Kenneth Teitelbaum
Dean of College of Education and Human Services

After working for several years as a high school social studies teacher, Kenneth Teitelbaum received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, with a major in Curriculum Studies and a minor in Educational Policy Studies.  Prior to coming to Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2007, he was a faculty member at Syracuse University, where he also served as Coordinator of the Urban Teacher Preparation Program; Binghamton University/State University of New York, also serving as Director of the Division of Education and Coordinator of the EdD Program in Educational Theory and Practice; and Kent State University, where he was Chair of the Department of Teaching, Leadership and Curriculum Studies.

Dr. Teitelbaum’s scholarly interests focus primarily on school knowledge within current and historical contexts; critical reflection in teacher education and teachers’ work; and schooling and issues of democracy, justice, and diversity.  He has taught many different college courses, in such fields as curriculum studies, foundations of education, multicultural education, and social studies education.  He is the author of several dozen publications, the most recent of which includes “Restoring collective memory:  The pasts of critical education,” to be published in International Handbook of Critical Education (Routledge), edited by Michael W. Apple, Wayne Au, and Luis Armando Gandin.

Brad Colwell
Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs

Brad Colwell, professor of education law and associate dean of the College of Education and Human Services, has been at Southern Illinois University Carbondale since 1996. He earned both the Ph.D (1996) and a J.D. (1993) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He teaches classes in Illinois School Law, Professional Negotiations, School Finance, and the Politics of Education.

Colwell is co-editor of the national publication, School Law Reporter, the primary journal for the Education Law Association (ELA), and serves as the Association’s national vice-president. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and serves on the Association's Education Law Section Council.

Jan Waggoner
Director of Teacher Education

Jan E. Waggoner, associate professor of curriculum and instruction and director of the Teacher Education Program brings to the position a deep knowledge of and experience in teacher education issues, a collaborative style and strong work ethic, and a clear vision about and specific ideas for ways in which our teacher education program can be improved," said Dean Kenneth Teitelbaum in announcing her appointment in June 2008.

Waggoner will focus first in her new position on preparing for a review by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The college's nationally accredited Teacher Education Program provides coursework and field experiences for prospective and current teachers, leading to state certification in a variety of different areas, such as early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, special education, and those that involve kindergarten through 12th grade.  While it is housed in the college, it includes areas of study and practice from several other colleges on campus.

Waggoner, who coordinated middle-level education for the college, has performed similar duties for social studies education and elementary education since her arrival at SIUC in 1990.  In addition, she spent five years as supervisor of clinical field experiences for student and pre-student teachers.
 
Waggoner's interests and specialties center on middle school curriculum and strategies and the professional development of teachers, and she served as principal investigator on a six-year teacher quality enhancement grant.
 
She has won teaching honors from the Carbondale Elementary School District, the Illinois Women Administrators, Phi Delta Kappa, Kappa Delta Pi, her college and her department, among others.

Waggoner earned her bachelor's degree in 1973 from Illinois State University, her master's in 1977 from SIU Edwardsville and her doctorate in 1990 from the University of Memphis.

John Benshoff
Director of Rehabilitation Institute

Dr. John J. Benshoff is professor and coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counselor Training Program. He holds a Ph.D in Rehabilitation (1987) from the University of Northern Colorado where he was the recipient of the Graduate Dean's Citation for Excellence, and an M.Ed., in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Pittsburgh (1968). Prior to joining the SIUC faculty, Dr. Benshoff worked as an administrator in the mental health and substance abuse fields in the private, nonprofit and private, for-private sectors. His major teaching interests include Substance Abuse, Assessment in Rehabilitation and Rehabilitation Administration. He has written in the areas of rehabilitation education, substance abuse, private sector rehabilitation, and rehabilitation administration, among others. Dr. Benshoff was a Charter Fellow of the American College of Addiction Treatment Administrators, and in 1990 was named a Switzer Scholar in Rehabilitation. In 2004, he received the E. B Whitten Silver Medallion Award from the National Rehabilitation Association. He is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and currently serves as a Commissioner of the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.

Joyce Fetro
Chair Department of Health Education and Recreation

A two-degree graduate of SIUC, earning her master’s and doctoral degrees in 1985 and 1987 respectively. She earned her undergraduate degree in 1970 from the University of Massachusetts.

Professional Interests:
Professional preparation, curriculum development, program planning, death education, substance use prevention, youth development, program evaluation, research design, marketing and advocacy, program administration/management.

Elaine Blinde
Chair Department of Kinesiology

Dr. Elaine Blinde began her career at SIUC in 1987 after completing her doctorate at the University of Illinois in the area of Sociology of Sport.  During her tenure in the Department of Kinesiology she has developed and taught classes related to sociological aspects of sport, gender dynamics in sport, diversity in American sport, research methods, and qualitative research.  Dr. Blinde’s research interests have focused on a wide array of sociological issues, including sport retirement, the intercollegiate sport experience of women athletes, empowerment aspects of sport for individuals with disabilities, and women’s relationship to baseball.  She has served in the position of Chair of the Department of Kinesiology since August 2005.

