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Meet the IOA Faculty

All IOA instructors are licensed Indiana educators, and must meet the same rigors as traditional classroom teachers.

		Brett Baltz Having earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from IU in 1991 and spending a decade owning and operating restaurants in Indy, Brett is now doing what he ALWAYS really wanted to do. He returned to IU and is now in his 6th year as a second-career math teacher at Lawrence North HS. Throughout his time at LN, he has developed curriculum for a number of math classes and taught or tutored students in everything from Algebra 1 through AP Calculus. In past summers, Brett led labs and tutoring sessions for IOA math students and has become familiar with the content and expectations of many of the IOA math courses. He truly enjoys helping math students gain understanding, confidence, and independence. Brett grew up in Noblesville and now lives in Carmel with his wife, 2 sons and a great big Goldendoodle named Leo. The whole family has taken a liking to RVing. If you're lucky, you may get a glimpse inside the camper when he is on Skype!

		Lisa Blamey Lisa Blamey has been teaching with IOA since 2006. She received her Bachelors degree from Indiana University in 1995 and her Masters degree from the University of Indianapolis in 2002. She is in her fifth year at Fishers High school where she teaches the Advanced College Project Composition course, AP Language & Composition, and International Baccalaureate English. Prior to FHS, Lisa taught at Southport High School and Franklin Central High School. Lisa is married to her husband Dave and they have two children, Payton and Gabby.

		Scott Bradford Scott Bradford has been an arts educator for the state of Indiana for almost thirty years. He holds a masters degree in Choral Conducting from Indiana State University and a Music Education degree from Eastern Kentucky University. Mr. Bradford has produced numbers musical productions; concerts and competition packages while gathering experience in both instrumental and vocal music. Some of his training has been in musical comedy, barbershop, opera, and gospel style organizations. Though his training is primarily music?his background in Professional and Community Theater has given him both knowledge and training in the areas of choreography, dance, technical theater and staging. Scott and his wife Carla have two lovely daughters, Shelby and Samantha, which make up his heart! Some of Mr. Bradford?s achievements have been: IPALCO Golden Apple Recipient for ?Music Technology?, Thomson Consumer Electronics Star ?Technology Award?, BGHS "Someone Special Award,? Beech Grove Alumni ?Teacher of the Year 2004?, The Children?s Museum / Prelude Award- ?Arts Educator of the Year 2005? & Beech Grove ?Citizen of the Year 2006? He has taken music students throughout the nation performing in venues such as New York?s Trinity Chapel, Washington D. C. Kennedy Center and internationally to Hong Kong, China.

		Jeff Carter Jeff Carter graduated from Marian University with a degree in Spanish and Secondary Education in 2001. After graduation, he began teaching Spanish at Clay Middle School in Carmel, IN for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. He is currently finishing his eleventh year of teaching and is currently coaching cross country and track at Clay. During his time at Clay, Jeff has earned two Masters Degree s in Secondary Education and Adult and Community Education through Ball State University. Outside of school, Jeff is married and has two daughters whose ages are six and nine. He enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, and fishing.

		Rebecca Cash Rebecca Cash has taught at Lawrence North High School for nearing 20 years. She received her BA from Purdue University and her masters in English from National University's accredited online program. Her thesis centered on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the present water imagery. She has taught for Ivy Tech and scored the SAT. She is IB and AP trained. Both of these experiences have given her an excellent understanding of the expectations for college level writing. Mrs. Cash is married to an active duty National Guardsman, and together they have two small boys.

		Ann Cooney Ann Cooney received a B.A. in Political Science, with a minor in Spanish, from Indiana University at Bloomington in 1999, and a B.S. in Spanish Education from the IU School of Education at Indianapolis in 2011. She and her husband of 11 years have 3 lovely children. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her family and friends in her free time.

		Melody Coryell Melody Coryell is the proud mother of two girls and lives in Fishers, Indiana with her girls, husband, and cats Buckley and Scout. She teaches English and serves as the International Baccalaureate Program Coordinator at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis. Melody's undergraduate degrees from Ball State University are in history and English, and she has completed graduate work at IUPUI in the areas of English education, higher education administration, creative writing, and informatics.

		Benjamin Csikos Benjamin Csikos currently teaches at Pike High School. He received his Bachelors Degree in Business Education and Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from Ball State University. He currently teaches Marketing, Computer Programming, and Advanced Computer Applications, while advising Pike High School's chapter of Business Professionals of America. Along with teaching high school, Benjamin teaches graduate level courses through Valparaiso University. He is married to Audrey, a Speech and Language Pathologist at Zionsville Pleasant View Elementary School.

