Staff Directory

Dr. Lynne Haeffele
Director

Dr. Lynne Haeffele serves as Center Director. Her background in education spans the P-20 spectrum. As a high school science teacher and department chair, she won numerous local, state, and national educator awards. She also taught teacher preparation courses at Illinois State University. She then served the Illinois State Board of Education for fourteen years in various administrative roles and ultimately as Chief Deputy Superintendent. Dr. Haeffele rejoined Illinois State University in 2004 as a senior researcher in the Center for the Study of Education Policy. Her research projects and published work include studies of high-poverty/high-performing schools, college readiness, teacher distribution, college student transfer, and school/university partnerships.  Dr. Haeffele holds degrees in Science Education (B.S.), Anthropology (B.A.), Biology (M.S.), and Educational Administration (Ph.D.).

Dr. Erika Hunt
Senior Policy Analyst and Researcher

Dr. Erika Hunt is a senior policy analyst and researcher in the Center for the Study of Education Policy (CSEP) at Illinois State University. Through her work at CSEP, Dr. Hunt directed a $6 million Wallace Foundation funded, statewide school leadership grant that resulted in several key policy changes in the state, including the redesign of all principal preparation programs under new program requirements.  Building from this work, Dr. Hunt currently directs a $4.6 million Department of Education School Leadership grant. She has also worked on the design of an on-line training program for the state’s teacher and principal performance evaluation system and is currently working on early learning supports for PreK-3rd grade teachers based on the Danielson Framework for Teaching as well as the sustainability support for the i3 Midwest Expansion of the Child Parent Center initiative.  She has served on several state task forces, including the Illinois P-20 Council and co-chairs the P-20 Council Committee on Teacher and Leadership Effectiveness, which has worked on initiatives to strengthen teacher and leadership development and support. Dr. Hunt is a small business owner of an early childhood center, which has grounded her research with practical application.  Dr. Hunt received her B.A. in English at Illinois College and Ph.D. in Education Policy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dr. Lisa Hood
Senior Policy Analyst and Researcher

Dr. Lisa Hood is a senior policy analyst and researcher in the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. She is the director of the Leadership to Integrate the Learning Continuum (LINC) project. This project brings together stakeholders from the early childhood and K-12 education systems to study the policies and practices of creating a seamless P-12 education system. Under Dr. Hood’s direction, the LINC project is conducting a study of the Danielson Framework for Teaching in PreK-3rd grade classrooms. In addition, Dr. Hood serves on the external grant team for the Illinois State Personnel Development Grant under contract with the Illinois State Board of Education. She brings research and program evaluation experience at all levels of the P-20 education system. She has worked under both state and U.S. Department of Education funded grants to evaluate the implementation and impacts of state policies and initiatives in local districts and schools. Dr. Hood received her B. A. in Psychology and Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Debra Kasperski
Director, National Board Resource Center

Debra Kasperski joined Illinois State University in 2010 and serves as the Director of the National Board Resource Center (NBRC) at Illinois State University where she manages the Illinois Support System for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). Ms. Kasperski developed the online support systems for NBPTS candidates and for training and assessing National Board mentors and she plans and organizes National Board Professional Development School recruitment, trainings, support and maintenance. She is a member of the Illinois P-20 Council which serves as an advisory team to the governor of Illinois and the P-20 subcommittee- Teacher and Leader Effectiveness. Ms. Kasperski graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a BS in Special Education-Behavioral Disorders, Learning Disabilities, Social Emotional Disorders and Educable Mentally Handicapped (1978); and received her MS in Curriculum and Instruction (1997). She achieved National Board Certification in Early Childhood & Young Adulthood/Exceptional Needs (2000) and re-achieved in (2009).

 Affiliated Faculty

Dr. Diane Gardner Renn
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration & Foundations at Illinois State University

Dr. Gardner Renn is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations at Illinois State University. In addition to teaching, Dr. Gardner Renn is a member of American Educational Research Association and the American Evaluation Association. From the mid-1990s to the present, she has served as a designer and evaluator of teacher professional learning systems in Wisconsin and Illinois.  She is currently an evaluation consultant to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Dr. Gardner Renn received her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002. Her research interests include P20 education systems and professional development partnerships, evaluation of professional learning systems, and Scholarship of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.

Dr. James Palmer
Professor, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations, Illinois State University

Prior to joining the Illinois State University faculty in 1992, Dr. Palmer served as acting director of the Center for Community College Education at George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), vice president for communications at the American Association for Community Colleges (Washington, DC), staff associate at the Center for the Study of Community Colleges (Los Angeles, CA), and assistant director for user services at the ERIC Clearinghouse for Junior Colleges (UCLA). Dr. Palmer is a past president of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, which is affiliated with the American Association of Community Colleges. He is the editor of "Grapevine," an online compilation of state fiscal support for higher education (http://www.grapevine.ilstu.edu).

