Officers

Chairperson/President
Thomas W. Christ
Associate Professor
University of Bridgeport
[email protected]

Thomas W. Christ, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Chair of the Doctor in Education Leadership program at the University of Bridgeport and the AERA Mixed Methods Special Interest Group program chair. Thomas is a strong advocate for the Mixed Methods community who embraces the strength of multiple membership views and is committed to promoting growth in the field through active exchange of ideas. Thomas brings two decades experience conducting Mixed Methods, as a school psychologist, a postsecondary program evaluator, university research teacher, and working on large scale federally funded grants. His research is cross disciplinary and includes Mixed Methods and Action Research pedagogy, student, program, and organization evaluations, international education reform, education leadership and curricula theory. Thomas continues to promote new and innovative Mixed Methods concepts by recently presenting papers and conducting workshops across the United States, in Canada, England, Spain, and Saudi Arabia. His publications include mixed and action methodologies, postsecondary supports, technology, leadership, and program evaluations. His research interests include education transformation in post-Soviet satellites, grieving and coping strategies of families who had a firefighter perish in 09/11, tiered writing strategies (RtI), education for students with disabilities, and the research strands offered in doctoral programs.

Past-Chair
Nataliya V. Ivankova 
Associate Professor 
University of Alabama at Birmingham 
[email protected]

Nataliya V. Ivankova, Ph.D. is Associate Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also works as Associate Scientist at the UAB Center for Educational Accountability and holds a secondary appointment at the Department of Health Care Organization and Policy at the UAB School of Public Health. Dr. Ivankova’s expertise is in qualitative inquiry, mixed methods research, action research, and their applications in social, behavioral, and health sciences. Dr. Ivankova teaches campus-based and online graduate level applied research methods courses in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research. Dr. Ivankova also mentors doctoral students in their dissertation research in education, health, and nursing, and serves as consultant and co-investigator on externally and internally funded research projects in medical and social sciences. Dr. Ivankova’s scholarship includes numerous peer-reviewed presentations and publications dealing with methodological issues of applying qualitative and mixed methods research across disciplines, and teaching applied research methods in the computer-mediated learning environment. Her specific research focus is on quality learning and student engagement with learning applied research methods in distance education courses.

Program Chair
Lisa Foster
Former Postdoctoral Fellow, READS
Harvard Graduate School of Education
[email protected]

Dr. Lisa Foster received her Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Virginia in 2011 and joined the faculty at Harvard Graduate School of Education as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2011 with READS for Summer Learning. Her primary areas of research interest involve fidelity of implementation and intervention, general implementation science, leadership, data use, literacy, and gifted education. She has authored/co-authored 5 articles and co-developed a national award-winning 2^nd grade gifted math curriculum. She has presented nationally over 20 times in the last three years on fidelity of implementation, literacy and gifted education. She recently accepted a position with Development Services Group where she will serve as the Co-Principal Investigator for What Works Clearinghouse (Postsecondary) upon completion of her fellowship this year.

Secretary 
Position open for nomination - 2 year term
Click here for nomination information
All nominations must be received by February 15

Newsletter Editor
Nancy Wingo
Instructor (Education)
University of Alabama at Birmingham
[email protected]

Webmaster
Tiberio Garza 
Visiting Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology
University of Nevada Las Vegas
[email protected]

Tiberio Garza, holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in quantitative methods and bilingual/ESL education from Texas A&M University. Dr. Garza currently applies his analytical and community-building skills as Visiting Assistant Professor in order to address concerns for English learner educational outcomes in Las Vegas, NV. In his position, he works with community, school, and university advocates for the betterment of young students’ lives and motivating them to pursue higher education. He is passionate about helping young people, regardless of language and culture barriers, become resilient and succeed in their life and educational pursuits.