Author: Erin Goodman

Laura Rosof

Research Specialist
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Laura Rosof is a Research Specialist at the Early College Research Center. In this capacity, she serves as a project manager and provides research support and technical assistance for projects related to secondary and post-secondary access and success. Previously, she was at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University as a member of the Research and Evaluation team. Her previous experience also includes working with North Carolina schools to implement a literacy program and to support research projects, and managing the volunteer program at an education and arts non-profit serving under-resourced students and schools in Los Angeles, California. She believes in the power of data and research to improve educational outcomes for all students. She earned her masters degree in the Policy, Organizations, and Leadership program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, hiking, going to art museums, and traveling. 

Lisa Phillips

Lisa Phillips has been the State Coordinator for the NCDPI Homeless Education Program for over 10 years where she has provided training and support to school districts, educational partners, community organizations and state agencies.  Mrs. Phillips prepares regularly best practice materials for homeless liaisons to utilize in their practice, monitors the school districts and charter schools, provides training at the state and national level as well as oversees the Mentor Program for new State Coordinators for the US Department of Education. She has extensive experience in the public-school setting providing leadership to the school community as a school social worker as well as in the position of a principal. She owned and operated a small business for many years and holds degrees in Small Business Entrepreneurship, Bachelor of Science, School Social Work, and Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and School Administration. In her spare time, she enjoys being with her family, her adorable pups, cooking and spending time at the beach. 

Megan Orleans

Project Specialist
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Megan Orleans currently serves as a Project Specialist for SERVE at UNC Greensboro where she leads statewide capacity-building initiatives and supports large-scale project development for SEAs, LEAs, and community-based organizations across the region and country. Her expertise spans project management, grant development, and program implementation in formal and informal education settings, including over 10 years of experience in designing, operating, and monitoring 21st CCLC programs at the local and state levels. Her approach to working with clients and colleagues focuses on high-impact, human-centered design methods that drive systemic change and enhance educational outcomes. 

Kathleen Mooney

Kathleen Mooney has experience as an evaluator with the SERVE Center since 2001 developing and implementing evaluation plans that facilitate the use of data to ensure continuous program improvement. She has worked on multiple state- and federally-funded evaluations for programs including the Regional Educational Laboratory, Race to the Top, 21st Century Learning Centers, School Improvement Grants, North Carolina’s Extended Learning and Integrated Student Supports, and several university-based National Science Foundation grants. Program evaluation services she often provides include: developing scopes of work, evaluation plans, and logic models; ensuring Institutional Review Board (IRB) compliance; conducting literature reviews; identifying relevant data collection and analysis methods; providing technical assistance to enhance program-level evaluation capacity; and reporting findings to funding agencies.

On a personal note, Kathleen is a proud mom of two beautiful and energetic children, Eloise and Sammy. In her free time, she loves to spend time with her husband and children swimming, urban hiking, reading, and watching their crazy pet chickens in the backyard.

Wendy McColskey, Ph.D.

Wendy McColskey joined the SERVE Center at UNCG when it first established itself in 1991 after receiving funding from the USED to operate the Regional Educational Laboratory for the Southeast with a mission of supporting educators in six southeastern states with research, evaluation, policy analysis, and professional development. With her Ph.D. in educational research and evaluation, she was very excited to find herself on the ground floor at SERVE in its early days, providing leadership for R &D projects and working collaboratively with school district partners. Her almost 30 years of leading Research and Evaluation projects resulted in over 40 SERVE publications and products (most recently Measuring Student Engagement in Upper Elementary through High School: A Description of 21 Instruments).  Supporting school efforts to improve student engagement and motivation is a particular interest and passion of hers. From 2000-2011 at SERVE, she worked at the forefront of supporting educators in the use of data and research (evidence-based interventions). Currently, she is semi-retired and serves as a Program Director for Evaluation Services. She is an experienced program evaluator, having evaluated a wide range of projects ranging from curriculum reforms to low performing school interventions and most recently, statewide 21^st Community Learning Centers and Integrated Student Support programs. In her non-SERVE time, she enjoys competing in national senior tennis tournaments, playing on US teams that have competed in France, Finland, and Croatia.

Audrey Martin-McCoy

Associate Director
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Audrey Martin-McCoy joined the SERVE Center as a Specialist for State Projects in January 2021 and began work as Interim Associate Director for Federal Partnerships in the spring of 2023. Before the program ended, she worked on several projects in the Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6) focusing on creating positive outcomes for students and schools and continues to work with the Federal Programs Office for the NC Department of Public Instruction on various initiatives. Her background involves directing educational programs and innovative projects and she remains steadfast in serving and supporting educators. She began her professional career as a high school social studies teacher and has nearly 25 years in the field of education. In her previous role as Director of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment at Mars Hill University, she helped lead decennial accreditation reaffirmation efforts and corrected non-compliance issues identified by the regional accrediting agency. Audrey’s previous professional experience also includes work with Wake County Public School System, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, and the Office of the North Carolina State Board of Education.

