School of Education's New Faculty and Staff in Spring 2024
Meet SOE's new faculty and staff members - Jasmine Brown, Elshadai Melkam, LeeChel Moersch, Kim Slavik, and Dr. Gayle Warmbrodt.
New Faculty and Staff
Jasmine Brown, Faculty Affairs Assistant, City Teaching Alliance
Brown has a passion for health and wellness and has earned multiple certifications in the field over the last five years. In her role as City Teaching Alliance Faculty Affairs Assistant, she aids in the coordination of schedules and works on semester course schedules for the program. Originally from Seattle, WA, she loves sports (mainly basketball and football), music, and a great cup of coffee or tea. She is a constant learner, dedicated to growth and service.
Dr. Madeleine Grumet, Scholar-in-Residence
Dr. Grumet is SOE's new Scholar-in-Residence. A native of Brooklyn, NY, her academic work focuses on feminist theory and curriculum theory, a discipline she earned a doctorate degree in at the University of Rochester. She was the first woman to serve as dean at the University of North Carolina's School of Education. She was also a Dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College of the University of New York, where she directed the development of a new teacher education curriculum for early childhood and elementary education majors, developed the Center for Educational Change, and founded Bridges to Brooklyn, a New Visions School. She was also an acting dean of William Smith College. She served as a faculty member at the University of Rochester, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Education.
Elshadai Melkam, Research Assistant
Melkam is a full-time Postbaccalaureate Research Assistant in the Educational Neuroscience Lab at American University, working with SOE Assistant Professor Emily Peterson. She graduated from Cornell University in May 2023 with a BA in psychology and minor in nutrition. At Cornell, she studied infant language development at the B.A.B.Y. Lab and hopes to pursue a doctorate in developmental psychology after her time at the School of Education. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the violin, and watching soccer.
LeeChel Moersch, Adjunct Instructor, City Teaching Alliance
Moersch served as an instructional coach for City Teaching Alliance since 2017 and an adjunct professor since 2018. She previously worked with an educational consulting company providing professional development sessions that focused on the use of technology tools in the English, language arts, and reading (ELAR) classroom. She taught middle school ELAR and worked in the Dallas, TX, area as an instructional technologist, working with middle school teachers to develop their lessons using technology tools. She believes strongly in the need to humanize the coaching process to support early-stage educators in every way possible to help them build the knowledge, skills, and routines necessary and to guide them in becoming resilient and culturally competent teachers. This year, she met her long-term goal of creating a food pantry and professional dress closet at the Dallas location of City Teaching Alliance.
Kim Slavik, Finance Specialist
Slavik joined the Finance and Administration team in October 2023 as a part-time Finance Specialist. Previously, she had worked in various management consulting roles in the areas of financial planning and budgeting, financial management, and program execution. She holds an MPA from Troy University and a BA in economics from East Carolina University. When not at AU, Slavik is teaching young artists pottery in an afterschool program.
Dr. Gayle Warmbrodt, Senior Professorial Lecturer and Instructional Coach, City Teaching Alliance
Dr. Warmbrodt is Osage, a native of Dallas, TX, served as a special education department chair and teacher, a legislative analyst in corporate law, a director of a private learning center. She has been an instructional coach for City Teaching Alliance since 2018. She has taught at American University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Texas, and Dallas College. She published a two-year study on what influences teachers to stay in, or leave, the profession and holds a doctorate in education, a master’s in special education, and a bachelor’s in political science. Since 2022, Gayle has served as a special education advocate for James Brown Law in DC. She is passionate about addressing the needs of students with disabilities and ensuring their individual needs are being met engaging in strategies that promote social justice and equity.
View new faculty and staff from previous semesters here: