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BU Wheelock Welcomes New Faculty for 2024

This fall, BU Wheelock welcomed ten new faculty members with a wide range of academic interests that include the intersection between artificial intelligence and the learning process, educational legislation, higher education leadership, and the neuroscience behind dyslexia and other reading disabilities.

Learn more about our new faculty and the strengths they add to the BU Wheelock community. 

Penny Bishop

The new dean of BU Wheelock, Penny Bishop is a professor of teaching and learning. A scholar of early adolescence and middle grades education, she studies responsive learning environments for young adolescents. Bishop comes to BU Wheelock from the University of Maine, where she served as dean of the College of Education and Human Development. 

Pia Caronongan

Pia Caronongan is a research associate professor and a faculty affiliate of the Wheelock Educational Policy Center (WEPC). Her work focuses on developing research-based and data-informed policy strategies to support and improve early care and education (ECE) access and quality. Previously, Caronongan was a principal researcher at Mathematica, where she led evaluations of early childhood initiatives and systems that support ECE programs.

Michael Chang 

Michael Chang is an assistant professor in language & literacy, a faculty fellow in the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences, and an assistant director of the Earl Center for Learning & Innovation. A computer scientist and learning scientist, he explores the many possibilities that AI holds for teaching and learning. Previously, Chang was a postdoctoral researcher whose work contributed to the creation of AI-based collaborative learning tools.

Lauren Funk

Lauren Funk is a lecturer in social studies education who specializes in civic engagement, teacher reflection, educational legislation, and teacher resistance. She teaches comprehensive foundational and social studies methods classes for undergraduate and graduate students. Before becoming a university lecturer, Funk taught history in middle and high schools, covering topics as diverse as comparative politics, US government, and Western civilization. 

Ihsan Ghazal

A lecturer in science education, Ihsan Ghazal focuses her research on students’ understanding of complex biological processes, such as the immune and nervous systems. She helps educators and students bridge their observations of the natural world with key scientific concepts. Ghazal has a decade’s worth of experience in teaching, ranging from K–12 students to preservice teachers in both Lebanon and the United States.

Sherri Hughes

Sherri Hughes is a senior lecturer in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies department and director of the new Executive EdD in Higher Education Leadership. Before joining BU, Hughes served in various higher education leadership roles, including provost of Marymount University, dean of graduate and professional studies at McDaniel College and assistant vice president at the American Council on Education.

Thomas “TJ” McKenna

TJ McKenna is a clinical assistant professor of science education. He works at the intersection of policy, practice, and research to understand what works well in STEM education and how scaling research and practice-based efforts can be improved. He is also the director of the Center for STEM Professional Learning at Scale. 

Johanna Milord

A lecturer in counseling psychology, Johanna Milord studies how race, ethnicity, gender, class and immigrant background interact with career and academic outcomes for youth populations. A predominantly qualitative researcher, she is also interested in the racial ethnic identity development and acculturation processes for Black American and immigrant populations. Prior to joining BU Wheelock, she completed a postdoctoral psychology fellowship.

Ola Ozernov-Palchik 

Ola Ozernov-Palchik is a research assistant professor in language & literacy education, core faculty at BU’s AI & Education Initiative, and a research scientist at MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research. Her interdisciplinary research integrates cognitive neuroscience, education, and technology to understand how children develop literacy and why some struggle, with a translational focus on designing tools that promote educational equity and a commitment to advocacy.

Jalene Tamerat

Jalene Tamerat is a senior lecturer in education leadership and director of the Carol Johnson Leadership Fellowship, a co-designed collaboration between BU and Boston Public Schools. Her research interests include funds of knowledge pedagogy, teacher/leader preparation, and institutional-community partnerships. Tamerat began her education career as a teacher and leader in BPS and most recently served as associate director of community-engaged teaching & research at Northeastern University.