About

Lonnie Rowell is a co-founder of the Action Research Network of the Americas (ARNA). He served as founding ARNA Chair from 2013-2016. Currently he is the Coordinator of ARNA’s Knowledge Mobilization division. He has been a counselor educator for 27 years and has taught and supervised action research projects with graduate students at the University of San Diego since 1999. His scholarly work has appeared in Professional School Counseling, Theory Into Practice, and Educational Action Research, among other sources. He is Lead Editor of the Palgrave International Handbook of Action Research (2017) and is an Editor for the international journal Educational Action Research. Dr. Rowell served as Program Chair (2012-2014) for the Action Research Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). With his students he created and directed the San Diego Action Research Conference, which was a leading event for action researchers in North America from 2004-2012. Dr. Rowell was a founder of, and is now serving as President of, Social Publishers Foundation (https://www.socialpublishersfoundation.org/about-us/), a global nonprofit network of practitioner-researchers. In recognition of his work, Dr. Rowell has received numerous awards, including the Eduardo Flores Leadership Award from the Action Research Network of the Americas (2014), the H.B. McDaniel Foundation Individual Award for Outstanding Contributions to the field of Counseling (2007), a University Professorship from University of San Diego (2006), the University of San Diego’s Innovations in Experiential Education Award (2005), the Advocate of the Year award from the California Association of School Counselors (CASC) (2004), and a Special Recognition Award for Mentoring/Leadership from the Western Association of Counselor Educators & Supervisors (2003).

Rolla E. Lewis, EdD, NCC, is professor emeritus in Educational Psychology at California State University, East Bay (CSUEB). Dr. Lewis has been a consultant and collaborator with the Action Research Network of the Americas - School Counseling ARC since its inception. His current research and scholarly interests include public education advocacy, participatory leadership, and action research practices using the participatory inquiry process (PIP) to lifescape school communities in ways that enhance student learning power, wellness, and connectedness to the living environment and the communities where they live. He was School Counseling Coordinator at Portland State University (PSU), 1995-2006, and at CSUEB, 2006-2014. He is an active Associate of the Taos Institute. Dr. Lewis has published numerous chapters, articles, and poems in books, peer-reviewed journals, and other publications. With the school administrator educator, Peg Winkelman, they wrote: Lewis, R. E., & Winkelman, P. (2017). Lifescaping Practices in School Communities: Implementing Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry. New York, NY: Routledge. He founded the Lifescaping Project with Peg, Ardella Dailey, and Greg Jennings. They designed, and co-wrote with professionals-in-training and practitioners: Lewis, R. E., Dailey, A., Jennings, G., & Winkelman, P. (2017). Lifescaping Project: 2016 Action Research and Appreciative Inquiry in San Francisco Bay Area Schools. Chagrin Falls, OH: WorldShare Taos Publication. He is the recipient of the Oregon Counseling Association’s Leona Tyler Award for outstanding contributions to professional counseling.

Scott Merkel is the ARC Co-Coordinator for Supporting Action Research in School Counseling. Scott is currently serving as a high school counselor at a small, innovative charter high school in San Diego. In 2014-2015, while formally involved in the founding of the original Action Research in School Counseling Initiative, he developed the first practitioner based research on micro-scholarship programming and college going behavior in North America. Scott is currently working on a project which focuses on school culture and climate - collecting data on student and faculty sentiment to create actionable steps for positive cultural change. He has presented findings on secondary and post-secondary educational preparation for the 21st century workforce at multiple educational summits in his push to help support changes in learning design to better support holistic student outcomes. Prior to his work in education, he served as a Project Manager and Management Consultant supporting Fortune 500 companies and the Federal Government in product development and delivery. Scott earned his bachelor's degree in Management from Indiana University and his master's in School Counseling from the University of San Diego. Beyond his counseling work, Scott coaches high school soccer.

Morgan Urbany, a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), is one of the ARC Co-Coordinators for Supporting Action Research in School Counseling. In 2014/15, she conducted her first Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project with high school students in San Diego county. Facilitated by the researcher, the project allowed participating students to identify a need on their campus, develop and execute an intervention to address that need, and research their findings pre and post intervention. The project was such a success, that Morgan has gone on to present her findings both domestically and internationally. In 2016, Morgan earned her MA in Counseling at the University of San Diego, with specializations in both school and clinical mental health counseling. Currently, Morgan is serving her second year as a school counselor for an alternative education program in Southern California. Her focus is on academic, social/emotional and career development for at-risk youth, grades 1-12. In addition to her work within the public school system, she is also competing her intern hours for LPCC licensure.