FIU back-to-school experts list 2018

Posted by × 08/09/2018 at 2:30 am

Below is a list of FIU experts who can comment on back-to-school topics relating to school readiness, anxiety and emotions, vaccinations, childhood obesity and other relevant topics.

For help reaching these experts, please contact FIU’s Office of Media Relations at 305-348-2232 or:

Overall School Readiness

Jim Burns, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: james.burns@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-2611
Jim Burns has worked in elementary and secondary education as a teacher of English for speakers of other languages, history, and social studies. His research interests include curriculum theory in the context of gender, sexuality, and power, particularly the association of certain patterns of masculinity with institutional violence. He is currently theorizing a curriculum development framework intended to counter current education “reforms” that have disempowered teachers and students as co-creators of curriculum in classrooms and reduced academic study to the replication of predetermined outcomes on standardized assessments.

Erika Coles, Ph.D. 
Clinical Director, Center for Children and Families
Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: erika.coles@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4087
Erika Coles examines the effectiveness of behavioral interventions in the school setting. She is specifically looking at how consultation interventions can be used to enhance teacher integrity, knowledge, attitudes and skills to improve student outcomes in the classroom. Coles also specializes in behavior interventions to assist children with ADHD in the classroom, including the implementation of a daily report card transitioning into the school year with a behavioral plan for the classroom to prevent behavior problems from interfering with academic and social functioning.

Paulo Graziano, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: pgrazian@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4007
Paulo Graziano’s research focuses on the role of children’s self-regulation as it pertains to school readiness, early intervention, learning and fitness. He is particularly interested in how parental and environmental factors like teachers or the classroom environment may influence how children adapt to certain situations. Graziano places special emphasis on the role of physiological and neurocognitive processes in the development of disruptive behavior disorders as well as pediatric obesity. A large portion of his research focuses on developing and examining early interventions including behavioral parent training and summer programs that can target children’s self-regulation skills and subsequent adaptive and health related outcomes. Graziano has authored or co-authored a number of papers and his work has been supported by federal grants and local agencies, including The Children’s Trust.

Katie C. Hart, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: khart@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4160
Katie Hart can discuss anything related to behavioral, social-emotional, developmental, and academic readiness for school including the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Her research addresses the development, evaluation, and dissemination of early behavioral and academic interventions and treatments across academic and social settings. She has worked on the development of interventions addressing issues of attendance and adherence for families of children from low-income backgrounds. She has developed interventions tailored to culturally diverse families including those with Hispanic and Haitian backgrounds. Hart’s research also looks at mental health policy as it relates to the dissemination of evidence-based interventions in school and community settings. Hart also evaluates school-based interventions for young children with or at risk of ADHD, specifically the evaluation of commonly recommended special education accommodations for these children, as well as teacher implementation of evidence-based treatments in their classrooms.

Joseph Raiker, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: jraiker@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-1970
Joseph Raiker can address issues related to disruptive behavior problems, academic achievement, and cognitive functioning (e.g., long-term and short-term memory assessment). Raiker’s research focuses broadly on understanding neurocognitive dysfunction including working memory and information processing in individuals with ADHD. Specifically, he is interested in the extent to which deficits in these processes are associated with symptoms including inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity as well as with functional outcomes including learning problems. Currently, he is examining the interaction of multiple dysfunctional cognitive processes and what implications these deficits have for intervention strategies in children with ADHD.

Angela Salmon, Ed.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: salmona@fiu.edu
Cell: 305-986-1487
Angela Salmon’s interests are in the interplay between cognition and language and literacy development has led her to conduct research in such areas as children’s theory of mind, habits of mind, executive functions, metacognition, language and literacy development, teacher’s discourse in the classroom, music and thinking and the development of communities of practice. Her recent book “Authentic Teaching and Learning for PreK-Fifth” compiles stories of learning from this learning community.  Salmon is inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach and is Habits of Mind certified. In addition, she has served as a consultant at Harvard’s Project Zero for more than 18 years, is the founder of the Visible Thinking South Florida initiative. She is an local and international consultant and lecturer; she  was a Thinker in Residence at the Independent Schools of Victoria in Australia and she chaired the International Conference on Thinking, 2018.

Margaret Sibley, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Email: msibley@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-3005
Margaret Sibley is the director of the Supporting Teens’ Academic Needs Daily (STAND) program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families. The program offers comprehensive family-based services to middle and high school students with attention, organization and behavioral problems throughout the school year. STAND is a family-based intervention that teaches parents and adolescents to work together to set academic goals and to reinforce success on these goals through a comprehensive home privilege program. Sibley supervises all family counseling, organization classes and summer programming for students in grades 6-12. She has authored or co-authored approximately 40 scholarly publications on the presentation and treatment of adolescents with attention and behavior problems.

Isabel Rodriguez-Duncan, LCSW, Ed.S.
Licensed Psychotherapist, Center for Children and Families
Email:cramere@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-2425
Rodriguez-Duncan specializes in the delivery of clinical services to school-aged youth with special needs including treatment of ADHD, conduct disorder, substance abuse, oppositional defiant disorder, anxiety disorders, psychosis and mood disorders. She worked with Miami-Dade County Public Schools for more than 20 years and her clinical experience includes crisis management, suicide and bullying/violence prevention.

Anxiety and Emotions

Jeremy Pettit, Ph.D. 
Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: jpettit@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-1671
Jeremy Pettit can address signs of back-to-school anxiety as well as tips for parents on how to manage that anxiety as the first day of school approaches. Pettit also conducts research on depression, anxiety and suicidal behaviors in adolescence and emerging adulthood. He has a particular focus on the course of depression, anxiety, and suicidal behaviors over time, including interpersonal and cognitive factors that contribute to the onset, maintenance, and recurrence of these behaviors. 

