College of Education welcomes 6 new faculty

The Penn State College of Education welcomes six new faculty members this fall.

“Each individually brings expertise that will strengthen our already stellar faculty ranks. Collectively, they add a dimension that will accelerate our ability to identify and address the systemic inequities that impede many individuals from meeting their full potential in meaningful ways,” said Dean Kimberly A. Lawless.

“Together, we will build upon our college’s existing commitment to change education by educating for change. I am excited to work alongside them.”

Mildred Boveda, associate professor of education (special education)

Boveda comes to Penn State from the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State, where she was assistant professor of special education and cultural and linguistic diversity at. She earned her doctorate of education in exceptional student education from Florida International University, and her master of education in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

In her scholarship, Boveda uses the terms "intersectional competence" and "intersectional consciousness" to refer to educators' understanding of diversity and how students, families, and colleagues have multiple sociocultural markers that intersect in complex and nuanced ways. She designed the Intersectional Competence Measure to assess teachers’ preparedness for an increasingly diverse student population.

Her research interests are special education, teacher education, intersectionality and Black feminist epistemology, and urban education. Her research focuses on establishing the theoretical and empirical evidence of validity of the intersectional competence construct. Drawing from Black feminist theory and collaborative teacher education research, Boveda interrogates how differences are framed across education communities to influence education policy and practice.

Boveda started her career as a special education teacher in Miami Dade County Public Schools. She engages in various professional activities that allow her to examine the research, practice and policies involved with educating students with diverse needs. She is a past president of the Division for Diverse and Exceptional Learners of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and past chair of the Diversity Caucus for the Teacher Education Division of CEC.

Janice Byrd, assistant professor of education (counselor education)

Byrd comes to Penn State from Kent State University, where she was assistant professor in the counselor education and supervision program. She earned her doctorate in counselor education and supervision from the University of Iowa and a master of eduction in counselor education (K-12 school counseling) from South Carolina State University. She has experience in K-12 settings (English teacher and school counseling), with the McNair Scholars Program, Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), TRIO, Upward Bound and others.

Byrd also has experience working on teams to facilitate campus and community diversity trainings and has spoken on topics related to anti-racist pedagogy, advocacy and equity in school counseling. Using critical epistemologies, her scholarship seeks to situate the lived experiences of students of color within the broader ecological context to systematically examine how their personal, social, academic and career success is interrupted and/or enhanced by school, family, community settings, relationships and policies throughout all stages of the educational pipeline.

Her research areas of inquiry are college and career development of historically marginalized populations; the influence of the intersections of race and gender for Black girls and women on their academic, personal/social and career development; and culturally responsive and trauma-informed counseling.

Byrd is the graduate student coordinator for the Critical Examination of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender special interest group within the American Educational Research Association, and co-chair of the Advocacy Interest Network within the Association for Counselor Education & Supervision.

Aaron Campbell, assistant professor of education (special education)

Campbell earned her doctorate in educational psychology with an emphasis in special education from the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University (TAMU). She earned her master’s degree from North Carolina Central University, and has been an online instructor of the Teaching Special Education course at Baylor University. 

As a participant in the DeBakey Executive Research Leadership Program through the Aggie Research Program, Campbell instructed and led an undergraduate research team. She has focused her research on preventive and intervention strategies for children with and at risk for social, emotional and behavior problems with a specific focus on African American learners and improving academic outcomes. Her research is guided by her education, practicum and work experience in clinical psychology.

She received the Catapult Grant Advancing Literacy in Texas, which funded her dissertation studies that focused on culturally adapting interventions to increase their effectiveness for African American learners.

Campbell’s long-term goal is to use her teaching and research to help those who endeavor to teach and support students with or at risk for social, emotional and behavior problems and seek to improve academic outcomes of all learners. Her goal includes helping educators build cultural competence and to provide students with the social, emotional and behavioral skills necessary for success not only in the classroom but also in life.

