College of Education

Elba Barahona, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration. She joined the faculty at the University of North Texas in the Fall of 2016. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in bilingual and English as a second language. 

Barahona earned her B.A. in Economics from the Central University of Ecuador, an M.A. in Teaching and an M.B.A. from Louisiana Tech University. Her prior experience includes work as a bilingual teacher at the Dallas Independent School District.

Barahona’s research interest includes bilingual education, curriculum and assessment for English learners, and instructional strategies in classrooms and schools that serve culturally linguistically diverse students. She earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, with specialization in Bilingual/ESL Education, from Texas A&M University at College Station.

Since coming to UNT in 1997, Dr. Bill Camp has contributed actively to the graduate programs in Educational Administration. His research interests include educational law and finance, and he teaches courses on various aspects of educational leadership. He also supervises interns in the public schools and directs doctoral dissertations. His bachelor's and master's degrees are both from Texas Tech University, and his doctorate is from Virginia Tech University. Prior to his work at UNT, he served as professor, chair, and acting associate dean at California State University. He also taught previously at Oklahoma State University and Texas Tech. Other educational experience includes serving as assistant superintendent of schools, high school principal, and high school science teacher.

Ranita Cheruvu, Ed.D. is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration. Her scholarship and teaching focus on culturally relevant/sustaining pedagogies and racial literacy in early childhood education and teacher education. Her experiences as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, 1.5 generation immigrant, and her doctoral studies in Curriculum and Teaching (Early Childhood Education) at Teachers College, Columbia University have shaped her commitment to issues of equity and access in early childhood education.

Christina T. Dearman, Ph.D. serves as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education, and Coordinator of Future Teacher Pathways for the College of Education. Previously she taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels as an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas and Texas Woman’s University. 

With over 25 years in education, Dearman has taught in various capacities at the Pre-K through secondary level, serving as a reading specialist at title schools, an honors level ELAR teacher, and a Gifted and Talented Specialist. She has also run school wide and Saturday enrichment programs and served as Curriculum Director for UNT's Texas Governor's School. Dearman currently serves as Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee for the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented and sits on the Texas Academy of Math and Science Advisory Board. 

Dearman’s main area of research interest centers on meeting the needs of diverse advanced academic learners.

As administrative specialist, Marilyn works with faculty and students in the graduate programs for the Educational Leadership Master's degree and Principal as Instructional Leader Certificate.

Wesley Edwards is an assistant professor of Educational Leadership in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration at the University of North Texas. His research interests include teacher and school leader career trajectories, school organizational work environments, and the politics and policy of educational leadership. Dr. Edwards has published in journals such asEducational Policy, Teachers College Record, and Education Economics.

Edwards received a Bachelor’s degree in Education from the University of Texas at Austin, an M.A. in the Sociology of Education from New York University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Planning from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., he was a middle school math and science teacher and teacher leader in New York and Texas. 

Brittany Frieson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration at the University of North Texas, where she will begin in the fall of 2019. She earned her doctorate degree in 2019 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Language & Literacy. Her research focuses on African American Language speakers in dual-language Spanish/english bilingual programs and how multilingual students utilize minoritized languages as a form of resistance towards dichotomous languaging rules in the classroom. As an educator, her mission is to cultivate critically conscious educators who rewrite the narrative on how minoritized languages can be a language of power in the language arts classroom, as well as unveil how institutions of schooling often operate to reinforce historical linguistic oppression among Students of Color. At UNT, she teaches literacy and elementary education courses in the undergraduate program. Prior to her arrival at UNT, she was a teacher in North Carolina at both the elementary and middle school levels. 

