FACULTY/STAFF
New Faces Welcome to the new staff and faculty members who have joined us since last spring’s EdLine. You can read more about each of them on the New Faces 2019-2020 feature at uwm.edu/edline-newfaces. ROBBIE BRUMMEL provides support for
the deans, chairs and academic affairs staff. Before she joined the School of Education, she was an office associate in Vogel Hall. She has been at UWM for seven years.
MATT BUCHER, who earned his bachelor’s
degree at UW-La Crosse, is on duty at the front desk of the Office of Student Services as a university services associate. It’s a position that requires a great deal of interaction with students, potential students and visitors, so it’s good that he enjoys being in the people business. “Any opportunity I can get to work with others to help work towards and achieve their goals is one I look forward to. Coming from a family of teachers, I have a sincere appreciation for the role they play in our society. KRISTIN GAURA serves as an instructional technology expert,
providing much-needed expertise and support as instructors needed to move courses online in response to the coronavirus. She started her tech career as an intern at the UWM Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and became a full-time employee there last year. At CETL, she handled technological and instructional frontline support in the "Commons" while conducting intensive one-on-one support and D2L-to-Canvas migration sessions with faculty from all over the university. KARLA GIESE joined the faculty of the
School of Education in the fall of 2019 as a visiting assistant professor and program coordinator for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing area. A native of Minnesota, she earned her BA in elementary education/DHH and special education from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She earned her MA in early childhood special education from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and is currently in the dissertation phase of her EdD program through Illinois State University in Normal. She spent 22 years in the classroom and in program supervision in settings from self-contained to residential schools.
10 UWM SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
LISA LITZSEY is the program manager
for the UW System Institute for Urban Education, which is housed at UWM. (See page 11 for more about the institute) She grew up in Waukesha, and earned both her bachelor’s degree in elementary education, with a minor in natural science, and her master’s degree in school and community counseling from UWM. DENISE ROSS joined us as the director
of the Institute of Urban Education. The institute (see story on page 11) is a UW System initiative to encourage potential teachers from campuses outside of Milwaukee to prepare to teach in urban schools. Ross earned her doctorate and master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University with a major in special education and a specialization in applied behavior analysis. She earned her BA from Spelman College, majoring in English with a minor in secondary education. Before joining the IUE, she was an associate professor of psychology at Western Michigan University. She has also served on the faculty at DePaul University, the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and Teachers College. Prior to her university career, she had extensive experience working with children and youth in urban classrooms and preparing teachers to work with diverse populations. TARA SEREBIN is director of the
Elementary Education Program. She also teaches the classroom management course and an introduction to teaching course that focuses on the issues that surround educators in urban schools. She also enjoys serving as a supervisor for students in their final semester of student teaching. Serebin received her BS from UW-Madison and her MS in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. REBECCA WEBER joined the School of
Education this fall as a university services associate, providing faculty support in the Office of Student Services. She was attracted to the position as an alumna of UWM, she says. An anthropology major, she adds: “I loved my time here as a student, and working in higher ed is my passion.”
