Carol Lauritzen
Editor
Dr. Lauritzen (Ph.D. University of Missouri-Kansas City) has 30 years of experience in the field of Education: fifteen of those are in K-12 education, and the remainder is in higher education as a professor and consultant. She has served as a literacy project leader in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and the United States. Currently, Dr. Lauritzen serves as a Professor of Education and the Director of Teacher Education. Her research interests include early literacy, the reading process, the role of story and music in literacy learning, inquiry and integrated curriculum. She is the author of two books and various articles published in journals such as The Reading Teacher and Language Arts.

Ray Brown
Contributing Author
Outdoors / Loves to read / Determined / Family-oriented
Avid sports fan / Resolute / Traveler—loves Europe
But, "brevity is the soul of wit," thus, I close.

M. Ruth Davenport
Contributing Author
Ruthi loves to learn (the stack of books never ends!) and she thrives when she can help others with their learning. She is a partner in an equine therapeutic center, runs a designing business, and teaches music to learners of all ages. She conducts research in literacy learning and tutors students from preshcool through adults in reading and writing.

Jan Dinsmore
Cover Artist
When she was a little girl, Jan wanted to be either a movie star or a teacher. We are glad she chose the latter, although Kerri's young son thinks she looks like a movie star. Jan loves being warm, pushing learners to be great teachers, and delighting other people. Jan's little known accomplishments include making great ebelskivers and award-winning artwork—because her friends submit her pieces.

Karyn Gomez
Contributing Author
The inauspicious beginning of her academic career as a kindergarten drop out did not curb Karyn Gomez's enthusiasm for school. Once she returned to school as a first grader, she never left again. Her school career is in its 42nd year, including 15 years in sixth grade. She has spent much of her career adopting strays, both four-legged and two-legged, at home and at school. She looks forward to many more years of sharing her passion for teaching and advocating for kids of all ages.

Michael Jaeger
Contributing Author
A rock pick and shovel, a butterfly net, a pair of binoculars, a topo map, a mushroom knife; a table saw, lathe, nail gun, welder; an oscilloscope, soldering iron, signal tracer, meter—these are the tools Michael prefers over email, memos, and meetings.

Carol Lauritzen
Contributing Author
When she isn't teaching online graduate literacy classes, Carol reads, writes, hikes, skis, gardens, hunts for mushrooms and wild berries, sings, and dances with a folklore group. She grew up setting tubes and riding the range in her grandfather's Old 88 but fortunately she did not inherit a finicky stomach. Carol enjoys eating in unusual places around the world.

Lee Ann McNerney
Contributing Author
In her spare time, Lee Ann enjoys taking Spanish classes. Depending on the season of her life she is either swimming or going to Weight Watchers! She daydreams about traveling.

Sharon Porter
Contributing Author
Sharon can be found plucking away on her ukulele, reading young adult literature, trying out the newest technology, and singing and playing bass in several bands. In her spare time, she is mom to two Chiweenies and likes to wear out her luggage.

Scott Smith
Contributing Photographer
Scott Smith joined the CUESTE (undergraduate teacher education) team on the BMCC campus in 2008. Along with education, photography has always been an interest. For over 20 years, in addition to teaching, Scott and his wife (also a teacher) operated a studio, photographing weddings across the Pacific Northwest. If not in a classroom, Scott and Sue are with a camera sailing on their boat not far away.

Heather Stanhope
Contributing Photographer
Heather is the Advising Coordinator and Teacher Licensure Officer for EOU's College of Education. In her spare time she loves fitness (walking, biking, skiing, aerobics, swimming & diving), music (ukulele), photography and Facebook. She volunteers her time to several worthy community service activities. This year a special focus has been collaborating to soldify two local tour routes for the statewide Scenic Bikeways designation. After 12 years she still very much enjoys her job—colleagues & clientele make it happen . . . and it does help finance her passion for travel to new scuba diving locations!

Kerri Jo Wenger
Contributing Author
Kerri seems to spend equal time teaching future teachers and chasing kids human and caprine on her family's eastern Oregon farm. She loves teaching and learning in rural schools and multicultural classrooms, and really solid fences.

Donald Wolff
Contributing Author
Donald teaches a good deal online and students generally find little advantage in meeting him face-to-face. But often you can find him in La Grande walking his Golden Retriever, Sugar, or riding out to Ladd Marsh on his ten-speed, with the upright, old-man handlebars, not the curved racing ones—he's no longer built for speed.

Ralph Woodward
Contributing Author
From the vantage point of recent retirement, Ralph can see a long and illustrious career as a teacher. He wrote this poem while on a field trip with students at Ladd Marsh. Ralph enjoys woodworking, walking in the woods and gardening.