Education Faculty
Dr. Robert B. Cooter, Jr. (webpage and contact information) is Dean of the Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education and Ursuline Endowed Professor at Bellarmine University. His research centers on the improvement of education for children living at the poverty level. Currently, he is editor of The Reading Teacher (International Reading Association) the world’s largest circulation journal for literacy educators. Cooter formerly served as the first “Reading Czar” (associate superintendent) for the Dallas (TX) schools and was named Texas State Champion for Reading by then Governor Bush. He is a recipient of the 2007 Urban Impact Award (Council of Great City Schools) and the 2008 A.B. Herr Award (Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers) for his work in high poverty schools. Among his 20 books in reading education are the best-selling Teaching Children to Read: The Teacher Makes the Difference and The Flynt/Cooter Comprehensive Reading Inventory.
Anne B. Bucalos, Ed.D. (webpage and contact information) is an associate professor in the School of Education and also serves as Bellarmine University’s Director of Faculty Development. Dr. Bucalos holds certification in general and special education and was a long-time public school educator in Kentucky. At Bellarmine since 2000, Dr. Bucalos has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in foundations of education, child and adolescent development, and classroom management. Her areas of scholarly interest include teacher dispositions, students with emotional and behavioral challenges, and adolescent development. Dr. Bucalos’ work has appeared in various publications includingBehavior Disorders, Beyond Behavior, and Teaching Exceptional Children. Dr. Bucalos received her BS in secondary education from Vanderbilt University and her MS and Ed.D in special education from the University of Kentucky.
Sarah Bush, Ph.D., (webpage and contact information) is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education. She earned her doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Mathematics Education from the University of Louisville. Her research focuses on students’ misconceptions in the learning of algebra and role of technology in the teaching and learning of mathematics. She is author of several publications including Unfolding the Solution of Linear Systems in the Mathematics Teacher, an upcoming article on financial literacy entitled Invest in Financial Literacy! in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, and an upcoming article based on the mathematics behind the adolescent literature series The Hunger Games entitled Hunger Games: What are the Chances? in Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School. She serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Louisville Council of Teachers of Mathematics as membership co-chair and president-elect. Additionally, she has been appointed program chairperson for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Regional Meeting to be held in Louisville, KY in 2013. At Bellarmine, she teaches methods of teaching mathematics to pre-service elementary, middle, and secondary teachers and supervises middle and secondary mathematics student teachers.
Dr. Kristin Cook (website and contact information) is an Assistant Professor of Science Education. She received her doctoral degree at Indiana University in Curriculum & Instruction specializing in Science Education and Environmental Sciences. Kristin began her career as a public high school biology teacher and continues to spend a great deal of time in the classroom. She serves as a professional developer and consultant for both STEM- focused school reform and project-based learning development. Kristin’s research focuses on engaging students and pre-service teachers with the community of science through the exploration of socio-scientific inquiry. She has authored several manuscripts and book chapters, most recently including Can We Really Make a Difference? Teacher’s Experience with Socio-scientific Issues Aiming for Democratic Participation in Science in the book EcoJustice, Citizen Science and Youth Activism, as well as Listening to the Learners: Proposing the Tool of Photovoice for Engaging Students in Community-Based Socio-scientific Inquiry featured in Science Scope. At Bellarmine University, she currently teaches Secondary Science Methods and School Health, Nutrition, and Physical Education.
Kathleen Cooter, Ph.D. (webpage and contact information) is Professor of Early Childhood/Special Education. Before joining Bellarmine in 2008, she taught at the University of Memphis and Texas Christian University. She served as Outreach Coordinator for the New Teacher Center at Memphis and directed the teaching and research activities of both TCU’s laboratory schools and received awards as a Mortar Board Professor and “Employer of the Year Award” for employing adults with Down Syndrome. In December 2003, a new wing to TCU’s laboratory school was built and named in her honor.
Dr. Cooter served for some twenty years as a teacher and administrator in both private and public schools. She has been twice honored as a Texas Teacher of the Year.
Elizabeth Dinkins, Ph.D. (website and contact information) is an Assistant Professor of Literacy and Language Arts Education. She received her doctorate in English Education from the University of Virginia, her Master’s in education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and her Bachelor’s from The Evergreen State College. Before beginning her career in higher education, Dr. Dinkins taught middle school language arts and coordinated school-wide literacy instruction. Her research interests include writing instruction, instructional use of young adult literature, approaches to school-wide literacy, and how critical literacy can be used to help students read and write their world. She teaches classes in literacy education and qualitative research methodologies.
