The Dissertation Coach

Valentina Kloosterman, PhD – Dissertation Consultant

Alison — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:12:03 +0000

Valentina holds a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Connecticut and a MA degree in Psychology from University of Belgrano in Argentina. She is currently serving as a lead researcher at a university in South Florida where she oversees research and evaluation projects, fieldwork, and instrument design; collects and analyzes data; writes and develops grant proposals; and revises research-evaluation reports. Over the past fifteen years, Valentina has been teaching and researching in education with a particular emphasis on issues of child development, high level thinking, and cultural diversity. Valentina has expertise in qualitative research and program evaluation and for the past decade, she has co-directed the design and implementation of research-evaluation projects, as well as provided guidance and mentoring to undergraduate and graduate students both in the United States and Latin America. In addition, Valentina has served as editorial reviewer and managing editor, advisor, presenter, and committee leader for national and international associations, and has written extensively in English and Spanish in her areas of expertise. One of Valentina’s most gratifying professional experiences is working one-on-one with students in the process of research, including literature review, data collection and analysis, and writing of findings and implications. She also encourages and guides students in the submission of conference proposals, academic presentations, and writing of publications.

Melinda Valente, EdD – Dissertation Coach

Alison — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 19:08:53 +0000

Melinda earned her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University. She also holds an M.A. and a B.A. from Emerson College, where she gained experience in the areas of mass communication, media management, and television production. After working in the entertainment industry for a few years she decided to return to her true passion, academia. For the past ten years Melinda has worked at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, CA. In her current role as Associate Director in the Office of Admissions, Student Information and Services, Melinda helps guide prospective students through the admissions process in addition to counseling current law students on academic policies, degree requirements, and other concerns. Melinda has a great deal of compassion for the ups and downs on the doctoral journey and is committed to helping students more effectively manage the dissertation process and overcome the internal and external challenges they face. She truly enjoys helping students accomplish this significant milestone in their academic careers.

Jeffry White, PhD – Dissertation Consultant and Statistician

Alison — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 23:00:26 +0000

Jeffry L. White has a Ph.D. in quantitative research, evaluation and measurement from The Ohio State University with Master’s degrees in educational research and evaluation, public policy and management, and health services administration. Since earning his doctorate he has held faculty appointments at Ashland University (Ohio) and the University of Louisiana, Lafayette where his duties include mentoring and advising doctoral students in Educational Leadership and Foundations. He teaches courses in intermediate and advanced statistics, survey research design, program evaluation, and measurement and assessment. Dr. White is co-author of Needs Assessment: Analysis and Prioritization (Sage, 2010), and has an extensive background in quantitative methods. Dr. White has been the program evaluator on National Science Foundation initiatives designed to improve the graduation rates of underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Dr. White is skilled in applied research methods, conceptualization and synthesis of the literature review, and survey design and is a prolific academic writer. As an author and scholar well-versed in quantitative methods, he consults with students regarding all aspects of the research process, including how to avoid the pitfalls and pratfalls of working with a thesis or dissertation committee. Because of his diverse background, Dr. White has mentored and advised students in education, public policy, criminal justice, human services, business, and health care administration. His philosophy in working with students is to help them obtain a better understanding of the research process in order to conceptualize, design, and carry out a study that permits them to achieve their academic goals.

Tara J. Smith, PhD – Statistician

Alison — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 23:00:56 +0000

Tara holds a doctoral degree in Behavioral Science with specialization in reading acquisition, human development and methodology from the department of Psychology at the University of Rhode Island, and a master of education with a focus in educational psychometrics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Over the past two decades, Tara has enjoyed a variety of roles as researcher and analyst across both educational and psychological disciplines and has extensive experience working within grant funded research. Tara began her work at the Brown University department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior working as a researcher on longitudinal studies of depression and anxiety. Most recently she worked at the Education Alliance at Brown University where she conducted structured program evaluation both locally and at the national level. Furthermore she has experience as both a teaching assistant and professor for the University of Rhode Island. She has assisted students and worked with lay persons and professionals of all educational levels and backgrounds. Tara brings a high degree of interest, knowledge and structure to each project and believes strongly in mentorship, clarity and mutual respect within the educational environment. Over the course of her education and research experiences she has become proficient in scale development, data management and broad array of quantitative analytical techniques. Her kind manner and clear mode of communicating information has earned her the appreciation and respect of the students with whom she works. As a statistical consultant, Tara will help each student understand the processes behind the statistical analyses and the proper interpretation of results.

Peter S. Bachrach, PhD – Dissertation Consultant and Statistician

Alison — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:00:45 +0000

Peter received his PhD in Psychology from Brandeis University and is both an accomplished researcher and statistician. Trained at UCLA, Wake Forest University, Brandeis University, and the National Center for PTSD/Boston VA Healthcare System, Peter is a Research Psychologist, Methodologist, and Program Evaluator. While a Research Psychologist at the National Center for PTSD, he instructed clinical psychology interns, post-docs, and faculty in research methodology and statistics, and conducted complex research studies. As Research Professor of Geriatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, he applied lifespan developmental theory, didactic medicine, and advanced research methodologies to both teach and evaluate programs for laypersons, geriatric fellows, doctors, nurses, undergraduate medical students, and social workers about adult development, stress, leadership/management, and educational program evaluation. Peter served as the sole program evaluator for both ADGAP (Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs) and a nationwide consortium of cutting-edge geriatric and gerontological training programs at medical schools including Harvard, Duke, University of Michigan, Mt. Sinai, UCLA, and Yale and was the technical/methodological adviser to the National Council on Aging for all Geriatric Education Centers across the United States. As a dissertation consultant, Dr. Bachrach seeks to create positive working relationships with all students to facilitate their highest quality work.

