Bios Gallery

Dr. Jeremy H. Ortloff is an expert in educational research, training and program development and evaluation for language minority communities. He has developed evaluations for out-of-school time and Title III grants for programs specializing in working with English Language Learners since 2005. He is able to bring his years of classroom experience to bear in developing professional inquiry experiences and making evaluation relevant for truly improving teaching and learning. With special insight on teaching and learning in diverse populations, Dr. Ortloff has also collaborated with international partners seeking to expand and improve their English language programs. In collaboration with the Tactile Group, a design firm in Philadelphia, Dr. J. Ortloff has been lead trainer on the U.S. Department of Education contract to create a new data collection system for the 21st Century CCLC (out-of-school time) program. He has developed a national train-the trainer curriculum for using the new cloud based tool as well as created the training protocols used for virtual training nationally.

Dr. Debora Hinderliter Ortloff is co-founder and senior researcher at Juniper Education Consulting. She is widely published in educational research methodology and education policy, with deep expertise in assessment, accreditation and using data to improve learning. Dr. Ortloff is passionate about working through educational problems with the insight of both an educational researcher and educator. In addition to her consulting work, Dr. Ortloff is Chief Planning Officer at Finger Lakes Community College. She is sought after as speaker and trainer on topics ranging from assessment of student learning and strategic planning to shared governance. Prior to joining FLCC Dr. D. Ortloff was a professor of educational research and multicultural education at the University of Houston Clear Lake. From 2007-2009 she was Associate Director for Research at the Center for Urban and Multicultural Education in Indianapolis. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy and dual master's degrees in Educational Psychology and Comparative Education from Indiana University Bloomington.

An educator with experience teaching both secondary and post-secondary mathematics, Jacob Amidon brings 20 years of experience to his work in assessment, accreditation and curricular reform. Since 2013, Jacob E. Amidon is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Finger Lakes Community College. He oversees online learning, concurrent enrollment, curriculum and assessment processes and other academic reform endeavors. He has been at Finger Lakes since 2002 on faculty in the mathematics department, earning the rank of Full Professor and served as Department Chair for six years. He has served in a variety of other roles in shared governance, chairing Academic Senate, serving as Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning and in various positions in the faculty union as well as taking on leadership roles in New York State Mathematics Association of Two-year Colleges. Mr. Amidon holds a B.S. in Mathematics from SUNY Geneseo and an M.A. in Mathematics from Binghamton University. In addition, to serving as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education, he has worked with a number of institutions on issues of higher education reform and leadership. He has given a wide-range of conference and invited presentations on curriculum and assessment reform.

Since 1999, Dr. Michelle L. Peters has been using her knowledge of educational research and statistics to help improve education at both the K-12 and higher education levels. She brings deep expertise in measuring the impact of education, teaching and learning, having served as a methodological expert on a wide variety of studies of learning including in STEM, informal education, early childhood and higher education. Dr. Peters has also written and/or provided statistical support for numerous technical reports for the American Chemical Society, Council of Chief State School Officers, Department of Education, The Harris Foundation, Hogg Foundation, Collaborative for Children, Chemical & Engineering News, and the Texas Education Agency, along with being a reviewer/presenter for international and national research conferences and a reviewer for various academic journals. She holds a M.S. degree in Nuclear Engineering from The Missouri University of Science and Technology, a secondary mathematics teaching certification from Drury University, and a doctorate degree from The George Washington University. In addition to her consulting work, Dr. Peters is currently Associate Professor of Educational Research and Applied Statistics at the University of Houston-Clear Lake’s College of Education.

Erika G. Swain has extensive experience in regional accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. During her 15-year tenure with both regional agencies, she directed and developed training for both evaluators and institutions, oversaw substantive change applications and review, state authorizations, and has worked extensively with accreditation-relevant federal regulations (HEA). A sought after speaker, she has presented on topics of accreditation and compliance at HLC, MSCHE and MSACROA conferences. She has also spent some time working with North Country Community College (NY) as the college Registrar, specializing in transfer, credit-hour policies, FERPA compliance, and data and records management programs. Ms. Swain holds a Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a Bachelor of Arts in History form Ithaca College.

Dr. Vesey graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a PhD in Educational Psychology, Quantitative Methods with a focus in psychometrics in 2004. Since earning her PhD, she has worked with the American Institutes for Research as a Research Scientist, University of Houston-Clear Lake as an Associate Professor and is currently a psychometrician at Elsevier Science. Dr. Vesey’s experience as an evaluator began with her role at the American Institutes for Research where she led the evaluation of several large programs, including the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation’s high school initiative and Carnegie Corporation’s high school reform program. With McWhirter Elementary School in Houston, Vesey managed the development and refinement of tools to help measure student biculturalism and student retention of material. She has expertise in the implementation issues of teacher evaluation programs as well as performance labels used in standard setting. Dr. Vesey is passionate about the field of education and helping educators solve the problems encountered in classrooms across the United States. Dr. Vesey’s quantitative, assessment, and evaluation expertise lend themselves well to program evaluation and assessment development for K – 12, high school, and beyond.

Dr. Antonio Corrales is a university professor and doctoral program coordinator in Educational Leadership at the University of Houston Clear Lake. He is a former teacher, campus administrator, and central office administrator with deep expertise in research, planning, and training. He has several years of experience in providing managerial leadership and administrative support to various departments in a variety of school districts and organizations, serving in executive and administrative positions at the district and campus level, as well as management of multimillion-dollar projects for multinational companies. Besides publishing articles on at-risk student populations and school turnaround, Dr. Corrales has also authored the book Undoing the Damage: Repairing a Broken School District, portraying the struggles of public education in the United States by detailing the story of a small urban public school district facing closure by the state’s Department of Education. Most recently, Dr. Corrales published his latest book Always Look 3 Stoplights Ahead: 9 Principles for Establishing Successful Schools, describing the remarkable journey of an immigrant from Hungary who become a highly effective educator guided by nine research-based educational leadership principles learned from both his mentors and his experiences on the path. Finally, Dr. Corrales created the YouTube channel Let’s Talk about Education with Antonio Corrales, a weekly conversational platform that hosts successful educators from around the world speaking on highly pertinent topics for parents, students, and educators. Dr. Corrales earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Universidad Metropolitana, in Venezuela, and his MBA from Reutlingen University of Technology & Business, in Germany. Following Dr. Corrales’ move to the U.S., he earned his master's and doctoral degrees in Educational Leadership.