		Brad DeHoff Brad DeHoff is finishing his tenth year of teaching 8th grade science and biology at Plainfield Community Middle School. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Indiana University in 1984 and furthered his studies by earning a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois in 1986. While at the University of Illinois, he taught both the lecture and lab sections for the introductory chemistry/biology course for students seeking degrees in nursing, veterinary medicine and pharmacy. Brad worked two years as a research scientist in the microbiology department at the University of Illinois before working as a molecular biologist for a large, pharmaceutical company in Indianapolis. One of his most significant accomplishments was working on the team that located and sequenced the DNA of the hereditable breast cancer gene, BRCA1. In addition, he helped sequence the entire genome of the bacteria Streptococcus pneumoniae, the organism that causes bacterial pneumonia. In 2002, Brad obtained his teaching certification in secondary education at IUPUI with his primary license in chemistry and biology along with a computer endorsement. At Plainfield, Brad has coached three state championship science teams and helped coach one state champion interdisciplinary team in the Jr. Academic Super Bowl competition. He received the Optimist Teacher of the Year Award for his school in 2005 and won the Innovative Middle School Science Teacher Award from the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc. (H.A.S.T.I.) in 2006. He is the lead instructor for the IOA Chemistry I-1 and I-2 courses. Brad enjoys going with his family and friends to amusement parks each summer.

		Diana Eckert Diana Eckert is in her 22nd year of teaching mathematics. She began her career at Franklin Township Middle School teaching 7th and 8th grade math. After two years, she transferred to Franklin Central High School. She has taught Algebra I and II, Geometry and Discrete for the past 16 years. For the past 3 years, she has been teaching 8th graders Algebra and Pre-Algebra at Franklin Township Middle School East. She loves doing lots of activities to help her students enjoy and understand math better. Her passion is teaching other teachers different hands on techniques and strategies to add more tools to their teaching toolboxes, which in turn helps their students.Diana has been married for 23 years and has 3 very busy boys, who attend Center Grove schools. Jake is a junior and is swimming on the men's swim team. Luke is in 5th grade, and enjoys making brilliant crosses in soccer and loves playing basketball. Cole is a 2nd grader and enjoys trying lots of new things. He loves music and is taking piano lessons this summer, in hopes of learning guitar very soon. This past fall she had 3 boys playing soccer, and her husband coached one of the teams. The summer is spent at the pool watching all 3 boys compete. As you can tell her family loves soccer and swimming, and yes, she is a typical soccer mom intense with high expectations.Besides being on the sidelines at her boys' soccer games or at the pool, she loves to read, exercise, listen to music, and spend time with her boys, her husband and her girlfriends.

		Steve Emerson Steve Emerson has been teaching mathematics for fifteen years at the Junior High and High School levels. After graduating from Purdue University with a Bachelors Degree in Mathematics, he taught Pre-Algebra and Algebra for two years at Northwest High School. During six years at Carmel Middle School he taught I-STEP remediation, seventh grade Mathematics, Pre-Algebra and Honors Algebra 1. While at Carmel he also served as one of the building technology coordinators. Steve completed his Masters Degree in Instructional Technology from IUPUI in 2005. He currently teaches Pre-Calculus, Statistics and Discrete Math at Fishers High School. Steve has been married for 15 years to his wife Jennifer and they have two children.

		Amy Emkow Amy Emkow graduated from Indiana University Purdue University of Indianapolis where she earned a Bachelors of Science. She later attended Indiana Wesleyan University where she earned her Masters of Education. She has taught Physical Education and Health for over 10 year at Zionsville High School. She is passionate about sharing with her students the value of strong mental, physical and social health.

		Mariette Fleck Mariette Fleck is department chair of Family and Consumer Sciences at Perry Meridian High School. Her previous teaching experiences include Warren Central High School and the Indianapolis Juvenile Correctional Facility. She is a graduate of Indiana State University and has earned multiple graduate hours in personal finance, family and consumer sciences, and special education. She is married to her husband Steve and together they have two boys, Sam and Jacob. She enjoys reading, spending time with her family and friends and teaching.

