2026 Spring Assembly honors faculty and staff retirees

At the 2026 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.

Nina Asher has served as a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She started at the U, in C&I, as the chair of the department in 2011. Prior to that, she was the J. Franklin Bayhi Endowed Professor of Education at Louisiana State University. Nina earned her Doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1999. Her educational journey began in India, where she received a master’s degree in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, an experience that continues to inform her focus on social justice and marginalized communities. 

Nina’s work draws on postcolonial and feminist theories, decolonization, and globalization as well as Asian American studies and critical perspectives on multiculturalism. While here at the U, she received a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Research Award for her research project in India as well as a Fulbright Specialist Award for a multi-university, interdisciplinary “American Studies” project. She also served CEHD as core faculty of the U’s Dissertation Proposal Development Program. This is fitting as work with the excellent, motivated graduate students within and beyond the Department of Curriculum and Instruction has been—and remains—one of the most fulfilling aspects of her professional journey. 

Ted Christ has been faculty in the Department of Educational Psychology from 2005 to 2026. As a tenured professor, he was awarded the John P. Yackel Endowment for Educational Assessment and Measurement. He served the department as Director of Graduate Studies and the college as Director of the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement.

Across his career, Ted collaborated with many faculty and students, receiving more than $15 million in federal funding. His work built on prior innovations by University scholars; making important contributions to curriculum-based measurement, computer adaptive testing, and data-based problem solving in schools. His work resulted in more than 100 publications, 100 national presentations, and 20 assessments.

Ted also pursued projects to translate and distribute solutions for positive societal impact. He partnered with the U to establish an ed-tech start-up company, Fast-Bridge Learning. This LLC was created to distribute university-based assessments for use in schools. By 2026, the systems created by Ted and colleagues were being used by more than 400,000 educators and 3 million students.
Across his career, Ted contributed service, research, and innovations that impacted scholars, educators, and students; creating a legacy that will continue into the future.

Kristin Dean retired from the Institute on Community Integration in 2025, concluding a career defined by over 30 years of service to the disability community. Joining the Institute in 2001 as an information technology professional, Kristin’s role evolved alongside the organization’s growth, eventually leading to her appointment as director of information technology. 

Her professional background combined direct support and frontline supervision with technical expertise, allowing her to bridge the gap between human services and digital solutions. During her tenure, she focused on using technology to communicate research effectively, specifically through data visualization. She was instrumental in advancing the institute’s data security protocols and championed accessibility through the strategic application of digital tools. Prior to her time at the Institute, Kristin worked extensively with individuals with disabilities in residential and semi-independent living settings. Her leadership ensured that the institute’s technical infrastructure remained secure and accessible. The technical frameworks she established and her integration of frontline experience into digital strategy will continue to inform the institute’s operations.

Megan Gunnar is a Regents Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Institute of Child Development. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Stanford University in 1978 and a postdoctoral fellowship in psycho-neuro-endocrinology. She joined the faculty of ICD in 1979. 
She has spent her career studying how stress affects development and the processes that help children regulate stress hormones. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Education. She has lifetime achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, the Association for Psychological Sciences (APS), the International Society for Psychoneuroendocrinology, and the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology (ISDP). 

She also has mentoring awards from APS and ISDP. In addition, MEEgan is involved in many activities to translate the science of early development for use by policy makers, including being a founding member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and previous service on the Minnesota Governor Children’s Advisory Council. She is on the boards of Think Small—which advocates for affordable and high-quality child care—and the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, which provides support for low income, highly stressed families. 

Lisa Kihl retires as a full professor of Sport Management and the director of the Global Institute for Responsible Sport Organizations in the School of Kinesiology. Her research examines the intersections of sport ethics, governance, and policy in fostering socially responsible sport organizations. She has published and presented extensively on the topics of sport integrity, causes, consequences, and reform efforts of corruption in sport, sport social responsibility, and athlete representation. As a recognized international scholar in sport integrity, Lisa has shared her expertise with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and served as an affiliated scholar with various international and national research centers, including at the University of Michigan, Ghent University in Belgium, and the University of Canberra in Australia.

