NLU Faculty Senate

Stefanie Shames (Chair of Adjunct Faculty Council)

Stefanie C. Shames has served as an Adjunct Professor for National Louis University since 2017. She primarily serves as the clinical professor, overseeing the internships in Educational Leadership and for the Master of Arts in Teaching-EPI.  She was instrumental in aligning the Florida internship activities to state and local standards, EDL course progression and the Critical Success Factors identified in “The Principal Internship: How Can We Get It Right?” (Southern Regional Education Board, 2005). She also assisted with the development and implementation of the MAT-EPI program. Dr. Shames participated in CAEP accreditation interviews. She also serves as a member of the Florida EDL Advisory Board and serves as a dissertation committee chair and member. Her article, Simulations in educational leadership internship programs, was published by the Florida Association of School Administrators (FASA) on November 22, 2019 and can be found in Digital Commons.

Stefanie retired after a distinguished 35-year career with Orange County Public Schools, the ninth largest district in the nation, located in Orlando, Florida.  During her career she served as an elementary school teacher, curriculum resource teacher, assistant principal, middle school principal of four different middle schools and principal-on-assignment overseeing Leadership Development districtwide. In addition to her work with NLU, Dr. Shames mentors new school principals and substitute teachers.

Awards and recognitions achieved during her career include recognition as the Regular Education Support Person of the Year Award from the Council for Exceptional Children (1990) and recipient of a Walt Disney Teacheriffic Special Judges Award (Top 10) for creation of a Student Technology Team (1996). In 2008, Dr. Shames was the recipient of the Middle School Administrator Award from the Orange County Counseling Association and in 2015 she was recognized as the Outstanding Making Middle Grades Work School Principal by the Southern Regional Education Board. She has written grants that were funded and has been a presenter at state and national conferences. She is a member of the Florida Association of Professors of Educational Leadership and worked on a committee to plan for the implementation of the new Florida Educational Leadership Standards (FELS).

Dr. Shames grew up on Long Island, New York and graduated from Hicksville High School in 1977. She received her Associate of Science degree in Nursery Education (Early Childhood) from the State University of New York at Farmingdale in 1979 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Science with a concentration in Elementary Education from Dowling College in Oakdale, New York in 1981. Dr. Shames moved to Orlando in 1982 and received her Master of Education in Elementary Education degree from Rollins College in 1988.  She went on to earn her Educational Specialist (1995) and Doctor of Education (1997) degrees in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University.

Dr. Shames has been married to her husband, David, for 42 years, who is also retired from Orange County Public Schools.  They have three children: Claire, an administrator in professional learning for Orange County Public Schools, Harrison, an Account Executive for JNF-USA with his Master’s in Coaching Education, and Gabriel, who works in the construction industry.  They have four grandchildren, a beagle named Max, and a parakeet named Buddy.

Suzzette Fromm Reed

Dr. Suzette Fromm Reed, Associate Professor, founding director/chair of National Louis University’s (NLU) Ph.D. program in Community Psychology. Prior to NLU, she led national and local child welfare organizations. She holds an MA in Clinical Psychology and a Ph.D. in Psychology in the Public Interest. Her research focuses on the buffering role of community resilience against Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

Michael Krause (see Senate Leadership above)

Sarah Leeman

Sarah Leeman is Associate Professor and Teaching and Learning Librarian with the NLU University Library. She holds a Master’s of Library and Information Studies from UW Madison and a Master of Science in Written Communication from National Louis University. As library faculty, Sarah teaches in a variety of modalities and settings, including offering one-on-one consultations, online workshops, and guest lectures through the University Library, as well as teaching Gen Ed courses in research, writing, and student success. She works to support NLU students in becoming engaged researchers and responsible creators and consumers of information. She is especially interested in critical information literacy instruction and user experience as it relates to online learning and course development.

