Our Team

Dr. Cosner is the Director of the CUEL and she a Professor in the Educational Policy Studies Department. She oversees all aspects of the center. She is an expert on the preparation and development of educational leaders, the continuous improvement of leadership preparation programs, and on leadership for school improvement with various pursuits and challenges in mind. She enngages in or leads both qualitative and mixed methods research teams. She has expertise with the design and testing of leader learning designs as well as design and dissemination of materials of value to leaders and their development.

Prior to her work at UIC, Cosner earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. For over a decade Cosner worked as a school and system-level leader.

Dr. Hebert is a Researcher in the CUEL and she contributes to a range of CUEL projects. She is a qualitative researcher and she takes a lead role with materials and documentation creation. In this role she has contributed to and is currently contributing to a wide assortment of CUEL research and development projects.

Prior to employment at UIC, Dr. Hebert worked for the Chicago Public Schools in various positions including consultant in the Office of Grants Management, Executive Assistant to the Chief Officer for Professional Development, manager of the New Teacher Induction program, and coordinator in the Office of Funded Programs. She has worked at UIC since 2006 and has an EdD from Loyola University in Educational Leadership.

Dr. Tozer is a contributor for a range of CUEL projects. Among other things, he currently serves on a variety of national boards and work groups such as the Aspen Institute, the National P-3 Institute, the University of Connecticut/Office of Early Childhood Education PK3 Leadership Program, and Teachers Supporting Teachers. He is also a member of The Wallace Foundation Education Leadership Network. He has also served as a Fellow for Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, a Senior Research Fellow to the Learning Policy Institute, and a Fellow to the George W. Bush Institute’s School Leader Initiative.

Prior to his retirement in 2018, Tozer was Professor and University Scholar in Educational Policy Studies, founding Director of the CUEL, and founding Coordinator of the UIC EdD Program in Urban Education Leadership. Dr. Tozer was a former K-12 educator and he earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana. Tozer has an abundant amount of publications and presentations revolving around the topics of Education. He also served as President of the American Educational Studies Association and Council for Social Foundations of Education. He was also a founding board member for the Illinois Education Research Council.

Dr. Watson is a Leadership Coach in the CUEL. In this role, she coaches Chicago Public Schools (CPS) network chiefs and network deputy chiefs as well as CPS principals participating in the Malott Fellowship Program. Dr. Watson has a wide range of educational leadership experiences including serving as a leadership coach for Learning Sciences International, a Deputy Chief of Schools for Chicago Public Schools, a leadership coach for UIC for the New Schools for Chicago grant initiative, and Senior Director of School Curriculum and Assessment for the Accelerate Institute. She has also been a school principal, assistant principal and classroom teacher. She has a PhD. from the University of Illinois Chicago in Policy Studies in Urban Education.

Dr. Whalen is Research Director for CUEL. In this role, he oversees all CUEL research and evaluation. He is a quantitative and qualitative methodologist with expertise in program evaluation as well as the design of robust data infrastructures for use with evaluation and continuous improvement (the latter of which contributed to CUEL work recognized by the Spotlight Award from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching). Areas of content expertise include school leadership preparation/development, professional learning, and school-community partnerships.

Prior to joining UIC in 2003, Dr. Whalen was a Senior Researcher at Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and Research Director at the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in Education.

Mr. Paul Zavitkovsky is a contributor to an assortment of CUEL projects. He is an expert with the design of data systems and infrastructures for continuous improvement. Prior to his retirement from UIC in 2018, he coached and taught in the EdD program in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. He has served as an elementary and middle school principal in three districts. As principal of a diverse, high poverty elementary school in Chicago, the school received national awards for its reading program and for its turnaround efforts.

Occasional Contributor, EDPS Department Assistant Clinical Professor and Co-Coordinator of Ed.D. Program 

Dr. Allen occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. His content expertise centers on leadership coaching, leadership preparation, equity-oriented leadership, and the experiences of and supports for African American principals in urban contexts. After almost twenty years in education as a teacher, assistant principal, turnaround principal, and chief academic officer, his current work focuses on the development of aspirant and novice principals. Dr. Allen earned his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Occasional Contributor, EDPS Department Assistant Clinical Professor, Co-Coordinator for Ed.D. Program

Dr. Barron occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. She has expertise with leadership preparation, development, and coaching. Dr. Barron has over forty years’ experience in education as a teacher, athletic coach, counselor, assistant principal, truancy and dropout prevention coordinator, principal of two schools, area instruction officer, and interim chief area officer for high schools. Dr. Barron earned her doctoral degree from Loyola University.

Occasional Contributor, Ed.D. Program Leadership Coach

Dr. Campos has expertise in leadership preparation, development, and leadership coaching. She has served as teacher, assistant principal, principal, and bilingual coordinator. Campos holds two master’s degrees and received her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Occasional Collaborator, Researcher in the Learning Sciences Research Institute (LSRI)

Dr. De Voto is Researcher in the Learning Sciences Research Institute (LSRI). Dr. De Voto occasionally collaborates on CUEL projects. He has expertise with leadership preparation and coaching as well as educational policy. Dr. De Voto earned his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois  Chicago.

Occasional Contributor, Ed.D. Program Leadership Coach

Dr. Sadler occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. She has expertise with leadership preparation and coaching. She is a former teacher, principal, district level administrator, and deputy chief of transformation. She earned her doctoral degree from National-Louis University.

Occasional Contributor, EDPS Associate Professor

Dr. Mayrowetz occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. He is a qualitative researcher with content expertise related equity-focused instructional leadership, distributed forms of school leadership, and instructional reforms. He earned his doctoral degree from Rutgers University.

Occasional Contributor, Ed.D. Program Leadership Coach

Dr. McClain occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. Dr. McClain is a former teacher as well as a school and network leader. He earned an EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education and EdD from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Occasional Collaborator, Assistant Professor in the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies, Old Dominion University

Dr. Meagan Richard occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. She is an Assistant Professor in the Darden College of Education and Professional Studies at Old Dominion University. Her areas of expertise include the intersection of educational leadership with issues of equity and social justice, equity-oriented reform initiatives in urban school districts, and the use of mixed-method research strategies in educational evaluations. She is a 2023 graduate of UIC’s doctoral program in Educational Policy and Leadership Studies, where she also earned an M.Ed. in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment. Her degree background includes an M.S. in Applied Sociology from Texas State University, and a B.A. in History from Wellesley College.

Occasional Contributor, EDPS Assistant Professor

Dr. Salisbury occasionally contributes to CUEL projects. He is a mixed methods researcher with content expertise related to equity-focused instructional leadership and distributed forms of school leadership. He earned is former teacher, and he earned his doctoral degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Occasional Contributor, EPSY Professor

Dr. Yin is a occasional contributor to CUEL projects.  She has expertise in quantitative research design including randomized control trials, applied measurement/statistics and assessment.  Beyond her academic work, Dr. Yin serves as a K-12 school board member, where she draws upon her passion for education and expertise to advance the quality of education for all students. Dr. Yin earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University.