Michael Goh (associate professor) and Fran Vavrus (associate professor) from the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD), along with Matthew Thomas, spent 10 days in January in Zambia working with colleagues at the University of Zambia and the Zambia Institute of Special Education on research projects related to the role of colleges of education in preparing teachers for early grade literacy instruction. This effort is part of a multi-year grant through the US Agency for International Development aimed at strengthening the Zambian education system and improving literacy in grades 1-4.

Matthew Thomas is currently an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He received his Ph.D.  in the comparative and international development education (CIDE) track from OLPD in 2013.

Heidi Eschenbacher (Deputy Director) manages the project, which has involved other members of OLPD on previous trips, including David Chapman (co-Principal Investigator), Heidi Eschenbacher, Rebecca Ropers-Huilman, Chris Johnstone, Roozbeh Shirazi, recent OLPD graduate Matt Schuelka (now assistant professor of special education at the University of Nottingham–Malaysia), and OLPD graduate student Elizabeth Greene.