Andy V. Pham, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Leadership and Professional Studies, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: avpham@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-3199
Andy V. Pham is a state and nationally certified school psychologist. His expertise includes diagnosis and treatment of learning disabilities, ADHD, autism and anxiety-related disorders. Pham has also conducted workshops for teachers and parents on promoting children’s social skills, organizational and study skills, and conflict resolution in school settings.

Philip J. Lazarus, Ph.D.
 Associate Professor, Department of Leadership and Professional Studies, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: lazarusp@fiu.edu
Cell: 954-830-7271
Professor Lazarus is the director of the school psychology program at FIU’s School of Education and Human Development. He is a national and international expert on crisis prevention and response. He is a founder of the National Association of School Psychologists National Emergency Assistance Team. This team has responded to dozens of school shooting throughout the past two decades and also responds to natural disasters and other tragedies that impact schools. He has written extensively on the area of helping children and families recover in the aftermath of these events. He is available for phone interviews.

Vaccines and Vaccinations

Consuelo Beck-Sague, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work 
Email: cbecksag@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-7789
Dr. Consuelo Beck-Sagué is a pediatric infectious disease subspecialist who can discuss vaccinations for children. She spent almost 20 years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an epidemic investigator and medical epidemiologist. During that time, she led dozens of investigations and studies.  She has authored or co-authored over 100 publications in peer reviewed journals, textbooks, health publications and national and international guidelines.

Aileen M. Marty, M.D. 
Professor, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
Director of the FIU Health Travel Medicine Program and Vaccine Clinic 
Email: amarty@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-0377
Dr. Marty is an expert in infectious diseases. She can address the Florida school immunization requirements, facts and myths about vaccines, why vaccines are necessary, the controversy over vaccines, and vaccines that are not required but may be beneficial for a child going back to school (flu shots, for example).  She can also offer health tips including proper hand-washing and checking and dealing with head lice — a very common problem in school settings.

Childhood Obesity, Health and Nutrition
 
Catherine C. Coccia, Ph.D., R.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Dietetics & Nutrition, Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work
E-mail: ccoccia@fiu.edu
Phone: 305-348-0194
Catherine C. Coccia is a registered dietitian with experience working with children and families to improve health outcomes through proper nutrition. She is a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the National Council for Family Relations. Coccia’s research combines basic science in child health and evaluation of community-based programs to increase health related outcomes in diverse populations. She has received funding for her research examining the role that parents play on the health behaviors of adolescents and emerging adults, and has contributed to the development of several community-based interventions for diverse populations.

Paulo Graziano, Ph.D. 
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: pgrazian@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-4007
Paulo Graziano’s research focuses on the role of children’s self-regulation as it pertains to school readiness, early intervention, learning and fitness. He is particularly interested in how parental and environmental factors like teachers or the classroom environment may influence how children adapt to certain situations. Graziano places special emphasis on the role of physiological and neurocognitive processes in the development of disruptive behavior disorders as well as pediatric obesity. A large portion of his research focuses on developing and examining early interventions including behavioral parent training and summer programs that can target children’s self-regulation skills and subsequent adaptive and health related outcomes. Graziano is the director of the Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families. The program encourages children to adopt healthier eating habits and enjoy being active while improving their ability to focus and follow classroom rules and routines. The program is designed as a behavioral family intervention, teaching parents skills to help create a healthy environment for all members of their household. Graziano has authored or co-authored a number of papers and his work has been supported by federal grants and local agencies, including The Children’s Trust.

Dana McMakin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: dmcmakin@fiu.edu
Dana McMakin’s research focuses on developing interventions for adolescents that positively shape emotional development. Specifically, as  a clinical psychologist at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and director of the Research Exploring Motivational and Emotional Development in Youth program at FIU’s Center for Children and Families, she aims to leverage new knowledge about the developing brain to improve the reach and impact of cognitive and behavioral interventions for adolescents experiencing problems related to sleep, depression and/or anxiety. McMakin recently published a study that shows that short sleep makes it more difficult for teens to manage negative emotions in ways that could put them at risk for problems like depression, substance abuse and suicide. She can discuss how not getting enough sleep can effect students’ emotions, mental health, academic performance, and social relationships.

Child Abuse

Maureen C. Kenny, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Leadership and Professional Studies, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: kennym@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-3506
Maureen C. Kenny is trained as a clinical psychologist and spent the early part of her career working with abused children and their families. As part of a research team that examined the effects maltreatment and abuse had on children, she also worked to help these children heal from these traumatic experiences. Over time, she became involved in prevention efforts, first in the area of abuse reporting. Her efforts were spent educating mandated reporters of child abuse to identify, recognize and report abusive situations early so that intervention could be sought for the child, and healing could begin. With external funding from the Children’s Trust of Miami Dade County, she founded KLAS: Kids Learning About Safety, which provided safety education to preschoolers and their parents throughout Miami-Dade County. Presently, Kenny continues her efforts to educate the public and the university community about mandatory child abuse reporting roles.

Special Education

Elizabeth D. Cramer, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, College of Arts, Sciences & Education
Email: cramere@fiu.edu
Office: 305-348-2425
Elizabeth D. Cramer is a special education professor with expertise in teacher education, culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities, and effective practices in urban special education. She is a past president of the Division of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Learners of the Council for Exceptional Children of the Florida Council for Exceptional Children. Her research focuses on preparing teachers to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities in inclusive settings and the intersection of culture and disabilities. She has been a recipient of nine federal grants totaling over $8 million. Her grants and publications aim to better prepare culturally and linguistically diverse special educators and academic leaders to be highly effective in educating all students in urban settings. This work is put into practice with close collaboration with Miami-Dade County Public Schools both on advisory boards and through funded collaborative research projects.

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