We kick off this academic year with 18 new faculty members who join the College of Community Innovation and Education and bring with them an array of research interests and achievements.
Roger Azevedo, Ph.D.
Professor and Lead Scientist
UCF Learning Sciences Cluster
Dr. Roger Azevedo was born in Angola, Africa, but grew up in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He has lived in the United States for 20 years and served on the faculty of University of Maryland, University of Memphis, McGill University, and joins us from North Carolina State University as lead scientist of UCF's Learning Sciences Cluster. He earned his doctorate from McGill University and served as a postdoctoral scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. Dr. Azevedo studies the cognitive, affective, metacognitive and motivational processes between humans and machines across educational and real-world contexts.
RoSusan Bartee, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Educational Leadership and Higher Education
Dr. RoSusan D. Bartee is currently chair of and tenured professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. Most previously serving as professor of educational leadership at the University of Mississippi, Dr. Bartee has also served in administrative capacities at the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute of the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), all located in Washington, DC. Focusing on both K-12 and higher education issues, Dr. Bartee is the author or editor of four books, the editor of a book series and the author or coauthor of numerous academic publications on educational leadership, cultural and social capital, and educational and social attainment. Dr. Bartee received her doctorate in educational policy studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Master of Arts in liberal studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi.
Vikki Gaskin-Butler, Ph.D.
Associate Lecturer
Counselor Education
Dr. Vikki T. Gaskin-Butler is a licensed clinical and health psychologist and ordained member of the clergy. She received a doctorate from University of Florida. She was formerly a faculty member in the Department of Psychology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at University of South Florida, St. Petersburg. She also served as the university’s first Chief Diversity Officer from 2008 to 2009. Dr. Gaskin-Butler co-authored the curriculum: Figuring It Out for the Child, and co-authored several publications and presentations related to this work.
Marjorie Ceballos, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor
Educational Leadership
Dr. Marjorie Ceballos is currently assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Ceballos is joining the UCF family after 17 years in K-12 public education where she was a middle and high school teacher, an instructional coach and a school-district level administrator. Throughout her career, Dr. Ceballos focused on enhancing academic opportunities for students, particularly underrepresented students.
Sung Choi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Health Management & Informatics
Dr. Sung Choi received a doctorate in health services research, policy and administration at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management exploring the U.S. healthcare system through economics and data. Dr. Choi is currently investigating the impact of health data breaches on hospitals and patients for the Trustworthy Health and Wellness project funded by the National Science Foundation.
Yue “Gurt” Ge, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Public Administration
Dr. Yue Ge is an assistant professor in the School of Public Administration. He received a doctorate in urban and regional science from Texas A&M University. He was an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Management at North Dakota State University (NDSU). He has conducted substantial research on resilience (broadly defined) with external funding. He also has experience teaching at undergraduate, graduate and doctoral levels. He was the graduate coordinator of the emergency management program at a prior institution. He will build an interdisciplinary graduate urban resilience class to benefit resilience initiatives at UCF and UCF Downtown.
William “Bill” Gordon, Ed.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Educational Leadership
Dr. William R. Gordon, II is currently a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Gordon served three years as Chief Operations Officer at Florida Virtual School, the nation’s largest (200,000 + students) public, online, K-12 school where he established an accountability, assessment and analysis department, which analyzed student performance data and organization-wide data to maintain a competitive edge in the education and business marketplace. Dr. Gordon has served as the area superintendent of the North Learning Community for Orange County Public Schools where he enacted strategic efforts and support in removing the F rating of a school identified by the state of Florida as a “Lowest 100 School” by guiding the principal and coordinating state, district and learning community staff.
Annemarie Kaczmarczyk, Ph.D.
Visiting Lecturer
Clinical Experiences
Dr. Annemarie Kazmarcheck is joining us as a three-time KNIGHT. Dr. Kazmarcheck’s research is embedded in the perceptions and intentions of preservice teachers working with culturally, academically, racially and economically diverse students in Title I schools. Dr. Kazmarcheck will continue her research in the Office of Clinical & Field Experiences, working alongside interns, supervising teachers, administrations and the School Transformation Office.
Lisa Martino, Ph.D.
Visiting Lecturer
Career and Technical Education
Dr. Lisa Martino is currently a visiting lecturer in the Department of Educational Leadership and Higher Education. Dr. Martino began her academic career in 2007 as a Career and Technical Education (CTE) teacher. She went on to earn all her degrees in CTE, including her doctorate from University of South Florida in curriculum and instruction with a concentration in career and workforce education and a cognate degree in teacher education/distance learning. Her prior work experience includes teaching CTE teacher education courses as an adjunct at UCF from 2012 to 2017, business communication and software application courses fulltime as a Faculty II instructor at WyoTech and a full-time faculty development instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She has presented at numerous conferences, collaborated on faculty development grant research projects and has received the OLC 2017 Effective Practice Award with her Embry-Riddle colleagues on “Creating a Virtual Community of Practice for Online Adjunct Faculty.” Her interests and research focus is in CTE teacher preparation and professional development.
Meghan Mitchell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Criminal Justice
Meghan Mitchell is an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Central Florida. She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Dakota State University and doctorate in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University. Her current work examines the areas of corrections, subcultures, reentry, communities and crime, and inequalities. She has published in the Journal of Criminal Justice, Deviant Behavior, Trends in Organized Crime, and the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice. Her dissertation research on the convict code was supported by a BJS-Graduate Research Fellowship and the Charles Koch Foundation, and Meghan was the project manager for the LoneStar Project — a study funded by the National Institute of Justice examining gangs and reentry experiences.