Theresa Magpuri-Lavell, Ed.D. (webpage and contact information) Assistant Professor of Education. After receiving her teaching certification from Lesley University, she taught elementary school for ten years in Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Japan. She received her doctorate in Instruction and Curriculum Leadership with a specialization in reading education from the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on the integration of literacy into middle school mathematics classrooms and its effects on the mathematics achievement of urban adolescents. Other scholarly interests involve students with dyslexia and literacy coaching. At Bellarmine, she teaches education measurements and literacy methods courses.
Christy D. McGee, Ed.D. (webpage and contact information) taught elementary school before beginning her career in higher education. Before coming to Bellarmine in 2005, she taught at the University of Louisville, Indiana University Southeast, and the University of Arkansas. Her research interests involve children at risk for failure, teacher education reform, student empowerment, and gifted students. She is a national consultant in the process of differentiated instruction. An active member of the National Association for Gifted Children, she served as chair of the division of Curriculum and Instruction, and as a Parent Advisory Committee member.
Dr. Bernard I. Minnis, Sr. is Assistant Professor of Education and an instructor in the Ph.D. in Learning, Poverty, and Social Justice Program. Dr. Minnis formerly served as Assistant Superintendent for Diversity, Equity and Poverty Programs with the Jefferson County Public Schools. He has been a classroom teacher, a co-op coordinator, a middle school principal, State Director of special programs for the disadvantaged and handicapped, as well as Deputy Associate Superintendent for Instruction with the Kentucky Department of Education. He also served as Director of Communications and Community Relations for the Charleston County Schools in South Carolina.
Minnis received his Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Kentucky Educational Administration, a Master’s degree from Western Kentucky University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Kentucky State University. Dr. Minnis has co-authored a book on school desegregation and has written many articles. He has received numerous awards; most recently he received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Freedom Award, presented by former Mayor of Louisville Jerry Abramson.
William P. Neace, Ph.D. (email) is an assistant professor who earned his doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Louisville in 2002. Dr. Neace has taught research methods and statistical analysis courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has also contributed his expertise in quantitative methods to a wide variety of projects, which included providing statistical and methodological support to several NIH-funded grants while he was working for a non-profit firm conducting program evaluation research. Dr. Neace’s primary research area is in judgment and decision making processes, in which his work has been published in Judgment and Decision Making, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and as a book chapter in Advances in Entrepreneurial Finance. Dr. Neace also has an interest in quantitative methods for program evaluation. His work in this area has been published in Child and Youth Services, and as co-author of a book chapter on evaluation research appearing in Educational evaluation: 21st century issues and challenges.
Corrie Block, Ph.D. (webpage and contact information), received her doctorate from the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation at the University of Kentucky. She holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching as well as a Bachelors of Science in History and a minor in Sociology. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Bellarmine University where she teaches courses in social studies methods, research methodology, assessment development and evaluation methods. Areas of scholarship include cultivating the skills of teachers in the design and interpretation of their own classroom level cognitive and affective assessments, evaluation methodology and social studies methods.
David D. Paige (webpage and contact information) is Assistant Professor of Education at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky. After a 20-year career
in business, Dr. Paige began his educational career as a special educator in an urban middle school in Memphis, Tennessee where he taught
reading and math for five years to children with mild to moderate learning disabilities in both pull-out and collaborative class settings.
Dr. Paige completed his doctoral studies at the University of Memphis under Dr. Robert B. Cooter. Paige’s research interests are framed around
literacy issues, particularly those concerning the role of oral reading fluency in adolescent children from poverty. Additionally, Dr. Paige
works in urban school settings investigating strategies for improving literacy achievement, instruction, and educational outcomes. Research by
Dr. Paige has been published in The Reading Teacher, Reading Psychology, Reading Horizons,
Literacy Research and Instruction, and the Kentucky Reading Journal. As part of his interest in school reform around literacy and instruction,
Dr. Paige recently completed a Master’s of Arts degree in Instructional Leadership and School Administration and holds a Kentucky license as a
school administrator. Dr. Paige is currently Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Literacy Researchers and
Educators (ALER). David and his wife Elizabeth live in a restored, circa 1890 home in the Butchertown neighborhood of east downtown. David has four sons, Garrett and Taylor who are both serving in the U. S. Army, Cameron who is a student at Bellarmine University, and Logan who is completing high school in Dixie County, Florida.
