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David R. Byrd, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Foreign Language Education
Teaching and Learning
David R. Byrd taught high school German and English for ten years before completing his Ph.D. at The University of Iowa. Byrd received his degree in Foreign Language and ESL Education with a cognate area in second language writing and has taught the ESL practicum classes, Learning to Teach Languages I & II, student teaching seminar, and supervised student teachers. With his extensive language expertise in German and his research interests in writing in secondary language classrooms, teacher education, and cultural issues, he will also advise students, consult with schools, and design project curricula.
Byrd currently coordinates the RELEVANCE (Reaching English Language Educators via Advanced Networked Collegiate Education) Project. Aimed at providing teachers and school administrators in need of assistance with ESL endorsements, the five-year project is funded by the U.S. Department of Education.
“Staying at The University of Iowa will allow me to use what I have learned previously and help future language teachers reach their goals to become professional educators,” he said.
Mary Cohen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Music Education
Teaching and Learning
Prior to earning a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Kansas, Mary Cohen taught elementary school music classes in the Kansas City area for ten years. She also taught in higher education at KU and as an adjunct at Baker University. Cohen also received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Music Education from the University of Kansas.
Prison choirs and arts-based correctional education became a research and volunteer interest during Cohen’s doctoral studies. She has a deep interest in constructivist approaches to music learning, history, and philosophy.
Cohen, who holds a joint appointment in the School of Music, says she selected The University of Iowa because of the way her research interests align closely with faculty members at both the School of Music and College of Education. “I feel honored to be a faculty member at this most distinguished university,” she said.
Noga Admon, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Social Foundations
Educational Policy
and Leadership Studies
Noga Admon received a B.A. in Sociology and Anthropology (major) and Educational Policy (minor) from Tel Aviv University, and an M.A. in Sociology of Education from Teachers College/Columbia University. Admon worked as a research associate at the Center for Children and Technology, a NYC-based non-profit, and as a statistical consultant for private and public educational organizations, which she continues to do. She has also worked as an adjunct professor at NYU and CUNY , and as d irector of institutional research at Monroe College. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology of Education from NYU, and joined the UI faculty January 2007.
Admon’s areas of interest are internal stratification within higher education, social and educational inequality, and minority students in higher education.
“I was especially attracted to the EPLS department because it has both a higher education and a social foundations program with a strong sociology component,” she said. “I hope to draw from and bridge the two programs in my teaching and research.”
Christy Moroye, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Curriculum and Supervision
Teaching and Learning
Christy Moroye received a B.A. in English from the University of New Mexico, an M.A. in Education from the University of Denver, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Denver. She taught high school English in the Cherry Creek Schools in Colorado for nine years and served as the department chair for two years. She also worked as an adjunct faculty member at Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Denver, and in the Teacher Education Program at Denver University for three years.
Her research interests include ecological education, aesthetic education, and school and curricular reform.
Moroye says choosing Iowa was both a professional and personal decison. “The University offers one of the best colleges of education in the nation, and it is an honor to be a faculty member here,” she said. “I am impressed by the level of support for research, as well as the insistence on sound instruction for all students.”
Tricia Seifert, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Center for Research
on Undergraduate Education
Tricia Seifert led groups of youth and adults on backpacking trips in the mountains of New Mexico and tutored aspiring Olympic skiers before receiving her Ph.D. in Student Affairs Administration and Research at The University of Iowa. She is currently a postdoctoral research scholar in the Center for Research on Undergraduate Education where she conducts research as part of the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education.
In addition to examining the practices and conditions of the university environment that contribute to the development of critical thinking and intercultural effectiveness, Seifert is interested in how universities can promote students to develop a coherent sense of purpose and meaning in their lives.
“The University of Iowa is a wonderful place to grow as a scholar,” Seifert said. “I have always felt that the level of collaboration and support is one of the UI’s greatest assets.”
Catherine Welch, Ph.D.
Professor
Educational Measurement and Statistics
Psychological & Quantitative
Foundations/Iowa Testing Programs
Catherine Welch received an M.A. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from The University of Iowa in 1984 after teaching middle school for four years. Welch spent the next 22 plus years at ACT working on a variety of assessment development and research opportunities. She worked with state and national education officials and measurement experts on a broad range of testing issues and became widely recognized as an authority on large-scale assessments. She received a Ph.D. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from Iowa in 1990.
Welch recently co-authored an article in the book, Educational Measurement, widely recognized as the “bible of measurement,” of which only the elite scholars in measurement are invited to contribute every 10-15 years.
“Being a faculty member in the College of Education and working with the Iowa Testing Programs provides a unique opportunity to work on assessment issues with graduate students, test development staff, and educators from across the state of Iowa,” said Welch, whose appointment is 50 percent faculty, 50 percent with Iowa Testing Programs.
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