LLAED Students and Graduates
LLAED Students
We would like for you to get to know our students better. Below you will find information on current students and recent alumni. If you would like any further information from the students, please feel free to contact them.
Graduated students, we strongly encourage you to become an alumni member. For more information, visit the Penn State alumni page.
Current Student Profiles
Doctoral Students
Dare Amusa
Dare is a Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant for Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy. He holds both M.Ed and B.A (Ed) in Manpower Training and Development and Adult Education, respectively, from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. With more than 10 years of experience in teaching, research, and community service, he has worked with adult learners across various contexts. His research focuses on Out-of-School young adults, equal educational opportunity, women's education, and community development.
Mphage Lawrence Mashabela
Mphage Lawrence Mashabela is a labor organizer and researcher with over seven years of experience in South African public sector unions, serving as an organizer and educator. His work has centered on recruitment, worker education, collective bargaining, and advancing labor rights. He holds a Master of Professional Studies in Labor and Global Workers’ Rights from Penn State, a B.A. Honors in Labor Policy and Globalization from the University of the Witwatersrand, and a BTech in Business Administration from the University of Johannesburg. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education at Penn State, with a minor in African Studies, where his research explores the role of labor education and trade unions in shaping worker consciousness and collective action.
Hyeon Kang
Hyeon is a Ph.D. student in the Lifelong Learning and Adult Education program. He holds a B.A. and M.A. in Lifelong Education from Soongsil University in South Korea. He served as an officer in the Republic of Korea Army for three years, where he was responsible for education and training. His research interests include lifelong learning policies, middle-aged and older adult learners, the aging workforce, and educational gerontology.
Kelli Harris
Kelli is pursuing a dual-title doctoral degree in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education and Comparative and International Education. She holds degrees from the University of Virginia and Georgetown University, with an academic background in Middle East Studies, history, religious studies, and learning design. She has 15 years of experience in higher education, primarily supporting graduate students. Her interests include postgraduate education, knowledge production in higher education, and global education and learning.
Erika Mazzoli
Erika has worked as an adult teacher at the CPIA Ferrara for six years, teaching German and Italian as a Second Language. She was also the assistant principal, coordinator of the literacy teaching staff, of European projects, and the school self-evaluation team. She earned her Ed.M. in English and German Languages and Literature from the University of Bologna and her German Teaching Degree from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. At Penn State she works as a graduate assistant with the Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy and the Institute for the Study of Adult Literacy. Her research interests focus on international Adult Education policies, intercultural communication, and family literacy.
Junghyun Kim
Junghyun Kim holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Education and Social Studies Education from the Korea National University of Education and a master’s degree in Lifelong education from Seoul National University. In graduate school, she worked with the local government to coordinate an adult education program for community leaders. She was involved in developing the curriculum and evaluation indicator for the 50-64 age group. After earning her Masters, she worked as a research assistant in a career exploration learning center in KRIVET (Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education & Training). Her current research interest involves learning and education in environmental movements and grassroots attempts to innovate education.
Sharmistha Barat
Sharmistha is pursuing a dual-title doctoral degree in Lifelong Learning and Adult Education and Comparative and International Education. She obtained her master’s degree in Early Childhood Education with a minor in Counseling from the University of North Texas. Most of her current research work is focused on Penn State’s diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. She aspires to teach and conduct research in the adult and international education fields. Her research interests encompass grass-roots governance models, Indigenous Peoples, strategic educational partnerships, higher education, workers' education, and social justice issues.
Publications:
Bekele, T. A., Cossa, J., & Barat, S. (2021). Toward Building Strategic International University-Society Partnerships for Africa. Modern Africa: Politics, History, and Society.
Astrid Magnhild Høgmo
Astrid Hoegmo is dedicated to educational theories in practice. She has been an entrepreneur in Norwegian adult education for 20 years and is now diving into research where practice and theory will be connected. The energy from rural Arctic Norway is fundamental for Astrid, and her heart beats for humans living their lives outside the box. Astrid is a Master of Education in International Comparative Education from Stockholm University and a Master of Education in Montessori Integrative Learning from TIES Endicott College. How do you lead and organize a learning organization based on self-organized learning? This is the research Astrid is entering in the Ph.D. program. Her research interests are Transactional Distance Theory, Montessori Integrative Learning, Self-Organized Learning, Organic Leadership in Education.
Eric J. Hunting
Eric is a poet and essayist, using these forms to discuss culture and identity. He holds dual degrees in Sociology and Psychology from Grand Valley State University and an M.S. in Counseling, Adult, and Higher Education from Northern Illinois University. Before arriving at Penn State, he worked at Cornell University as a Student Affairs professional within residence life. Most notably, Eric ran Cornell’s only residence hall dedicated to music and using music as a pedagogy for community building. He works as a graduate assistant with the Sokolov-Miller Family Financial & Life Skills Center. His research interests look at social protest music and embodied learning. He is particularly interested in looking at punk music and the role of the body as sites of resistance and developing critical consciousness.