Kathy Hytten
Interim Chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education

Dr. Kathy Hytten has been at SIUC since completing her doctorate in Educational Foundations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996.  She is an Associate Professor and the Interim Chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Higher Education.  She teaches classes in philosophy and sociology of education, cultural diversity, and social justice.  Her current research focuses on the challenges of educating for democracy in an era of globalization.  Kathy is active in a number of national organizations, including having recently served a three year term as the Executive Director of the Philosophy of Education Society.  She is currently the President-Elect of the American Educational Studies Association.

Mizan R. Miah
Director of the School of Social Work

Presently, Dr. Mizan R. Miah is the Director of the School of Social Work at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He was a Commissioner on the CSWE Commission on Accreditation from 2004-2007, and has recently been appointed to another 3-year term on the COA. Currently, he is a Board member of the International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) and member on the International Task Force of the National Association of Deans and Directors (NADD) of Schools of  Social Work.
Since 2005, Dr. Miah has been working as a Consultant for the United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) for the monitoring and evaluation of a “Certified Education Program” in social work for the Relief and Social Services Workers of UNRWA serving the Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, and Gaza. He has also served as a Consultant for the United Nations Funds for Population Activities (UNFPA) in 2004-2005, for evaluating and redesigning the curricula for the Master of Population Sciences (MPS) program of Dhaka University in Bangladesh.

Lynn Smith
Chair of Curriculum and Instruction

Dr. Lynn C. Smith is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College.  Dr. Smith’s work at SIUC has focused on elementary and middle school reading methods, content reading, and mentoring.  In 1989, she was chosen the College’s Teacher of the Year.  In 1997, she began direction of the America Reads Challenge program at SIUC and continues in that capacity.  The Teaching Fellows Program resulted from her collaboration with Dr. Keith Hillkirk, and she has taught in and coordinated that program since its inception in 1999.  That program was recognized as a Distinguished Program in Teacher Education by the Association of Teacher Educators in 2005.  She has served since 2001 as Coordinator of the Elementary Education Program (graduate and undergraduate) and, previously, as Coordinator of one of the department’s largest graduate specialty areas, Reading and Language Studies. 

Dr. Smith’s early research focus related to content reading strategies and classroom learning.  Her more recent focus has dealt with the Teaching Fellows Program and mentoring relationships in co-teaching classrooms.  Having had prior appointments to the editorial advisory boards of several literacy journals, she is presently serving on the Board of Literacy Research and Instruction, the journal of the College Reading Association.  Her work with Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, has involved serving as chapter counselor since 1985 as well as on the publications and the budget committees of the national organization. An active member of the Illinois Reading Council, she serves as Treasurer and Membership Chair of the state council, College Instructors of Reading Professionals.

Beth Winfrey Freeburg
Interim Chair of Workforce Education and Development

Beth Winfrey Freeburg Ph.D. is an associate professor and Interim Chair in the Department of Workforce Education and Development in the College of Education and Human Services at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Dr. Freeburg's conducts research and publishes in the areas of behavioral and needs analysis, research methods development, and faculty development. She is a mixed method researcher; has authored 36 peer-reviewed research publications, including journal articles, abstracts, and books; and presents regularly at national and international professional conferences. She is co-editor of a custom text, Foundations of Workforce Education and Development (2nd ed.) and the co-author of a book, Dress and Society, both of which were published in 2008. She serves on the editorial review boards for the Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, the Journal for Workforce Development, and The Journal of Education for Business. Dr. Freeburg has received over $153,000 in funding for research and training projects, including the Lake County, IL Workforce Development Board, the IL Office of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the IL Board of Higher Education, and the National Education Association Foundation. She chairs 12 doctoral student committees and teaches in the areas of research methods and organizational needs assessment.

Lyle J. White
Professor and Chair of Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education

Dr. Lyle White began his career at SIUC in 1989 as an Assistant Professor assigned to the School Psychology program. After working in public schools as an elementary teacher, school counselor, and school psychologist, Dr. White earned his Ph.D. in School Psychology from The University of Iowa at Iowa City in 1988. The following year he took a post-doctoral fellowship in family therapy at the Galveston Family Institute under the direction of Dr. Harold Goolishian. During his tenure at SIUC, Dr. White began the Marital, Couple, and Family Counseling specialty. He has taught various classes in school psychology, school counseling, marital, couple and family counseling, as well as doctoral seminars in professional orientation, research, and educational psychology history and philosophy. Dr. White research interests have been the use of imaginative language in therapy and the process and social construction of therapeutic change. Dr. White was appointed department chair in 2002.