The UNC School of Education celebrated faculty accomplishments in research, teaching, and service during its Celebration of Scholarly Excellence on Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. Seven faculty members were recognized with endowed professorships and faculty scholar titles, while three additional faculty members received awards recognizing teaching and clinical faculty excellence.
With faculty, staff, alumni, and members of the Carolina community in attendance, Annemarie Hindman, Ph.D., was named the inaugural Spangler Goodnight Distinguished Professor in Early Literacy. The professorship is made possible by a $2 million gift from the C.D. Spangler Foundation and Goodnight Educational Foundation and represents a long-term investment in preparing educators and advancing evidence-based literacy instruction to support children across the state.
Roger Mills-Koonce, Ph.D., was recognized as William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education.
Todd Jensen, Ph.D., was recognized as the Gary Stuck Faculty Scholar in Education; Kathryn Leech, Ph.D., as Richard “Dick” Coop Faculty Scholar in Education; and Constance A. Lindsay, Ph.D., as Kinnard “Kin” White Faculty Scholar in Education. The Stuck, Coop, and White faculty scholars are made possible by alumnus Malbert Smith (’77 M.Ed., ’80 Ph.D.), chair of the School’s Board of Visitors, and his wife, Alisa Edwards Smith.
Courtney Hattan, Ph.D., and Stephanie Anne Shelton, Ph.D., were honored as Donald G. Tarbet Faculty Scholars in Education.
The celebration also recognized Helyne Frederick, Ph.D., Human Development and Family Science program director, as the inaugural recipient of the School’s Clinical Faculty Excellence Award, and Christian Ehret, Ph.D., and Eric Houck, Ph.D., as recipients of the 2025-26 Teaching Excellence Awards.
“Faculty excellence is central to who we are as a School of Education, and I am thrilled to celebrate colleagues whose innovative research and commitment to teaching make a meaningful difference in the lives of so many people,” said Jill V. Hamm, dean of the School and William C. Friday Distinguished Professor of Education. “I am so grateful to work alongside such forward-thinking, collaborative colleagues and generous supporters who believe in our mission and the importance of strengthening education across North Carolina.”
With the newest appointments, the School now has 18 faculty members holding endowed titles.
Read more about the faculty members recognized.
Annemarie Hindman, Ph.D.
Spangler Goodnight Distinguished Professorship in Early Literacy
Hindman, an early childhood literacy scholar, examines how young children develop foundational language and reading skills, with particular attention to children at risk for later reading difficulties. Her research focuses on expanding access to high-quality, culturally sustaining literacy instruction in classrooms, homes, and communities. Drawing on her experience as a former Head Start educator, Hindman works with families and teachers to strengthen early literacy development, particularly among children growing up in under-resourced rural and urban communities.
Across more than 25 years in education, Hindman has investigated how interactions between children and adults support language development and early reading skills. Her scholarship draws on classroom observations, family engagement research and the design and evaluation of literacy interventions. She has authored more than 80 publications and served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on more than $20 million in externally funded research. Her recent work includes the Story Talk Kindergarten project, which develops a vocabulary intervention to strengthen young children’s language learning. Her research has appeared in journals including Journal of Child Language, Early Childhood Education Journal, Child & Youth Care Forum and Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Hindman earned her doctorate in education and psychology from the University of Michigan in 2008, following a master’s degree in developmental psychology from the same institution. Her contributions to early literacy research and professional collaboration were recognized with the International Literacy Association’s 2024 Diane Lapp and James Flood Professional Collaborator Award.
The C.D. Spangler Foundation and Goodnight Educational Foundation have established distinguished professorships in early literacy at nine University of North Carolina System schools that will help to advance evidence-based early literacy knowledge, support in-service teachers, and prepare the next generation of educators.
The C.D. Spangler Foundation carries forward the philanthropic legacy of C.D. Spangler Jr., who served as president of the UNC System from 1986 to 1997 and championed public education. The Goodnight Educational Foundation reflects the educational philanthropy of Jim and Ann Goodnight, longtime advocates for expanding educational opportunities. Jim Goodnight is co-founder and CEO of the SAS Institute, and Ann Goodnight served eight years on the UNC Board of Governors.
Roger Mills-Koonce, Ph.D.
William C. Friday Distinguished Professorship in Education
Mills-Koonce examines how early experiences and family relationships shape children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development. His research focuses on the connections between parenting, parent-child attachment, and biological processes that influence self-regulation during early childhood. His scholarship also explores the developmental origins of behavioral challenges, the effects of poverty and adversity on children, and the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ parents and their families.
