July 24, 2023

Jamie Day

Dr. Day is currently recruiting three doctoral scholars for the BEACON Special Education PhD program starting Fall 2027. Please visit www.leadingwithbeacon.com to learn more. Dr. Jamie Day is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development. Broadly, her research revolves around strategies to attract, prepare, and retain effective personnel for all multilingual students with disabilities. This includes researching special education teacher preparation and evidence-based literacy interventions for multilingual students participating in the special education process. Dr. Day is a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Virginia where she examined technology-based literacy interventions…

June 6, 2023

Mary Adu-Gyamfi

Mary Adu-Gyamfi holds a Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Columbia in Learning Teaching and Curriculum, with a special focus on social studies teacher education. She conducted her doctoral research by forming a collaborative of recent graduates from Mizzou’s teacher education program to focus on how to support early career teacher’s racial literacies development. Her articles have appeared in journals including the Critical Social Educator, Curriculum Teaching Dialogue, and the International Journal of Multicultural Education. She is now an Elementary Generalist teaching in the Department of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum. She spent a few years as an elementary teacher before engaging in…

Sep. 13, 2022

Christy Goldsmith

Christy Goldsmith is the Associate Director of the Campus Writing Program and an Assistant Teaching Professor of English Education at the University of Missouri. She was the former president of the Missouri Council of Teachers of English (MoCTE) and is a teacher-consultant in the Missouri Writing Projects Network (MWPN) where she frequently interacts with stakeholders at the state department of education and in Missouri public schools. These roles, combined with Christy’s eight years of high school English teaching experience, provide her opportunities to work closely with practicing teachers seeking to improve their literacy instruction in both secondary and postsecondary settings.

Aug. 29, 2022

Yeji Kim

Yeji Kim received her Ph.D. in social studies education from Teachers College, Columbia University and currently works as an assistant professor of social studies education in the Department of Learning, Teaching & Curriculum.

Aug. 21, 2022

Brandi Schumacher

I am a teacher-educator and nature enthusiast with over 20 years of diverse experience in the field of education. Currently, I serve as an advisor to graduate students pursuing a master’s degree in early childhood education (ECE). I also teach both undergraduate and graduate courses, and co-direct the ECE programs at the University of Missouri. Throughout my career, I have held a wide range of roles, from classroom teaching to educational consulting. I began as a classroom teacher, working with students from pre-K through 8th grade in Scottsdale Public Schools and Head Start programs. I later served as a regional…

Oct. 8, 2020

Sara Estrapala

Dr. Sara Estrapala is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Her research focuses on Tier 1 and Tier 2 Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in high schools, and she is particularly interested in studying student voice, self-regulation development, and usability and feasibility of intervention implementation in the high school context. Dr. Estrapala was recently awarded an IES Early Career Development and Training Grant where she will iteratively develop a self-directed self-regulation intervention for high school students with disabilities…

Aug. 15, 2019

Sam von Gillern

Sam von Gillern is Associate Professor of Digital Literacies and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum. His scholarship examines how children and educators learn, teach, communicate, and create meaning in digital environments, with particular emphases on AI literacy, video game literacies, media literacy, and digital citizenship. A central focus of his work is understanding how practicing and preservice teachers perceive digital technologies, weigh their educational benefits and concerns, and approach their integration into classroom instruction. He examines teachers’ preparedness to teach with and about emerging technologies while exploring instructional practices that support students’ literacy development,…