College of Education

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• Meet Some of Our Faculty

  	Jeannette Alarcón, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Teaching and Teacher Education Search Committee, Mathematics Education Teaching/Research Interests: My expertise includes community-centered practices to create more equitable learning environments for K-12 and undergraduate students via professional development aimed at increasing critical consciousness in mentor teachers. My research and funded projects focus on professional development for teachers and teacher educators using an equity lens to develop culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogies. My university teaching includes courses in curriculum theory, teacher action research, and teacher education in the undergraduate, M.Ed. and Ph.D. programs. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? UH is a great place to work because we enjoy supportive structures that provide myriad professional learning opportunities. In addition, there are many talented colleagues to collaborate with in both teaching and research. Houston is a great place to live because it offers a variety of choices to suit myriad lifestyles and outside-of-work interests.
  	Sam Brower, Ed.D. Clinical Professor, Social Studies Education Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction Teaching/Research Interests: My work is situated at the intersection of critical pedagogy, social studies education and teaching for justice. I attempt to focus on how social studies educators can utilize transformative pedagogical practices to support student empowerment and deconstruct the traditional, hegemonic narratives and practices found in social studies classrooms. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Houston is a city unlike any other. It’s the fourth largest city in the U.S., but somehow still maintains a small-town feel. Having lived here for the past 20 years, I have found it to be a crossroads of diversity, culture and people that offers a multitude of opportunities to engage in impactful work in advancing equity in education. Moreover, the College of Education’s mission and vision at UH embodies this work, and leadership continuously supports faculty in this work.
  	Chakema Carmack, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Health Research/Teaching Interests: My primary program of research is STI/HIV prevention among African American and LGB young adults and cervical cancer prevention among African American and Hispanic females. Particularly, I am interested in the social and built environment factors that impede or promote risk-related sexual behavior and HPV prevention behaviors. I direct the Social Sciences in Young Adult Risk Behavior Lab. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I enjoy the student diversity and beauty of the UH campus. I’ve lived many places before settling on Houston, and I enjoy that there are pockets of Houston MSA that remind me of all the other places I’ve lived — making the diversity of the people, the landscape and the food the primary reasons I enjoy Houston.
  	Julie Dunsmore, Ph.D. Professor and Program Director, Human Development and Family Sciences Search Committee, School Psychology Research/Teaching Interests: My research examines what children learn about emotions from important people in their lives; what patterns of emotional communication promote social and emotional skills, positive relationships with friends and family, and healthy outcomes; and what’s similar or different about all of this across contexts. I enjoy providing research experiences for undergraduates. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I was drawn to UH because of the commitment to multidisciplinary research aimed at reducing health and educational disparities, inclusive teaching and mentoring to promote student success, and partnership with the local community. There’s so much to appreciate here — the food for sure, so many museums and other cultural experiences, the beach being just a quick drive away, and simply hearing multiple languages while going about daily life.
  	Leslie Frankel, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences Search Committee, Human Development and Family Sciences and Health Research/Teaching Interests: My research interests are focused on parent-child relationships and their impact on early child development. Specifically, my recent research has examined children’s ability to self-regulate in general, as well as in the context of eating, with a particular emphasis on parents’ role in the development of their children’s self-regulatory abilities. I also investigate how stress and other contextual factors impact parent-child interactions and relationships.  What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I happen to be from Houston. I feel so proud to work at this university because of the things we do for the community and the quality of education we provide for our students. I am especially proud of the diversity of our study body and the fact that many of our students have or will go on to be leaders locally and nationally. I have two small kids, and we love to explore the city and enjoy the delicious food here.
