCare Training and Research Center, which disseminates an evidence-based parenting program for preventing child physical abuse and neglect. Dr. Self- Brown has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers examining the impact of violence, trauma, and disaster exposure on youth mental health, the prevention of family violence, and implementation science. Her current research is funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Child Trauma Stress Network, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Joseph Sparling, Ph.D., is the Board Chair of the Abecedarian Education Foundation (international), a Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina (United States of America), and Honorary Professorial Fellow at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education of the University of Melbourne (Australia). His 50-year career has been focused on bringing educational opportunities to vulnerable or disadvantaged children from birth through age 5. With Professor Craig Ramey, he developed an early educational program known as the Abecedarian Approach. This program has been evaluated in a series of randomized controlled trials with results published in hundreds of peer-reviewed journal articles.
Dorian Traube, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the USC Suzanne Dworak Peck School of Social Work. She developed Parents as Teachers @ USC Telehealth, the first partnership of its kind between a national home visitation model and a university-based telehealth clinic. In doing this, she also established the first virtual home visitation program, offering an entire home visitation model with fidelity via video conferencing technology. This program was chosen as a Named Commitment by the Clinton Global Initiative and was selected as the winner of the Gary Community Investment/OpenIDEO Early Childhood Innovations Prize. This research laid the foundation to make virtual home visitation available nationally during the COVID-19 crisis. Dr. Traube's research agenda focuses on the utilization of technological solutions to provide early childhood health, education, and parent support services. She has expertise in children's mental health, child maltreatment prevention, family support interventions, and home visitation.
Bridget A. Walsh, Ph.D., is a professor of Human Development and Family Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her research focuses on coaching that is specific to home visitors and includes home visitor well-being as an outcome. Dr. Walsh has coached Early Head Start home visitors. She has a leadership role in professional groups that focus on home visitors, including Start Early's Professional Development Community of Practice and the National Council on Family Relations Home Visiting Focus Group.
Daniel J. Whitaker, Ph.D., is Distinguished University Professor in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Dr. Whitaker co-directs the National SafeCare Training and Research Center (NSTRC), which disseminates the evidenced-based parenting model, SafeCare, nationally and internationally. His research has focused on child maltreatment prevention, intimate partner violence prevention, and dissemination and implementation science. His work has been funded by the CDC, NIH, AHRQ, PCORI, ACF, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Dr. Whitaker has published more than 100 peer-review papers, books, and chapters, and is past Editor in Chief of
Child Maltreatment.