		Cindy Franklin Cindy Franklin graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Spanish and Secondary Education. She earned her Masters Degree from Indiana Wesleyan University. She joined the Speedway High School faculty in 1990 and has enjoyed working there for the past 20 years. During that time, she has had the opportunity to teach levels I-V of Spanish. Cindy has also taught Spanish as an adjunct professor for Ivy Tech. Cindy joined the team at IOA in 2007 and has designed the course for both Spanish 1 and Spanish 2. She is an active member of Indiana Foreign Languages Teachers Association.Cindy and her husband are blessed to have three wonderful children. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading, relaxing and vacationing whenever possible.

		Tom Gallagher Tom Gallagher was born on the southwest side of Chicago in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Before finishing grade school, he moved to Carmel, Indiana, where he was fortunate enough to be a member of the 1993 State Championship Cross Country Team. Later that year, he finished his high school track career by placing 7th in the 300 meter hurdles at the State Meet and setting a new school record. Tom earned a degree in Science Education, with an emphasis on Math Education, from the University of Indianapolis. While attending college, he started his coaching career by being the head boys' and girls' cross country teams at Clay Junior High in Carmel. After filling a maternity leave teaching a semester of Physics at Carmel High School, he got his first real position teaching 8th grade math, science, and physical education. After a year of teaching in Carmel, Tom became the Algebra I teacher at Cathedral High School. Currently, he is teaching only Geometry there and is the IOA Geometry teacher as well. Tom treats his classroom like his track team, EFFORT = RESULTS. You can only achieve by trying your best.

		Shane Hacker Shane Hacker taught math at Ben Davis High School for five years and will be moving to an Assistant Principal position at Brownsburg High School for the 2011-2012 school year. This is his second year teaching Algebra 1 for IOA. His wife Brittanie also teaches for IOA in Spanish. Shane has two daughters, Addison (5) and Annabelle (2).

		Chad Heck Chad Heck is a technology integrator for MSD of Pike Township and Media Center Director. He has experience teaching mathematics, computer science, and is also a licensed media specialist. Mr. Heck has a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and computer science from Manchester College and a Master of Library Science from Indiana University. Chad is a member of Indiana Computer Educators, the Association of Indiana School Library Educators, and the Computer Science Teacher Association. Mr. Heck has taught online with IOA for 3 years.

		Tracy Hood Tracy Hood received a Bachelor of Art degree in Physics with a teaching minor in Mathematics from Hanover College. She completed a Master of Science degree in Science Education at Purdue University before beginning her career at Plainfield High School. Tracy has taught Physics I for 11 years and added AP Physics B for the past 5 years. She is a Technology Coach, as well as Academic Teams Coordinator, Science Academic Team Coach, School Improvement Committee Co-Chair, and Senior Class Co-Sponsor. She served as president of the Indiana Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers in 2010-2011. She is the proud mother of a seven year old son, and enjoys reading, cooking, and running.

		Shelly Horvath Shelly Horvath graduated from the University of Indianapolis with a Bachelors degree in l984 and received her Masters degree in l989. She is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and is also a graduate of the Teacher Leadership Academy and the Indiana Principal Leadership Academy. Shelly teaches senior English at Franklin Central High School. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Indianapolis where she teaches Western World Literature 101, and she also teaches composition and literature at the University of Indianapolis for the School for Adult Learning.She has been an English teacher with the Indiana Online Academy since its beginning. Shelly has been married to her husband Drew for 26 years and they have three daughters. They enjoy attending sporting events, traveling, and spending time with each family.

		Chen-Lien Hsu

		Virginia Hudson Virginia Hudson is a full-time English teacher at Franklin Central High School. She has been teaching for more than 30 years, during which her subject area has been mainly American literature. It is one of her passions. She is married, also for more than 40 years, and has one son who lives on the East Coast. Most of her spare time involves reading and needlepoint. She also enjoys working in her yard. Virginia is the IOA English 11 instructor this semester and is really looking forward to working with her students in this on-line course.

		Julia Johns

		Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson is entering his 20th year of teaching at Avon High School. He received his bachelors degree in Economics and English from Indiana University in 1989. After several years in the business world, he went back to receive his certification in teaching from IUPUI in 1994. In 2001, he received his Masters in Education from Olivet-Nazarene University. He spent the first eight years of his career at Avon High School as an English teacher, spending three of those years as an adjunct lecturer for Indiana University. He now teaches AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, AP Literature and Composition, English, and is the Department Chairperson of the Language Arts department. He also owned a construction service, which he ran during the summer months, for several years. He has been married to Christine, a Social Studies teacher at Ben Davis High School, since 1990. They have three children and enjoy the summers camping and traveling. His hobbies include running, biking, fishing, and hunting.

