The School of Education welcomes six new faculty members in fall 2024, with expertise in counseling and counselor education; faculty development; instructional design, development and evaluation; inclusive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; and music education.
“I very much look forward to collaborating with our new faculty members, who help to fulfill the promise of the school’s and University’s academic strategic plans and initiatives,” says Dean Kelly Chandler-Olcott. “As Central New York’s tech sector expands and the University focuses on STEM scholarship, we are adding a K-12 STEM teacher preparation expert, whose research addresses antiracist, inclusive and equitable education. We are also adding capacity to our instructional design and music education teams.”
In addition, “two counseling faculty will help our school meet the growing need to prepare culturally sensitive school counselors, mental health counselors, and counselor educators,” Chandler-Olcott says. “Plus, in Professor Jessamyn Neuhaus, the University welcomes a highly experienced faculty development scholar who will direct the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence.”
Sabrina Butler
Sabrina Butler joins the school as assistant teaching professor of counseling and counselor education. Before her appointment, she taught mental health counseling ethics, family counseling and group counseling at the University of Central Florida, where she was a doctoral student.
Butler’s research explores counselors-in-training and their clients’ religion and spirituality, feminist ethical decision-making in supervisor-supervisee relationships, trauma-informed approaches to romantic break-ups, and process addictions in children and adolescents.
A member of the American Counseling Association, Association for Specialists in Group Work, Counselors for Social Justice and EMDR International Association, Butler holds a Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision (2024) from the University of Central Florida. A Say Yes to Education scholar, Butler also has an M.S. in clinical mental health counseling (2018) and a B.S. in psychology (2015), both from Syracuse University.
David DeAngelis
David DeAngelis joins the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Setnor School of Music and the School of Education as assistant professor of music education. Before joining the University, DeAngelis served as an instructor and teaching assistant at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and was the founding music teacher of KIPP San Francisco College Preparatory.
With articles published in the Journal of Music Teacher Education and Update: Applications for Research in Music Education, DeAngelis’s research interests include beginning instrumental instruction and issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in music education, specifically focusing on music teacher preparation.
DeAngelis has served as an advisor for Arts and Music Programs for Education in Detention Centers (AMPED), a music mentorship program offered by the Northwestern Center for Civic Engagement that connects undergraduates with incarcerated youth.
DeAngelis holds a Ph.D. in music education at Northwestern University (2024), as well as an M.A. in music education from the University of Rochester Eastman School of Music and a B.A. in music from Yale University. He earned a certificate in leading equity and inclusion in organizations from Northwestern University.
Heather Lavender
Heather F. Lavender joins the School of Education as assistant professor of inclusive STEM education. She was most recently a postdoctoral fellow in the mathematics, science and social studies department of the University of Georgia Mary Frances Early College of Education.
Trained as a microbiologist, Lavender moved from the laboratory to the classroom after she began volunteering to educate K-12 schools about activities in her research lab and questioned how children receive science in the classroom.
Lavender’s primary research interests in science education include the awareness and participation of underserved youth—such as Black girls and visually impaired students—in STEM; sociocultural practices in science classrooms; antiracist and equitable science learning; professional development of in-service teachers; the content knowledge of pre-service teachers and women of color in technology.
Holding a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction, science education, from Louisiana State University (2021), Lavender also earned an M.S. in microbiology from UAMS (2012) and a B.S. in microbiology from Louisiana State University (1999).
Ahram Lee
Now an assistant teaching professor of counseling and counselor education, Ahram Lee was a visiting assistant teaching professor at Syracuse from 2022 to 2024, teaching research, assessment, group counseling and substance abuse courses. Before this appointment, she was a visiting assistant professor at SUNY Oswego.
An expert in multiculturalism and inclusion in counselor education, Lee’s research interests include a Q method analysis of the clinical training experience of bilingual Spanish-speaking counseling students, the clinical training experience of international counseling students and school counselor engagement with students with disabilities.
From Syracuse University, Lee earned a Ph.D. in counseling and counselor education (2022), a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling (2014) and a certificate of advanced study in women and gender studies (2019). She earned a bachelor’s degree in counseling psychology from Handong Global University (2011).
Jessamyn Neuhaus
Jessamyn Neuhaus joins Syracuse University as the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) and as a professor in the School of Education. Before arriving in Syracuse, she was director of the SUNY Plattsburgh Center for Teaching Excellence (2022-2024).
A scholar of cultural studies and teaching and learning excellence, Neuhaus has more than 20 years of classroom experience, teaching courses on U.S. history, gender studies, history of sexuality and popular culture history. As an educational developer, Neuhaus supports and promotes faculty teaching and reflection, effective teaching practices and equitable teaching and learning environments.
Neuhaus is the author of “Snafu EDU: Teaching and Learning When Things Go Wrong in the College Classroom” (University of Oklahoma/Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2025); “Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who Want to be Effective Teachers” (West Virginia, 2019); “Housework and Housewives in American Advertising: Married to the Mop” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and “Manly Meals and Mom’s Home Cooking: Cookbooks and Gender in Modern America” (Johns Hopkins, 2003).
Neuhaus holds a Ph.D. (2001) and an M.A. (1997) in history from Claremont Graduate University and a B.A. in religious studies from the College of Wooster (1992).
Rob Pusch
Rob Pusch was named an assistant teaching professor of instructional design, development and evaluation (IDDE). An adjunct professor of IDDE since 2003, Pusch was most recently senior associate director at Syracuse University Project Advance (SUPA), where he oversaw the design of instructional materials, as well as research and evaluation.
Originally trained as a chemist, Pusch began his career as a chemistry teaching assistant before moving into the field of instructional design. He graduated with a doctorate from the School of Education in 2003, the same year he was named SUPA’s chief instructional designer and joined the school as an adjunct professor.
Pusch is a co-founder of the Transgender Alliance of Central New York and board member for Sage Upstate, a not-for-profit promoting the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning people in Central New York as they age.