Dr. Jeannette Ginther is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Dallas Baptist University in 2017, her masters in Literacy Education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2002, and her bachelors in Elementary Education from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1999. Dr. Ginther happily began her career as a middle school English Language Arts and Social Studies teacher in New York. After a decade of classroom teaching in both New York and Texas, she served as a reading instructional specialist, student achievement specialist, professional learning coordinator, educational consultant, field supervisor for student teachers, and an adjunct instructor before joining the faculty at UNT in 2017. Dr. Ginther was the 2019 recipient of the UNT Student Government Association's 'Fessor Graham Award for Outstanding Service to Students, as well as the June 2019 UNT Teaching Excellence Spotlight Award. Dr. Ginther also enjoys her role as a Faculty Co-Advisor for Kappa Delta Pi, UNT's Education Honor Society.

Dan Heiman is an Assistant Professor of Bilingual Education in the Department of Teacher Education & Administration and a faculty affiliate in the Latina/o and Mexican-American Studies program. His research uses critical ethnographic methods and examines how stakeholders make sense of and oftentimes interrogate neoliberal processes and policies in Two-Way Bilingual Education and critical bilingual pedagogies in the preparation of future bilingual teachers. He has published in both English and Spanish in the International Multilingual Research Journal, Theory into Practice, and the Revista Bilingüe. His dissertation, Two-way Immersion, Gentrification, and Critical Pedagogy: Teaching Against the Neoliberal Logic, earned first place in the 2018 Bilingual Education Research SIG of the American Educational Research Association. He was a fourth-grade bilingual teacher in El Paso, Texas, and teacher educator at the University of Veracruz, México, before receiving his Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialty in Bilingual/Bicultural Education, while also earning a Graduate Portfolio in Mexican-American and Latin@ Studies from the University of Texas, Austin in 2017.

Dr. Cheryl Jennings has served as a Visiting Professor at UNT since the fall of 2017. Prior to her full-time role, she served as an adjunct professor.  

Dr. Jennings retired from the Irving Independent School District after 34 years of service as both a teacher and an administrator.  At the time of her retirement she was the Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Jennings currently teaches AOP courses in Educational Leadership, with a focus on curriculum and instruction, instructional leadership, and principal internship. Dr. Jennings coordinates the Principal Internship program and provides guidance for the TExES and PASL exams.

Dr. Jennings has a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, Secondary English, and Elementary Education from Texas Woman’s University, a Master’s Degree in Education Administration, and a Doctoral Degree in Education Administration from the University of North Texas.

Nazia Khan is a senior lecturer in the department of Teacher Education and Administration. She earned her doctorate in science education and concentration in multicultural education from Hofstra University in New York in 2018. Her teaching experience includes Science education, STEM education, and best practices for underrepresented communities. She serves to coordinate optimal student experiences embedded in transformative education in social actions related to science and partnerships with community leaders. 

Khan's research focus is on understanding how to engage and support students and teachers of all communities in science and STEM education with an emphasis on growth mindset. Much of her interests in education are rooted in her experience teaching in New York City for 10 years in a NYC public schools and the City University of New York. Having taught students of all ages in ESL, Black and Latinx communities, Khan promotes and understands the importance of representation in STEM fields, which is a motivating factor of her teaching, research and scholarship.

Daniel G. Krutka, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Social Studies Education in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration. A former high school social studies teacher in Oklahoma City, his research interests concerns intersections of technology, education, and democracy. Dr. Krutka has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He was awarded the 2016 Early Career Award by the Technology as an Agent of Change in Teaching and Learning special interest group (SIG) of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the 2017 Outstanding Research Paper Award from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). He is past chair of the Social Studies Research SIG of AERA and a past board member for the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA) of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). He also hosts the Visions of Education podcast that focuses on social justice, social media, and social studies. He earned his doctorate from the University of Oklahoma.

Christopher Long is an Assistant Professor of K-12 Science Education at the University of North Texas. 

Dr. Long earned his Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M - Commerce, a Master of Arts in Teaching in Science Education from the University of Texas – Dallas, and a Ph.D. in Science Education from Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.

Dr. Long’s teaching experience includes 15 years of teaching middle-school science in the public schools and six years of teacher preparation at the collegiate level. Most of his teaching experience has been in diverse, Title I schools.

