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New Tenure Track Faculty

Jonathan Baker

Jonathan Baker is an assistant professor in the Rehabilitation Institute.  He recently completed his Ph. D. in psychology from Western Michigan University (WMU), one of the top educational programs in Behavior Analysis in the country, and he is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).  Jonathan currently is serving as a Faculty Specialist at WMU, teaching graduate courses in behavior analysis.  He is the co-author of three articles, with a manuscript in press and two other manuscripts under review.  Jonathan’s presentation/poster record is equally strong, with two invited presentations, 15 refereed presentations and seven posters.  He has demonstrably strong skills in teaching, research and service and his expertise in behavioral gerontology will be an excellent complement to the current teaching and research activities of our faculty.

Valerie E. Boyer

Valerie E. Boyer is an assistant professor in the Rehabilitation Institute.  Valerie holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Disorders and Sciences and she has a Ph. D. in Special Education, earned at SIUC in 2006.  She is a Clinically Certified and Licensed Speech Pathologist.  Her clinical and research interests focus on the area of pediatric communication disorders.  In particular, she is interested in social communication issues among children with language impairments in inclusion-based settings.  She will teach in both our graduate and undergraduate programs and also provide clinical instruction and supervision.  Her interest and skills in pediatrics will augment the teaching and research skills of our current faculty.  Prior to joining our faculty she worked in both pediatric and adult therapy facilities. 

Crystal Shelby Caffey

Crystal Shelby Caffey is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.  She is a 2008 graduate of the department, focusing in the area of Elementary and Early Childhood Literacy, which will be her areas of teaching for the Teacher Education Program.  Crystal has taught upper elementary grade students in both the Chicago Public School system and the Carbondale Elementary District No. 95.  Crystal’s dissertation research focused on bilingual education, especially two-way immersion programs, and she intends to continue with this work in light of the current immigration debates.  Her research agenda also includes issues concerning access to education, family literacy practices, and literacy development.

Bobbi Knapp

Bobbi Knapp is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology.  She completed her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa in December 2008, in the area of Sport Studies with an emphasis on cultural studies of sport.  Bobbi has been an Instructor at Northern Illinois University for the past three years and taught several online classes for California State University East Bay. Her research interests include gender dynamics in sport, women in contact sports, and the quality of life of student-athletes.  Bobbi will be teaching courses related to sociology of sport, gender and sport, and diversity issues in sport. 

Jennifer Koran

Jennifer Koran is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education.  She will receive her Ph.D. this summer in Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation from the University of Maryland College Park.  Jennifer will bring to the faculty skills in such area as item response theory, structural equation modeling, factor analysis, latent class models, hierarchical linear modeling, and survey and program evaluation methods.  In 2008, she was awarded dissertation fellowships from three prestigious sources:  Educational Testing Service, Spencer Foundation, and American Educational Research Association.  Because of each fellowship’s stipulations, she was able to accept only the ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship.  Jennifer has already established herself as a published scholar and presenter at national conferences.

Michelle Salazar Perez

Michelle Salazar Perez is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.  She will graduate this summer with her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction/Early Childhood Education from Arizona State University (ASU).  Michelle has worked in Houston as the coordinator of Texas A&M University’s student teaching program, Learning to Teach in Inner City Schools, and as an ASU graduate assistant for the Navajo Early Childhood Education Partnership.  Her dissertation research in New Orleans uses Black feminist thought and other marginalized feminist, postmodern, and poststructural philosophies to reveal structures of power that have impacted access to public education for young children, especially those who are of color and/or poor.  This philosophical lens also allows for community-based activism to be part of her overall research.

Terri Wilson

Terri Wilson is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education.  She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University.  Using both conceptual and qualitative approaches to research, her dissertation explores the moral, ethical, and political significance of parents’ voluntary self-segregation in three charter school communities designed to serve particular linguistic, ethnic and cultural communities.  Terri has published essays in Education and Culture, Philosophy of Education and the Handbook of Contemporary Education and presented at many conferences, including those sponsored by the American Educational Research Association and Philosophy of Education Society.  She will be teaching qualitative methods courses for the College, as well as the doctoral seminar in cultural foundations of education.