Staff Profiles

Marilyn Murphy, Ed.D., is the interim director of The Institute for Schools and Society. She is also the director of the new Center on Innovations in Learning (CIL), a federally-funded content center; and team leader of the E = mc² program. She has taught rhetoric at the College of New Jersey. Her research interests include communication processes, engagement theory, and the use of metaphor by children and adults. She has made frequent contributions to numerous educational publications.

Adele Gonzaga is a research assistant at ISS, where she provides support for ongoing research and evaluation projects primarily focused on leadership development, and urban teacher training programs. Her responsibilities include data collection and analysis, project data management, and qualitative data analysis support (using Atlas.ti). She received her Bachelor's in Science degree, majoring in Psychology, from Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, and she received her Master's degree in Educational Psychology from Temple University. Her research interests include mentoring relationships and socio-cultural influences on learning.

Rosemary Jackson has been with ISS since November 1989, working as a data manager, a family support liaison specialist to the Early Childhood development and Evaluation Program, a facilitator of Parent and Child Together Time, and an intake coordinator and administrative assistant for the Adult Literacy/Move-Up Program. For the past four years, she has been responsible for providing access to social services/case management and support to adult learners reentering the educational system to enhance their literacy skills and/or obtain a GED (General Education Diploma); providing administrative support to the literacy staff; and providing literacy and life skills instruction in both the day and evening programs.

Mary Jenkins has been with Temple University since 1991. She has been the Secretary for the Institute for Schools and Society (ISS) since its inception. She handles transportation and accommodation arrangements for attendees to Temple University-sponsored events, plus similar arrangements for Temple people attending events sponsored by other organizations. She assists in the preparation for and running of Temple-sponsored events around the country, and she plays a vital role in the assembling of reports and proposals.

Linda C. Jones is the program coordinator of TUteach, a collaboration between Temple’s College of Science and Technology and College of Education, designed to help correct the country’s deficit of qualified high school math and science teachers. She earned her B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Wales. After earning a postgraduate teacher certificate in Education, she taught high school Economics in Hertfordshire, UK before emigrating to the United States in 1985. In 2003, she came to Temple University to work as the Philadelphia Site Coordinator for ADAM (Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program). In 2004, she moved to the Office of Partnership Schools as program coordinator and later director of various initiatives aimed at improving the educational outcomes of children in four local schools. She is currently studying for a master’s degree in Adult Organization and Development from Temple’s College of Education. She has four children.

Will Jordan (Ph.D., Columbia University) is the former Director of the Institute for Schools & Society and Associate Professor of Urban Education. His research and teaching focuses on addressing educational inequality and social justice in an urban context. The motivation and aim of his work is using empirical research to guide policy and program development to improve the quality and conditions of education for all children. Dr. Jordan’s broader scholarly interests can be categorized as sociology of education, educational policy, and social stratification.

Girija Kaimal is a senior research associate at ISS and co-leads the educational evaluation and policy research group at the Institute. She directs four multi-year evaluation studies funded by the U.S. Department of Education, The School District of Philadelphia, and the Ford Foundation. These studies use mixed-methods research designs to examine the impact of teacher incentives, school leadership, arts education, and urban teacher preparation reform on school outcomes. Dr. Kaimal has authored several journal publications and book chapters on the role of autobiographical narratives and art expression in health and education. She is a graduate of the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Drexel University, and the National Institute of Design in India.

Lorinda Knight has been with Temple University since 1998. Her responsibilities include handling telephone communication for the ISS offices, and manning the front desk at the institute. She arranges conference travel, hotel accommodations, and car rentals; handles room reservations and catering for meetings; and carries out other duties as assigned.

Daphne Laibhen began her association with Temple University in October 1999, when she was a temporary office clerk at Temple University’s Health Sciences Campus. In December 1999, continuing in the same capacity, she was transferred to Temple University’s main campus, to the then Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE), recently renamed the Institute for Schools and Society (ISS). Daphne became an official full-time employee of Temple’s family in May 2001. With all of her experience and training, she provides clerical support for the Administrative Team, better known as the A-Team, under the supervision of Julia Kershaw St. George.

Tina Middleton is ISS’s Business Manager, responsible for all post-award financial applications for sponsored programs, including: budget reconciliation, reporting, projecting, and expense processing. She also tracks expenditures and obligations against Banner Finance and serves as liaison with Human Resources for establishing new positions and completing the hiring process. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Saint Joseph’s University and her MBA from Eastern University.