		Christine Johnson Christine Johnson is a teacher at Ben Davis High School. She has taught all levels of US History and is currently teaching Advanced Placement US History and is helping to usher in the Ben Davis International Baccalaureate program as a teacher of IB History of the Americas. Christine received her bachelors from Indiana University and masters from Indiana Wesleyan. She is married to Andrew Johnson, fellow IOA instructor and they have 3 children, Olivia, Claire and Gabe. Christine enjoys hiking and camping with her family and watching her kids in sports.

		Sarah Kiefer Sarah Kiefer began signing at the age of six and has had a passion for American Sign Language and Deaf Culture ever since. She went to Ball State and received her Bachelors in Education with a concentration on Deaf/Hard of Hearing. She started working as a Teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing as she completed her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction. Currently, Sarah teaches Deaf and Hard of Hearing students in three different school districts in the West Central Joint Services cooperative. She is on the board of Indiana Hands & Voices and serves as the Advocacy chairperson. She lives in Avon, a west suburb of Indianapolis, with her husband of 8 years, a 2 year old son, and is anticipating the arrival of her second child near the end of March 2012.

		Lisa Laker Lisa Laker has been teaching all levels of English at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis for over 15 years, and this is her second summer with Indiana Online Academy. She is a Teaher Leadership Academy graduate and has been a facilitator for the program; in addition, Mrs. Laker has won numerous teaching grants including the Lilly Teacher Creativity Grant to Greece, Indiana University WEST Studies Travel Abroad Grant, Teaching Tolerance Peace Garden Project Grant and the John Wooden Excellence in Education Grant. Mrs. Laker loves to travel and experience historical art and theater---this year she traveled to the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, France, and England! Mrs. Laker's husband is also an educator, and they have two, young daughters of which they are very proud.

		Jamie Martindale Jamie Martindale has Bachelor's degrees from Purdue in Psychology and IUPUI in Education, with minors in Political Science and Economics. He also picked up a Masters degree in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan in 1992, and is a committed lifelong learner. Jamie teaches AP Psychology and Economics at Pike H.S., and Government for the Indiana Online Academy. He is an adjunct faculty member in the Business department for Marian College, and author of five study guides for CLEP exams through Chancellors Learning Systems. Wife Kaelynn is a nurse, instructor, and artist, and children Tyler, Chris, and Emily are all on intriguing paths of their own. Jamie is a regular blood donor and hopes to write a collection of science fiction stories someday.

		Donna McCord Donna McCord was born in Minot, North Dakota. At a very early age her family moved to Indiana and she has lived here ever since. She attended Carmel High School where she played tennis and then moved on to Ball State where she received both her undergraduate and her masters in Mathematics. She has taught at Lawrence North High School for over 20 years. She is married to her husband Jim and they have four children and two dogs. Donna and her husband love to travel. She has run 15 mini-marathons and plans to run two more this summer.

		Chris Meguschar Chris Meguschar currently teaches at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. He has been in education for 20 years, with two years teaching English in Japan in the early 1990s. The past 14 years have been spent at Lawrence Central where he teaches US Government and Japanese. He is married to the new principal at Clinton Central HS, Beth Meguschar and together they have 4 children. Chris graduated from Purdue University in 1990 with a History and Political Science major and is currently working on his Masters in East Asian Studies.

		Janice Mitchener Janice Mitchener has taught mathematics at Carmel High School for 22 years. Previous to that, she taught for 7 years at Greenwood Community High School and Southern Wells Jr/Sr High. She currently teaches Honors Precalculus, Finite Math and AP Calculus AB, but has also taught Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry. Janices interest in graphing calculator technology in the classroom led her to become a Regional Instructor for the Teachers Teaching with Technology professional development organization. Janice received her BS in Mathematics Education from Purdue University and a MS in Secondary Education from IUPUI. Janice has been married to Paul for 27 years and has 4 children.

		Alicia Noneman Alicia Noneman is a 2004 cum laude graduate from Butler University where she earned a B.S. in Middle/Secondary Education with a concentration in social studies. While at Butler, Alicia was awarded the College of Education Joseph M. Nygard Community and University Service Award and the Top 100 Outstanding Student Award. During her junior year she spent her fall semester in Washington, DC working as an intern in Senator Lugar's office on Capitol Hill. After graduating from college, Alicia began her teaching career in 2004 at Carmel High School where she continues to teach today. Throughout her career she has taught U.S. History, World History, and AP Comparative Politics and she currently teaches both regular and AP U.S. Government. In December of 2010 Alicia received her M.A. in Political Science from Ball State University. Her research project focused on the impact that contemporary media has on the ability of Congress to deliberate policy as intentioned by the founding fathers. Alicia's pursuit of lifelong learning has taken her on ventures to Europe and Washington, DC with students but she is most happy spending quality time at home with her husband, daughter, and lovable dog.

