Individually Designed Program

Jeffrey Perrin is the program director of the PhD in Educational Studies: Individually Designed Specialization and Associate Professor of Psychology at Lesley University. Dr. Perrin’s current research focuses on affective responses to natural environments. Centering on aesthetic, spiritual, and experiential engagement, Jeff is primarily interested in exploring the relational unfolding between people and natural places.  At Lesley, Jeff teaches courses focused on the intersection of psychology and the environment including: Ecopsychology, Children and Nature, and Born to Be Wild: The Psychology of Wilderness Experiences.

He has presented his work at national and international conferences. Most recently Jeff has published in the Applied Environmental Education and Communication, Journal of Sustainable Education, The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Ecopsychology. He is also trained as a Climate Reality Leader by the Climate Reality Project.

Jeff holds a BA from Trinity College, a MA from University of Michigan, and a PhD from University of New Hampshire.

Barbara is a faculty member in the Inclusive Special Education Programs in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley. She has had experience teaching, supervising, designing programs and teaching educators in both general and special education. She is interested in neuroscience research and the implications for education, effective learning strategies for students with disabilities, executive function, differentiated instruction practices, the development of inspiring mentoring skills, and the collaborative educational process.

Kabba E. Colley is a Professor in the Ph.D. in Educational Studies Program in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. His rich professional experience includes high school science teaching, curriculum development, teacher education, program evaluation, education research, and higher education administration.

Prior to joining the faculty at Lesley University, he served as academic dean and department chair at various higher education institutions. In addition, he held research positions at TERC Inc., The Northeast Regional Educational Laboratory and The National Center for Improving Science Education. He is an experienced program evaluator and has evaluated nationally recognized science and mathematics education projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education.  

His most recent service to the academic community includes serving on the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Research and Dissemination Committee, the International Advisory Board of the National Science Teachers Association and reviewer for The Science Teacher, Cultural Studies of Science Education and American Journal of Evaluation.

Kabba’s research interests focus on project-based science instruction, gender issues in science education, international education, and recruitment and retention of Black and Latino male teachers.  He has authored two books, namely Resilience and success: The professional journeys of African American women scientists (co-authored with Dr. Binta M. Colley) (2013) and Purposeful engagement in science learning: The project-based approach (2016), Peter Lang Publishers, New York, NY.

He considers himself a “data head” and is currently studying and exploring possible applications of data science in education to inform policy and practice at the state level.  He is a recipient of the US Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Group Research Projects Abroad Award in 2017.

Stephen directs and teaches in the Educational Leadership and Human Development and Learning specializations of the PhD in Educational Studies program. He is a recognized educational leader with over 30 years of experience as an assistant superintendent, principal, and teacher. His areas of expertise include leadership development, curriculum, assessment, instructional design, organizational development, systems thinking, team building, strategic planning, and executive coaching.

Gould served as chair of the Professional Development Committee for the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association (MESPA) for over 10 years and was instrumental in developing MESPA's Principal Certification Program as well as their Doctoral Program Partnership with Boston College.

He has been a frequent workshop presenter, consultant and executive coach for MESPA, the National Institute for School Leaders (NISL), and the Ikeda Center. In a parallel life, Stephen is a song writer, composer and djembe player.

In academic year 2013-2014, Steve traveled to Kuwait to advise the Ministry of Education and work with school leaders to improve schools. The majority of the work is focused on helping 500 K-12 Kuwaiti school leaders better understand and implement collaborative approaches to improving teaching, learning, and leading.

See Steve’s conversation with the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, about the many connections between music and leadership. 

Education: BM, Berklee College of Music; M.Ed., Fitchburg State College; Ed.D, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Ulas is a professor in the PhD in Educational Studies program. He serves as the co-chair of Lesley's Institutional Review Board (IRB). He is a developmental scientist exploring human motivation and development from the perspective of complex dynamic systems. According to this perspective, human motivation, learning and development can be understood in terms of temporal relationships between multiple psychological, organismic and environmental factors, which are intertwined. Ulas's work in moral psychology connects cognitive-developmental ideas with an affective and dynamic understanding of the moral mind.

