GLOBAL FAMILY RESEARCH PROJECT - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Research and Communications Specialist
Christina Simpson is a research and communications specialist at Global Family Research Project. Her research focuses on how families and communities support children's learning and development. She also teaches kindergarten in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her prior experience includes working on communications and local policy initiatives for a county office of education, and supporting evaluations of teacher professional-development programs for an evaluation group. Simpson received her Ed.M. in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education; her multiple subject teaching credential from the University of California, Davis; and her B.A. in anthropology with a minor in education studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. Previously she worked as a graduate research assistant at the Harvard Family Research Project.
Heather Weiss, Ed.D., is the founder and director of the Global Family Research Project. Weiss writes, speaks, and advises on programs and policies for children and families, and serves on the advisory boards of many public and private organizations. Her recent publications focus on reframing research and evaluation to support continuous improvement and democratic decision making, examining the case for complementary learning from a research and policy perspective, and assessing new ways of providing and evaluating professional development. Weiss is a consultant and advisor to numerous foundations on strategic grantmaking and evaluation and was formerly a senior research associate and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Previously she was the executive director of the Harvard Family Research Project where she envisioned and worked toward a transformative role in family and community engagement in education reform, early childhood education, and afterschool. She received her doctorate in education and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Yale Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Advisor / HighScope Educational Research Foundation
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Independent Consultant
- Advisor / National Center
Marsha Semmel is an independent consultant working with foundations, museums, libraries, and other cultural and educational organizations on topics that include learning (including early learning), 21st century skills, strategic partnerships and collaborations, cultural policy, strategic planning, and leadership development.
She serves as Senior Advisor to the National Center on Science and Civic Engagement's SENCER-ISE project (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities-Informal Science Education), a series of partnerships between higher education and informal science. She is an Adjunct Faculty for the Bank Street College of Education's Graduate School of Education in the Leadership in Museum Education Program. She is also a member of The Museum Group (TMG), a consortium of museum consultants founded in 1995 by independent professionals who had held leadership positions in museums.
Marsha Semmel has more than two decades of work in the major U.S. cultural agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), where she served as deputy director for the Office of Museum Services, and, acting IMLS director. She has also served as Senior Advisor to the Noyce Leadership Institute (NLI), a global initiative of the Noyce Foundation.
Job Titles:
- Research
- Research and Communications Analyst
Rachel Hanebutt is a research and communication analyst for Global Family Research Project, where she conducts research on family engagement in libraries, afterschool programs, and digital media use. She works on the development of external communication plans and the creation of digital publications, and serves as the project manager for the organization's website development. Her academic scholarship operates within the intersection of cognitive science, education, and interactive technology. Hanebutt is interested in applying family engagement research in the development of online platforms that support community-centered discussion of important topics, like civic education, information access, and school-community partnerships. She received her Ed.M. in mind, brain, and education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her M.A. in civic media, art, and practice from Emerson College. Previously, she worked as a graduate research assistant at the Harvard Family Research Project.
Job Titles:
- Advisor
- Founder and National Director of Abriendo Puertas
Sandra Gutierrez is the Founder and National Director of Abriendo Puertas / Opening Doors. Ms. Gutierrez led the development of Abriendo Puertas / Opening Doors-the nation's first evidence-based, comprehensive training program for Latino parents with children 0 to 5. Prior to her work with Abriendo Puertas / Opening Doors, Ms. Gutierrez developed a series of training programs to support children and families involved in the child welfare system for Parents Action for Children. She brings over forty years of experience with legal, children's advocacy and community service organizations. Her multi-faceted career has included founding the first service organization to assist Central American Refugees, developing health education programs for the United Farm Workers of America and leading campaigns to promote the benefits of preschool to the Latino community.
In addition, for seven years, she served as a founding member and State Commissioner for First 5 California where she established the Advisory Committee on Equity. Ms. Gutierrez serves as an Advisory Board member for the Too Small To Fail Initiative. In March 2014, Ms. Gutierrez was named by the White House as a Cesar E. Chavez Champion of Change, and in February 2015 she received the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.
Sarah George, M.P.H., is senior administrator at Global Family Research Project. She oversees all administrative operations for the organization, including financial management, research administration, human resources, and information technology. Prior to joining GFRP, she served as department administrator at the Harvard Family Research Project and also worked as a project manager/epidemiologist in a health-care setting. She received her Master's of Public Health in social and behavioral sciences and biostatistics and epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health, and her B.A. in psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.