James Fitzpatrick

Jim Fitzpatrick is an Associate Professor at National Louis University.  Jim attended St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, from 1971-75 earning his Bachelor of Arts Degree in History. In 1980, he earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Administration from the University of Iowa.  In the spring of 1999 Jim earned his PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In the course of a forty-year career in K-12 education, Jim has served as a teacher, coach, high school principal, and superintendent. Jim and his wife Therese live in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin and have been married for 46 years.  They have two grown children, Megan and Michael, and two grandsons, Jimmy and Paddy.

Jim enjoys teaching at the collegiate level and working with school districts in the area of leadership and building strong administrative teams.  His goal is to provide mentorship and give back to aspiring school leaders, as his mentors did for him when he began his educational administration studies back in 1977.  Jim published a book in 2020 entitled Beyond Theories and Degrees: The Alley Smarts of Educational Leadership, that has been adopted by many Ed. Leadership departments in colleges and universities throughout the country in preparing school leaders.

Harry Ross

Harry Ross, Associate Professor of English Education in the Secondary Education Program, has served as the NCE Director of Outreach and Partnerships and Chair of the Secondary Education Department. He co-founded a program at the university, the Urban Scholars Teacher Education Partnership (USTEP), which prepares candidates to be city high school teachers through immersing them in urban schools and communities.  He has been lead scholar on a National Endowment for the Humanities grant on the Federal Writers’ Project and has won national grant funding to support his work on professional teacher collaboration and restorative justice.  He has taught high school and college literature and writing, received a Distinguished Teaching Award from Northwestern University, and co-authored a book, 13 Steps to Teacher Empowerment. He has presented nationally on teacher leadership, multicultural literature, and urban teacher preparation.  He is most recently co-author of a chapter on university-school partnerships in Transforming Educator Preparation for Changing Times, to be published in the fall of 2023.

David SanFilippo

David San Filippo is the Chair of the Graduate programs in Health Services Administration for the School of Business and Information Technology at National Louis University. He teaches courses in health care administration & management, consciousness studies, death, dying, bereavement, & near-death experiences.  He earned his Ph.D. in Human Science from Saybrook University. He is a licensed mental health counselor, certified disability management specialist, and serves as the Clinical Director of BlueLine Support, a peer-to-peer support service to law enforcement personnel and their families. Dr. San Filippo is a member of the American Board of Vocational Expert, International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, International Association of Near-Death Studies, and the National Association of Disability Representatives, and the Adult Higher Education Alliance. In addition, Dr. San Filippo serves as a vocational expert involving workers’ compensation, personal injury, automobile, and social disability matters. He also represents disabled individuals before the Social Security Administration. Dr. San Filippo is a licensed mental health counselor, a certified disability management specialist, a Florida qualified rehabilitation provider, and Quality Matters Master Peer Reviewer.

Robyn Moncrief (see Senate Leadership above)

Orinna Clark

Orinna Clark is the Science Department Chair for the Undergraduate College at NLU.  She is a fierce advocate for students, a lifelong learner, a researcher, and a STEM educator whose mission is to design equitable, culturally relevant science curricula and programs for both science and non-science majors -- with the goal to simultaneously empower and engage students.  She completed her B.S. in Marine Science at Long Island University and then went on to get her M.S. in Marine Biology, Conservation, and Environmental Science at the University of South Carolina.

It was during that time she discovered her true passion as a STEM educator and obtained her M.A.T. in teaching life science, got her teaching certificate, and finally completed her EdD program in Educational Leadership with a focus on science literacy and STEM curriculum in higher education.  She has taught science at both the high school and college levels for over 20 years and been at NLU since 2015.   Currently she is on the NLU STEM Taskforce, is involved with the development and launch of the Nursing Program, and is collaborating with the Chicago Botanic Garden on their Budburst Project.  She is an avid lover of nature and animals, who spends her free time indulging in photography, playing the piano, SCUBA diving, hiking, riding horses, and fostering special needs and black cats.  Her personal philosophy is that nothing is more important than doing our part to preserve this beautiful world!