Education                                                                                 

Linda Tafel, Ed.D.

Professor and Chair, Educational Leadership Department, National College of Education at NLU

Areas of expertise:

School reform
School funding

No Child Left Behind

Leadership for quality instruction
Teacher quality and professional development

International perspectives on education

History of the kindergarten movement

About: Dr. Linda Tafel has extensive experience as a consultant and outside evaluator to school districts in Illinois, the Midwest and in Poland, and is a frequent presenter at state, regional, national and international meetings. She has enjoyed a multi-faceted 25-year career in National College of Education at NLU, beginning in 1981 to provide leadership for the innovative master’s program for veteran teachers and later serving as Dean of National College of Education and then as the University’s Provost. She holds an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Supervision from Northern Illinois University.

Work in schools and community includes:
State Teacher Certification Board (IL), 1999-2005
Board of Directors, National Council for the Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE), 2000-2003
President, Association of Teacher Educators, 2000-2001
Board of Directors, Association of Teacher Educators, 1995-1998
Board of Directors, Illinois Association of Teacher Educators, 1979-1982

To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Paula Jorde Bloom

Executive Director, McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership at NLU

Professor, Early Childhood Education
National College of Education at NLU

Areas of expertise:
early childhood education
characteristics of quality early childhood programs
 

About: Paula Jorde Bloom holds a joint appointment as the Michael W. Louis Endowed Chair of the McCormick Tribune Center for Early Childhood Leadership at NLU and Professor in the Department of Early Childhood Education at NLU. She received her master's and doctorate from Stanford University. Dr. Bloom has taught preschool and kindergarten, designed and directed a child care center, and served as administrator of a campus laboratory school. She is a frequent keynote speaker at state, national, and international early childhood conferences and serves as consultant to professional organizations and state agencies.

Paula is the author of numerous journal articles and several widely read books including Avoiding Burnout, A Great Place to Work, Living and Learning with Children, Blueprint for Action, Circle of Influence, Workshop Essentials, Making the Most of Meetings, and Leadership in Action. Her latest book is From the Inside Out: The Power of Reflection and Self-Awareness.

 To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Susan Gabel, Ph.D.

Professor, Special Education and Disability & Equity in Education
National College of Education at NLU

Areas of expertise:
inclusive education policy and politics
postsecondary education for students with disabilities
international disability studies
developmental disabilities
parenting children with disabilities

About: Susan Gabel has thirty years of experience in K-12 special education, teacher education and advocacy in the disability rights movement. She is the Director and Principle Investigator of a 2008-2011 federal Office of Postsecondary Education grant to provide students with disabilities a quality higher education. She is the mother of two adult children with developmental disabilities. Her recent publications include Vital Questions Facing Disability Studies in Education and Disability and the Politics of Education: An International Reader, co-edited with her colleague Scot Danforth. Gabel holds a doctorate from Michigan State University in Curriculum, Teaching, Educational Policy and Social Analysis. 

Retirement                                                                            

To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Maria Malayter, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Positive Aging 

Professor, Applied Behavioral Sciences at NLU

Areas of Expertise: 
Transition into retirement

New Retirement

Working in retirement

Aging

Women and transition

Aging workforce

Flexible work options
 

About: Dr. Malayter has had a dynamic and diverse 17+ year career as a highly rated speaker, systems specialist, negotiator, higher education administrator, educator and consultant for public and private organizations across the country.

She completed her doctoral studies at Walden University in leadership and organizational change with her research expertise in the changing dynamics of retirement. Her book, Boomers: Visions of the New Retirement, reveals the outcomes of her studies and reveals the 3 secrets of retirement. The research framework guides the infrastructure of NLU's Center for Positive Aging. 

Chicago Business                                                       

To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Christopher Multhauf
Executive Dean, College of Management and Business at NLU
 

Areas of Expertise: 
Diversity and leadership
Business turnaround
Access to higher education

About: As Executive Dean of NLU's College of Management and Business, Multhauf is driving community partnerships and institutional strategies to prepare a new, more diverse generation of leaders for Chicago's businesses.

In an August 4, 2008, Crain's Chicago Business article, he said:
"Management 15 years from now will look a lot different,” he emphasizes. “People like me will be retired. The fascinating question is, who comes next? And how do you give them the skills necessary to move forward?”
 

Prior to his work with NLU, Multhauf was founding President and CEO of the Alliance for Illinois Manufacturing. Before that, he co-founded and was Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer of First Commonwealth, Inc., the leading managed dental care organization in the Midwest. He holds an MBA from Cornell University.
 

Multhauf has been recognized in Crain's Chicago Business Who's Who in Chicago and has been inducted into the University of Illinois at Chicago's Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame.

Latino Issues                                                               

To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Ana Maria Soto
Executive Director of Latino Initiatives at NLU
 

Area of Expertise:
Chicago's Latino community
Immigration
Latino access to higher education
 

About: Ana Maria Soto is a coalition builder who brings community partners together on issues of education, political and civic empowerment affecting the Chicago Latino community.

Soto came to NLU from Columbia College Chicago, where she served as Director of Latino Cultural Affairs. Previously, she held positions with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the Smithsonian Institution. Soto has been recognized in Chicago as an influential civic leader and was selected as a 2004 National Hispana Leadership Institute Fellow. She holds a Master of Arts in Political Science from the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.

Soto says, “We must help form the education and business leaders of the future and leverage the huge potential of [Chicago’s] Latino youth. More and more Latinos are successful business owners and entrepreneurs. But frequently they achieve this without a strong education background,” she said. “Now imagine the impact Latinos can have in the Chicago economy if class after class of Latino MBAs, education and healthcare professionals graduate and enter the job market.”

Chicago Urban Development                               

To schedule an interview, contact Tracy Kremer at 312.261.3847 or tkremer@nl.edu.

Costas Spirou
Professor of Social Sciences, Department of Social & Behavioral Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences at NLU
 

Areas of expertise:
Culture and urban development
Political economy
Tourism and sports
 

About: Costas Spirou has written and lectured extensively in the US and abroad on Chicago, concentrating on urban policy, urban politics and community development. He is author of It's Hardly Sportin': Stadiums, Neighborhoods and the New Chicago (with Larry Bennett) (2003) and St. Charles: Culture and Leisure in an All-American Town (2006). He has completed a study that addresses the development of the Millennium Park Project entitled “Urban Beautification, The Millennium Park, and the Construction of a New Municipal Identity in Chicago.”  He is currently writing (with Dennis R. Judd) The Rise of the Spectacular City: Richard M. Daley and the Burnham Legacy, a study that investigates the role of culture in reorganizing Chicago's urban image under the leadership of Mayor Richard M. Daley.

Spirou was Visiting Professor at Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu, Poland (2007 and 2004), Visiting Professor at the Faculty of the Built Environment, University of Central England in Birmingham, UK (2001) and Senior Visiting Fellow at the Research Institute of the East Aegean, Greece (2000).

About National-Louis University
National-Louis University has been a force for change in American education since its founding in 1886. Known for nearly a century as the National College of Education, it is still nationally renowned today not only for its programs in teacher preparation and educational leadership, but as one of the first universities to address the unique needs of adult learners. National-Louis pioneered accelerated education for adults, and today offers a range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the National College of Education, the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Management and Business.

Visit www.nl.edu to learn more.

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