A prominent leader in her field, she served as president-elect, president, and past-president of the North American Society for Sport Management from 2018-2021, received the Garth Paton Distinguished Service Award in 2022, was named a Research Fellow in 2016, and received Qatar’s Rule of Law and Anti-Corruption Center Excellence Award in Safeguarding Sports from Corruption in 2022.

Eileen Klemm recently retired from the Institute on Community Integration after 15 years of dedicated service as director of Check & Connect, a nationally recognized student engagement and dropout prevention program. Throughout her tenure, she championed relationship-based approaches to education, helping schools and communities better support students facing persistent barriers to successful graduation. Under her leadership, Check & Connect expanded its reach and impact, equipping educators with practical tools and training models to build trust, monitor student progress, and intervene early when challenges arose.

Eileen was known for her steady guidance of the Check & Connect team, deep commitment to equity, and her ability to translate research into meaningful, real-world practice. Colleagues valued her collaborative spirit and unwavering focus on improving outcomes for underserved youth. Her work has left a lasting imprint on the field, influencing how educators across the country think about student engagement and persistence. As she steps into retirement, Eileen leaves behind a strong foundation and a legacy defined by compassion, innovation, and lasting change in the lives of countless students.

Karen Miksch is an Associate Professor of Higher Education and Law in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development. She received her JD from the University of California, San Francisco College of the Law in 1989. Prior to joining the faculty, she was a civil rights attorney in California and conducted over 150 trainings, nationally on immigrant and civil rights issues. She joined General College in 1999 as a Policy Fellow and the faculty as an assistant professor in 2002. Her research, teaching, and service focus on access to higher education policy and law and the transitions to higher education. 

Highlights during her career include teaching 20 different courses where she learned from and with undergraduate and graduate students, as well as her reciprocal advising relationships with PhD and master’s students. Research highlights include working on a project funded by the William T. Grant Foundation to understand research use in the courts and four amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court detailing the social science research supporting affirmative action. Karen has been active in institutional service and disciplinary service and was awarded the President’s Award for Outstanding Service in 2017 and the ASHE 2021 Distinguished Service Award.

Julie Michener is the Communications and Marketing Manager for the Department of Family Social Science. She retires this June after a 40-plus year career in journalism and public relations. A graduate of Minnesota State, Moorhead, she was a broadcast journalist who then transitioned to non-profit public relations and worked for arts organizations in Arizona, Texas, and Minnesota. She created and executed media relations campaigns, promoted fundraising galas, and managed media sponsorship collaborations. 

Prior to joining the U in 2017, she served as strategic communications manager for St. Catherine University. She also collaborated with faculty leaders to launch the National Center for STEM Elementary Education and was a member of the St. Kate’s reaccreditation task force to manage communications and stakeholder engagement. She served on the Sci-Math-MN board that created and managed “STEM Day at the State Fair.” She has also served on the Crestron Service Provider Advisory Board and, representing her husband’s audio-video programming company, Rocking M Coding & Design, and on the board of Central States Dressage and Eventing Association.

Michael Moore, editor and writer, served as the communications lead for the National Center on Educational Outcomes at the Institute on Community Integration for 33 years. Michael developed, implemented, and monitored NCEO’s internal and external communications, which included writing, editing, and managing all aspects of publications, website content, and social media. Working with the center’s co-directors, he developed and maintained an overall communications strategy incorporating website resources and implementing social media messaging strategies to targeted audiences. These activities included managing websites and editing e-newsletters. He also oversaw publicity and press coverage of NCEO activities. His attention to producing high-quality publications and creating strategic dissemination pathways has contributed to NCEO being one of the longest operating technical assistance centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. In addition, he provided communications support to and developed products for a variety of NCEO-affiliated projects. 

Michael is an award-winning writer who has published in local and national newspapers, magazines, literary journals, and books. He received a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Hamline University and is the recipient of many awards, including a University of Minnesota Communicators Forum “Gold Award” for feature writing, and the Institute on Community Integration “Excellence and Community Building Award.”

When Kathy Seifert first stepped foot on this campus, she was 10 years old. Her father brought her to Memorial Stadium for her first Gopher football game. She decided then that she would someday attend the University of Minnesota. In fact, she was so enamored with the U of M that she dreamt about becoming a college professor someday. When she enrolled as a freshman, she lived in Territorial Hall, registered for classes in person in Appleby Hall, and her student ID number began with the number 1. When she enrolled in the PhD program in the Department of Educational Psychology in 2000 and was eventually hired to teach in the Special Education program in CEHD in 2004, she was issued that same ID number; a number that exemplifies her long history with the University of Minnesota. 