Mills-Koonce serves as a principal investigator on several federally funded studies examining child and family development. Among them is the Family Life Project, one of the nation’s largest studies of children growing up in low-income rural communities, and the Brain and Early Experience Study, which investigates how prenatal and early childhood experiences of poverty influence brain development and emerging cognitive abilities. His research also includes the New American Family Study, which examines the experiences of LGBTQ+ couples and factors shaping their health, well-being, and transitions to parenthood. His scholarship has appeared in journals including Child Development, Developmental Psychology, Development and Psychopathology, and Journal of Family Psychology.
Before joining the UNC School of Education faculty in 2018, Mills-Koonce was an associate professor of human development and family studies at UNC Greensboro and a research scientist at Carolina’s Center for Developmental Science. He earned his doctorate in developmental psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005.
William C. Friday served as president of the University of North Carolina System from 1956-1986. He continued to be a leading voice in higher education after his retirement until his death in 2012.
Todd Jensen, Ph.D.
Gary Stuck Faculty Scholar in Education
Jensen, an assistant professor, specializes in promoting youth development and well-being in the context of family structural transitions, preventing maltreatment among military-connected youth and their families, and strengthening youth-serving systems. Prior to joining the School in 2024, Jensen served as a faculty member at the UNC School of Social Work. He is a Faculty Fellow of the Carolina Population Center, a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research, Deputy Editor of the Journal of Family Theory & Review, and an active member of the National Council on Family Relations.
Jensen also serves as director of the Thriving Through Family Transitions Research Lab, a research hub that brings together undergraduate and graduate student research assistants. The lab focuses on identifying factors that promote the well-being of children, youth, and families experiencing family transitions, with particular attention to changes in family structure. Jensen’s scholarship is driven by the proposition that all youth deserve to experience healthy development and well-being across the life course.
Gary B. Stuck, Ed.D., professor emeritus of educational psychology, retired from the School in 2000 after 34 years of service to Carolina. He began his career working as a teacher with the Government of Guam in the early 1960s after earning a baccalaureate degree from Hanover College in Hanover, Indiana. He went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University and joined the Carolina faculty in 1966. Among his numerous publications, his textbook, “Computers and Effective Instruction,” was nominated for an outstanding book award in 1990.
Stuck worked extensively with public schools in North Carolina and beyond, providing service to more than 75 school districts across the state and working with schools and universities in more than 15 additional states. He also held several offices, including the presidency, in the North Carolina Association for Research in Education.
Kathryn Leech, Ph.D.
Richard “Dick” Coop Faculty Scholar in Education
Leech, an associate professor, examines early childhood language and literacy development with a particular focus on how children’s social interactions with caregivers support these skills. Specializing in early childhood learning and development, her work sits at the intersection of education and developmental psychology to translate evidence-based practices into strategies that strengthen family functioning and support children’s development.
Leech serves as director of the Early Learning Lab, a collaborative research group of students and professionals whose work draws from human development, psychology, and education. The lab investigates the connections between families, children’s development, and future educational achievement, with an emphasis on producing research that is both rigorous and directly relevant to practice.
Driven by a commitment to ensuring research benefits children and families, Leech’s scholarship employs a mix of quantitative methods and experimental designs to examine how everyday interactions, particularly conversations between parents and children, shape language and cognitive development in early childhood. Leech received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2024 to support research on the role of picture books in promoting parent–child scientific conversation and learning, and in 2025, she was named a recipient of the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prizes for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement.
Dick Coop, Ph.D., former professor of educational psychology, was part of the School faculty from 1968-2004. From 1983-87, he served as associate dean, leading the School’s academic planning and development functions. He also served as coordinator of the Educational Psychology Program. Coop died Dec. 29, 2021.
Before earning a doctoral degree at Indiana University, Coop began his career in education as a high school science teacher and coach in Kentucky. At Carolina, he pursued research interests in learning, achievement, performance, and sport and physical skill development. His teaching and research also focused on the psychology of learning, adolescent and child development, and theories and research in human development and individual differences. He authored or co-authored three academic texts and numerous articles in professional journals.
In addition to scholarly work, Coop published trade books, including “Mind Over Golf,” and was a consultant to Golf magazine.
Constance L. Lindsay, Ph.D.
Kinnard “Kin” White Faculty Scholar in Education
Lindsay, an associate professor, examines policies and practices that can reduce racial disparities in educational outcomes. Her research focuses on teacher quality and diversity, with particular attention to how students’ educational experiences and opportunities are shaped by the educators who lead their classrooms. Her scholarship has explored the relationship between teacher-student racial representation and school discipline, as well as the long-term educational outcomes associated with having same-race teachers.