Veronica ("V") Norris joined Temple in August 1988 as one of the executive secretaries for the Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE), which has been renamed the Institute for Schools and Society (ISS). In October 1992, she was promoted to an Administrative Assistant, and in 2010, she began work as one of the Department’s Administrative Specialists under the supervision of ISS’s administrative and financial team. During her tenure at Temple, she received Temple University’s Community Service Award (August 2002), WDAS’s Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things Award (March 2002), and the James Mills Award for Positive Youth Development for her work as a youth mentor and community activist (February 2008), and she participates in other projects of mentorships and volunteerism.

Stephen Page (Ph.D.), as ISS managing editor, provides substantive editing of proposals and research reports, as well as the design of publications and liaison with commercial printers. During 20 years teaching at Ohio State University and University of Hawai’i, Dr. Page taught courses in literature, medieval studies, rhetoric and composition, and linguistics. He has published academic articles on medieval romances and drama; his book edition of the 15th-century romance, Amoryus and Cleopes, from the original manuscript at Princeton, is regarded as the standard.

Chris Sadjian-Peacock, as the Regional Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, provides support to Southeastern Pennsylvania teachers who are pursuing certification of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS). She also works as the school coordinator in the National Science Foundation Grant Scientists as Teachers–Teachers as Scientists (SAT–TAS). Prior to coming to Temple, Ms. Sadjian-Peacock was employed for 34 years at the School District of Philadelphia. Her roles in the district included Special Education Teacher, Instructional Advisor to the Life Skills Program, Project Coordinator of The Urban Model Project, Special Education Supervisor, Assistant Principal, and 15 years as a Middle and Senior High School Principal.

Julia St. George is ISS’s assistant director for administration and finance. She began her employment in 1991. She manages, plans, and supervises the workflow and daily operations of the budgetary and business components of the Sponsored Project’s unit at the Institute for Schools and Society, within the College of Education. Responsibilities include planning, assigning, and directing work: payroll, HR, auditing, fiscal reporting, etc. Her previous professional employment history includes working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and a financial planning firm.

Judith Stull (Ph.D.) is an ISS senior research associate, and an associate professor of Sociology at LaSalle University where she teaches statistics, research methodology, and evaluation. In the past 13 years, she has produced over 70 articles and presentations focused on improving the educational achievement of at-risk students and the use of educational technology. She is currently a co-principal investigator on three NSF projects: TU-SMART, Science in the City, and Scientists as Teachers—Teachers as Scientists. She holds a B.A. in history from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in sociology from Boston College. In addition, she maintains the U.S. Department of Education’s license for access to its restricted files.

Robert Sullivan is the senior editor at ISS, where he proofreads and edits major publications and proposals; searches the websites of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for data to input into the Center for Innovation and Improvement website; and is the webmaster for at least four websites. He majored in Creative Writing at Purdue University and Cinema at USC graduate school, and wrote the 1979 cult classic Clonus, which was the basis for the 2005 DreamWork’s Michael Bay film The Island.

Marion S. Wells is the director of ISS’s Adult Literacy and GED Preparation Program, managing two literacy programs functioning on campus providing participants the opportunity to experience the real-life atmosphere of a college environment as they pursue their goals to improve literacy skills and move on to postsecondary skills and job enhancement initiatives. She received her bachelor’s degree and principal certification from Cheyney University, her reading specialist from Temple University, and additional studies at the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University.

Demetrius Wylie, ISS’s finance accounting coordinator, has worked for ISS for a little over 7 years. He currently handles all pre-award activities for both ISS and the College of Education. This includes, but is not limited to, everything from budget preparation to proposal submissions. He works with principal investigators both at Temple and at other university to submit proposals. He brings an array of different skills and talents to ISS, from research-related certifications to being a fully licensed mixologist. He also brings administrative and communication experience from his work at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, where he works both as a respiratory therapy assistant and the assistant to the hospital’s CFO.

Veronica (“Ronnie”) Young began her association with Temple University in 1986, and was among the small group of people who began the then Center for Research in Human Development and Education (CRHDE), recently renamed the Institute for Schools and Society (ISS). She worked as receptionist and secretary for CRHDE’s founder and director, Dr. Margaret C. Wang, typing and correcting the center’s numerous grant proposals. As the center expanded greatly, Ronnie then became the coordinator of secretarial services. Upon Dr. Wang’s death in 2000, Ronnie was moved into the center’s financial department, where she has kept track of spending, keeping spreadsheets for what money is coming in and what money is going out, requesting payments and keeping track of invoices for the professors associated with the center’s numerous grants. She also handles all supplies for ISS.