Morgridge College of Education Staff
Christie Bruns
Publications Coordinator (Christie.Bruns@du.edu). Institute for the Development of Gifted Education
Julie Collier
Classroom Technology Specialist (Julie.Collier@du.edu). Julie's primary functions include researching and managing all installed instructional technologies for the Morgridge College of Education; providing audio-visual-technical support to professors, staff, students, and outside personnel; training faculty on the use of instructional classroom technologies; and assisting faculty and students in the use of all equipment. She is responsible for ongoing evaluation of digital instructional equipment needs and functional specifications. Julie has an AS in Music and Video Business from the Colorado Institute of Art; and is a Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) Infocomm; and a Licensed Low Voltage Electrician in the states of CO, WY, UT, ICC.
James Conyers 
Digital Technology Coordinator (James.Conyers@du.edu). James operates, sets up, and configures nearly all pieces of audio visual related equipment in the building. He likes to think of life as a set of daily challenges that he can be victorious over. Some victories include doing a great job on a daily basis at work where other victories include growing personal relationships with people he meets outside of work. Being a faithful hardworking employee is something that he approaches every day. He loves to ask the question at the beginning of the day, "Is there anything I can help you out with today?" He feels that everything in life whether at work or at home can be seen in two ways: a problem, or a problem with a solution.
Jessica Craig 
Office Manager, Marsico Institute for Early Learning & Literacy. (Jessica.Craig@du.edu) Prior to her position at DU, Jessica was the Business Development Manager at a social change consulting firm in Denver. Her work experience is in donor management, event coordination, project coordination, client relations, funding research, grants management, budget management and contracting. Primary responsibilities include: managing the day-to-day operation of the office, providing administrative support to the directors and working with the directors to successfully carry out the institute's strategic plans, maintain the accuracy of institute information on the website, provide budget management and oversight, plan logistics for special community events, and ensure oversight of grants and contracts.
Thomas Dobbins
Director of Budget and Planning, (Thomas.Dobbins@du.edu) BS in Economics from the U.S. Naval Academy, MBA from Pepperdine University. Tom holds a Six Sigma Green Belt certification, and has participated in the College Business Management Institute at the University of Kentucky. Tom joins us from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri where he served as the Director of Budgeting and Financial Controls for the last two years. Prior to his time with Westminster College, Tom served five years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, two years with Wells Fargo Bank in commercial lending, and ten years in corporate finance mainly in the telecommunications and semiconductor equipment industries in San Diego, California.
Chris A. Dowen 
Assistant Dean for Admissions, Marketing, and Communications, (Chris.Dowen@du.edu) BS Sterling College, Sterling, Kansas, MS Friends University, Wichita, Kansas. Prior to joining the Morgridge College of Education, Chris served for 21 years in Admissions at both private and public institutions, in addition to leading direct service programs with United Way. Chris is committed to facilitating access, opportunity and the highest quality student experience. Primary responsibilities include coordination of student recruitment, marketing and communications for the Morgridge College.
Jodi Dye 
Assistant Director, Morgridge Office of Admissions. (Jodi.Dye@du.edu) MA, Higher Education, University of Denver; BA, Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Northern Colorado. Jodi is proud to be returning to Morgridge after a two year absence. During the last two years she served as an Academic Advisor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Previously, Jodi served the Morgridge College of Education as the Assistant Director of Admissions and Enrollment. Her academic and professional interests include promoting higher education access and equity, supporting student identity development, and building institutional community. She strives to advance the ideals of inclusive excellence and to serve the needs of students.
Sheridan Green 
Senior Researcher at the Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy (Sheridan.Green@du.edu). Prior to joining MCE, she was a Senior Researcher at the DU Butler Institute for Families at the Graduate School of Social Work. She has worked in academic, community, and local government settings, spanning child-focused fields including early childhood care and education, child and youth development, and child welfare. Ms. Green holds a Master's degree in Human Development and Family Studies with a specialization in individual and family programming. She is ABD at the University of Northern Colorado where her doctoral program focuses on applied statistics and research methods. Her dissertation employs the national Early Head Start dataset to examine the sensitivity of study conclusions to violations of design assumptions. Her research interests center on infant mental health, parent-child relationships, and the effects of intervention and education on the quality of early childhood teacher-child interactions, including the use of music and the arts to strengthen interactions, early learning, and literacy.
Nick Heckart 
Academic Services Associate (Nick.Heckart@du.edu). MA Higher Education, University of Denver; BA, University of Iowa; art, teacher licensure - Iowa. Primary Responsibilities: Responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and research of the faculty, as well as assistance with student recruitment and retention, maintaining the accuracy of program information in student handbooks and on the website, assisting with course scheduling, processing fiscal transactions and partnering in the effective management of departmental budgets, and assisting with all student services.