Lauren Pohl, M.A., Rank I (webpage and contact information)is as an instructor in special education. She served as a classroom teacher and consultant with Jefferson County for 32 years and holds certification in general and special education. As a practitioner, her interests include co-teaching collaboration, behavior intervention and strategic instruction. She is a certified trainer of the Strategic Intervention Model (SIM) from the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas. She received her BS in Elementary and Special Education from the University of Kentucky, her MS in Special Education from Indiana University and a Rank One from the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board.
Belinda C. Richardson, Ed.D. (webpage and contact information) Assistant Professor of Education, began her career in education after receiving her initial teaching certification from North Georgia College and University. She expanded her knowledge base by receiving a Masters Degree in Special Education from the University of Nebraska and taught special education for seven years. She then went on to earn a Masters Degree in Counseling Education from Texas Tech University and to work as a school counselor for eight years. She earned her Doctorate Degree in Special Education from Texas Tech University in 2007. Her research experience and interest is in the study of undeveloped attachment in children and its effects on their connection with and behavior in the school setting.
John Sizemore, M.Ed., Rank I (webpage and contact information)teaches in the Annsley Frazier Thornton School of Education both undergraduate students seeking initial certification and graduate students seeking principal certification. John brings a practioneer's perspective to the students entering the field of education or honing their skills to be principals. He has served in many administrative roles in public education, most recently as assistant superintendent in the 100,000 student Jefferson County Public Schools. John has served as consultant to a variety of urban and rural districts across the country, focusing on restructuring schools. Additionally, John has published articles on teacher advisory programs and principal leadership in restructuring the middle school. John received his B.A. in Social Studies, his MA in Guidance and Counseling, and his Rank I in Supervision and Instruction from Eastern Kentucky University.
Kevin Thomas, Ph.D. (webpage and contact information) Curriculum Vitae (pdf) Assistant Professor, received his B.A. in Academic Psychology from the University of Tennessee, a Master’s in Administration and Supervision from Lincoln Memorial University, and his Ph.D. from the School of Education at the University of Tennessee, with a specialization in Instructional Technology. After receiving his teaching certification from Trinity College of Vermont, he taught secondary English for 15 years in Knoxville, TN. His research interests focus on utilizing technology to expand the boundaries of time and space associated with the traditional classroom and he recently conducted a study of the effects of weblogs in the high school classroom.
Chris Walsh, Ed.D., (webpage and contact information) is Assistant Professor of Education. Dr. Walsh holds professional certifications for Teaching Social Studies and for Instructional Leadership. Prior to joining Bellarmine in 2011, he served for nine years as a high school teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies at Western Kentucky University, he received a Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Spalding University, and a doctoral degree in Leadership Education, also from Spalding University. Additionally, Dr. Walsh received a Master of Arts in Instructional Leadership and School Administration from Bellarmine University. His principal area of scholarly interest is in the ethical dimensions of educational leadership with particular emphasis on the relationship between motivation and decision making in professional practice.
Carl Lee Williams, M.A.T., Rank I, Ph.D. (Candidate) (email) is Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program and teaches in the M.A.T., Principal Prep, and Undergraduate programs in the School of Education. Williams holds professional certifications for teaching middle grades English and Communications 5-9, high school English 8-12, Special Education - Learning and Behavior Disorders K-12, Consultant for Exceptional Children, and English Program Consultant. Since leaving the high school classroom he has worked in a variety of roles that include serving as the District’s Resource Teacher for Teacher Recruitment, Coordinator of Alternative Certification Programs, and Coordinator of Jefferson County Public Schools’ nationally recognized Multicultural Teacher Recruitment Program. Williams is an outspoken advocate for social justice issues in education and as a former special education teacher in an urban high poverty high school, he worked with diverse student populations that included; special education, ethnic minority, ESL, and students from poverty. Williams also serves as a school culture and climate consultant for the Bethune Institute, and a member of the Kentucky Department of Education Commissioner’s Raising Achievement/Closing Gaps Council.
Dottie Willis, Ed.D. (webpage and contact information)joined Bellarmine in August, 2008. She earned her B.A. at George Peabody College-Vanderbilt University, M.S. at Indiana-Purdue University at Indianapolis, Ed.D. at the University of Louisville, and principal certification at Spalding University. Her research focuses on literacy and writing instruction. As Writing Specialist for the Jefferson County (Kentucky) Public Schools from 2002-2007, she published twenty units for teaching middle and high school language arts. She has also authored articles in theKentucky English Bulletin and Kentucky Library Association Journal. Dr. Willis has served on the Kentucky Writing Advisory Committee and currently is a member of the Louisville Writing Project Board of Directors.