Dr. Long’s research is focused on studying learning environments and attitudes associated with learning and teaching of science, pre-service teachers’ conceptual understanding of science, and science teacher preparation. Dr. Long serves as an associate editor for the Electronic Journal of Research in Mathematics and Science Education as well as a reviewer for several other science education journals.

In his spare time, Dr. Long is an avid sports fan who can often be found cheering on the A&M-Commerce Lions and UNT Mean Green athletics. He also volunteers with a local non-profit that provides social learning opportunities for young adults with autism.

As a literacy educator at UNT since 1997, Janelle Mathis focuses her teaching and research on children’s and adolescent literature, especially works that are multicultural and international. She teaches both undergraduate and courses in children’s and adolescent literature, qualitative research, and literacy topics including multimodality and sociocultural issues. Her research interests, often focused on response to literature and critical content analysis of words and images, are also found in the areas of the transactional theory of reader response, socio-cultural contexts for literacy teaching and learning, critical literacy, and literacy through the arts. She received her doctorate at the University of Arizona in the Department of Language, Reading, and Culture in 1994. She was a teaching assistant and adjunct at the University of Arizona, and she also taught at Northern Illinois University prior to coming to UNT. Published in national and international journals, she is most recently a co-editor and author of "Critical Content Analysis of children’s and Young Adult Literature: Reframing Perspective" (Routledge, 2016) and "Critical Content Analysis of Visual Images in Books for Young People: Reading Images" (Routledge, 2019). Currently serving as co-editor of "Bookbird, An International Journal of Children’s Literature," her professional life outside UNT revolves around and within LRA, NCTE, IBBY/USBBY, and ALA. Her personal life involves traveling, hiking, and learning about “the Blues.”

Barbara L. Pazey is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of North Texas, where she joined the faculty in 2017. She received her Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a specialization in Special Education Administration from The University of Texas at Austin, her Master of Arts in Music and Piano from The Ohio State University, her special education certification through the University of South Carolina and Francis Marion University, and a Bachelor of Music degree with a major in piano from Muskingum University. She has experience as a K-12 music teacher and special education teacher, musician and music director for several professional organizations, high school inclusion coordinator, high school principal, and higher education administrator.  

Pazey’s research centers on student voice as well as facilitating the empowerment of voice among individuals with multiple identities and generations,  inclusive education, equity-oriented leadership, and educational policy and reform. She interrogates the effects of educational policies and laws on the school experiences of marginalized student populations and examines how educational policies and reforms inform and impact the development of equity-oriented leaders and leadership preparation programs.

She actively participates in several professional organizations, serving as the representative for the UNT Teacher Education and Administration Department in the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, Research Committee member for the Council for Administrators of Special Education, and a member of the Action Committee for the Leadership for Social Justice Special Interest Group (SIG) for the American Educational Research Association (AERA). 

Ruth Ann Robbins is originally from the state of Mississippi. She is the mother of two lovely children who have been the joy of her life. She has served as a classroom teacher, building administrator, central office administrator and director of elementary and federal programs. The programs included gifted, homeless, ESL, professional development, and curriculum PK-6. She is a self motivated professional with more than 20 years of experience providing support for students, parents, teachers and the community by implementing efficient educational practices.  Mrs. Robbins has provided leadership skills in various schools and districts by initiating and supporting the development of curriculum planning, curriculum implementation, time management strategies, behavior management services, and support and resources for special populations. Ruth Ann has devoted her life to supporting  student learners, their parents, teachers, administrators, and communities. It is with great pride that she calls herself a teacher. 

Misty Sailors obtained her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a focus on language and literacy studies at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a literacy researcher, reading specialist, and teacher educator. Dr. Sailors’ scholarly pursuits have contributed to the body of knowledge in the field of literacy education, specifically literacy tools found in classrooms; the professional development of reading teachers and literacy coaches; literacy program development; and literacy research methodologies. Her work has appeared in journals such as Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Teaching and Teacher Education, Journal of Literacy Research, Literacy, The Reading Teacher, and Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. Sailors recently co-edited the 7th edition of the Theoretical models and processes of literacy (7th ed.) (with Donna Alvermann, Norm Unrau, and Rob Ruddell) and co-authored a book with Jim Hoffman: The Power of Practice-Based Literacy Research: A Tool for Teachers.