Over the past 20 years as a teaching professor, she’s instructed close to 4,000 teacher candidates who in turn, have instructed nearly a hundred thousand children. When asked how she feels about this accomplishment, she says, “I know that figure is surpassed by many great instructors on this campus, but it’s still pretty darn cool. I accomplished my dream. How lucky am I.”

Virginia Solis Zuiker began her career in education over four decades ago as a public-school teacher in South Texas in predominately Hispanic school districts. She then worked as an assistant state specialist with Oklahoma State University Extension, which led to a doctorate from The Ohio State University in 1996 and being hired by the Department of Family Social Science here at CEHD.
Virginia taught courses in personal and family finance, family financial counseling, and family resource management, devoting her professional career focusing on educating and understanding financial issues impacting the daily lives of students, individuals, and families. She became an Accredited Financial Counselor and under her leadership, the University became the first Accredited Financial Counselor University Approved Educational Program in the state. Her research findings have been disseminated widely. She mentored students and junior faculty that have had remarkable success, receiving awards for their work.

Recognizing her exceptional service to teaching, outreach, and as a mentor who gives back to students and is committed to educating clients, she was awarded the 2024 Mary Ellen Edmunson Financial Educator of the Year award. She received CEHD’s Distinguished Teaching award in 2025. 

Janet Stewart served as the principal writer and editor for the Institute on Community Integration for seven years, following a distinguished journalism career with the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and other major publications. As the managing editor of Impact, she applied a rigorous journalistic approach to 17 issues, guiding the magazine’s transition to address complex topics such as disability justice, sexuality and gender identity, and addiction. Janet prioritized accessibility by launching Spanish and clear-language versions of the magazine, ensuring information reached a broader audience, including individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Her ability to coordinate researchers, advocates, and experts within a disciplined four-month production cycle ensured each fifty-page issue remained a practical resource for the field. In 2024, she expanded the Institute's outreach by launching the podcast series Impact: The Conversation. 

Beyond her editorial oversight, Janet authored more than 190 feature stories, utilizing her reporting background to share research and personal narratives through university and mainstream media. Her commitment to clear-language communication and high editorial standards leaves a structured framework for the institute’s future publishing and outreach efforts.

John Westerman served as an information technology professional at the Institute on Community Integration from 2001 to 2025. Throughout his 24-year tenure, he developed and maintained several of the institute’s digital platforms, including Self-Advocacy Online and Positive Support Minnesota. Most notably, he managed QualityMall.org for nearly two decades. Operated by the Research and Training Center on Community Living, this site functioned as a comprehensive database under his technical oversight, eventually cataloging over 3,400 resources regarding person-centered supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. John’s work ensured these digital tools remained accessible and operational for a broad audience, including families, advocates, service providers, and government officials. By managing these systems, he provided the necessary technical support for the institute’s daily operations and outreach efforts. 

His retirement marks the conclusion of a career defined by consistent service and the practical application of technology to meet the institute's communication needs. The digital architecture he maintained serves as a practical foundation for the institute's ongoing efforts to share research and support the disability community.

Diane Wiese-Bjornstal was a full professor in the School of Kinesiology, serving as a faculty member for 37 years. She is the founder and director of the Sports Medicine Psychology Laboratory. A pioneer in the field of sports medicine psychology, Diane’s research examines the psychosocial and behavioral factors influencing injury risk, prevention, and recovery among physically active populations across the lifespan. She is widely recognized for her seminal work on the integrated model of psychological response to the sport injury and rehabilitation process. Diane also studied the psychological aspects of sport participation among girls and women, and her recent work focused on the role of religiosity and spirituality in coping with sport injuries. 

She is a Certified Mental Performance Consultant and an affiliated scholar with the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Additionally, she is an elected Fellow of both the National Academy of Kinesiology and the Association for Applied Sport Psychology and previously served on the Science Board of the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. Diane mentored countless students and young faculty and served in many administrative roles, including as director of graduate studies several times, associate director, and interim director of the School of Kinesiology.