Faculty, Coaches & Staff
Meet the faculty in the Department of Educational Policy Studies teaching courses in the EdD Urban Education Leadership program, the leadership coaches mentoring resident and alumni principals, and the staff and researchers with the Center for Urban Education Leadership who support the EdD program.
People
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Cynthia K. Barron, PhD
Leadership Coach and Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Cynthia K. Barron is an award-winning former CPS principal, a leadership coach and an Education Policy Studies Faculty Affiliate with the EdD Urban Education Leadership program. She teaches, advises and coaches in new and currently-serving resident and full-time principals.
Shelby Cosner, PhD
Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Cosner is currently leading or collaborating with others to lead several externally funded research teams and research and development projects that focus in two areas: the work of school leaders to improve urban schools and the preparation and development of urban leaders (teachers, principals, leadership teams). Cosner received funding beginning in 2016 from the Wallace Foundation and is leading UICs efforts to help two universities transform their principal preparation programs. As a part of this project, she is also collaborating with others from these two institutions to conduct research about these principal preparation program redesign efforts.
Decoteau J. Irby, PhD
Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Decoteau Irby is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies where he teaches and advises in the College’s Urban Education Leadership program area. He researches equity-focused school leadership as a lever to improve Black children’s academic and socio-emotional experiences and outcomes.
David Mayrowetz, PhD
Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies
David Mayrowetz studies the ways in which organizational and institutional factors influence the creation and implementation of educational reforms. He is past Chair of Educational Policy Studies and was a founding member of the faculty of the Ed.D. program in Urban Education Leadership.
Jason Salisbury, PhD
Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Jason Salisbury is an Assistant Professior in the Department of Educational Policy Studies working in the College of Education’s Urban Education Leadership program where he teaches classes related to instructional leadership and organizational theory. His research focuses on understanding how school leaders are able to support teachers in engaging in culturally relevant or sustaining pedagogies and how school leaders are able to create spaces for marginalized youth to engage in transformative leadership in their schools.
Celina Sima, PhD
Visiting Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies
In addition to her role as an administrator, Dr. Sima conducts research on higher education planning and policy. Particular areas of interest include the examination of general education in the undergraduate curriculum, evaluation of strategies for the improvement of undergraduate student transfer and faculty retention strategies. Dr. Sima has taught research designs for policy, public sector strategic planning, organization and administration of higher education, history of higher education and student development theory.
Benjamin Superfine, JD, PhD
Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Ben Superfine is a Professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Superfine received his JD and PhD in Education Foundations and Policy from the University of Michigan. Dr. Superfine became Chair of Educational Policy Studies in 2014.
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Cynthia K. Barron, PhD
Leadership Coach and Clinical Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Cynthia K. Barron is an award-winning former CPS principal, a leadership coach and an Education Policy Studies Faculty Affiliate with the EdD Urban Education Leadership program. She teaches, advises and coaches in new and currently-serving resident and full-time principals.
Beverly LaCoste
Leadership Coach
Beverly LaCoste is an award-winning former CPS principal and a leadership coach with UIC’s EdD program.
Kay Volk
Leadership Coach
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Martha Hebert, EdD
Senior Research Specialist, Center for Urban Education Leadership
Martha Hebert joined UIC’s College of Education in 2006, and continues to collaborate with the school’s EdD program while she serves as Senior Researcher for the Center. Before joining the College, Dr. Hebert had a distinguished career in professional development with Chicago Public Schools.
Lisa Walker, PhD
Senior Research Specialist, Center for Urban Education Leadership
Lisa Walker helps develop UIC’s program to train school leaders for the Chicago Public Schools and collaborates with colleagues to apply promising ideas of Improvement Science and Networked Improvement Communities to leadership development challenges in the urban context.
Katonja Webb
Associate Director, Center for Urban Education Leadership
Katonja Webb, Associate Director of the Center for Urban Education Leadership, possesses two decades of experience in the education and nonprofit sectors. Katonja oversees Center operations and is responsible for developing and implementing systems to support the success of the EdD program in Urban Education Leadership, including recruitment, student engagement and support, enrollment management, and communication to a variety of stakeholders.
Samuel P. Whalen, PhD
Director of Research, Center for Urban Education Leadership
Samuel P. Whalen, director of research for the Center, joined UIC’s College of Education in 2003. He is an award-winning co-author of Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure.