Laura E. Plybon, PhD – Dissertation Consultant and Statistician

Alison — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:53:26 +0000

Laura received her PhD in experimental developmental psychology, with an emphasis in program evaluation, from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Having over fifteen years of research experience, she has worked in academia as an assistant professor, primary investigator, and director of assessment and in the non-profit world as a director of research and as an evaluation specialist. Currently, she is as an adjunct professor at colleges and universities in southwest Missouri and provides grant-writing consultation services for area non-profits and educational organizations. She is a co-author on a book on violence prevention, has published numerous research publications in peer-reviewed journals — the most recent with two of her former students as co-authors — and has conducted over 35 presentations at local, state, and national conferences. Her research interest are diverse and address topics in the fields of developmental, social, community, cultural, counseling, and educational psychology; behavioral health and health promotion; prevention program development and evaluation; psychometrics and survey development; and higher education assessment. A self-admitted statistics nerd, Laura has extensive statistical expertise and is highly knowledgeable of advanced statistical analyses, including ANCOVA/MANCOVA, exploratory- and confirmatory-factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and HLM. Laura greatly enjoys being a collaborative consultant with students and, in the words of one of her former students, is very patient and teaches each individual person in way that he/she learns best.â€ She enjoys assisting students at any stage of the research process, but is especially skilled at helping students on literature reviews, methodology, and statistical analyses.

Christopher Bradley, PhD – Dissertation Consultant and Statistician

Alison — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:46:01 +0000

Christopher began his career in higher education at Northern Arizona University where he earned a bachelors degree in sociology and a minor in social work. From there he went on to Bowling Green State University where he earned a masters degree and a PhD in sociology. At the doctoral level Christopher specialized in social psychology and also obtained formal minors in statistics and both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies. Now a tenured professor at a large Midwestern university, to date Christopher has published nine peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, authored eighteen applied research reports, accrued a quarter of a million dollars in research grant funding and coauthored a book on the connections between western social psychology and eastern Zen Buddhism. His current research interests are grounded in the social psychological domains of emotion, motivation, the self, religion and intimate relationship violence. He has expertise in qualitiatve and quantitative research methodlogoies. Christopher’s warm and personable approach to helping clients is complemented by his rigorous attention to detail and his ability to provide logical and concise feedback in a timely fashion. Christopher enjoys helping his clients with all aspects of the dissertation process. He feels that it is his responsibility to provide clients with the tools, guidance and knowledge they need to successfully complete their dissertation.

Anita Kite, PhD – Dissertation Consultant

Alison — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 17:26:14 +0000

Dr. Anita Kite has a PhD in Educational Psychology from the University of Connecticut and has been working in the field of education since 1993. Early on she worked as an academic counselor in community colleges and as an administrator at a 4-year institution. Once beginning her doctoral work in Connecticut in 1995 she sought out opportunities in which to combine her passions for adult learning, organizational learning and evaluation. During that time and in the years since, she has worked with for-profit and non-profit organizations, K-12 schools, state departments of education and universities. In these roles she has designed and conducted evaluations (including, but not limited to, those focused on outcomes, impacts, implementation and formative feedback), analyzed data (both quantitative and qualitative), written reports and presented findings to diverse audiences. She has also leveraged her communication and consulting skills to help clients in her consulting practice identify and specify the goals and objectives of their initiatives. Most recently Anita has worked as a research specialist at The Education Alliance at Brown University and has taught graduate courses online at the University of Illinois and at Northeastern University. Additionally, in her work at the University of Illinois, at Northeastern University and previously at the University of Connecticut, Anita provided guidance on research methodologies and statistical analyses to students completing their dissertations and other capstone research projects.

Dr. Linda Kaiser, Capella University

Alison — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:32:15 +0000

Dr. Colleen Halliday-Boykins is an excellent dissertation consultant and is highly recommended. I contacted Colleen when I reached Chapter 4 in my dissertation. I had collected data and was now on a tight timeline. I knew I couldn’t complete all of the necessary analysis alone in time. From the very first phone call with Colleen I knew she was a confident and highly experienced professional in the area of statistics. She immediately put my mind at ease, was consistently professional in all communication, and quickly responsive to all questions I had throughout the process. I was never left wondering if I would get a response – she was that quick at addressing any questions or concerns I had. I was provided with high-quality work that exceeded all of my expectations. Everything was explained so very clearly and I completely understood the how and why of the entire process. Colleen remained engaged in this process completely through my defense answering any question, no matter how small, almost immediately. In our final email conversations, Colleen asked to be notified as soon as I had completed my defense call so she could be one of the first to call me Dr. Kaiser! That shows that Colleen is interested in her clients not just for business reasons but also as real people. I have since referred Colleen to several of my colleagues who have also given me thanks for the referral as their experiences were just as stellar. Thank you so very much Dr. Colleen Halliday-Boykins for a superior job not only in the service you provide but for your excellence in customer service as well.

Tracy Thomas, PhD., Psychology

Alison — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:43:32 +0000

After an exhausting experience writing chapter 2, I knew I needed help editing both my chapter 2 and all of the subsequent chapters to come. Jill Blackwell, PhD helped me streamline a 265 page project into a dissertation that received feedback such as, “this is the best dissertation I’ve ever read” from multiple members of my university. Jill was not only efficient, she was fast, thorough, and spot on with her input. Jill was also incredibly encouraging and enthusiastic about my dissertation, which was validating and motivating.Â The accessibility I had to Jill, her quick response time and problem solving ability, gave me the feeling that I had a partner, a team member, a mentor, a teacher, a therapist, and a cheerleader along the way. It’s a great thing when you get more and better help than expected, and from someone you’d want to be friends with. I cannot say enough about Jill Blackwell.