Faculty Team

Faculty Director
Janise Parker, Associate Professor of School Psychology Dr. Parker's research primarily focuses on student engagement and motivation among culturally diverse adolescents, and multicultural practice in school psychology and education. As a Licensed Psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Dr. Parker strongly believes that research should inform practice and practice should inform research. Hence, her research interests primarily emerged during her applied training where she observed ongoing achievement and social-emotional gaps between K-12 students from minoritized backgrounds and those from the dominate culture. Dr. Parker has collaborated with several undergraduate and graduate students at William & Mary as “research partners” with the goal of providing them expanded learning opportunities that will increase their capacity to meet the needs of culturally diverse youth in their respective careers. Contact Dr. Parker at [[jparker]].

Faculty Director

Janise Parker, Associate Professor of School Psychology

Dr. Parker's research primarily focuses on student engagement and motivation among culturally diverse adolescents, and multicultural practice in school psychology and education. As a Licensed Psychologist and Nationally Certified School Psychologist, Dr. Parker strongly believes that research should inform practice and practice should inform research. Hence, her research interests primarily emerged during her applied training where she observed ongoing achievement and social-emotional gaps between K-12 students from minoritized backgrounds and those from the dominate culture. Dr. Parker has collaborated with several undergraduate and graduate students at William & Mary as “research partners” with the goal of providing them expanded learning opportunities that will increase their capacity to meet the needs of culturally diverse youth in their respective careers.

Contact Dr. Parker at [[jparker]].

Faculty Mentors
Katherine Barko-Alva, Associate Professor and Director of the ESL/Bilingual Education program As a bilingual scholar, Dr. Barko-Alva's research agenda is rooted in classroom practices and explores how Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) /English as a Second Language (ESL) educators make sense of language in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) K12 contexts, how to promote equitable and inclusive practices in order to serve CLD students and their families, and how to create sustainable practices to prepare DLBE/ESL in-service and pre-service teachers.
Ting Huang, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction With an established commitment to online education, Dr. Huang has a range of research interests and teaching experiences in teacher preparations, P-K12 settings, as well as for undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, she focuses on how to successfully transit from face-to-face education to online, situated, and multimodal learning and argues that factors that impact both traditional and online education are similar: sociocultural-based, collaborative, community-based, active, and interest-driven learning are proven to be keys for success of education.
Leandra Parris, Associate Dean and Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Associate Professor Dr. Parris focuses on peer relationships among middle and high school students within an equity-centered, trauma-informed framework. Her primary area of interest is social media influences on youth well-being, prevention and intervention for addressing traumatic stress among marginalized populations, and coping with peer aggression. Dr. Parris utilizes a multiple methods approach to research, conducting both qualitative and quantitative investigations.

Faculty Mentors

Katherine Barko-Alva, Associate Professor and Director of the ESL/Bilingual Education program

As a bilingual scholar, Dr. Barko-Alva's research agenda is rooted in classroom practices and explores how Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) /English as a Second Language (ESL) educators make sense of language in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) K12 contexts, how to promote equitable and inclusive practices in order to serve CLD students and their families, and how to create sustainable practices to prepare DLBE/ESL in-service and pre-service teachers.

Ting Huang, Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction

With an established commitment to online education, Dr. Huang has a range of research interests and teaching experiences in teacher preparations, P-K12 settings, as well as for undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, she focuses on how to successfully transit from face-to-face education to online, situated, and multimodal learning and argues that factors that impact both traditional and online education are similar: sociocultural-based, collaborative, community-based, active, and interest-driven learning are proven to be keys for success of education.

Leandra Parris, Associate Dean and Director of Diversity & Inclusion and Associate Professor

Dr. Parris focuses on peer relationships among middle and high school students within an equity-centered, trauma-informed framework. Her primary area of interest is social media influences on youth well-being, prevention and intervention for addressing traumatic stress among marginalized populations, and coping with peer aggression. Dr. Parris utilizes a multiple methods approach to research, conducting both qualitative and quantitative investigations.