Matt Abernathy is one of two 6-8 District Math Coaches for Jefferson County Schools.

Courtney Boren is a licensed occupational therapist and the founding program director of the Walters State Community College Occupational Therapy Assistant program. Courtney received her bachelor of science in human development and learning from East Tennessee State University in 2007 and completed her Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Milligan University in 2010. Her transition to higher education followed a clinical practice focusing on geriatric and vestibular rehabilitation. Courtney is pursuing her doctorate in education, focusing on leadership and instructional design at the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga. Areas of interest within higher education include experiential learning through service to the community and inter- and intra- professional collaboration.  

Dr. Debra Bentley currently serves as the Director of Project On-Track, a high-dosage/low-ratio K-8 tutoring program from the Niswonger Foundation. Before retiring from Johnson City Schools where she served as the Director of Instruction and Communications since 2005, Debra served as principal of Mountain View and Keystone Elementary schools. In 2004, she was selected as Tennessee’s National Distinguished Principal.

Kimberly Bradley is a school library media specialist for George Washington Elementary, a STEAM-Designated school in Kingsport City Schools. She has worked with ETSU STEM Regional Hub for the past year presenting Computational Thinking and after school coding club programs for 3-5th grades. She is a designated co-lead Computer Science Ambassador (elementary) and has served on the first CS Standards Writing Committee for the K-2 grade band.

Coming Soon! [photo]

Coming Soon! [photo]

Jennifer Carter is a life-long resident of East Tennessee who earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Education and a Master of Arts in Reading from ETSU.  She also received an Educational Specialist Degree from LMU in Administration and Supervision.  Jennifer has served as an 8th grade ELA and Math teacher, leading her colleagues through curriculum development and implementation.  In 2012 her colleagues voted her Teacher of the Year.  Most recently Jennifer has been serving as a Field Supervisor and Adjunct Professor for ETSU’s Clemmer College of Education.  As a field supervisor, she coaches and evaluates student teachers at the undergraduate and graduate level.  She also works with job embedded teacher candidates, helping grow the next generation of educators.  In 2022 Jennifer was awarded Most Outstanding University Supervisor.  In 2023 she became the Math Curriculum Specialist for Project On-Track at the Niswonger Foundation.  Jennifer and her husband Josh currently reside in Johnson City with their two children, Maddie and Jack. 

Dr. Ariel Cintrón-Arias is an experienced distance-learning educator with a demonstrated history of computational thinking standard-alignment, cloud computing, practical machine learning, and statistical analysis. Dr. Cintrón is also an AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, an AWS Academy Certified Educator, and an ISTE Certified Educator.

Amie Craven, M.A., is a doctoral student in Early Childhood Education and a Graduate Assistant in the Center of Excellence for STEM Education at East Tennessee State University. Amie has experience teaching at a laboratory program where she taught infants and toddlers and mentored students seeking education degrees. She co-authored “Teaching Early and Elementary STEM,” an Open Access Educational textbook written to support pre-service early childhood and elementary teachers. Amie has also worked closely with the Early Childhood STEM Lab, co-developing and co-delivering professional development workshops and the Preschool STEM Institute. Her research interests are focused on STEM with infants and toddlers and professional development for early childhood educators. 

Dr. Anant Godbole is a Professor of Mathematics at ETSU.  From 2014 to 2022, he served as Director of the ETSU Center of Excellence in STEM Education. He continues to be involved in STEM Education through management, at ETSU, of their subcontract from the Niswonger Foundation STEM.LD Project.

Dr. John Hicks has lived in East Tennessee his entire life. He is married to Liz and has a teenage son, Bryce. John received his Master's and Bachelor's degrees from East Tennessee State University in Mathematics with a concentration in Statistics. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Tennessee. 

Lisa Knight is the K-5 District Instructional Coach for Jefferson County Schools.

Olivia Kuhens (Q-ins) has a degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and spent a decade in the newspaper industry as a copy editor, where she worked until she earned her English degree. She has taught at the high school level for a decade and lived to tell about it. This is her 7th year teaching middle school, but the outcome could be different. Currently, she's working on her librarian certification from ETSU and is passionate about reading, writing, and keeping our hands to ourselves.

Alissa A. Lange, Ph.D., is the Director of the Center of Excellence in STEM Education, Professor of Early Childhood Education, and the Director of the Early Childhood STEM Lab at East Tennessee State University. She leads the Preschool STEM Workshop series and the Preschool STEM Institute. She is one of the 2 new authors of the National Science Teachers Association’s Early Years column, published in Science & Children. She is also co-author of the book, Teaching STEM in the Preschool Classroom: Big Ideas for 3-to-5-Year-Olds, and co-facilitator of NAEYC's Early Math Interest Forum. Her line of research focuses on professional learning for educators, informal learning, and pre-service teacher preparation in early childhood science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Prior to joining ETSU, Alissa was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Bogotá, Colombia, a U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences Postdoctoral Fellow at SUNY Buffalo, and an Assistant Research Professor at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. She has been a teacher at many levels, including with preschool children, and she currently lives in Jonesborough, TN with her husband and 3 children, ages 7, 9, and 11. 

Shannon Lindstedt, a Director at TNTP, supports district- and state-level clients with academic initiatives. Her current projects include co-leading a team of consultants to support 30 districts across Tennessee with math curriculum selection and implementation and partnering with TDOE to support districts running high-dosage low-ratio tutoring programs through TN ALL Corps. She started her tenure at TNTP in 2016 as a member of the team that published The Opportunity Myth and played a key role in observing math instruction, evaluating math assignments, facilitating teacher focus groups and a student advisory panel, and creating supplemental resources such as a math student work library. Before joining TNTP, Shannon served as Managing Director of Institute Program for Teach For America in Chicago. In that role, she oversaw partnerships with Chicago Public Schools, charter management organizations, and early childhood centers and managed a team of School Directors to run summer training and instruction with approximately 650 new teachers each year. Shannon began her career as a 5th grade teacher in Atlanta Public Schools.

