Younghee M. Kim

Younghee graduated from the University of Oregon with a doctoral degree in Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education in 1996. She graduated from Sogang University with a B. A. in Education, in Seoul, Korea, in 1985. Prior to coming to Southern, Younghee taught in the Early Child Education Program and the Master of Arts in Teaching program at the School of Education, Oregon State University, Corvallis during 1996-1999. Her areas of professional interest include early intervention, early childhood education, developmentally appropriate practices, authentic assessment for young children, diversity/multicultural education in pre-service program, portfolio assessment for pre-service teachers, teacher as a change agent, reflective teaching, teacher collaboration, and school and university partnerships. She has two young children who are bilingual in Korean and English. 

Susan Faller-Mitchell

Susan brings 15 years of classroom experience to her role as a faculty member with Southern Oregon University. She is a nationally board certified teacher as a middle childhood specialist. She holds a Master of Science degree in Mass Communication from San Jose State University and earned her teaching credential from California State University East Bay in 1993. Her areas of interest include reflective teaching, differentiation, math investigations, science inquiry, and mentoring of student teachers. She considers her role in the School of Education as an investment in our future teachers.

Mike Rousell

Mike graduated from the University of Oregon with a doctoral degree in Curriculum and Instruction in 1991. He also holds a M.Sc in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon, and a B.Ed from the University of Alberta. Besides 30 years of teaching spanning all levels of public education (early childhood to high school), Mike is also a registered psychologist working with families, addictions, and forensics. Current areas of focus include educational psychology; family, school, community partnerships; action research; and counseling techniques for teachers. He writes about and researches, "Life Changing Moments."

Susan Hamilton

Susan holds a M.A. in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College. Her experience includes working with children and families in a variety of programs over the past 25 years. She has directed two early childhood programs, Neighborhood House and Mentor Graphics Child Development Center. Currently, she is working as an Early Childhood Consultant. Susan has taught courses in Early Childhood Education at Portland Community College and Clackamas Community College. She has presented workshops at OAEYC and NAEYC.

Heidi Olivadoti

Heidi graduated from Southern Oregon University with a Master of Science Degree in Education in 1997, specializing in Early Childhood Education.  She also holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education from Pacific Lutheran University (1990).  Heidi will begin work on her doctorate in July 2009 in Education Leadership at George Fox University.  In addition to her work at Southern, Heidi is mentoring first year teachers in partnership with Southern Oregon Education Service District’s ODE grant-funded mentoring project.  She is also currently engaged in her most challenging and rewarding teaching assignment, as a parent to three young children who humble and teach her every single day.
Her previous educational experience includes work as a Title I Language and Math Specialist K-6 (Anchorage, AK), Child Field Researcher/Data Collector for Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (Portland, OR), and Early Elementary Classroom Teacher (Ketchikan, AK and Grants Pass, OR).  Heidi’s professional interests include language and literacy, assessment, Professional Learning Communities, mentoring new teachers, positive classroom management, effective instructional strategies, best practice, social/emotional needs, and Multi-Level Learning.   

Sands Stockwell

Sands has worked with children and families for more than thirty years.  She holds an M.A. in Education (with an emphasis on Hearing Impairment) from Pacific University.

Sands has worked with “at risk” populations throughout her career.  Her first job after college was teaching children who had developmental delays due to child abuse.  She has worked in educational settings as an aide, teacher, parent, administrator and consultant.  She spent ten years at the University of Oregon as an Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education Specialist.  Special interests for Sands include working with families as well as children and teaching in the family home.  She conducts workshops about home visiting.  She has also taught a summer home visiting clinic for the Early Intervention Masters Degree students at the University of Oregon during the past three summers.  Currently teaching for both SOU and RCC, Sands is delighted to be sharing some of what she has learned with the future teachers of our children.

Rebecca Olien

Rebecca holds a Masters of Professional Development degree from the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire. She completed her undergraduate degree in environmental education and elementary education from Michigan State University. Rebecca taught for twenty years in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in early education, elementary, and middle school classrooms. She has contributed to curriculum development for school districts, museums, and creates lessons and content for educational web sites. She has published over fifty books for children and teachers. Her most recent books include Kids Write! and Kids Care! through Williamson Publishing. Rebecca currently teaches courses for READ Oregon and ECD and EE programs, as well as enjoys mentoring and supervising for the MAT program. In addition, Rebecca continues to teach children as a part time Title 1 teacher. Rebecca is excited about the growing opportunity for online teaching. In the summer of 2009 she begins work on a second Master’s degree in Instructional Design. Her current areas of focus include: online teaching, instructional design, educational technology, critical thinking, science education, literacy education, writing and literacy, research and use of primary sources, community based learning, and conflict resolution.