STAFF

Debra Frank, Ph.D., Director

Debra Frank is the Director of the Institute for Educational Design, Evaluation and Assessment (IeDEA) at The College of New Jersey.  For the past two years she has served as Advising Coordinator for 500+ undergraduate education students and eighteen faculty members.  She has developed policies, procedures, and materials to improve the effectiveness of student advisement. She has also provided data collection and analysis to manage and improve programs and facilitate efficient course scheduling.  As a student advisor she has served 100+ students per semester in assisting with course selection, career planning, and personal issues.  She has worked extensively with students with academic difficulties to develop action plans to help them complete their program.

Craig M. MacDonald, Research Analyst

Craig M. MacDonald graduated Magna Cum Laude from The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts in Statistics (2004) and is currently pursing a Master of Science in Applied and Mathematical Statistics at Rutgers University (NJ).  Craig has extensive experience with linear regression, analysis of variance, generalized linear modeling, experimental design, survey development and multivariate data analysis.  He is also proficient in SPSS, SAS, R/S+ and Microsoft Excel.  He has performed research and evaluation of new trends and advances in industry as an analyst in the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment at The College of New Jersey and has provided support and expertise on data collection and retrieval as a member of the NCATE Accreditation Readiness Team for the School of Education at The College of New Jersey.

Associates

William J. Behre, Ph.D.

William J. Behre joined the faculty at The College of New Jersey in 1997.  He currently serves as Dean of the School of Education.  Prior to this appointment he was Chair of the Department of Special Education Language and Literacy. Dr. Behre received his AB in economics from Vassar College, his MSed in special education from Hunter College, and his Ph.D. in education from the University of Michigan.  Dr. Behre started his career in education as a middle school social studies teacher in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, an inner-city New York neighborhood.  He soon found himself drawn to students with learning and behavior difficulties and spent most of his k-12 teaching career working with adolescents in inner-city special-education settings. Dr. Behre's research interests center on how teachers reason about and deal with difficult situations.  The bulk of this research has focused on how teachers address issues of school violence.  Some of this work earned him and his coauthors the 2000 Palmer O. Johnson Award for an outstanding article appearing in an American Educational Research Association journal.  In recent years, Dr. Behre's research has looked at the challenges faced by teachers in trying to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms.  This work led to a $814,314 grant (along with Jerry Petroff) from the US Department of Education to study the use of assistive technology to include students with disabilities in college classrooms.

Richard S. Grip, Ed.D.

Richard S. Grip, Ed.D., possesses a doctorate in Educational Statistics and Measurement from Rutgers University (NJ). Richard has also earned a master's degree in science education (1992) and a bachelor of science in civil engineering (1989). Each of these degrees was also conferred by Rutgers University (NJ). Richard is Executive Director of Statistical Forecasting, LLC, a firm specializing in evaluating educational programs and performing quantitative research. Richard was a physics and statistics teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School in Bridgewater, New Jersey where he also served as the chairman of the Technology Committee for Middle States Evaluation and presented a report on the uses of instructional technology within the school to the faculty and administration. In addition, he has taught courses in assessment, measurement, and psychometric theory at Rutgers University Graduate School of Education as an adjunct professor.

Lisa DiChiara Platt

Lisa DiChiara Platt is the principal consultant for LDPlatt Strategies, a consulting practice dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of the non-profit, public and higher education communities through program evaluation, performance measurement, strategic planning and resource development. Her evaluations have included programs funded by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and independent foundations. Currently Lisa is the evaluator for Cumberland County (NJ) Community College's Strengthening Institutions Grant from the U.S. Department of Education and Union County (NJ) College's Hispanic Serving Institutions Grant, also funded by the U.S. Department of Education. She is also on staff at Salem County (NJ) Community College as the Director of Institutional Research, Planning, and Development.

Christopher S. Nagy, Ph.D.

