The University of Missouri College of Education is pleased to welcome a total of 12 new faculty members in the Fall 2019 semester.

Brittany Beasley earned her PhD in Counseling Psychology from Southern Illinois University. She most recently worked as a clinical assistant professor and multicultural coordinator at Counseling and Mental Health at Keck School of Medicine at University of Southern California. Her areas of interest include applied clinical training and supervision, multicultural counseling, Black racial identity development, and mental health of students of color with an emphasis on African American college students.

Lorraine A. Becerra earned her PhD in Disabilities Disciplines from Utah State University. She is a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst, and Licensed Behavior Analyst. Her research interests focus on the development of efficient educator training, functional analysis, and effective safety behavioral interventions for children with disabilities. She is dedicated to the dissemination of  behavioral intervention through her collaborations in Russia and Brazil.

Hyerim Cho earned her PhD in Information Science from the University of Washington. Focusing on users, her research investigates diverse multimedia and pop-cultural information based on information science and media studies to provide enhanced recommendation and retrieval services. Her research interests include information needs and behavior, metadata, qualitative studies and mixed methods, and visual narrative materials such as graphic novels, anime, and video games.

Linda Helmick earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and Art Education at Indiana University. She is an artist/researcher/teacher who grounds her work in the belief that creative expression is a basic human right, and she promotes creativity as a powerful force for change and transformation. Her areas of expertise include critical creative work with homeless and incarcerated populations and exploring intersections of art therapy and art education in order to seek ways for art educators to build curriculum and support systems for students who are whole and feeling people.

Shannon Holmes earned her PhD in school psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the Institute of Education Sciences Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program. Her areas of interest include the application of implementation science to school psychology, the measurement and promotion of fidelity of implementation, and family-school partnerships.

Yongnam Kim earned his PhD in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was most recently a post-doctoral research scholar at the Center for Demography and Ecology at the same university. His research interests focus on causal inference in educational and psychological research that includes quasi-experimental designs (matching, propensity score methods, difference-in-differences, fixed effects models, instrumental variables method), causal mediation analysis, causal graphical models (directed acyclic graphs), and causal discovery. 

Terrell Morton earned his PhD in Learning Sciences and Psychological Studies from UNC Chapel-Hill. He is also a proud alumnus of North Carolina A&T State University. His areas of expertise include identity development and expression, theories of race, and retention and matriculation in STEM postsecondary education.

Sara L. Prewett earned her PhD in Educational Psychology in 2016, and was a postdoctoral research fellow from 2016-2019 at the University of Missouri. Her expertise focuses on K-12 students’ academic and social-emotional well-being and health.  She specifically studies the mechanisms that promote forming high quality teacher-student relationships, particularly among at-risk youth. Much of her work is with teacher professional development and training in methods that build positive school and classroom climates through using inductive discipline techniques and specific praise, developing prosocial behaviors, and providing autonomy support to students.

Jessica Rodrigues earned her PhD from the University of Delaware. She was most recently a postdoctoral research scholar at the University of Southern California. Her research interests include investigating ways of screening elementary students who are at risk for later mathematics difficulties, research-based mathematics interventions to support struggling students, and mathematics knowledge of in-service elementary teachers for the purpose of guiding the design of professional development programs.

Greg Sullivan earned a PhD in Sport Management from The Ohio State University, where he was most recently an Associate Professor and the director of the Professional Masters of Sport Administration program.  His research areas include need satisfaction and well-being for leaders and followers and positive approaches to leadership, particularly in the area of servant leadership.

Sam von Gillern earned his PhD at Iowa State University. His research focuses on digital literacies and game-based learning. He is particularly interested in how people learn and communicate through digital technologies, including video games. He enjoys facilitating experiences for pre-service teachers to connect with the children in the community to promote learning opportunities for college students and children alike.

Jennifer Weyman earned her PhD in Applied Behavior Analysis from University of South Florida. She will supervise students completing their Practicum at the Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Her research interests include functional analysis, treatment of severe problem behavior (e.g., aggression, self-injury) and ritualistic behavior.