Graduate Education

Faculty

Doug Grove is the Director of the Graduate Program in Education and Assistant Professor of Education. Dr. Grove holds a Ph.D. in Education (Claremont Graduate University), an M.S. in Leadership (CSUF) and an M.A. in Education Technology (Pepperdine University). Dr. Grove spent four years teaching English and coaching basketball at Brethren Christian High School. Grove also taught English, business, and physical education for three years at Oxford Academy in the Anaheim Union High School District. From 2001-2004, he served as the Coordinator of Assessment and Accountability for the Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) where he oversaw various research projects, served as region 9 policy analyst, headed the Orange County Assessment Network, and chaired the OCDE Institutional Review Board (IRB). Dr. Grove is also the principal of Continuous Improvement Associates (CI Associates), a research and evaluation company that provides services to educational agencies.

Dr. Grove’s research interests are in the areas of character education, program evaluation, teacher efficacy, obesity prevention, and instructional leadership. Dr. Grove has also been an evaluation consultant to the Federal Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, Orange County Department of Education, Boy Scouts of America, Santa Clara County Office of Education, Santa Clara Social Services, and The Markulla Institute for Applied Ethics. Dr. Grove is an active member and regularly attends Mariners Church in Irvine with his wife Tami, son Blake, and daughter Logan.

Dolores Gaunty-Porter is Associate Professor of Education.  Dr. Gaunty-Porter holds a Ph.D. in Reading from SUNY (State University of New York) Albany, the M.Ed. in elementary education from University of Southern Mississippi, and a B.A. in elementary education from La Universidad de Las Americas (formerly in Mexico City now in Puebla Mexico).  She is bilingual (English and Spanish), and holds a Life, Standard Teaching Credential with the State of California.  She is a Trainer in Diversity for the California BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support Assessment) Program. 

Her broad range of professional experiences in education include teaching and administrative assignments in Mexico City, California, Illinois, Indiana, and New York, in programs at pre-school through the adult levels.  She has worked in general education, bilingual education, and ESL (English as a Second Language) programs.  Dr. Gaunty-Porter’s interests include designing ways to integrate literacy across the curriculum, exploring ways to optimize cross-cultural connections, and developing models of mentoring.  She is active in local and national literacy organizations, and has an extensive record of conference presentations.

Magali (Mikki) Gil is Professor of Education and Anthropology. Dr. Gil has a Ph.D. in Social Science (UCI), an M.A. in Social Science (UCI) and an M.A. in Latin American Studies (UCLA). She holds a Standard Teaching Credential in Social Studies, Spanish and the Humanities, a Pupil Personnel Services Credential, Professional Administrative Service Credential (I & II) and a Community College Instructor Credential (Ethnic Studies). She has thirty years of educational experience as a teacher, mentor teacher, program specialist, assistant principal and principal at the secondary level (New York, Santa Ana, Fullerton), and college instructor. She is also former Director of the Graduate Program in Education at Vanguard University. During Dr. Gil's tenure in the Santa Ana Unified School District, she received extensive training in sheltered methodology and language acquisition. She was also a member of the ELD Task Force and served as District Administrator Liaison for Foreign Language. Dr. Gil's interests lie in anthropology and education, research methodology, gender studies, community partnerships, and educational reform.

Janice Hopper is Assistant Professor of Education. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from California State University, Long Beach. Her honors include President’s and Dean’s lists. Janice has three secondary life credentials plus two community college credentials.

She wrote grants for two CDE California Partnership Academies – Education and e-Business – at Century High School (SAUSD), serving both as Project Director. Her leadership skills led to being named the state’s first – and only- Project Director Emeritus. In the position, Janice developed curriculum for five core areas, instituted integration of cohort methods, and graduated 98 percent of the academy students, most at-risk and many ELL, with the majority attending community colleges or four-year universities. Janice has been assistant professor at DeVry University and adjunct professor at California State University, Fullerton, where she created advanced technology curriculum for student teachers. She has written current state and national standards, authored teacher preparation standards, and is active in numerous state and national focus groups. Consulting includes Orange County Department of Education (OCDE) projects and CDE for Internet Curriculum Standards Implementation in conjunction with Kern County District and WestEd. OCDE and CHS selected Janice as a mentor teacher (technology). Other credits include a seat on the governor’s Advisory School-to-Career Council, U.S. Department of Education program reviewer, Project Tomorrow High-Impact Teacher of the Year in Science, Math and Technology – 2007 Innovation in Education finalist; WomanSage Rising Star in Education recipient, plus Advisory Board Member for both CSUF and Vanguard University.

