2025 Spring Assembly honors faculty and staff retirees

At the 2025 Spring Assembly, CEHD saluted those faculty and staff members who are leaving us. We thank them for their service and wish them well in the next chapter of their lives.

Gerald August joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1985 and his career in prevention science research focused on the mental health of children and adolescents.   His body of work includes over 100 peer-reviewed articles, eight NIH-funded research grants, and numerous research projects funded by state and private foundation programs. He has chaired symposiums and given presentations at national and international conferences. Gerald has served on the faculty of the Departments of Psychiatry, Family Social Science, and the Medical School, and held roles as the director of Psychological Services, director of the Center for Personalized Prevention in Children's Mental Health, and co-director of the Institute of Translational Science in Children's Mental Health. He led the Early Risers Conduct Problems Risk Prevention program that supported elementary school children who were experiencing early adjustment difficulties that may be linked to later risky behaviors. He also led the Center for Personalized Prevention Research designed to advance children's mental health with innovative approaches in precision healthcare. Throughout his career at UMN, Gerald provided key leadership, mentorship, and teaching to peers, scientists, junior investigators, and graduate students. He leaves a lasting legacy in the field.

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development Associate Professor Emerita Heidi Barajas’ contributions began as a graduate student hired to conduct research supported by the state on Latino student K-12 drop out. The outcomes prompted her to create a Latino-to-Latino mentor program, El Puente, matching UMN Latino students with K-12 Latinos. Fifty UMN students became mentors, all of whom graduated. The year after receiving tenure, Heidi was named department chair of the former General College, charged to support faculty, staff, and students in the closing process. Her next position brought public engagement to a new associate dean role in the College of Education and Human Development. While associate dean, Heidi worked with four faculty women to create the Women’s Faculty Cabinet supported by the provost’s office. The cabinet’s first major accomplishment changed the family leave policy, providing new parents with automatic leave. Overlapping her time as associate dean, Heidi was named executive director of the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center where she operationalized the research mission, bringing in grants in four focus areas. From 2016 to 2019, she served as chair of the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. Finally, Heidi was pulled from phased retirement to serve as the interim vice provost for public engagement tasked to have all five system campuses designated Carnegie Engaged. In 2023 the UMN system was the first university system to earn the designation.

Stacy Ernst has served the University for 20 years, most recently as the executive director of the Office of Teacher Education. During her tenure, she helped lead many significant endeavors with her team, including:

• Centralizing and aligning licensure advising, clinical coordination, accreditation, scholarship, and continuous improvement work in the dean’s office.
• Problem-solving with Minnesota agencies on behalf of the UMN Twin Cities campus, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the whole University Community worked to find ways to ensure teacher candidates were prepared and supported.
•  Engaging in three successful five-year accreditation self-study cycles with faculty, advisors, school partners, and teacher candidates to continuously improve CEHD’s programs and OTE’s work with them.
•  Serving Minnesota teacher preparation writ large with years of advocacy for positive changes to support future and practicing teachers across the state and nation, remaining cognizant of our responsibility to the public and our peers to advocate for positive change.

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development Professor Gerald Fry joined CEHD 25 years ago, after having been a full professor in political science at the University of Oregon, where he served as both director of the interdisciplinary International Studies Program and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies. In addition to having taught at Oregon for 22 years, he has also taught at Stanford, Hawaii, and various universities in Asia such as NIDA in Thailand and Nagoya University in Japan. In terms of educational background, Gerry did his undergraduate work at Stanford with a major in economics and minors in mathematics and German. He did graduate studies at Princeton (public and international affairs), Stanford (international development education), and Yale (advanced German). He was also a Pew Fellow in International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School. In 2005, he received CEHD’s Distinguished Teaching Award. In 2011, he received the UMN Global Engagement Award and an honorary doctorate from Thailand. He has published 20 books and hundreds of articles in such diverse fields as education, history, anthropology, sociology, economics, political science, and international relations. In 2024, he published Happiness Education: Holistic Learning for Sustainable Well-Being. In 2025, his magnum opus book covering every aspect of Thailand is being published.