Carlton Patrick, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Legal Studies
Dr. Carlton Patrick joins us from University of Pennsylvania where he was a visiting scholar with the Center for Neuroscience & Society. He earned his doctorate from University of Miami in behavioral neuroscience in June of 2018, and his law degree from Boston University School of Law in 2009. His primary research interest focuses on the intersection between law and human behavior, combining doctrinal legal analysis with the tools of biology, psychology and neuroscience. He published his first book in July with Oxford University Press, titled “Objection: Disgust, Morality, and the Law.”
Luis Santiago, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director
Public Administration, Master of Urban and Regional Planning
Dr. Luis E. Santiago is associate professor at University of Central Florida School of Public Administration. He served as professor at the University of Puerto Rico Graduate School of Planning. Dr. Santiago holds a doctorate in city and regional planning from Cornell University and conducted postdoctoral work at Rutgers University. His interest in the role of ecosystem services in planning has led him to participate as co-principal investigator in the NASA Puerto Rico Human Impacts of Coastal Ecosystems and the NSF San Juan Urban Long-Term Research Area-Exploratory projects, among other research efforts. Dr. Santiago has authored and co-authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications, mentored 18 master’s students and established a planning exchange program between University of Puerto Rico and Feng-Chia University in Taiwan. He will build a world cities graduate class with emphasis on smart cities.
Kelly Schaffer, Ph.D.
Research Associate and Associate Program Director
Toni Jennings Exceptional Education Institute
For over 23 years, Dr. Schaffer has actively provided services for teacher preparation in special education, applied behavior analysis, and autism spectrum disorders. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and diversity, her Master of Science in applied behavior analysis, and her doctorate in education. She maintains doctoral-level board certification as a supervising and practicing behavior analyst. Her experience encompasses teaching at the university level, supervision for certification in applied behavior analysis, and service delivery teaching in clinical, public and private school special education settings. She is committed to the provision of educational services with excellence that ultimately improves quality of life for individuals with disabilities and their families.
John Super, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Counselor Education
Dr. John Super is a graduate of the perennially, nationally-rated top ten counselor education program in the Department of Counselor Education and School Psychology at UCF. He has served as a clinical assistant professor in the Counselor Education Department at the University of Florida. His primary area of research is the identity development of LGBTQ+ individuals. Subsequent to the incident at the Pulse nightclub, he helped organize a statewide collaborative plan to offer supportive counseling services to those affected.
Michelle Taub, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Core Faculty
UCF Learning Sciences Cluster
Dr. Michelle Taub is originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology and Master of Arts in educational psychology with a learning sciences focus, at McGill University, and received her doctorate in psychology with a human factors and applied cognition focus, at North Carolina State University. She joins us as a member of UCF's Learning Sciences Cluster, from North Carolina State University, where she was most recently serving as a postdoctoral scholar. Michelle studies the use of nontraditional statistical techniques using multichannel data (eye tracking, facial expressions) to investigate students’ affective and metacognitive self-regulated learning toward developing advanced learning technologies that teach and foster effective, self-regulated learning in different educational contexts. She also has an interest in studying and helping children with different types of disabilities.
Michael Blair Thomas, Ph.D.
Visiting Lecturer
Public Administration
Dr. Blair Thomas is a visiting lecturer in the School of Public Administration. Prior to joining UCF, he received his PhD and MPA from the Askew School of Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University. Dr. Thomas also holds an MPH from the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University. His research interests broadly include how local and state governments engage in strategic management as well as how marketing and branding is utilized to achieve public initiatives. Prior to pursuing his graduate education, Blair worked in marketing and merchandising for Adidas partner, CIP Marketing, from 2007 to 2010.
Samuel Towne, Ph.D., MPH
Assistant Professor
Health Management & Informatics
Dr. Samuel Towne joins the Department of Health Management and UCF’s Disability Aging Cluster from Texas A&M University where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship and was an assistant professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences in the School of Public Health. Dr. Towne focuses his research on healthy aging, health disparities among vulnerable populations, and geographic distributions of health-related measures. Over the past four years, Dr. Towne has published more than 44 peer-reviewed publications.
Kristen Zgoba, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Criminal Justice
Kristen M. Zgoba received her doctorate from the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 2004. She is currently an assistant professor of criminal justice at UCF. Prior to this, she served as research supervisor for the New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) for 15 years. Dr. Zgoba received two National Institute of Justice grants as Principal Investigator: (1) to be the first state to test the effectiveness of New Jersey’s Megan’s Law, and (2) to examine the utility of the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending guidelines. Dr. Zgoba is also a 2014-2015 United Kingdom Fulbright Research Scholar award winner. That same year, she received a stipend from the National Institute of Justice to lecture overseas on “Bridging the Gap between Research and Practice.” Dr. Zgoba is also the recipient of the American Correctional Association’s 2013 Peter P. Lejins Research Award, the highest award given for corrections research. She has been invited to serve as a distinguished lecturer at Rutgers University, the University of Pennsylvania and has testified before the U.S. Sentencing Commission regarding failure to register as a sex offender. Additionally, she is regional editor for the American Journal of Criminal Justice, a member of the Research Council within the American Correctional Association and is a member of the Sexual Assault Advisory Council for the Prison Rape Elimination Act in New Jersey. Dr. Zgoba also serves on the Board of Directors at the Edna Mahan State Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey. Dr. Zgoba has served as an expert in multiple sexual violence cases and served on the Rutgers University Institutional Review Board (IRB) for three years and as chair of the NJDOC IRB for five years. Dr. Zgoba previously taught at Rutgers University and Michigan State University. Dr. Zgoba has published over 43 peer-reviewed articles. Some of her publications appear in the Prison Journal, Race and Justice, Criminology & Public Policy, Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment, Justice Quarterly and Criminal Justice and Behavior.