Audrey holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Secondary Social Studies Education from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, a Master of Education in Adult and Community College Education, and a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Research and Policy Analysis, both earned from North Carolina State University.

Audrey recognizes the transformational impact of education particularly for those from historically underrepresented and underserved populations. She seeks to investigate factors contributing to academic success and connections to program and policy implementation. Audrey believes this study will better inform practice and help unravel and remove structural obstacles that impede achievement for all students. She has served in multiple liaison roles promoting diplomacy and collaborative decision-making to foster positive relationships with diverse stakeholders. She sincerely enjoys bringing people together to share ideas and create new pathways to solve problems.

Audrey is married to Jonathan McCoy, a fellow educator and Director of the Center of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and instructor of history at Mars Hill University.

Karla Strong, Ph.D.

Dr. Karla Strong is the Associate Director of State and Community Relations at the SERVE Center. Karla also co-directs the Nonprofit Evaluation Support Program (NESP) and previously served as Co-Director for the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE). She began her career as a Social Worker with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and thus has knowledge of working with vulnerable populations through working in that capacity. Before coming to SERVE in 2003, she held a 2-year Spencer Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University, Center for Social Organization of Schools to extend her dissertation research on parent and family involvement. Through her Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6) work, she continues to work on family and community engagement projects.

Karla is also an experienced evaluator; her projects have included evaluations of Early College High School projects, student support services, violence prevention initiatives, and STEM initiatives. Karla has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bridget Johnson

Specialist for State Projects
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Bridget Johnson joined the SERVE Center as a Specialist for State Projects in April 2020. She originally split her time between the Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6) and projects supporting the NC Department of Public Instruction. Bridget comes to SERVE with 19 years in public school positions including classroom teacher, assistant principal, and principal. Most recently Bridget served as the K-12 Director for Curriculum and Instruction for Moore County Schools. She holds a bachelor’s from Purdue University, a master’s in School Administration from UNC-Pembroke, and in 2019, completed a Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from East Carolina University.

Bridget’s strengths and passion include planning and delivering high quality professional development. Specifically, she enjoys helping teachers and administrators through school improvement planning, establishing effective PLC practices, and implementing research-based early literacy practices. Bridget has served as a district MTSS coordinator and has served on numerous regional and state level committees.

Bridget is the mother of three school-aged girls and is married to Steve, who also works at SERVE as a STEM Specialist. The family most enjoys spending time together playing games, watching movies, and traveling to see extended family in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Bryan Hutchins, Ph.D.

Dr. Bryan Hutchins is a Research Specialist at SERVE Center where he has served as a PI or Project Director on a number of evaluation and research studies, including those related to high school reform and the transition to adulthood. Dr. Hutchins was co-PI for an evaluation of the NC DPI Read to Achieve Program, as well as project manager for the NC DPI Race to the Top Omnibus Survey. Dr. Hutchins currently provides analysis and data management support for an Investing in Innovation (i3) project designed to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of programs applying early college strategies in traditional high schools. He also serves as Project Director for an evaluation of an NSF grant program designed to improve outcomes for computer science majors. Dr. Hutchins serves as a statistical consultant on UNCG’s Project ENACTeD (Engaging and Advancing Community-Centered Teacher Development), which provides supports to teachers working with English learners and their families. Before coming to SERVE, Dr. Hutchins served as Project Director on the Rural High School Aspirations Study at the National Research Center on Rural Education Support.

Across these studies, Dr. Hutchins provides design and analysis support as well as day-to-day project and data management for complex state and national research and evaluation studies. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology, Measurement, and Evaluation from UNC-Chapel Hill. His research interests include rural education, high school reform, and career development programs and services. His research has appeared in a number of recent publications including: American Journal of Education, Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, and The Career Development Quarterly. Dr. Hutchins has also taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in child and adolescent development, psychology of learning in the schools, and methods in educational research.

Erin Goodman

Erin Goodman joined the SERVE Center as administrative support in 2018. She currently works with Operations and NCHEP and assists as she can with anything else that comes up. Before starting at SERVE she did temp work with UNCG’s Donor Relations, worked as an assistant manager at a local restaurant, learned to quilt as part of her job at a fabric shop, and taught English to high school kids in Japan for three amazing years. She still occasionally expects the steering wheel to be on the right side of the car and enjoys tennis, short hikes, and curling up on the couch with a good book.