Sophie Kandler
Sophie Kandler is a Ph.D. student in Adult and Continuing Education with a minor in Women’s Studies. She holds both Bachelor’s (Secondary Education, 1989) and Masters (Instructional Design, 2007) in Education from Penn State. Sophie has worked in various jobs over her life: from sewage plant worker to bartender, sales trainer to instructional designer. She is an activist and has organized and attended peaceful protests and spoke about Transgender issues in schools, universities, and companies internationally. She also performs volunteer work, including being a former volunteer paramedic on a local rescue squad. Sophie is a writer and has been published in international magazines and the New York Times. She also writes an award-winning blog, as well as several online columns. Her Ph.D. research focuses on Cisgender/Transgender relations.
Ruth Parrish Sauder
Ruth is a D. Ed. candidate in the Department of Lifelong Learning and Adult Education. She received a B.S. in French and Francophone Studies and an M.A. in Teaching English as a Second Language from Penn State. She has taught a variety of composition, reading, oral communication, and special topics courses for multilingual students, including ESL 015 and ESL 118G at Penn State and intensive English classes at Penn State's Intensive English Communication Program and Millersville University's English Language Institute. Ruth has worked with refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers at CWS Lancaster, both as a vocational English language teacher and grants manager. Her research interests include oral history, decolonizing community-based participatory inquiry, and academic and institutional supports for refugee-background students in higher education.
Ammar Hamid
Ammar has worked as an educator and applied himself in international social work while working with the refugee population, especially with ESL. Ammar had graduated with his BA in international studies along with a MSW from Millersville University and continued his education by going for his doctorate in the Lifelong Learning and Adult Education program at Penn State University. Ammar has been involved with two years of supporting refugees during his graduate studies internship and interpreting for the Arabic speaking population for interviews, appointments for case worker consultations, and teaching in cultural orientation classes. Promoting education and independence has been an area of interest for individuals that needed advocation since graduate school and it has always been a goal in order to make a difference in peoples’ lives going ever since. Ammar is interested in learning languages, cultures of diverse groups, and broadened his social work practice in the health field.
Rich Akers
Rich earned a B.A. degree in Communications from the University of Pittsburgh, an M.A. degree in Liberal and Professional Studies from Towson University, an M.Ed. in Adult Education from Penn State, and a graduate certificate in Academic Advising from Kansas State University. Currently, Rich is a student academic adviser at Penn State World Campus, where he specializes in working with adult learners who are pursuing their undergraduate degrees. He is currently enrolled in the D.Ed. Lifelong Learning and Adult Education degree program. His research interests include online distance education, and adult learners enrolled in higher education degree programs.
Renee Thornton-Roop
Renee has a B.S. in Social Psychology from Park University and a Masters in Social Work from Radford University. Before Penn State, Renee worked with adults and children with intellectual disabilities as a Behavioral Consultant and Therapist. Currently, she is the Associate Director of the Office of Veterans Programs and Penn State University Park. Her research interest is examining the role of narrative, or story, in veterans’ transitions from the military to higher education.
M. Nadhir Ibn Muntaka
M. Nadhir Ibn Muntaka is a Ghanaian and an IT Specialist at Penn State. He is a dual-title Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems and Comparative International Education. He focuses on Lifelong Learning and Adults/Distance Education and improving learning in developing regions with minimal access to modern technology. His research focuses on understanding and managing NonCommunicable Chronic Diseases (NCDs) such as cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, stroke, and pulmonary heart diseases, and how people can learn and control NCDs through modern technology. Nadhir’s research interests are Learning and Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Distance/eLearning, Mobile/Computer-assisted Learning
Jennifer Blackburn Miller
Jennifer has a B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies with Minors in Music and International Studies from Radford University and an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) from Penn State University. Jennifer is interested in contemplative inquiry and holistic education and conflict transformation, trauma healing, and peacebuilding through the arts. Her dissertation research is about a social justice theatre program in Philadelphia, PA, and Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Her preliminary research on this program has been published in the Canadian Journal for the Study of Adult Education in the article titled The Transformative and Healing Power of Theatre of Witness.
Tulare Park
Tulare has a B.S. in Administration of Justice with a minor in Sociology from Penn State and a Master of Social Work from Temple University. Currently, Tulare is a faculty instructor and Director of the Office of Disability Services at Lock Haven University with professional experiences including college instructor, academic advisor, and social work/mental health practitioner in college, community, and correctional facility settings. Tulare’s primary research interest is adult learners' emotional and relational experiences, particularly students with disabilities in higher education/online education. Tulare has co-presented at AAACE and AERC regarding the experiences of advanced-career doctoral students and the experiences of mothers of children with disabilities.
Program Graduates
Please visit our LLAED Dissertations page to learn more about past doctoral students' research topics.