  	Erica Jordan, Ph.D. Clinical Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences Assistant Chair for Student Success, Department of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences Research/Teaching Interests: I am passionate about undergraduate education and feel privileged to empower students with the ability to critically evaluate claims that are so readily presented to them about families in society. My specific teaching interests include courses that expand students’ understanding about the many internal and external factors that can influence family dynamics and courses that expose students to career opportunities within our field. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I was attracted to UH because of the diversity of its student body and the diverse cultures represented within Houston. A variety of perspectives is especially enriching for the classroom when discussing families. On a personal note, Houston is also a wonderful place for families to explore, and it has been a great place for my partner and I to explore with our young child. We live in the Museum District and are regularly taking in much of the best that Houston has to offer, including the parks, food and museums. We also enjoy getaways from the two airports and road trips together.
  	Milena Keller-Margulis, Ph.D. Professor, School Psychology Chair, Department of Psychological, Health, & Learning Sciences Research/Teaching Interests: My research agenda is focused on the measurement of academic skills for all students in efficient and accurate ways that facilitate identification of those in need of supportive intervention. My early work as a school psychologist in public schools highlighted the gaps in research regarding the technical adequacy of academic skills screening measures used in practice and the absence of measures for certain purposes. The main focus of my research team, Promoting Academic Skills Success (PASS), is on curriculum-based measurement (CBM), an approach that involves collecting brief samples of basic academic skills in reading, math and writing, and is used as a screening tool to identify children at-risk for poor academic performance and to monitor progress in response to instruction or intervention. My teaching is also focused on measurement as well as the practical field training experiences of students. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Houston is a wonderful place to both work and live, as well as a wonderful place to train future school psychologists. The city is home to so many people from diverse backgrounds that results in a rich and exciting community in which to live and learn. UH reflects the diversity of the broader region and is a vibrant learning and scholarly community.
  	Mimi Miyoung Lee, Ph.D. Professor, Learning, Design and Technology Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Belonging and Success Search Committee, Artificial Intelligence, Teaching and Learning Teaching/Research Interests: My research examines social and cultural aspects of technology in various learning environments. I have been trained as a critical ethnographer and enjoy continuous learning about critical qualitative research methodologies through my own research and teaching. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? The list will be too long for me! My sons and I have really enjoyed the food, the museums and many cultural experiences here in Houston. As an Asian American, I really appreciate the diversity and the feeling of home that UH and Houston have provided me and my family. The colleagues and the students I have met at UH have helped me grow as a person, a scholar and an educator.
  	Norma Olvera, Ph.D. Professor, Health Research/Teaching Interests: My research interests are focused on identifying maternal, cultural and environmental influences on pediatric obesity, body image, disordered eating behaviors, anxiety and physical activity in Latino and African American families. Results derived from these studies have led to the development of innovative community and family-based obesity interventions designed to promote healthy eating, exercise and positive body image in Latina and African American youth. My research has been published in high impact factor journals such as Appetite, American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Journal of Pediatric Psychology and Obesity.  What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? Cultural diversity in people, languages, traditions, music and, of course, food.
  	Bradley H. Smith, Ph.D. Professor and Program Director, School Psychology Research/Teaching Interests: I train students to be sensitive community partners who engage in the development and application of socially-valid, evidence-based practices that improve well-being and student success. I direct the University of Houston Mindfulness, Well-being, and Spirituality Lab, studying ways to make mindfulness a part of the culture of diverse educational communities. Along with my students, we work with community organizations to evaluate and strengthen youth serving programs that provide summer camping programs with an emphasis on understanding benefits for historically underserved groups (e.g., HoustonLEAD.org; TheWoodsProject.org). What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? UH is a great place to work, and I think Houston is one of the best places in the country to train school psychologists because of the diversity of the population and learning opportunities. Relatedly, the food scene in Houston is vibrant, diverse and excellent.
  	Jie Zhang, Ph.D. Professor, Bilingual/ESL Education Associate Chair, Department of Curriculum & Instruction Research Interests: My research is focused on language and literacy development and instruction for culturally and linguistically diverse learners and integrating language and literacy in STEM teaching and learning for English language learners. What do you enjoy about UH and Houston? I enjoy working at UH because of the great colleagues and students. I call Houston home because of its celebration of culture and diversity. I love to explore ethnic food/restaurants in Houston.