Dr. Christopher J. Nagy is currently the principal of Allentown High School in Allentown, NJ. Dr. Nagy has worked as a high school principal for 10 years and has also held positions as an assistant principal, adjunct professor, CFO, and financial advisor. He has done research in many areas related to the field of education, including high school plagiarism and the transition of alternate route teachers to the classroom, the latter of which he presented at the 2006 American Education Research Symposium in San Francisco. He is certified as a superintendent, principal/supervisor and school administrator mentor. Dr. Nagy holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Widener University (PA) and M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Lehigh University (PA). He also holds an M.A. in Philosophy from St. Thomas Aquinas University (Rome, Italy) and Ph.B. in Philosophy from St. John Lateran University (Rome, Italy).

Gregory Seaton, Ph.D.

Currently, Dr. Seaton serves as Assistant Professor at The College of New Jersey in the Department of Education Administration and Secondary Education. He teaches pre and in service teachers - educational psychology, adolescent learning and development, and research methods. His research is primarily focused on how teacher identity development impacts the development and academic achievement of minority youth, particularly black boys. Seaton brings a unique blend practical training experiences in urban schools and communities and a rigorous academic background. He has served as a youth outreach worker for the Orlando Housing Authority where he was responsible for job readiness and life skill training for public housing residents. Additionally, Seaton served as Executive Director for Teacher Education for America’s Minorities (TEAM) at the University of Central Florida. As director, he recruited and trained minority teachers to provide high quality instruction in urban and poorly funded schools. Most recently, Seaton aided in the design, teaching, and evaluation of a four-year school-based health curriculum implemented throughout Philadelphia public high schools. Seaton has an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in Education Leadership and Human Development from the University of Pennsylvania

Paula A.Y. Maas, Ph.D.

Dr. Paula A.Y. Maas was the Assistant Dean for Science at TCNJ from July 2002 until January 2005. She is now Director of Assessment in the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment. In her role as a member of the Institutional Research team, Dr. Maas assists the schools within TCNJ, program directors, department chairs, faculty committees, and the central administration in the design and implementation of new or revised assessment programs. She also develops and manages information systems in support of assessment programs within TCNJ with an eye toward implementing and maintaining assessment programs consistent with Middle States and other accrediting bodies accreditation requirements as expressed in The College of New Jersey’s Strategic and Quality Enhancement Plans. She holds an undergraduate degree in the Biological Sciences with a minor in Women’s Studies from Douglass College (1989) and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rutgers University (1996).

Jason Schweitzer

Jason Schweitzer is a Research Associate in the Office of Institutional Research & Assessment for The College of New Jersey. He is responsible for the deployment of campus-wide surveys and subsequent data deployment using software packages such as TeleForms (paper-based scan survey) and SPSS mrInterview (web-based survey tool). He is also responsible for the completion and posting of web-based reports including The College’s Fact Book, Department Profiles, and the Common Data Set. In addition, Mr. Schweitzer has taken on the role of The College’s external reporting needs; completing national surveys including, but not limited to: US News & World Report, Peterson’s Annual Survey, and the Kaplan-Newsweek College Guide. Jason received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Information Systems Management at The College of New Jersey in May 2002. He is currently pursuing his Master of Science degree in Computer Systems Management at the University of Maryland – University College.

J. Howard, Ph.D.

J. Howard is the Director of Equity and Diversity at The College of New Jersey and has written primarily in the area of mentoring with a focus on minorities in higher education.  In his current position he was responsible for creating and assessing a pilot formal mentor program for The Black and Latino Alumni Network (TALANT) and TCNJ students.  Dr. Howard was selected to teach an elective entitled “Examining the Mentor Phenomenon” at TCNJ. This seminar thoroughly reviews the development of mentor/protégé relationships. Part of the course deals specifically with establishing and assessing formal mentor programs in educational contexts. His most recent published article, “Examining Mentor Traits and Functions in Organizations” examined how the traits and functions can impact mentor/protégé relationships. He has developed formal mentor programs for previous employers in the financial services, retail and pharmaceutical industries. The purpose of the mentor programs was to increase retention and improve employee productivity. While developing these programs he was responsible for training mentors and assessing program effectiveness.   Dr. Howard has studied qualitative research methods under Bogden and Biklins.