 Consultants

Dr. Debra Baron
Consultant

Dr. Debra Mayconich Baron is a research consultant with extensive knowledge about public policy, program development, and evaluation, as well as effective stakeholder engagement and the budgetary process. She has managed numerous state and federal grants and worked in diverse settings with a wide range of stakeholders, directing and managing complex, multi-site projects and program evaluations. Dr. Baron received her PhD from Loyola University Chicago in Cultural and Educational Policy Studies and an MPP from the University of Michigan. For nearly 15 years, she worked with the Iroquois-Kankakee Regional Office of Education. Her primary responsibilities were to support on-going needs assessment, development, and evaluation of school-family-community partnerships to ensure students and their families had the opportunity to create solutions to personal, family, and neighborhood problems that negatively impact school success. Dr. Baron is a founding member of the Illinois Social and Emotional Literacy Network and serves on the School Age Policies and Practices Committee of the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership.

Alicia Haller
Consultant

Alicia Haller is an education consultant specializing in leadership development, strategic planning and performance management. She has a great deal of experience in K-12 education, higher education, and philanthropy. Under CEO Arne Duncan, Ms. Haller ran the Chicago Public Schools Office of Principal Preparation and Development. She also supported the Illinois State Board of Education in the effort to create strong university training programs for school principals. Ms. Haller provides consulting services that are focused on strategic planning including, leadership development; partnership development; program development and evaluation; performance management; resource development; and continuous quality improvement planning.

Dr. Laura Kalmes
Consultant

Dr. Laura Kalmes is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Foundations and a policy analyst and researcher in the Center for the Study of Educational Policy. She completed her doctorate in Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ashley Long
Consultant

Ashley Long is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Social work at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Ms. Long received her A.M. from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. While completing her AM and prior to entering a doctoral program she worked in the field of social work; most notably spending eight years doing community development, program evaluation and collaboration building. Ms. Long's research interests include community systems, ways in which communities support schools, collective impact and cross-sector partnerships.

Dr. Joseph Pacha
Consultant

Dr. Joseph Pacha is a long-time leader of education in Illinois and Iowa. He has served as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and school superintendent, spending his teaching and administrative career in several communities in Iowa including the Linn-Mar School District where he spent his last 10 years as superintendent before retiring and coming to Illinois State University. Dr. Pacha retired after nine years at ISU as an Emeritus Associate Professor and taught in the areas of fiscal and human resources, evaluation and supervision, community relations and strategic planning. He is still active in numerous state and national professional organizations. He currently lends his P-12 expertise to various projects from ISU's Center for the Study on Education Policy. He also continues to contribute to state committees involved in P-12 education.

Dr. Pam Rosa
Consultant

Dr. Pam Rosa is a charter member of the Danielson Group who has had a wide range of teaching, mentoring-coaching, and administrative experiences. Dr. Rosa served as an award-winning Principal, Curriculum and Professional Development Coordinator, a state School Improvement Consultant, and most importantly as a Teacher/Instructional Coach. Most recently she served as the Director for Effective Teaching Practices at a non-profit educational “think tank” focused upon educational change through collaborative partnerships between union and administrative leadership. As a member of the Danielson Group, Dr. Rosa has provided extensive educational support in designing and implementing the Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 2013) evaluation and professional growth process, aligned Mentoring and Coaching approaches, facilitation of collaborative conversations using Learning-Focused Supervision (Lippman & Wellman, 2013) and District/School Improvement structures using SMART tools and processes (Conzemius, 2013). Her current Teaching Effectiveness educational research focuses on evaluator practices in teacher evaluation for teaching effectiveness, validation of the Framework for Teaching in early learning grades (PreK-3rd Grade), and integration of the Framework for Teaching and Common Core Instruction into the teaching/student learning process.

Dr. Kristine Servais
Consultant

Dr. Kristine Servais began her educational career as an elementary and middle school teacher and middle school principal in Wisconsin. In 2001 she completed her doctorate at Northern Illinois University and accepted a position as a professor of Educational Leadership at North Central College. During this time Dr. Servais was active at the state and national level as a researcher, author, and presenter. She has co-authored two books, The Courage to Grow: Choosing the Road Less Traveled and The Courage to Grow: Leading with Intentionality. An area of continued focus has been principal preparation, professional development for principals, diversity and equity training, building leadership capacity, and social emotional learning. Dr. Servais retired from North College in 2014 and joined the Center for the Study of Education Policy part-time and has assisted in grants, projects and state programs in principal preparation. She is the co-founder of Lifeline for Courageous Leadership and provides on-line and on-site coaching for educational leaders.

 Support Personnel

Mindy Bolin
Office Manager

Office Phone: 309.438.2579
Email: mbolin@ilstu.edu