		Justin Patten Justin is an avid lover of the outdoors. He loves to spend much off his time on the shores of Lake Michigan in the small town of Beverly Shores, and playing baseball with his vintage baseball team. Justin grew up in South Bend Indiana and gained a love of art when visiting the Chicago Art Institute at a young age. He graduated from the Herron School of Art, and began teaching art at the elementary level. He now teaches a combined class of art/engineering/and design for 1st through 6th grade kids. As an artist, he has started using Etsy to promote his sports inspired art. Justin is a family man with a really cool wife and a couple of young boys that keep him exhausted. He looks forward to fresh perspectives on the world of art history.

		Tami Reardon Tami Reardon has been teaching for 10 years. She has her bachelors degree in Biology from Purdue University and her masters in Earth Science from Mississippi State University. She teaches at Columbus North High School in Bartholomew County. She is the proud mother of a 4 year old little girl and is also a foster parent. She lives in the woods with her family, which also includes 2 dogs, 4 cats and a flock of chickens.

		Tamila Stuart Tamila Stuart is the daughter of 2 United Methodist ministers (talk about being a preachers' kid!) and the wife of an English teacher now principal at the United Methodist Childrens Home in Lebanon, Indiana. This is a residential treatment center/ school for troubled youth. Jim, her husband of 28 years, has been there for 27 years. She is the mother of Christopher, soon to be 26 years old and a residential assistant for severely autistic youth. She is also the mother of Sean, now 23, an apprentice plumber and a construction worker. They live in Lebanon, Indiana where they have been since 1986 and where her grandmother and parents have retired to. The profession of educator has influenced her ENTIRE life and she is currently an 8th grade English teacher at Lebanon Middle School. Previously she taught 9th grade English at Cascade High School in Clayton, Indiana. Tammy finished a Masters of Education degree through Indiana Wesleyan University's online program in 2010. She loves to travel, work with digital photo-journals, work in the yard, and read.

		tony teacher

		Judi Treat Judi Treat is a teacher at Perry Meridian High School. She has been teaching for over 10 years. She graduated from Ball State University in 1997 with a BS in Exercise Science. In 2000, she received her teaching certification in PE and Health and math. She received her master's degree in Integrating Technology in the classroom from Waldon University in 2007. Judi is the mother of two girls. She loves to spend her extra time playing with them outside. She enjoys taking walks, bike rides, and wagon rides. She also enjoys spending her free time running and training for 5K runs and sprint triatholons.

		Kathryn Veldhuizen Kathryn Veldhuizen has taught 7th grade Math, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra I at Speedway Junior High School. She has also been the FCA huddle coach and a track coach. Kathryn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Mathematics Education from Taylor University. She is the 2007 recipient of the Indiana Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Future Educator of the Year Award. Kathryn lives on the northwest side of Indianapolis. In her free time, Kathryn loves to bake, run, play board games with her husband, and taking care of her son, Zane.

		Danielle Vohland Danielle Vohland is a teacher at the Pike Freshman Center (PFC) in Indianapolis, IN. In her 10 years of teaching, she has taught US History, World History, and World Geography. She is currently teaching AP World History and Geography/History of the World. She received her Bachelors degree in Secondary Education from IUPUI and finished her Masters in Educational Leadership from IUPUI as well. In addition to her teaching duties, she is also the PFC Academy Leader and is co-coordinator of the Pike Mentor Program. She loves to read, shop, and travel. She has been to 6 countries and 15+ states. Her goal is to visit 6 out of 7 continents and all 50 states. She loves to travel so much that she and her husband recently traveled to Puerto Rico for their destination wedding.

		Malari Williams Malari Williams has been teaching for 4 and half years. She graduated in December of 2004 from Butler University with a Bachelors Degree in Biology with a Chemistry minor. She then went on to pursue a Masters of Arts in Education at the University in Indianapolis, from which she graduated in May 2007. She taught 7th grade Science at Avon Middle School South from 2007-2010, and is currently teaching Freshman Biology at Avon High School. In addition to teaching, she leads the Science Club at AHS and the Science Academic Super Bowl team at Avon Middle School South. She is married to James Williams and has fun chasing her son, Jackson around!