New Faculty & Staff

Welcome New Faculty and Staff

Amy Arnold ’21 METL

Amy Arnold joined Butler University as the Administrative Specialist for the History, Anthropology, & Classics Department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences seven years ago. While working there, she earned a Master’s Degree in Effective Teaching and Leadership (METL) from the COE, researching university staff’s need for professional development as her thesis project. In July 2022, she excitedly began working in the COE as our Office and Student Personnel Services Administrator, where she will manage fellow staff and work with student teachers on placements, among other duties. She also teaches a course for Physical Well Being (PWB) in the university’s core curriculum, called Mindfulness in Everyday Life.

Brian Dinkins ’07 EPPSP

Dr. Brian Dinkins joined our faculty in August 2022 as an Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Director of Experiential Program For Preparing School Principals (EPPSP). Dr. Dinkins started his education career as a Special Education teacher at Arlington High School and has served in a variety of roles including Principal, Athletic Director, and Dean of Students in schools across Indianapolis. He is a 2007 graduate of our EPPSP program, and he most recently served as the Coordinator for District Culture, Climate, and SEL in Indianapolis Public Schools.

Brooke Harris Garad

Dr. Brooke Harris Garad joined our faculty in August 2022 as a Lecturer in Education. Dr. Harris Garad has served children, youth, and educators in a variety of roles including youth development program coordinator, teacher-educator in the Republic of Djibouti, cultural competency workshop facilitator, and university supervisor for teacher education candidates. She most recently served as an Assistant Research Scientist at the Indiana Institute on Disability and Community at Indiana University, where she developed research-based courses and provided individualized coaching for teams of Indiana teachers and school leaders.

Dr. Harris Garad earned her Ph.D. in Global, Multicultural, and Equity Studies in Education from The Ohio State University. A scholar-educator, Dr. Harris Garad has won numerous research awards including the NCTE Research Foundation Cultivating New Voices Among Scholars of Color Fellowship and the Holmes Scholars Award. Her research has recently been published in Equity & Excellence in Education and British Educational Research Journal.

Eric Heagy

Mr. Eric Heagy has been selected as the new Pike High School Master Practitioner. Mr. Heagy received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history and a Master of Science degree in cultural anthropology, both from Purdue University. He has studied abroad in Taiwan and earned his secondary education certificate in social studies through the Transition to Teaching Program at Indiana Wesleyan University.

Most recently, Mr. Heagy has served as the District Curriculum and Instruction Coach for social studies in Indianapolis Public Schools, and as a social studies teacher at Pike High School. He has also mentored our student teachers for the past few years.

Ashley Mack-Jackson

Ashley Mack-Jackson will join the COE teaching education courses and in the First Year Seminar (FYS) in the core curriculum. She comes to us from Ivy Tech Community College, where she served as an assistant professor and assistant department chair of English.

Ms. Mack-Jackson is a native Hoosier who received a B.A. in English with a creative writing concentration from IUPUI, an M.S. in nonprofit and association management from University of Maryland University College, and an M.A. in English from Ball State University.

In 2013, Ashley co-founded Word As Bond, Inc. (Word), an organization that provides free creative writing education to youth across central Indiana, and in 2018 she was awarded a grant from The Poetry Foundation to support her work with Word’s young writers. As an extension of her commitment to promoting and celebrating the literary arts in Indiana, she has been invited by organizations like the Indiana Writers Center, Indiana Humanities, and Heartland Society of Women Writers to curate and facilitate writing workshops for a diverse array of audiences throughout Indiana, the midwest, and beyond.

Deeply invested in giving back to the educational communities that have shaped her professional life, she currently serves as the president of the IUPUI University Library Community Board and a member of the Ball State University School of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Executive Advisory Council. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, The Indianapolis Anthology, Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Drumvoices Revue, and elsewhere.

Alexis Methner

Alexis Methner joined us in August 2022 as our Administrative and Events Specialist. She is a recent IU graduate and brings energy, adaptability and planning skills she has honed in her experience as an elementary classroom teacher in Carmel, Avon, and Brownsburg. Her work is focused on assisting Dean Brooke Kandel, Associate Dean Kelli Esteves, and Assistant Dean Angela Mager. She will take the lead on COE events and manage communications for the college. She is excited to join our team and share her passion for education.

Felicia Williams

Felicia Williams is a professional educator whose career started teaching middle school language arts in Ft. Worth, TX. She went on to teach high school English in Oklahoma City, OK before finding her first higher education position as an adjunct instructor at Mountain View College, Dallas, TX. There she worked to help writing students find their voice in academic writing. She has taught freshman composition, technical writing, and writing within the sciences at the college-level.

In addition to a BA in English and African American studies, as well as a secondary education certification, she holds an MA in secondary administration, a graduate certificate in composition, and an MA in English.

Ms. Williams is a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., a historically Black sorority that was founded by seven educators at Butler University on November 12, 1922. She pledged Alpha Chapter at Butler University on February 15, 1992 and is ecstatic that she now gets to continue the legacy of “Greater Service, Greater Progress” as part of the faculty at Butler.