Faculty

Dr. Lauren Hoffman
Professor
Director of Ed.D. Program

2000 Ed. D. Indiana University, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
1978 Post-Graduate Administration, Purdue University
1973 M.A. Indiana University, Speech and Language Pathology
1972 B.S. Indiana University, Speech and Language Pathology

Research Interests: Reconceptualizing leadership with a critical theoretical foundation, human rights, and social activism.

"My scholarly interests lie in critical pedagogy and how individuals and groups assert their agency in relation to hegemonic forces. Additional and related interests include how language is used to serve as a form of regulation and domination and how hope, resistance, critique, and possibility can become a part of a larger narrative in education. Most current scholarly projects include an exploration of social activism and educational leadership."

Dr. Christopher Kline
Assistant Professor

2007 Ph.D. Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), Philosophy of Education; Qualitative Inquiry minor
2002 M.A. Ball State University (Muncie, IN), Educational Leadership
1994 B.S. Taylor University (Upland, IN), Theater and Speech Education

Research Interests: The confluence of philosophy, education, and popular culture
American pragmatism; Radical hermeneutics and spirituality.

"My research focuses on the confluence of philosophy and urban youth culture/popular culture with an emphasis on identity and the educative process. I deal mostly in contemporary philosophy including neopragmatism and Black existentialism. I am currently working on a book project that criticizes the perceived "weakness" of multicultural education and offers the application of a variety of theoretical schools of thought as a corrective."

Dr. Bradley Porfilio
Assistant Professor

2005 Ph.D., State University of New York at Buffalo, Sociology of Education
1998 M.S., Niagara University, Secondary Education
1997 M.A., State University of New York at Brockport, History
1992 B.A., Niagara University, History 

Research Interests: The fields of educational foundations and social studies education, with special attention to issues of critical literacy, urban education, and action research.

“I have conducted several qualitative studies on how larger social, economic and political forces impact schools, teachers and society in today’s socio-historical movement, such as the commercialization of teacher education, gendering of computing technology, the corporate hijacking of K-12 schools and racial and class apartheid schooling in the U.S. I have also constructed several research studies that focus on using literacy as a springboard to help elementary and secondary students and pre-service and in-service teachers critically read the word and the world.”