DIRECTORS & STAFF
MEP Directors
Katie Eklund
MEP Director and Associate Professor in the School Psychology Program at the UW-Madison. Prior to entering academia, Eklund worked in public education for 10 years as a school administrator, school psychologist, and social worker. She is currently a Nationally Certified School Psychologist and licensed Psychologist. Eklund’s research focuses on school mental health, including early detection and intervention for childhood behavioral and emotional concerns, culturally-responsive mental health interventions, social-emotional learning, school climate, and school safety. Her current research projects include implementation of universal screening and Tier 2 social emotional interventions in K-12 schools, and examining threat assessment practices in secondary schools.
Eric Grodsky
MEP Director and Professor of Sociology & Educational Policy Studies at UW–Madison. Grodsky’s research is focused on inequality in educational opportunities and achievement across the life course. He has written on the role of race/ethnicity and social background in shaping college attendance and completion, the role of testing in American education, and how education shapes health and mortality at midlife. Grodsky’s current projects include work on the role of full-day preschool in student learning, variation in the underlying causes of student disparities in school attendance, and the relationship between educational opportunities and achievements in adolescence and the experience of chronic pain at midlife.
Brianne Monahan
MEP Deputy Director and Director of Institutional Research and Evaluation for the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). Monahan oversees the Research Department and co-leads brokering work with Beth Vaade.
Beth Vaade
MEP Director and Executive Director of Research and Innovation for the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD). Her work focuses on research & evaluation, strategic planning, liberatory design and cultivating partnerships.
MEP Staff
Amanda Kruger
MEP Program Manager and Project Manager for assorted projects for Eric Grodsky and Jenna Nobles in the Center for Demography and Ecology. Amanda Kruger is responsible for the day-to-day activities of MEP. She oversees MEP’s budgets, project timelines, student supervision, and outreach.
Rosie Mienser
MEP Affiliated Researcher and PhD graduate in Educational Policy Studies, UW–Madison. In this role, Miesner supports MEP's qualitative research in 4K. Her graduate research focuses on special education policy in practice and how social and organizational contexts shape teachers’ work.
Jaymes Pyne
MEP Affiliated Researcher and PhD graduate in Sociology, UW–Madison. Jaymes served as MEP’s Research Assistant from 2016-Spring 2019. Pyne’s own research is focused on inequality in student behavioral, academic, and wellbeing outcomes in K-12 education and how student’s personal attributes affect those outcomes. Jaymes currently works at the Gardner Center at Stanford University as a research associate.
Jake Wertz
MEP Project Assistant, Ph.D. candidate in Sociology, and Fellow in the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Education Sciences. Jake manages quantitative data and collaborates in MEP-directed research on postsecondary pathways, attendance, and student belonging.