Jerry Ternes is Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP). Dr. Ternes holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and an M.A. in Educational Administration from Californian State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). Dr. Ternes has over twenty years of educational experience as a teacher, coach, principal and school administrator at the elementary, middle school, high school, and university level. His extensive background and experiences in education include teaching and administrative positions in three different states (California, Arizona, and Idaho). In addition to his wide array of educational experiences, Dr. Ternes has served as a mentor, lecturer, curriculum developer, and retreat speaker for the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. His interests include teacher leadership, educational reform, research methodology, and teacher retention.

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Adjunct Professors

Dixie Arnold, Chair, Liberal Studies and Assistant Professor of Education. Dr. Arnold teaches the Clear Credential Health courses.   She holds a Ed. D. from University of La Verne, an M.A. from United States International University-San Diego, and a B.A. from California State University, Long Beach.

Annabel DeMuth. Instructor of Exceptionality.  She holds an M.S. from California Lutherna University, and a B.A. from California State University, Sacramento.

Tami Fowler, TPA Coordinator and Instructor of multiple subject reading methods in the credential sequence. She holds an M.A. and B.A. from Vanguard University of Southern California.

James Huff, Instructor of Anthropology and teacher of the pre-requisite class ANTH/ENGL 453, Language, Culture and Linguistics. He holds a PhD., ABD from American University, Washington D.C.

Ken Killian, Liberal studies faculty member and instructor of the pre-requisite class EDUG 315, Teaching in a Multicultural Setting and the Clear Credential class EDUG 576, Advanced Use of Technology to Support Student Learning. He holds an M.S. from Indiana State University and a B.A. from Sterling College.

Sharon Lockett, Instructor of Single Subject reading course. She holds an M.S. from California State University, Fullerton, and a B.A. from Point Loma Nazarene University.

Sheri McDonald, Instructor of Single Subject reading course. She holds an M.S. from California State University, Fullerton, and a B.A. from University of California, Irvine.

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Staff

Kimberly Leaks is the Credential Analyst and Student Teaching Coordinator for the Graduate Program in Education. She graduated from National University in 2003 with a BA in Psychology and is currently working on a Masters in Cross Cultural Education/Multiple Subject Credential as well as completing courses for an English subject matter waiver. Kimberly worked at National University in several supporting roles, and for the past 5 of the 9 years  was the Placement Specialist. She takes pride in a job well done and looks forward to sharing that with Vanguard University in her role as Credential Analyst/Student Teacher Coordinator. She is a member of the Teacher Education Advisory Council and Credential Analysts and Counselors of California (CCAC). 

Kimberly was born and raised in Long Beach, California (and surrounding areas). In her spare time she enjoys trying new recipes and spending time with family and friends.

Michelle Romo is the Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Education. She holds a B.A. in Music Education from Vanguard University and is working towards her M.A. in Religion, with an emphasis in Leadership Studies here at VU. She utilizes her excellent organizational skills to develop systems for overall program management and provide personalized support to teacher candidates. She is a member of the Teacher Education Advisory Council and Credential Analysts and Counselors of California (CCAC).

Michelle was born in New Zealand and grew up in Missouri, Northern California and the Big Island of Hawaii.  Michelle's interests include teaching music, singing, reading historical fiction, and keeping her two pugs, Mac and Bo, in line.  Michelle and her husband, Nick, live in Costa Mesa. 

Maria Platt is the Senior Administrative Secretary in the Graduate Education office.  She holds a B.A. degree in Organizational Leadership from Vanguard University.  Mrs. Platt is an integral member of the overall graduate staff in the delivery of personalized and positive support to all students and faculty.

Maria was born in Brooklyn, NY.  She and her husband and family moved to Southern California in 1977.  For twenty years Maria and her husband served with Christian Marriage and Family Ministries as part of the team that presented marriage encounter weekends in Orange County.  Before coming to Vanguard in 1999, Maria worked at Wycliffe Bible Translators’ headquarters in Huntington Beach, CA, for over fifteen years, until the organization moved to Orlando, FL. She loves to cruise on mega cruise ships, read, and watch old movies. 

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