Paul Harris, associate professor of education (counselor education)

Harris comes to Penn State from the University of Virginia, where he was associate professor in the counselor education program and a faculty affiliate with the Center for Race and Public Education in the South. He earned his bachelor of science of eduction in health and physical education with a concentration in sports medicine and his master of education in school counseling from the University of Virginia. He completed his doctorate in counselor education from the University of Maryland, where the program's emphasis was on promoting systemic equity, access and justice in schools through counseling. He also holds a master of divinity degree from Virginia Union University.

Harris’ research draws from his previous experiences as a high school counselor and focuses on three areas: 1) investigating the college and career readiness needs and promise of underserved students; 2) analyzing the identity development process of Black male student-athletes, and specifically the role of school counselors in facilitating their multidimensional sense of self through group counseling, mobile learning, partnerships with other education stakeholders and other mechanisms; and 3) examining the pre-and in-service school counselor training to ensure the implementation of comprehensive school counseling programs in K-12 schools that promote equity, access and justice.

He is the creator of Men Passionately Pursuing Purpose (MP3), a program that exists to see Black male athletes thrive in and out of sport. His work has been funded by numerous agencies, including the NCAA. Harris designed courses that focus on counseling all student athletes from a strengths-based perspective, with one of those courses centering on the Black student athlete experience, specifically.

He currently serves on the editorial review board for the Professional School Counseling Journal and on the Senior Advisory Board for The Professional Counselor journal. He also is the former president of the Virginia School Counselor Association and former member of the board of directors for the American School Counselor Association.

Brandy Henry, assistant professor of education (rehabilitation and human services)

Henry comes to Penn State from a joint appointment at the Columbia University School of Social Work and Mailman School of Public Health, where she was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the National Institute on Drug Abuse funded Training Program on HIV and Substance Use in the Criminal Justice System. She also is a Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) co-funded faculty member, part of a cluster hire for SSRI's Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction to address the systemic problems of substance misuse.

Henry received her doctorate and master’s degrees in social policy (behavioral health track) from the Brandeis University Heller School for Social Policy and Management, where she was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for Health Services Research on Alcohol-Related Problems. She received a master of social welfare degree from the University of California Los Angeles, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with minors in statistics and biology, from Boston University.

Henry leverages years of practice experience as a clinical social worker, providing behavioral health services to criminalized populations, to ground her research in the complexity of translating research to inform policy and practice. This background also includes appointments to the Massachusetts Restrictive Housing Oversight Committee which oversees housing in prisons and jails, and to the board of directors of multiple nonprofits that serve incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.

Henry’s research documents social determinants of incarceration and health disparities of criminalized populations, with a focus on trauma, mental health and substance use disorders. Her research also aims to improve the health of criminalized populations by developing and implementing interventions for these health conditions.

DeMarcus Jenkins, assistant professor of education (education leadership)

DeMarcus A. Jenkins comes to Penn State from the University of Arizona College of Education where he was an assistant professor of education policy studies and practice and an affiliate in the Department of Geography. He earned his doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from the Division of Urban Schooling. His holds a master of education in English education from Georgia State University, a master’s from American University, and his bachelor’s degree from The University of Michigan where he doubled-majored in English and African American studies.

Jenkins is an activist and urban scholar whose work considers the intersections of race, space and policy. His research focuses on the influence of spatial, social and political factors that foster and exacerbate inequalities for Black populations as well as the approaches that school leaders take to disrupt and transform these dynamics. His interdisciplinary approach to tackling complex and challenging problems of racial equity in schools is informed by Black critical theory, critical spatial theory, Black geographies, critical policy studies and justice-oriented leadership frameworks. Consistent throughout his research are practical solutions for school leaders and policymakers.

He recently received a research grant from the Spencer Foundation to examine how urban school systems respond to policy changes that divest and disinvest from law enforcement on school campuses. Jenkins’ program of research draws from his previous professional experience working in urban schools and in local and state policy and advocacy.