Ed Tech Hour

Dr. Samantha Tackett is a faculty member at Florida State University where she serves as the Director of the Proactive Referral & Engagement (PRE) Program, and Assistant Director of the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) in the Division of Undergraduate Studies. Dr. Tackett uses her Doctorate in Educational Psychology and Master’s in Instructional Systems & Learning Technologies to teach, provide support, and mentor the research of both undergraduate and graduate students. Likewise, she enjoys teaching assessment, cognitive psychology, educational psychology, educational technology, and student success/recovery curricula in traditional and online contexts. She has considerable professional experience as a human performance systems consultant, program evaluator, and assessment specialist in government and corporate sectors. Her research interests include students' development of skills to improve their academic recovery and the academic experiences and retention of first-generation and other underrepresented student populations within the American educational systems. Dr. Tackett has published in national and international journals and books and collaborated with colleagues and students to present research at regional, national, and international conferences.

Dr. Leslie Rutkowski is Professor of Quantitative Research Methodology at Indiana University. Leslie’s research is in international large-scale assessment models and methods. Her interests include latent variable models and examining methods for comparing heterogeneous populations in international surveys. Dr. Rutkowski currently serves as associate editor for the Springer journal Large-scale Assessments in Education and as co-executive editor for the Springer book series, IEA Research for Education. She is also the chair of the PISA Technical Advisory Group and the NAEP Questionnaire Standing Committee. Dr. Rutkowski is also the editor of Handbook of International Large-Scale Assessment (Rutkowski, von Davier, and Rutkowski, 2014) with Chapman & Hall.

Dr. Tony Adams (PhD, University of South Florida) is a Caterpillar Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Bradley University. Before Bradley, he worked at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) for nine years. In 2017, he was honored to be named the Bernard J. Brommel Distinguished Research Professor, the highest research award at NEIU. In 2021, he was honored to be named a Caterpillar Professor, the highest research award at Bradley. Dr. Adams has published more than 75 articles and book chapters as well as nine books including Narrating the Closet: An Autoethnography of Same-Sex Attraction (Routledge), Autoethnography (Oxford University Press), and two editions of the Handbook of Autoethnography (Routledge). He has facilitated workshops on qualitative research at numerous institutions, including the University of Edinburgh, Texas A&M, the University of Alabama, and the Autonomous University of Aguascalientes. He is the executive director of the International Association of Autoethnography and Narrative, a co-editor of the Writing Lives: Ethnographic Narratives book series (Routledge), and the founding co-editor of the Journal of Autoethnography (University of California Press).

Georgina Harris is the founder of Pamoja Leo children’s charity working to transform care for children in Tanzania. She has her BSc in International Development, and a MA in Development Education with a special interest and focus in children’s rights in practice. She has an interest in early childhood development, family-based care for children, the impacts of orphanage tourism, and is passionate about the healing power of play! She is the mother of two fabulous children who remain her greatest teachers. She is an avid traveler and lover of cross-cultural living and learning.

Brad Johnson, PhD is Professor of psychology in the Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law at the United States Naval Academy, and a Faculty Associate in the Graduate School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. A clinical psychologist, Dr. Johnson is a mentoring expert specializing in developing gender-inclusive mentoring cultures for organizations around the globe. Dr. Johnson is the author of numerous publications including 14 books, in the areas of mentoring, professional ethics, and gender inclusion. Recent books include: Good Guys: How Men Can Become Better Allies for Women in the Workplace, Athena Rising: How and Why Men Should Mentor Women (both with David Smith) and the Elements of Mentoring 3rd Ed. (with Charles Ridley).

Tiffany Michels is the Founder and Executive Director of Helianthus Positive Behavior Supports LLC. She founded the company in 2020 after learning that ABA resources were lacking in her local area of North Carolina. Tiffany graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at ODU and a Master of Education in Special Education with a Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis at GMU. She is attending Walden University for her Doctorate in Education. She started in the field after working for an organization who specialized in working with children with a diagnosis of Emotionally Disturbed, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Intellectually Disabled, Operationally Defiant Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder, as a Special Education teacher assistant in an inclusion classroom. It was there she had discovered the world of Behavior Modification and Management. She became intrigued and began her journey into the ABA field. She has worked in the ABA field specifically for over seven years providing direct services, supervision and case management services, parent training and assessment services to young children and adolescents who have varying diagnoses and their families. After moving to North Carolina in 2018, she decided it was time to expand ABA services for families in North Carolina. Tiffany strives to better her community, serving others in need, and lending a helping hand. She takes pride in her work and loves to grow and progress in the field. When she has time, she loves researching, attending conferences and webinars, and finding advancements to better her practice. Outside of work, Tiffany enjoys living on a farm, spending time with her family, and is a HUGE animal lover.

Carolyn Burns is the founder and manager of Ukulapha Community Outreach. She was born and raised in South Africa. Her post high school education was nursing with a pediatric specialty. At 32 she ventured over to Canada where she lived and worked on the west coast for 25 years. Aside from many fortunate opportunities to travel and explore within North America, Carolyn’s curiosity evolved into a search for her true and authentic self. At 48, this led her to study at the Seattle campus of Saybrook University for a Masters in Counselling Psychology. In her 50’s, a deep pull and yearning to return to her native land, give back and account for her privileged life, motivated her. As a child of Apartheid, Carolyn is acutely aware of having automatically received privilege. She responded to the urge to fulfil a deeper purpose in her life, a way to ‘measure’ her life so that, one day, when she sinks into her favorite rocking chair, she is able to reflect “old bean, that was a life well lived!”