Ulas's work in human well-being examines psychological and physiological factors in relation to the therapeutic practice of mental imagery (intentional use of imagination). Similar to his exploration of moral judgment and motivation (to be subject to short-term changes), he examines well-being as an experience that is dynamically variable in a short time (microdevelopment of daily well-being).

In a book he recently published in his native language (Turkish) on violence and education, Ulas proposed a dynamic developmental update and revision of Dewey's and Kohlberg's progressive educational vision. That is, he proposed that development and well-being can be universally valuable and inclusive aims of education if both development and well-being are understood dynamically with an appreciation of complexity.

Dr. Caroline Heller is Professor Emerita at Lesley University. Previously, she taught in the PhD in Educational Studies programs in the Graduate School of Education. In her research courses, she brought her background as an urban educator, qualitative researcher of out-of-school literacy settings, writer for the Teaching Tolerance Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and archival researcher for her study of central Europe before the war.

Her interest in helping qualitative researchers write well about their areas of study led her and nine of her doctoral students to write a book describing this endeavor, Meaning is the Fruit of This Intimacy: Narrative Writing for Doctoral Students and Qualitative Researchers, to be published by Teachers College Press in early 2023.

Caroline’s memoir, Reading Claudius: A Memoir in Two Parts, was published by Dial Press, Penguin Random House in 2015, and was re-issued as a paperback by Leapfrog Press. It looks at Central Europe before, during, and after World War II through the lens of her own family, particularly her father, Paul, who was imprisoned in Buchenwald for six years. The memoir is based on historical research, letters, interviews, and extensive travel. The book was reviewed favorably in the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

George E. Hein, originally trained as a chemist, turned to science education and then museum education, joining Lesley University in 1975. He became Professor Emeritus in 1998. He was a Fulbright Research Fellow in Science Education at Kings’ College, London (1990), visiting faculty member at the University of Leicester Museum Studies Program (1996), Howard Hughes Visiting Scholar at the California Institute of Technology (1998), Osher Fellow at The Exploratorium in San Francisco (1999), Visiting Professor at University of Technology, Sydney (2000), Research Fellow at the Center for Education and Museum Studies at the Smithsonian Institution (2009-10), and Guest Scholar at The J. Paul Getty Museum in 2011.

George is the author, with Mary Alexander, of Museums, Places of Learning (AAM, 1998), Learning in the Museum (Routledge, 1998), and Progressive Museum Practice: John Dewey and Democracy (Left Coast Press, 2012), as well as numerous articles on visitor studies, museum education and museology.

He has lectured widely in the United States and abroad including Austria, Brazil, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Mexico, Norway, Spain, and Taiwan. He has been active in ICOM/CECA serving as both secretary and president of CECA in the 1990s. His primary current interest is the significance of John Dewey’s work for museums. George Hein's website.

Dr. Hein initiated the PhD in Educational Studies program at Lesley. He believes that doctoral work is a vehicle for exploring how to improve educational and human service practice by research and study at the highest level, and that doctoral work is way to build and strengthen a community of scholars committed to human service. In his honor, the PhD in Educational Studies program holds an annual George Hein Lecture each fall.

Education

BA, Cornell University
MS, University of Michigan
PhD, University of Michigan

Yazmin Colón Garcia is the Associate Director of the PhD Program in Educational Studies and has been at Lesley since 2008 in a variety of roles.

In her current role, Yazmin serves as the department's primary point of contact for information on student support and academic services. She works closely with senior advisors, specialization directors, and the co-chairs of the department, monitoring student academic progress from the point of enrollment through degree completion. Yazmin also works closely with university administrative offices, identifying issues for guidance, problem solving, and referring students to appropriate offices as needed.