Law Loving is Director of the Career and Workforce Readiness at the Niswonger Foundation. He currently serves as the Workforce Coordinator of STEM.LD where he manages grant partners and leads externships.

Dr. Carleton Lyon just completed his 28th year in Johnson City Schools where he taught 7th grade Science and Geography, worked as a district-wide Instructional Technology Coach, and, most recently, as middle school STEM instructor and robotics coach at Indian Trail Middle School.

Grace McKinney is entering her seventh year as a middle school math and science teacher. Phenomena-based learning has changed the way she teaches because it allows students to grasp difficult concepts in fun ways that are meaningful and lasting. She cannot wait to share these strategies with you!

Christine Mills is the president and co-founder of STEM Education Works and partner with the Purdue STEM LD Team. Her vision is to provide opportunities for every student to engage their curiosity to learn and to help teachers do what they love.

Elizabeth Naegele, a Director at TNTP, supports clients in academic and instructional leadership initiatives.  Since joining TNTP, Elizabeth has supported a variety of district partners with academic programs aimed at improving math and science outcomes, including new teacher certification, teacher and leader development, and the implementation of high-quality materials.  These projects include writing coursework for science teacher certification, designing professional learning series for teachers and leaders on the Next Generation Science Standards, and creating tools to evaluate the rigor of science assignments.  Before joining TNTP, Elizabeth served as the Director of Academics for Math and Science for KIPP New Orleans.  In that role, she led 10 schools through the transition to new math and science standards and coached Assistant Principals on the effective development of STEM teachers.  Elizabeth began her career as a middle school science teacher in the Bronx.   

Chauntée Pitts is the professional learning specialist for STEM Education Works and partner with the Purdue STEM LD Team. Previously, she was an elementary teacher in Richmond, Virginia and a STEM education specialist in Fort Worth, Texas. She is passionate about providing teachers with the tools needed to inspire their students to greatness.

Jessica Proffitt, a Director at TNTP, supports clients in academic and instructional leadership initiatives.  Since joining TNTP, Jessica has supported district and state clients in literacy, math, and science academic work including teacher and leader development and the implementation of high-quality instructional materials.  Before joining TNTP, Jessica was the Director of Clinical Faculty in the Urban Teachers program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, where she oversaw a residency program for new teachers in Washington, DC.  In that role, Jessica taught STEM, math, and early literacy methods courses and mentored coaches and graduate school faculty. Jessica began her career teaching 4th and 5th grade at a project-based learning school in Washington, DC.  

Jo-Anne Purdy has been a biology and AP biology instructor in public schools for the past 26 years.  Beginning in 2011, she has been working with BioBuilder to incorporate synthetic biology and engineering practices into science classrooms and running workshops for science educators. Jo-Anne holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in biological sciences and was the recipient of the Brenda Keegan award for excellence in teaching.         

Marcie Richardson is a 6th grade math teacher at Jefferson Middle School in Jefferson County.

Kianna Sedlacek is a 5th grade math and science teacher at Talbott Elementary School in Jefferson County.

Dr. Anita Ricker works as the assistant dean of workforce training at Walters State Community College.  Her primary focus has been providing leadership for corporate customized programs and apprenticeships.   In addition, she serves as the TBR Center for Workforce Development East TN Regional Representative.  She has an earned doctorate in Educational Leadership (Private and Post Secondary Leadership) as well as a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science.  Over the 28 years working in industry related education, she has helped develop numerous programs, camps, etc. to help close skills gaps in our region.

Coming Soon!

Jake Roark, PhD is the curriculum and outreach specialist for STEM Education Works and partner with the Purdue STEM LD Team. He earned a degree in Physics & Astronomy from Purdue University and a PhD in Nuclear Astrophysics from Kent State University. He has a passion for teaching and science outreach as well as tinkering and making.

Anna Rodgers is a Research Engineer at the Center for Cybersecurity Research at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). She has been at UAH for most of her academic career where she completed a B.A. in English, B.S. in Education, and M.S. in Information Systems. Anna moved into the cybersecurity curriculum space through a summer internship assisting in GenCyber Camps for underserved student populations, and has been involved in cybersecurity curriculum efforts ever since! She currently teaches the RING Cybersecurity Course and works on various cyber curriculum efforts. 

Greg Strimel, PhD is an associate professor of Technology Leadership & Innovation at Purdue University and the Purdue STEM LD Team Leader. At Purdue, he educates pre-service engineering technology teachers on the processes of developing design-based curriculum and maintaining active learning environments/laboratories. Previously, he served as a high school career & technology department chair and engineering teacher in Howard County Maryland.

Shelley Swinehart has been teaching and coaching at the high school level since 1997, mostly in science and math. She currently teaches chemistry and STEM and is the head volleyball coach at Unicoi County High School in Erwin, TN. She is the wife of a coach and mother of 2 active boys, ages 14 and 11. They enjoy sports, camping, the outdoors, reading, and exercising. Life is definitely never boring!

Michelle Walker is Jefferson County’s Supervisor of Secondary Education and Assessment.

Mark E. Wills is the Dean of Walters State Community College Niswonger Campus, bringing ten years of experience in higher education to his role. With a specialization in community development and education, he is passionate about empowering individuals through innovative learning experiences. Mark's notable achievements include co-teaching the first pilot class of Workforce Training 101 for Walters State Community College and South Greene High School. He holds a Master of Divinity (MDiv) degree from Vanderbilt University, equipping him with a deep understanding of effective teaching and leadership principles.