Sailors served on the International Literacy Association as a member of the Standard Revision Committee — Standards for Literacy Professionals 2017 — and the Literacy Research Panel. She is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Literacy Research Association and a former editor of the Journal of Literacy Research. Sailors was the primary investigator for several large, federally funded research projects, all of which were multi-site, field-based studies, including one research project that spanned three countries. Sailors served as a voluntary research consultant with the Children’s Book Project in Tanzania and Room to Read in Bangladesh.

Sailors actively works with literacy teachers and literacy coaches in the USA and teachers, literacy coaches, and literacy specialists in Chile, Malawi, Mozambique, and South Africa. Her work with teachers and literacy coaches has culminated in a book she co-authored with Logan Manning, Justice-Oriented Literacy Coaching: Toward Transformative Practices.

Linda Stromberg, Ph.D., is the Program Chair of the Educational Administration Program, and she serves as Lead Advisor for the Master's In Educational Administration and the Principal Certification Programs. She teaches Introduction to Educational Administration, Instructional Leadership, and Professional Development and Supervision. Her interests include developing and implementing online and hybrid/blended courses. She is a certified trainer for Instructional Leadership Development (ILD) and Professional Development and Appraisal System of Texas (PDAS) appraiser training. She works with area Regional Service Centers and School Districts to coordinate off-campus courses for the doctoral and master's program. She serves on the advisory council for the Region 11 Ne Principals' Academy. Her prior experience includes work as a teacher, reading specialist, and instructional facilitator in the Dallas Independent School District and as a curriculum coordinator, and principal in the Carrollton Farmers Branch Independent School District. Her bachelor's degree is from West Texas State University (now Texas A & M University at Canyon), and her master's and doctoral degrees are from the University of North Texas.

Tran Nguyen Templeton, Ed.D. is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Studies. She joined the faculty in 2018 after completing her doctorate with the support of an AERA Minority Dissertation Fellowship. In her research, Dr. Templeton uses ethnographic and image-based methods to study young children's co-constructions of their complex cultural identities, as told in and through their photography, play, and literacy practices. She also examines how adults (re)conceptualize and situate young children in relation to critical forms of curriculum. Dr. Templeton has published in journals such as Harvard Educational Review, Children’s Geographies, and Language Arts. She is part of the Collaborative Seeing Studio and the Literacy Research Association's 2019-21 STAR cohort. She has presented in highlighted sessions at LRA, the Eastern Sociological Society, and at the first AnjiPlay conference in China in 2015. At UNT, Dr. Templeton serves as a faculty mentor to the Environmental Philosophy with Children project, in addition to her role as the program coordinator of the Master’s in Early Childhood AOP.

Dr. Templeton has been a teacher of young children, as well as children and youth with special needs, since 2000. From 2006 to 2010, she served as the founding Program Director of Colegio Monarch Guatemala, the first therapeutic school for children with neurological differences in Central America. A refugee and 1.5 generation immigrant from Vietnam, Dr. Templeton earned her B.S. from the University of Texas at Austin, Ed.M. from Harvard, and Ed.D. in Curriculum & Teaching (Early Childhood) from Teachers College, Columbia University.

After teaching in K-12 public schools for 25 years, Dr. Carol Wickstrom became a university faculty member in 2000. At UNT, she teaches literacy courses at the graduate and undergraduate level in the Language, Literacy, Bilingual and ESL Program. As Director of the North Star of Texas Writing Project, she studies Culturally Mediated Writing Instruction in grades 6-12 English/Language Arts classrooms and supports teachers in these classrooms in their own teacher research. She received the 2009-2010 Faculty Teaching Excellence Award from the UNT College of Education, the 2011 Jean Greenlaw Literacy Award from the Texas Association for the Improvement of Reading, and the J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012.