Our Staff
Get to Know Us
Alissa Rausch, EdD
Director, PELE Center, Assistant Research Faculty
In my career I have supported the educational rights of young children, especially those with disabilities and with intersectional identities as a provider, program leader, advocate, preservice faculty, and technical assistance provider. My experiences have varied across almost every area of the expansive field of early childhood education.
Michael Barla, EdD
Dr. Michael A. Barla is a Research Associate Professor in the Positive Early Learning Experiences (PELE) Center at the University of Denver. He previously worked as a Clinical Assistant Professor in the early childhood and early childhood special education licensure programs at the University of Colorado Denver. Prior to joining the faculty at CU-Denver, he was an Assistant Professor of early childhood education and special education at Fontbonne University in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Barla began his public-school career as a Speech-Language Pathologist working with children ages pre-k through high school in Illinois, Florida, and Missouri. He then moved into positions focusing on educational assessments and administration and spent the final five years of his public-school career as the Director of Early Childhood Education for the Rockwood School District in St. Louis County, MO. As the Director of ECE, Dr. Barla was responsible for the collaborative leadership of four programs in the school district: tuition-based early childhood education, early childhood special education, Parents as Teachers and screening. Dr. Barla has worked on the following grant-funded projects: EPIC-ECE (Ensuring Preparation of Inclusive Early Childhood Education by Enhancing ECE Teacher Preparation in Colorado) – University of Colorado Denver; Placed-Based Bachelor of Arts in ECE – University of Colorado Denver; and Circle Grant focused on Community Inclusion – PELE Center at the University of Denver. He holds a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Nancy Burdic
Nancy Burdic joined the PELE Center as a Senior Research Associate after a lengthy career serving young children and their families in the public-school setting. She characterizes her early training in high-quality inclusive strategies as transformative, which significantly informed her practices as a speech/language pathologist, ECE instructional coach, and ECE department director. She is committed to assisting leadership teams, coaches, and classroom providers in developing, implementing, and sustaining high-quality inclusive programs to benefit each child and family in their community.
Delphine Cillard-Garcia
Delphine.Cillard-Garcia@du.edu
Delphine Cillard-Garcia is the Administrative Assistant for the PELE Center. She has a master’s degree in applied foreign languages and international business from the Sorbonne University in Paris, France. She worked as a Marketing Specialist for national and international marketing and communications projects. She also has experience as an Executive/Administrative Assistant within a variety of corporations and non-profit organizations.
Sally Hansen, MA MFT
Sally began working in early childhood education and children’s mental health in 2001. As a family therapist, an early childhood education behavior consultant and early childhood program administrator, Sally blended the mental health framework with an educational approach to fully understand and support children and families. Since 2014, Sally has provided technical assistance to early learning programs adopting the Pyramid Model and focusing on Inclusion. She is experienced in designing and delivering professional development using proven adult learning strategies and implementation science. Sally has extensive experience assisting classroom staff to implement evidence-based practices in inclusive settings, providing coaching to individuals and program leadership teams, and leading a state implementation team for cross-sector collaboration.
Jackie Joseph, PhD
Dr. Jackie Joseph is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Denver Positive Early Learning Experiences Center, where her work promotes high-quality inclusion across the early care and education system. She specifically focuses on family partnerships and evidence-informed practices for fostering each and every young child’s social, emotional, and behavioral development. Jackie’s experience working in child care administration offers her an applied understanding of implementing and scaling high quality inclusion. Dr. Joseph has two young children herself, one of whom happens to have a rare genetic syndrome. Her anti-ableist research and work are strongly influenced by her family’s experiences, and Jackie strives to co-create opportunities and spaces that ensure that all young children, disabled and nondisabled, and their families experience meaningful inclusion and belonging.
Ben Riepe
Ben Riepe, MA is an Inclusion Coaching Specialist for the Positive Early Learning Experiences (PELE) Center at the University of Denver. As a Head Start teacher, coach, and trainer he supported high fidelity program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model. At the Colorado Center for Social Emotional Competence and Inclusion, he supported communities in their efforts to embed evidence-based practices into their systems and classrooms. Ben is on staff for both the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) and the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA). He is committed to supporting systems to implement inclusive policies and practices, so every family and child feel they belong.
Ron Roybal
Ron is a trainer and coach for the PELE Center at the University of Denver Morgridge College of Education. Ron has been with the PELE Center for almost 20 years supporting high-quality inclusion for all. He has supported inclusion focus projects such as Professional Development in Autism, the Colorado Autism Project, and the Pyramid Model. Ron has been part of research projects related to challenging behaviors that include Prevent Teach Reinforce for Young Children. His passion for inclusion is what drives his work as a trainer, coach and consultant in early childhood. Prior to being a trainer and coach at the University of Denver, Ron was a teacher in an early childhood inclusive classroom for students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing students.
Angie Van Polen
Angie Van Polen is the Senior Project Manager at the Positive Early Learning Experiences (PELE) Center at the University of Denver. Angie has over 25 years of experience in the field of education. She has held positions as a special education teacher, special education consultant and state education agency consultant. Her experiences and background provide her with a strong understanding of how high-quality inclusion and evidence-informed practices can be embedded in classroom, program, and state level systems. Angie is passionate about early childhood systems work and the use of implementation science to guide cross-sector teams to make equitable and data-based informed decisions regarding a chosen initiative to enhance implementation of the initiative while continuously planning for systems improvement, scale-up, and sustainability.
Johanna Berry Wasser MA, ECSE
Johanna Wasser is a Senior Research Assistant for Positive Early Learning Experiences (PELE) Center at the University of Denver. Johanna has dedicated her professional career to promoting social-emotional competence and inclusion practices in early childhood education for over 25 years. She has a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and maintains her license as an Early Childhood Special Education. Johanna has worked with children, families, and professionals in a variety of settings including home, community, early childhood programs, and school districts. Currently, her role is a trainer, coach, and consultant. When Johanna is not hard at work, she enjoys spending time with her family and playing in the mountains.
Dameri Watson
Dameri is a Senior Research Associate with the Positive Early Learning Experiences (PELE) Center at the University of Denver. Early in her career, Dameri worked as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher in an inclusive preschool and continuously ran into the issue of knowing inclusive best-practices but lacking coaching support for high-quality implementation. After Dameri received coaching herself, it all clicked into place, and she was able to put theory into practice and experience the positive impact of inclusion for children and families first-hand. Now Dameri is committed to partnering with leaders and providers in states, communities, and local programs to foster and sustain high-quality inclusive experiences that welcome and support every child and family.
Kelly Wilson
Kelly Wilson rejoins the PELE Center in the role of Senior Research Associate. Kelly began her career with the PELE Center in 2001. She implements inclusive strategies in classrooms and communities supporting teaching staff, families, and administrators with inclusive practices to support all children in their natural settings. She has been training and implementing Pyramid Model practices for almost two decades. Kelly is co-author of Prevent Teach Reinforce: The School-Based Model of Individualized Positive Behavior Support, First and Second Edition, and Prevent Teach Reinforce: for Young Children, First and Second Edition. For the past six years Kelly has worked with Health Care Policy and Financing, our state Medicaid office, the Colorado Department of Education, and the Office of Early Childhood to learn about systems, barriers, and what works with implementation at state and federal levels. Kelly is excited to rejoin her colleagues at the PELE Center and continue supporting teams, administrators, and state systems and other practices that promote and support high quality inclusion.
Staff
Delphine Cillard-Garcia
Administrative Assistant, PELE Center
Delphine.Cillard-Garcia@du.edu
303-871-4937 (Office)