Lindsay’s work also investigates how schools and education systems can develop a more diverse and effective educator workforce. She has led and collaborated on research examining culturally responsive schooling, teachers’ racial competency, and the experiences of Black male educators. Her research has appeared in journals including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, and Social Science Research.
Before earning her doctorate in human development and social policy from Northwestern University, Lindsay served as a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education. Her scholarly contributions have earned recognition from the American Educational Research Association, including honors in its 2022 Division H Outstanding Publications Competition for an Applied Research Report.
Kinnard P. White, Ph.D., professor emeritus of educational psychology, retired in 1998 after 31 years at Carolina. At the School, White taught measurement and evaluation to graduate and undergraduate students, directed extensive student research, and won several graduate teaching awards from the University. He also helped to launch the School’s middle school program.
In service to North Carolina and its public school students, White consulted with more than 50 state school districts, helping them evaluate the effects of various projects and practices. He also helped conceptualize and implement the Professional Development School, a collaboration between the School, the UNC School of Social Work, and Chatham County Schools focused on preventing students from dropping out of school.
Coutney Hattan, Ph.D.
Donald G. Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education
Hattan, an assistant professor and literacy scholar, works to advance literacy instruction by centering students’ backgrounds and knowledge in reading comprehension. Her expertise spans literacy, teacher education, educational psychology, rural communities, and mixed-methods research. Across her research, Hattan, who is also the contributes to a more expansive science of reading — one that recognizes what students bring to texts as essential to what they understand, remember, and ultimately learn. Hattan also leads the Knowledge and Literacy Lab, which comprises doctoral students and collaborators who explore how children develop as readers and learners and how educators can better support literacy growth.
Hattan’s expertise, shaped by her experience as a former elementary and middle school language arts and social studies teacher, also focuses on how educators can support students in activating and building background knowledge while reading. Her contributions have been recognized widely, including receiving the International Literacy Association’s 2019 Timothy and Cynthia Shanahan Outstanding Dissertation Award and being named a Reading Hall of Fame Emerging Scholars Fellow.
Her work appears in leading journals including Review of Educational Research, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Educational Psychology, Contemporary Educational Psychology, and Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, as well as practitioner journals such as The Reading Teacher. Hattan also served as guest editor of the December 2024 special issue of Educational Psychologist titled “Expanding the Science of Reading: Contributions from Educational Psychology.”
Stephanie Anne Shelton, Ph.D.
Donald G. Tarbet Faculty Scholar in Education
Shelton, an associate professor and qualitative methodologist, specializes in interview- and focus group-based research. Feminist and queer theories regularly inform her scholarship, which examines methodological concepts such as reflexivity, informed consent, bias, and subjectivity. A former K-12 teacher with a commitment to student learning, she also explores pedagogical practices in qualitative inquiry, including how students learn to design and implement qualitative studies that center equity and social justice as core methodological tenets. LGBTQ+ issues in educational settings, particularly within sociopolitically restrictive contexts.
She serves as director of the School’s Graduate Certificate in Qualitative Studies and is currently editor of the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education and the journal Teaching Educational Research Methods. Her work bridges methodological rigor and equity-focused scholarship, emphasizing the role of qualitative research in advancing justice-oriented educational inquiry.
In addition to her research and teaching, Shelton holds several national leadership roles from chairperson of the National Council of Teachers of English’s Genders and Sexualities Equality Alliance, editor of the Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education and Teaching Educational Research Methods, series editor for “Expanding Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry” with Routledge, and secretary of the AERA Qualitative Research Special Interest Group.
Donald Tarbet, Ed.D., joined the School of Education faculty in 1952 and went on to play a pivotal role in shaping the University’s Summer School. While remaining as a faculty member, he served for 18 years as director of Summer Sessions during a period of significant growth and transformation. Appointed director in 1969, Tarbet led efforts to expand the Summer School beyond its original focus on teacher certificate renewal, opening offerings from across campus to a broader and more diverse group of students.
A native of Missouri, Donald Tarbet grew up on a family farm in Shelby County, the sale of which later provided much of the funding for the Tarbet gift. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1938, taught for several years, and then served in Europe during World War II. After the war, Tarbet returned to teaching part-time while completing an Ed.D. in school administration at the University of Missouri in 1952. That same year, he and his wife moved to Chapel Hill when he was hired as an assistant professor at the School of Education.
Donald Tarbet died in 1995. At the time, he and Justeen had been married for 54 years. Justeen Tarbet died in January 2013 at the age of 94.