After a career spanning 40 years at the University of Minnesota, Bob Janoski has retired—for a second time. He began his journey at the U in 1984 with the Department of Police, advancing to program director and overseeing multiple units. In 2004, he became the director of Central Security, developing award-winning security services. After a brief early retirement in 2014, Bob returned to the University as the administrative director for the School of Kinesiology where he oversaw strategic, operational, human resources, financial, and curricular needs. Bob's financial acumen resulted in a complete budget turnaround from deficit to fiscally sound, and strategically utilized funds with a robust reserve. Bob's drive to collaborate and advocate for others helped better focus a tight, productive, and happy staff unit. Bob also served as mentor and partner to new CEHD department admins and as an administrator, supervisor, and colleague, he was passionate about building relationships, empowering his team, and supporting the University's academic mission. Bob holds a degree in civil engineering from the U. Outside of work, Bob was a Twin Cities Men’s Amateur Baseball League Hall of Famer, managing teams to six division titles and two league championships.

Spanning 26 transformative years at the University of Minnesota, Li Li Ji profoundly influenced exercise science and kinesiology. As a senior faculty member and former director of the School of Kinesiology, he played a pivotal role in establishing the exercise physiology program, driving research on oxidative stress and muscle biology. Li also led the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene and Exercise Science with distinction. A dedicated researcher and educator, his expertise extended to exercise, aging, and nutrition. He developed innovative research programs, collaborated across disciplines, and established best practices in exercise physiology and muscle health. His efforts elevated the understanding of these critical areas. Recognized as an international authority, Li offered consultations both in the U.S. and abroad, collaborating with esteemed institutions like the American College of Sports Medicine. His influence reached national policy levels through roles such as serving on the ACSM Research Review Committee, where he helped shape exercise science and its applications. His scholarly contributions have been prolific, with books, journal articles, and reports exploring topics like aging, cardiovascular health, and oxidative stress. And his collaborations with organizations like the American Heart Association have addressed pivotal issues in public health.

Sheryl Lazarus retired in November 2024 after serving as director of the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the Institute on Community Integration. Throughout her distinguished career, she championed the inclusion of students with disabilities, English learners, and English learners with disabilities in educational assessments. Sheryl began her NCEO journey in 2001 as a graduate research assistant before earning her doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 2004. After working as a research scientist at the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, she returned to the University of Minnesota in 2007, becoming NCEO's assistant director in 2016 and director in 2019. Her leadership included directing the TIES Center from 2017 to 2021. The TIES Center promotes inclusive education for students with significant cognitive disabilities. She also led multiple federally funded projects focused on assessment accessibility and instructional decision-making. Sheryl authored 10 book chapters, over two dozen peer-reviewed publications, and more than 200 technical reports. Her pioneering work on assessment participation decision-making videos continues to be viewed by thousands of educators monthly. She established a notable legacy of advancing educational equity through evidence-based policy and practice, ensuring all students have access to appropriate educational assessments and opportunities.

Ann Masten is a Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor who joined the faculty of the Institute of Child Development in 1986. She completed her undergraduate degree at Smith College, her PhD in clinical psychology at the U, and her clinical internship at UCLA. Ann is internationally known for her research on resilience in human development, especially in the context of homelessness, poverty, disaster, war, and migration. She is a past president of the Society for Research in Child Development and the Developmental Division of the American Psychological Association. Ann has received numerous awards, including CEHD and University awards for her teaching. She is the recipient of mentoring and lifetime scientific contribution awards from the APA and SRCD, honorary degrees from Erasmus University of Rotterdam and Colgate University, and the 2024 Grawemeyer Award in Psychology for the idea of “ordinary magic” – the title of her most cited article and her book on resilience. She donated the award’s $100,000 prize for student summer fellowships. Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021, she has published more than 300 scholarly works, cited well over 100,000 times. Her free Mass Open Online Course on “Resilience in Children Exposed to Trauma, Disaster, and War” has been taken by thousands of participants from more than 180 countries.

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development Associate Professor Rosemarie Park joined the University of Minnesota in 1974 to develop a teacher training program in adult literacy. She earned her MA and doctorate in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a faculty member in adult literacy, she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses and supervised 59 doctoral students who went on to earn their PhD over the course of her career. Rosemarie also taught internationally in Thailand, Cambodia, and Eritrea. Her long and distinguished career includes service to several academic journals in adult education and human resource development. She has been awarded several community service awards, including the Minnesota Association for Continuing Adult Education Research Award, the Minnesota Adult Educator of the Year award from the Missouri Valley Adult Education Association, the St. Paul Public Schools Community Education Outstanding Service Award and an Advocates Award from the Minnesota Bar Association Civil Litigation Section.