Ellen Honeck
Associate Director (Ellen.Honeck@du.edu). Institute for the Development of Gifted Education
Keren Kayir
Program Assistant (Keren.Kayir@du.edu). Institute for the Development of Gifted Education
Alana Kim
Finance Assistant (Alana.Kim@du.edu). Prior to coming to the Morgridge College of Education, Kim held two positions for the University of Denver Bursar's Office as a Staff Accountant and Billing/Production Technician.
Karen F. LeVelle 
Payroll and Accounting Assistant (Karen.LeVelle@du.edu) Primary Responsibilities: Ensures that Morgridge College of Education personnel are paid accurately and in a timely manner, maintains personnel files, process new hire paperwork for all new employees, provides support in all Morgridge College of Education accounting and fiscal management, primary support for the Director of Budget and Planning, provides support in all areas of facilities management, arranges for telephone orders and line changes, and manages key inventory and distribution.
Nora McPherson 
Academic Services Associate, (Nora.McPherson@du.edu). MLIS, University of Denver; BA, Fort Lewis College; teacher licensure, University of Colorado-Denver; Asian history and social studies. Primary Responsibilities: Responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and research of the faculty, as well as assistance with student recruitment and retention, maintaining the accuracy of program information in student handbooks and on the website, assisting with course scheduling, processing fiscal transactions and partnering in the effective management of departmental budgets, and assisting with all student services.
Anna Millies 
Director, Office of Academic Services (Anna.Millies@du.edu). BA, University of Denver; math and fine arts.
Primary Responsibilities: Manage daily office operations, including student recruitment
and retention for Educational Leadership and teacher residency programs, program budget
tracking; support teaching and learning by maintaining accuracy in program materials,
course scheduling, student file audits, and processing CDE principal licensure recommendations.
Karen Paul-Masaoka 
Academic Services Associate (Karen.Paul-Masaoka@du.edu). B.Ed., Concordia University, Montreal; Teaching English as a Second Language.
Primary Responsibilities: Responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and research
of the faculty, as well as assistance with student recruitment and retention, maintaining
the accuracy of program information in student handbooks and on the website, assisting
with course scheduling, processing fiscal transactions and partnering in the effective
management of departmental budgets, and assisting with all student services.
Amanda J. Moreno 
Associate Director, Marsico Institute for Early Learning and Literacy (Amanda.Moreno@du.edu). PHD, University of Denver, Developmental Psychology; MA and BA, Tufts University, Applied Child Development. Prior to her appointment at DU, Dr. Moreno was research Faculty at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and a Senior Researcher at OMNI Institute, a social science research firm in Denver. Her research and service work has always centered around improving developmental outcomes for children in poverty. Her research interests include alternative coaching and training models for improving teacher quality for early childhood teachers with low levels of formal education, curricular enhancements in infant-toddler programs, and translating research to policies that will close the earliest appearances of the achievement gap. She held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the development of maladaptive behavior at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Andrea Ring 
Program Assistant, Office of Outreach Support (Andrea.Appelhans@du.edu). BA, Kansas State University; Radio and Television. Primary Responsibilities: Responsible for supporting teaching, learning, and research of the faculty for Curriculum and Instruction programs, including the Denver Teacher Residency program, as well as assistance with student recruitment and retention, maintaining the accuracy of program information in student handbooks and on the website, assisting with course scheduling, processing fiscal transactions and partnering in the effective management of departmental budgets, and assisting with all student services.
Tamera Trueblood 
Executive Assistant to the Dean (Tamera.Trueblood@du.edu). Primary Responsibilities: Manages the Office of the MCE Deans, including the calendar, correspondence, communications, and special projects for the Dean; organizes and records College of the Whole meetings, college retreats, administrative meetings, and special events; provides support to the Associate Dean; manages Dean's office budgets, supports fundraising, policy and procedure compliance, and other duties as assigned.
Catherine Wilson 
Admissions Counselor, Morgridge Office of Admissions (Catherine.Wilson@du.edu) Catherine will primarily be working with the following programs: Library and Information Science, Research Methods and Statistics, and Teacher Education Programs. Catherine joins us directly from Skyview Academy High School in Thornton, Colorado where she served as an English teacher for four years. Prior to working at Skyview, she served as an Academic Coordinator as well as a Research and Policy Analyst for the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington D.C. Catherine holds a B.A. in English Literature from Loras College, an Ed.M. in Higher Education from Harvard University, and a M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Denver where she graduated from the Boettcher Teachers Program. She also currently serves as an adjunct professor in our Teacher Education Program.
