Faculty & Staff

About

Lance Potter is the chair of the School of Education. He began this role in September of 2023. In addition to his prior teaching duties, Lance is cofounder of the Transition to Teaching Program and helped start the Outdoor Environmental Education Program in partnership with Cheney Middle School, the Lands Council, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. He was also the Director of Educational Leadership from 2014-2018. Lance brings an eclectic past to his position at Eastern. Among other things, he has been the superintendent and principal of an international school, taught at that same international school, taught university and high school courses, taught middle school, managed a farm, practiced law, worked in business, and taught skiing. Lance holds a PhD in Educational Leadership from Penn State University and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

About

Annette Clark is the general manager for the School of Education. She fulfills the day-to-day operations of the Chair’s Office and the School of Education, including coordinating policy and departmental matters; scheduling; overseeing hiring committees; staff supervision; directing special events; records retention; budget and contract management; and running the Teacher of the Month program.

About

Jerrin Mauga joined the EWU School of Education as the Office Assistant in Fall 2022. She serves as the department’s main receptionist, assists with faculty and staff requests, carries out clerical tasks as well as many other assistant duties. She enjoys playing and watching sports with her husband, who also works at EWU as a Graduate Assistant for the Athletic Performance department.

About

Kathryn Baldwin, MIT Director (2016-17), Assistant Professor of Science Education and Educational Foundations. Kathryn received her BS and MS in Geology from Washington State University and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction – Science Education from Washington State University in 2007. Kathryn’s research interests focus on science education, earth science education, environmental and sustainability education, outdoor learning, science teaching self-efficacy, problem and place based learning.

About

Stephanie has been working as a field experience supervisor, supporting teacher candidates during their placement, since 2013. She attended Deer Park High School before graduating from Spokane Falls Community College in 1982. Stephanie then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from EWU in 1986 and received her Master of Education from the University of Idaho in 1999. Between the years of 1992 and 2003, Stephanie taught at Post Falls Christian Academy and Brian and Terri Cram Middle School in Las Vegas from 2005 to 2007.

About

Lori Falcon is the Director of the Transition to Teaching Program of the School of Education, which is an Alternate Route Teacher Education Program designed for K – 8 certification. Lori holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Montana. During her 30 years in the field of education, Lori has worked as Elementary Teacher, Principal, Superintendent, Montana Office of Public Instruction Indian Education Specialist, Tribal College Instructor of Elementary Education, and Tribal Language Immersion School Teacher and Director. She enjoys time with her spouse who is a fine artist, her four children, six grandchildren, and her dog named Bernie.

About

Clive Gary earned a bachelor of arts in Elementary Education from Southern Utah University in 1983 with minors in Reading and Theater Arts. In 2002, Clive earned his master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada/Reno.

While in Nevada, Clive spent 17 years as a teacher of 3rd and 5th grade. He then moved to the middle school where he was a Reading/Writing specialist and an evaluator for the state’s writing proficiency exam. Clive retired from the state of Nevada in 2013.

Currently, Clive is a full time Faculty Field Supervisor. He also teaches literacy courses from time to time. Clive lives with his wife of 33 years, and they have three children.

About

About

Tara Haskins is a professor of Literacy at Eastern Washington University. Tara earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, with an emphasis in literacy from Washington State University.  Her areas of expertise are early reading, reading intervention, and academic language and vocabulary.  She has taught course in reading methods, ELL, content area literacy, reading and writing.

Her experience also includes consulting with schools throughout the United States engaging in work around school-wide reform, behavior, intervention in the areas of math and reading, ELL, data, assessment and intervention, and program assessment. Her current interests focus on teacher educators and program assessment and improvement, access to the teacher pipeline, and diversifying the teacher workforce. She serves on several state and regional committees around teacher development and literacy.

About

A. Suzie Henning grew up in Boise, Idaho. She graduated from Capital High School (Go, Golden Eagles!) and pursued a BA in History from Seattle University, an MA in Curriculum and Development from Fordham University Lincoln Center, and her doctorate in educational validity studies from the University of Durham, U.K.

After teaching high school social studies in the Bronx, she moved to Gettysburg, PA and became a teacher trainer at Mt. Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. In 2008, she moved to Spokane and currently works with teacher candidates as the Co-Director of Field Experience at Eastern (Go, Swoop!). Her research interests include philosophy of education, educational assessments & validity, social foundations, culturally responsive teaching, and educational internships. Along with her partner, Prof. Brian G. Henning, she lives with three cats, two children and a dog named Tator.

About

Rosie received her BAE in Special Education from Arizona State University in 1997 and her MA Ed. in Literacy from Eastern Washington University in 2010. Research interests are in early childhood education, learning disabilities and bilingual education. She spent the last 15 years as a special educator in Spokane and Spokane County. Born and raised in El Paso, Texas she attended bilingual schools from K-12. She came to Spokane in 2003 when her husband Roland was transferred with a company in the pharmaceutical industry. Rosie has three grown children and 2 grandlittles who live in three different states: Texas, California and Montana.

About

Eliza Jex served as a special education teacher for 11 years in Las Vegas, NV, and Utah County in Utah before going back to school to complete her doctoral program. She completed her PhD in special education at Utah State University and joined the EWU School of Education as an assistant professor in the fall of 2019. She teaches courses in the special education program for the undergraduate and graduate programs. Eliza also serves as the faculty advisor and coach for the EWU Archery club and coaches a youth archery program in Spokane.

About

About

Ashley Lepisi received her BA Degree in Education from Eastern Washington University in 2008, and her ME.d. Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Eastern Washington University in 2011. Ashley taught grades K-2 in Spokane Public Schools and taught a year in Milpitas, California. She teaches literacy and technology courses in the School of Education. She is lucky enough to work with both undergraduate and graduate students. She also runs two reading clinics with her EWU capstone students at Grant and Adams Elementary in Spokane Public Schools. Ashley’s husband Shawn is also an educator and they have two sons.

