Working Together
We’re motivated by the transformative power of partnerships and their potential to change lives. We believe TAPP is more than a process—it’s a pursuit to empower families and schools. It all begins when we build common ground for children’s success.
Leadership
Susan Sheridan, Ph.D.
- Principal Investigator, TAPP Online
- Co-Principal Investigator, Tele-TAPP
Founding Director, Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools; George Holmes University Professor of Educational Psychology
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Susan Sheridan
Susan Sheridan is the founding director of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, known as CYFS, and the George Holmes University Professor of Educational Psychology. Sheridan joined the faculty at the UNL Department of Educational Psychology in 1998, after several years at the University of Utah.
Sheridan founded CYFS in 2004 — a UNL Program of Excellence that conducts, supports and shares high-quality research in the social, behavioral and educational sciences. For the past 20 years, Sheridan has led the center’s growth to more than 100 faculty, staff and students. Today, CYFS is a leading cross-campus interdisciplinary research center represented by significant productivity and impact. Since its inception, CYFS has housed more than 300 funded research grants, totaling more than $133 million.
During her career, Sheridan has received more than $73 million in grant funding and has authored more than 230 books, chapters and articles, including several award-winning papers. Much of her work aims to understand effective relationships and partnerships for children and youth. She is particularly interested in strengthening relationships between parents and teachers and identifying meaningful ways to establish home–school partnerships.
Sheridan’s primary grant work and research focus is a model of service delivery known as Teachers and Parents as Partners (also known as conjoint behavioral consultation), focused on bringing parents, teachers, and other care providers together to develop positive relationships and address concerns they share for children. Her work has also examined early childhood education and development, children’s social-emotional skills, rural education, and parental engagement.
Sheridan is the first UNL faculty member to be elected to the National Academy of Education, an organization of more than 300 U.S. and international researchers who seek to improve education policy and practice through research. She is also past editor of School Psychology Review, the research journal of the National Association of School Psychologists, and past president of the Society of the Study of School Psychology. She holds a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Andy Garbacz
- Co-Principal Investigator, TAPP Online
Professor, School Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Andy Garbacz
Andy is a Professor and Co-Chair of the School Psychology Program. He received a doctorate from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools and the Munroe-Meyer Institute at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Andy has experience in schools, community mental health, and medical settings. Andy is a licensed psychologist, licensed school psychologist, and Nationally Certified School Psychologist. Andy serves as Co-Director of the School Mental Health Collaborative, a center focused on conducting research that informs policy and practice to promote the social-emotional and behavioral success of all students. He is also Co-Director of the Family-School-Community Alliance, a national organization focused on advancing partnerships among families, schools, and communities to support family and professional wellness, and youth mental health.
Pam Mims
- Principal Investigator (ETSU sub-award), Tele-TAPP
Associate Dean of Research and Grants and Professor, Special Education
East Tennessee State University
Pam Mims
Dr. Mims is an Associate Professor of Special Education as well as Associate Dean of Research and Grants in the College of Education. She teaches graduate and undergraduate special education courses focused on severe disabilities. She taught middle grades for 7 years in a classroom for students with profound, multiple disabilities and autism. She earned her Undergrad in Special Education at East Carolina University, Masters Degree in Severe Disabilities at Western Carolina University, and PhD in Special Education with a focus on Severe Disabilities at UNC Charlotte. Her research interests include: (a) examining the use of systematic instruction strategies for providing access to the general curriculum for students with low incidence disabilities, (b) examining the use of technology to promote access to the general curriculum, and (c) implementation of data based decisions in the classroom. Dr. Mims has authored several curricula focused on using evidence based practices to promote access to grade aligned ELA and early literacy skills. She is currently the PI of a Phase II IES SBIR research grant with Attainment Company focused on providing access to grade aligned ELA standards for students with significant disabilities via an iPad application.
Lorey Wheeler
- Co-Principal Investigator, TAPP Online
Director, MAP Academy; Research Associate Professor, Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Lorey Wheeler
Lorey Wheeler’s research interests broadly focus on the promotion of Latino youth adjustment, including outcomes related to interpersonal relationships, academic and career aspirations and attainment, externalizing and internalizing problems, and physical health. Grounded in cultural-ecological and developmental perspectives, her work addresses macro forces (e.g., gender and culture) and proximal contexts (e.g., families, workplaces, schools), and the mechanisms by which these are linked to youth adjustment. A second focus of her research pertains to statistical models used to answer questions about complex ecological, developmental and relational phenomena, and the translation of these methods into tools useful to developmental, family and preventive-intervention scientists.
Wheeler received her doctorate in family and human development from Arizona State University.
Amanda Witte
- Principal Investigator, Tele-TAPP
- Co-Principal Investigator, TAPP Online
Research Associate Professor, Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Amanda Witte
Amanda Witte's research is focused on family-school partnerships, early learning and rural education. In addition to her role as research assistant professor, she serves as the project manager for Learning Frontiers: Pre-K to Grade 3, a study investigating factors that promote early learning and development as children develop from preschool through third grade.
Witte also serves as a family-school consultant, training supervisor and project manager for Teachers and Parents as Partners (TAPP). She delivers workshops and training in family-school partnerships to parents, educators and service providers throughout North America, and facilitates the ongoing coaching of TAPP consultants.
She has also served as the project coordinator for two federally funded family-school partnership studies. In this role, she managed collaborative teams of consultants, parents and teachers; maintained partnerships with school personnel; and developed working relationships with new schools and communities.
Witte has contributed to numerous research publications and publications relating to family-school partnership research. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in educational psychology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Project Managers
Laura Escobedo
- Project Manager, TAPP Online and Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Consultants and Coaches
Emma Brunke
- Family-School Partnership Coach, TAPP Online
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Teresa Calafiore
- Family-School Consultant, Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Danielle Elsasser
- Family-School Consultant, Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Robin Mills
- Family-School Partnership Coach, TAPP Online
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Team Members
Marianne Andersen
- Research Coordination Specialist, TAPP Online and Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Nicole Adams
- Data Collector, TAPP Online and Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Daniela Cubas
- Data Collector, TAPP Online and Tele-TAPP
University of Nebraska–Lincoln