Faculty and Community Partners

Executive Committee

The Executive Committee consists of faculty in both the School of Education鈥檚 Early Childhood Education program faculty with expertise in early childhood education and the School of Social Work鈥檚 Child & Family Studies program. faculty with expertise in child development. The faculty are actively engaged in both the academic preparation of teacher educators and care providers (birth to age eight) and a robust research program in early childhood education and child development.

Name	Title	Institution	Department	Email
Cynthia DiCarlo	Executive Director	蜜桃APP	Education	cdicar2@lsu.edu
Nick Fears	Member-at-Large	蜜桃APP	Kinesiology	nfears@lsu.edu
Gene Geist	Member-at-large	蜜桃APP	Education	genegeist@lsu.edu
	Member-at-large	Weber State University	Child & Family Studies	carrieota@weber.edu

Louisiana University Members

The Louisiana University Members consist of faculty from multiple disciplines across the state who work with young children. These faculty have research and academic focus on the early childhood population.

Name	Institution	Department	Email
Jennifer Baumgartner	蜜桃APP	Education	jbaum@lsu.edu
Alica Benton	蜜桃APP	Education	abento9@lsu.edu
	Northwestern State University	Early Childhood Education	faziom@nsula.edu
	蜜桃APP Pennington Biomedical Research Center	Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior	Priyanka.Chaudhary@pbrc.edu
Katie Cherry	蜜桃APP	Psychology	pskatie@lsu.edu
Chien-Jen Chiang	蜜桃APP	Human Sciences & Education	chiang@lsu.edu
	蜜桃APP Pennington Biomedical Research Center	Developmental Physiology	Emily.Flanagan@pbrc.edu
Eileen Haebig	蜜桃APP	Communication Sciences & Disorders	ehaebig1@lsu.edu
Ryan M. Hulteen	蜜桃APP	Kinesiology	rhulteen@lsu.edu
	蜜桃APP Agriculture	Nutrition & Food Sciences	jmyhand@agcenter.lsu.edu
	Southern University and A&M	Family and Consumer Sciences	kenyetta_nelson@subr.edu
Janna Oetting	蜜桃APP	Communication Sciences & Disorders	cdjanna@lsu.edu
Laura Piestryznski	蜜桃APP	Education	lpiestrzynski@lsu.edu
	蜜桃APP Pennington Biomedical Research Center	Reproductive Endocrinology & Women鈥檚 Health	Leanne.Redman@pbrc.edu
Elia Soto	蜜桃APP	Psychology	esoto@lsu.edu
	蜜桃APP Pennington Biomedical Research Center	Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior	Katie.Spring@pbrc.edu
	蜜桃APP Pennington Biomedical Research Center	Pediatric Obesity and Health Behavior	amanda.staiano@pbrc.edu
	蜜桃APP	Kinesiology	wanchunsu@lsu.edu
Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell	蜜桃APP	Literacy Leadership & Urban Education	sdowell@lsu.edu
	Tulane University	Early Childhood Policy	lweixler@tulane.edu

Community Partners

Community partnership is available to partners in the community from a variety of disciplines whose work focuses on young children. Community-affiliated partners must be nominated by 蜜桃APP faculty.

Institution	Department	Email
Louisiana Board of Regents	Early Childhood	Michelle.Demeulenaere@laregents.edu
Louisiana Policy Institute for Children	Community Non-Profit	lsonnier@policyinstitutela.org
Louisiana Policy Institute for Children	Community Non-Profit	cweber@policyinstitutela.org
Pointe Coupee Early Childhood Coalition	Community Non-Profit	executivedirector@pcearlystart.org
Ready Start EBR	Division of Early Childhood & Literacy	abarnes1@ebrschools.org
The Center for Literacy & Learning Experience	Community Non-Profit	Pheriche@mycll.org

External Members

External membership is available to faculty outside of Louisiana from a variety of disciplines whose work focuses on young children. External Affiliated members must be nominated by 蜜桃APP faculty.

Name	Institution	Department	Email
	University of Houston-Clear Lake	Education	BeaversEA@UHCL.edu
	University of Houston Clear Lake	Education	browna@uhcl.edu
	Minnesota State University	Education	aaron.deris@mnsu.edu
Sean Durham	Auburn University	Education	rsd0007@auburn.edu
	Rutgers University	National Institute for Early Education Research	eharmeyer@nieer.org
	Penn State	Music	dsi5035@psu.edu
	Tulane University	Psychology	wjung@tulane.edu
Emily C. Marcinowski	Marcinowski Behavioral Sciences		ecmarcinowski@gmail.com
	Purdue University	Human Development & Family Studies	meganpurcell@purdue.edu
Julie Schneider	University of California Los Angeles	Neuroscience, Diversity & Learning	julieschneider@g.ucla.edu
	Penn State	Music	AMStanley@psu.edu
Marcella Terrusi	University of Bologna	Life Quality Studies	marcellaterrusi@hotmail.com
Alicia Westbrook	University of Southern Mississippi	The Mississippi Early Childhood Inclusion Center	alicia.westbrook@usm.edu
	University of St. Augustine	College of Rehabilitative Sciences	ameaux@usa.edu
Brittany Wittenberg	Phoenix Children's Hospital	Adaptive Care Team Program	bmwitt@gmail.com
Michelle Brunson	Northwestern State University	Gallaspy Family College of Education and Human Development	faziom@nsula.edu
Bethany McClure	Columbus State University	Assistant Professor of Elementary Education	Drbethanymcclure@gmail.com
	UNIVERSIT脌 DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE	Full Professor Department of Education, Languages, Interculture, Literatures and Psychology	emiliano.macinai(AT)unifi.it
	UNIVERSIT脌 DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE	Associate Professor Department of Education, Languages, Interculture, Literatures and Psychology	rossella.certini(AT)unifi.it

Graduate Fellows

Are you an early childhood researcher looking for community and collaboration?

Thank you for your interest in becoming an affiliated member of the Early Childhood Education Institute at 蜜桃APP. The ECE Institute is an umbrella organization created to promote research and dissemination of recommended practices in early childhood care and education.

We hope you will consider joining us. If you are a researcher who is interested in being involved in the ECE Institute, please send your CV to eceinstitute@lsu.edu.

Are you a doctoral student looking for a research mentor?

We strive to offer collaborative opportunities for doctoral students by connecting them with highly-regarded researchers in their field. If you are a student who is interested, please reach out to eceinstitute@lsu.edu.