About

About

Gus Nollmeyer is an Associate Professor of Education at Eastern Washington University. He teaches elementary classroom management, elementary science and social studies methods, instructional media, and a variety of other undergraduate and graduate courses. Prior to coming to Eastern, Nollmeyer taught elementary school, served as a curriculum coach and educational consultant, ran an educational business, and was an adjunct professor. Please visit his website to learn more about Nollmeyer’s teaching philosophy and research interests. You can find a number of resources for teachers at Nollmeyer’s website as well.

About

Salvador Orozco teaches curriculum and instruction courses as well as TESOL Courses. Salvador holds a PhD from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. His background includes TESOL and Applied linguistics. His research interests include educational assessment for student learning, teacher leadership, and teacher reflectivity. In his free time, Salvador enjoys hiking and road biking.

About

Russell Pounds is the Graduate Program Coordinator. Russ has been at EWU for over 20 years.

He enjoys Golf, Volleyball, spending time with family and watching EWU athletics. Go Eags!

About

Janice works as a field experience supervisor, supporting teacher candidates during their placement.

About

Mikyla Sears is the Program Coordinator for Career & Technical Education at Eastern. Mikyla is part of a family of proud Eagles and is excited to be that next generation bridge into education for students! She enjoys spending time with her daughter and participating in local Cheney Community events!

About

Shelly Shaffer, Associate Professor of Literacy. Dr. Shaffer earned her PhD in English Education from Arizona State University in 2015. She taught for 13.5 years as an English Language Arts teacher in Mesa Public Schools in Mesa, AZ. She primarily teaches courses in Literacy in the School of Education. Her research interests are focused on using and studying Young Adult literature in middle and secondary classrooms, as well as social justice and criticality.

About

Heather Shelley joined EWU as the Transition to Teaching Program Coordinator in 2022. She serves as a liaison to prospective applicants and supports candidates throughout their tenure in the program, as well as a contact for mentor teachers and field supervisors.

About

Born and raised in Nebraska, where she was a middle school English and Reading Intervention teacher, Jill relocated to Washington State in June 2014 to begin a new position as the Certification Officer for EWU’s School of Education. In her free time, she enjoys baking, antiquing, spending time in nature, and more than anything else, getting to be “Gigi” to her three beautiful grandchildren.

About

Helen Teague serves as a Lecturer in the EWU School of Education. Currently, Helen is also on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Interactive Learning Research. While in doctoral studies at Pepperdine University, Helen worked as a Research Assistant and Transcription Manager for an NSF-sponsored research grant in global mathematics education mediated through student-created multimedia. Helen holds master’s degrees in Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Leadership. Prior to her work at Eastern, Helen worked with PBS TeacherLine/PBS Learning Media. She served as a public high school teacher with teaching certifications in English, Career and Technical Education, and Gifted Education.

About

Ann Van Wig is an Assistant Professor of Education at Eastern Washington University. Ann earned her PhD in Curriculum and Instruction, with an Emphasis in Literacy from the University of Wyoming. She teaches coursework in literacy methods, literacy assessment, children’s literature, writing in the classroom, theory and practice, and content literacy. Prior coming to Eastern, Ann taught direct instruction reading courses in a middle school, alongside reading, writing, and math. She also served as the district assessment interventionist during implementation and monitoring of benchmark and progress monitoring assessments.

Ann’s interests include emergent literacy skills, assessment that informs instruction, curricular design that aligns with teaching practices, and global education. She has been fortunate to be able to travel to both Guatemala and Latvia in observation and interacting with schools and teachers, developing an international perspective of education. She currently is conducting research with a group of scholars around the U.S. on literacy curricular decisions that impact teacher education practices. Ann volunteers in a kindergarten class (the most fun in her day!) and serves on the Faculty Senate, representing the Education Department. Ann grew up in northeast Iowa, but married a Californian, so much of her adult life has been spent in the West. She loves traveling that includes visiting family and friends. Ann has three grown children, spread around the U.S. Her fourth child will graduate from high school in May.

About

Margarita graduated from EWU with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in Spanish. She started working at EWU ten years ago and started with Records and Registration, where she worked for five years before moving to the Spokane EWU campus where she split her time as Office Assistant for the Departments of Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy for three years. She is now in the School of Education working as a Program Specialist 2. When she is not working at EWU, you can find her at many musical events, concerts or festivals in the Pacific Northwest during the spring and summer. During the fall and winter, she is watching and rooting for her Pittsburgh Steelers.

About

Dr. Kathleen Waldron-Soler is a Professor of Special Education and School Psychology. She has taught in the special education and school psychology programs at EWU since 2000. She is passionate about teaching others how to gather data on student performance, design effective instruction, and make data-based decisions about instructional and school-wide practices.

About

Jiawen Wang is an associate professor, and is currently also serving in the role of Master in Teaching Program Director. Once a high school English teacher in China, he achieved both his MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and PhD in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. He has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, from educational psychology, educational technology, to literacy for diverse learners, mainstreaming exceptional persons, secondary teaching methods, and methods of educational research. Wang likes to share family stories of his wife and his son, now working in the IT industry, in connection to any topics in teaching, and encourage his students to share their stories as well in order to make connections between life and education. He likes to play basketball in spare time and is an NBA fan championing those brave underdogs as well as those hardworking superstars.

About

Lin Zhu is an assistant professor of Early Childhood Education/Special Education at Eastern Washington University. She teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in early childhood education/ special education. Her research focuses on early intervention, parent/teacher coaching, and home-school relationship. Lin earned a PhD in Special Education from University of Kentucky, and she joined EWU since 2020.