Dr. Ellie H. Hanlon is a director of the Translational Research Institute and research associate at MCPER and directs statewide initiatives for the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts. Hanlon’s professional experience includes evaluating programs for various educational initiatives, providing technical assistance and data analysis for secondary schools, and creating professional development materials for teachers. Her research interests include self-regulated learning, language and literacy development in adults learning a new language, and the impact of professional development on the self-efficacy of teachers. She holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the City University of New York Graduate Center.
Institute Directors
Ellie Hanlon
Sarojani S. Mohammed
Dr. Sarojani S. Mohammed holds a Ph.D. in educational psychology from The University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mohammed is assistant director of MCPER and VGC. She is also MCPER’s director of web-based content and dissemination, associate director of program evaluation, and a director of the Translational Research Institute. Mohammed has experience with several large-scale technical assistance, dissemination, and external evaluation projects. She also manages data and co-leads centerwide and project-specific data management, analysis, and measurement teams.
Greg Roberts
Dr. Greg Roberts is the associate director of MCPER. His bio is available through this link.
Principal Investigators
Theresa Clarke
Theresa Clarke, MPP, is the project director of the Texas Literacy Initiative and the Alice Independent School District Partnership Project. For the Alice ISD project, Clarke works with a team to build local capacity at six elementary schools by implementing evidence-based and sustainable literacy practices. In her role with the Texas Literacy Initiative, she collaborates with the Texas Education Agency and university partners to provide professional development and support to school districts across the state. Her particular interest is in helping districts and schools use data to identify and sustain efforts that result in improved student achievement. Prior to moving to Texas, she served as a senior policy analyst at the National Governors Association, providing technical assistance to governors’ education advisors. She also taught English as a second language in secondary schools in Guinea, West Africa. Clarke earned a master of public policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor of arts in political science from Michigan State University. She is currently a candidate for juris doctor.
Marty Hougen
Dr. Martha “Marty” Hougen is the principal investigator of the College and Career Readiness Initiative: English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative. Hougen’s recent work focuses on improving preservice teacher education by providing university teacher educators with ongoing professional development and collaborative opportunities. She has worked with struggling readers as a general and special education teacher and administrator and as a university faculty member. She consults with state departments, universities, and school districts across the country on teacher education, reading, and special education. Hougen has authored several publications and is currently working on a book about effective reading instruction.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Gareth Morgan
Dr. Gareth Morgan is the recipient of the 2010 MCPER Postdoctoral Fellowship on Reading Disabilities and Response to Intervention. Morgan earned his doctorate of philosophy in speech and hearing science from Arizona State University. He completed master of arts degrees in measurement statistics and methodological studies and Spanish literature and linguistics. His research interests include the assessment of preliteracy and literacy outcomes in Spanish-English bilingual children, test and scale construction, and quantitative methods (specifically, longitudinal modeling and multilevel item response models).
Researchers
Leslie Beach
Leslie Beach, M.Ed., is a state literacy liaison for the Texas Literacy Initiative and a senior field trainer for the Alice Independent School District Partnership Project. In her role with Alice ISD, Beach supports leaders and teachers in implementing evidence-based literacy practices within a response to intervention framework. In her role with the Texas Literacy Initiative, she collaborates with university partners to support school districts across the state. Beach has been a successful educator for almost 30 years, with a variety of unique experiences as a classroom teacher and a campus administrator. She earned an M.Ed. in educational administration at Texas State University and a B.S. at Texas Christian University.
Jennifer Galindo
Kristie Hotchkiss
Kristie Hotchkiss is a project coordinator for the College and Career Readiness Initiative: English/Language Arts Faculty Collaborative. Hotchkiss facilitates and provides ongoing professional development and collaborative opportunities in adolescent literacy to higher education faculty. She also designs instructional materials and strategies to integrate writing to learn and critical thinking across the content areas. Hotchkiss earned her B.A. from the University of Northern Colorado and her M.S. from Oregon State University in secondary education. She has 32 years of teaching experience with at-risk populations as a reading specialist, previously working for the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts on the Texas Adolescent Literacy Academies project and as an English language arts instructional designer for an educational software company.
Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz
Michelle Lambert-Yuhasz is a state literacy liaison for the Texas Literacy Initiative and a senior field trainer/analyst for the Alice Independent School District Partnership Project. In her role with the Alice ISD Partnership Project, Lambert-Yuhasz implements and evaluates response to intervention initiatives, including providing professional development and technical assistance on evidence-based reading instruction in six elementary schools. For the Texas Literacy Initiative, she provides support and professional development to public school districts across the state and their associated early childhood education providers. She has worked as an elementary special education teacher in Texas. She earned an M.Ed. in educational leadership and a bachelor of science in education with an emphasis in special education from the University of North Texas.
Audrey Leroux
Audrey Leroux is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology, specializing in quantitative methods. Leroux earned her bachelor of science degree in mathematical sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. Her current research interests include multilevel modeling, meta-analytic procedures, computerized adaptive testing, and item response theory.
Nancy Lewis
Maria Longhi
Maria Longhi is a state literacy liaison for the Texas Literacy Initiative and a senior field trainer/analyst for the Alice Independent School District Partnership Project. In her role with the Alice ISD Partnership Project, Longhi implements and evaluates response to intervention initiatives, including providing professional development and technical assistance on evidence-based reading instruction in six elementary schools. For the Texas Literacy Initiative, she provides support and professional development to public school districts across the state and their associated early childhood education providers. She has worked as an elementary bilingual teacher and as a reading coach in urban schools in Texas. She earned an M.Ed. in elementary reading from Texas Woman’s University and a BBA from Texas Christian University.
Myriam Lopez
Jennifer Wick Schnakenberg