Over the course of his professional career, Robert Poch consistently stood up for others. A unifying theme of his career is expanding educational opportunities for underserved persons by removing financial barriers to higher education and increasing access to high quality instruction and curricula. These public policy efforts were enabled through his service as director of the Minnesota Higher Education Services Office and assistant dean and director of student services in the U’s General College. Bob was then able to teach and publish about others who expanded educational opportunities on a national basis during his teaching career in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. His exemplary teaching was celebrated through several awards, including the Ronald McKinley "All My Relations" Award from the Minnesota Minority Education Partnership and the Morse-Alumni Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. A public servant to the end, Bob’s position as president of the Organization of Educational Historians from 2023 to 2024 enabled him to further publish and present on the educational contributions of unsung heroes of the modern U.S. Civil Rights movement. Bob epitomizes servant leadership and truly animates his convictions. We will always appreciate Bob’s willingness to stand up for others. While we miss him, we wish him all the best in his retirement. 

Stacy Remke has been a senior teaching specialist at the School of Social Work since 2012, focusing on health, disabilities, and aging, as well as interprofessional education. Prior to teaching, she spent 27 years as a pediatric social worker, assisting children and families with life-threatening, chronic, complex conditions. She was a founder of one of the first pediatric palliative care programs in the US at Children’s Minnesota Hospitals. Stacy was a co-investigator for the NCI-funded curriculum development project “EPEC-Pediatrics” and has taught the curriculum nationally and internationally. Stacy has contributed extensively to the knowledge base for the field of pediatric palliative care through publications and training. She served on the national Advisory Board for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s pediatric interest group, and as a faculty member for the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s PCLC at Children’s Minnesota. Stacy served on the Board for Social Work Hospice and Palliative Network, including as chair. She is a certified hospice and palliative care social work specialist. A member of The International Workgroup on Death, Dying, and Bereavement, she focuses on grief literacy, child loss, and childhood bereavement issues. She is a fellow in the National Academies of Practice.

Department of Curriculum and Instruction Professor Douglas Robertson grew up on Long Island, New York. Following undergraduate studies at Purdue in physics and mathematics, he came to Minnesota in 1968 for his graduate education. He studied astrophysics, then geophysics, and finally found that he loved teaching more than research and so settled on mathematics education. His master’s and doctoral research in the 1970s—the latter under now-retired Professor Tom Post—were early explorations of teaching with technology, such as the then newly available hand-held calculators. In 1974, he embarked upon his dream job of teaching developmental mathematics at the General College. With the General College, Doug contributed decades of scholarship through curriculum design for early undergraduate mathematics and computing courses. In 1990 he published his first book, Using Microcomputer Applications; it was one of the first textbooks for personal computing. This book is retained in libraries around the world, including Cambridge and Oxford, and university and national libraries in the U.S., Scotland, Ireland, and Singapore. Doug received many awards for his service and his teaching over the years. For the most prestigious of these, the Morse Alumni Award for Contributions to Undergraduate Education, you can find Doug’s name on the University of Minnesota’s Scholars’ walk.

Throughout 41 impactful years at the University of Minnesota, Tom Stoffregen has left an enduring legacy. As director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, he made groundbreaking contributions to disciplines including ecological psychology, coordination dynamics, embodied cognition, human factors, posture control, affordances, motion sickness, and the perception-action continuum. Tom’s extensive career in human experimental psychology encompassed pioneering research and education in areas such as the dynamics of actor-environment interactions, motion sickness, and maintaining postural stability. He played a key role in shaping best practices, designing curricula, and spearheading training initiatives that significantly advanced ecological psychology and human factors. His expertise reached global audiences, as Stoffregen collaborated with renowned experts worldwide.

Kyla Wahlstrom, senior research fellow and lecturer, has been a member of the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development faculty for 35 years. Her professional contributions include advising 27 doctoral and master’s students, teaching, creating new courses, developing the Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership degree program in collaboration with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, directing the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement for 20 years, serving on the University Faculty Senate for 12 years, and being awarded over $11 million in grant funding. She has published 57 peer-reviewed articles, given 43 peer-reviewed conference presentations, and written seven book chapters. Her research work in the U.S. for school leadership policies and in examining student outcomes for later school start times, work in international settings to improve their local education, and her representing the Fulbright Program in Russia, led to Kyla being awarded in 2023 the University of Minnesota’s highest award from the Board of Regents, the Academic Achievement Award.