imprints

Winter 2011

New Faces to EHHD

Fenqjen Luo

Fenqjen Luo comes to MSU from the University of West Georgia and is an assistant professor of math education K-8. Originally from Taiwan where she was an elementary teacher, Luo moved to the United States in 1994 to pursue a master’s and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. She returned to Taiwan, but moved back to the U.S. in 2003 to teach at the university level in Georgia.

“There is a shortage of math educators,” said Luo, “so I decided to teach at a university and focus on teaching math to pre-service teachers.”

She was interested in the math education position at MSU because she wanted a change and liked the strong research emphasis at MSU. Her research centers on pre-service teachers’ knowledge of math content in the United States and Taiwan and pre-service teacher use of online manipulatives for upper elementary education math students.

Luo has two young daughters who are attending Bozeman schools, and her husband is a computer engineer in Taiwan and hopes to move to Montana in the future.

Christine Rogers Stanton

As a new full-time adjunct professor in the Department of Education, Christine Rogers Stanton teaches courses that parallel much of her research interests. This fall, Rogers Stanton is responsible for teaching two sections of multi-cultural education, a section of literacy for established readers (grades 4-8), and is also a coordinator for in-school experience for education majors.

In July 2010, she received a Ph.D in education/curriculum and instruction from the University of Wyoming where her dissertation focused on the experiences of Native Americans in reservation border towns. She used community centered based research to tell and interpret the stories of Native students. After receiving a bachelor’s in English and geography from Augustana College in Ill., and a master’s in English education from the University of Iowa where she specialized in Native American Literature for young adults, Rogers Stanton began teaching in Wyoming. Her teaching background includes six years of teaching English in Lander, Wyo., and four years as an off-site teacher for a virtual school in Ft. Washakie, Wyo.

In addition to teaching, Rogers Stanton is co-authoring a book on multi-cultural education and working on several articles on curriculum and innovative practices in teaching English using alternative literacy to connect to Native students.

She and her husband, a grad student at MSU in snow science, are excited to be in Bozeman.

“I’m excited about the commitment to Indian education at the university and the college level,” said Rogers Stanton. “Being in Bozeman gives me access to new Native populations, yet allows me to maintain the relationships that I have with the Wind River reservation.”

Sara Schmitt-Wilson

Since graduating from MSU in 2005, Sarah Schmitt-Wilson “has always dreamed of teaching at her alma mater.” This fall, Schmitt-Wilson, an MSU alumna in adult and higher education, got the chance to return to MSU as a full-time adjunct instructor in educational psychology.

She began her educational career at Chadron State College in Nebraska where she grew up and received a bachelor’s in psychology. After graduating from MSU, she worked in Wyoming for a GEAR-UP grant, developing curriculum “from the ground up” for at risk/lower socio-economic students in grades seven through twelve. She is currently finishing her doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado where she is looking at the role of family and educational expectations in the career development of adolescents, specifically the compromise of career expectations.

While at MSU, Schmitt-Wilson not only worked on her master’s, she also worked in numerous departments on campus--career services, athletics, university studies, and family and graduate housing. Her husband Chris, a Billings native, is also an MSU alum from the College of Engineering, and both are glad to be back in Bozeman.

“I feel blessed to have the opportunity to teach and work with college students every day, for I love my job,” said Schmitt-Wilson.

Holly Bolton

Holly Bolton has been teaching in the school counseling program since the summer of 2009. She recently has taken over the program leader position from Mark Nelson, who became Health and Human Development department head this year. Bolton is no stranger to the program, as she was a student in MSU’s school counseling program several years ago. She said she has been able to use her personal experiences as a student and apply them as an instructor in the program. At the college level, Bolton has been given the opportunity to present and attend a professional conference and found the experience to be “so invaluable” to her development in counseling.

A native of Louisiana, Bolton earned a Bachelor of Science in Family Relations and Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi. After receiving her master’s from MSU, she worked for three years at Ophir School in Big Sky, Mont., spending a lot of time in the classroom teaching developmental guidance. She is also no stranger to Big Sky. Since childhood, her family has been vacationing there.

In her spare time, she and her husband, a construction manager in Big Sky, enjoy exploring Montana and spending time with family and friends.

Rebecca Koltz

The Department of Health and Human Development welcomes new faculty member, Rebecca Koltz, to campus. Koltz joins the counseling graduate program and is currently teaching five classes, including experiential group counseling, basic skills in counseling, professional issues, and developmental theory.

Koltz received her undergraduate degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and then went to work as a buyer for a manufacturing company in Wisconsin. However, she realized that her interest was in working with people. She went back to school and received her Masters in Mental Health Counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she also discovered she was interested in teaching. While she was there, she became acquainted with Professor Julia Champe, a former student in the MSU counseling program. Champe encouraged Koltz to seek a doctorate in counselor education. Koltz was accepted into the counselor education program at Idaho State University and earned her doctorate in May 2009.

Her research interests include counselor development, live supervision, and creativity in counseling and supervision.

"I'm passionate about counselor development," Koltz said.

Koltz and her husband, an All State insurance agent, have three school-age children and enjoy spending time outdoors camping, floating, hiking, and snowshoeing.