CoEHD Alumni
Kourtney Bakalyar
BS special education MA evaluation and research Kourtney Bakalyar completed her undergraduate studies in special education and a master’s in evaluation and research. She has six years of experience teaching special education; one in rural Mississippi, and five for Kalamazoo Public Schools. Kourtney is currently on a leave of absence from Kalamazoo Public Schools to pursue a doctoral degree with a focus on students identified on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In the spring of 2014 she taught her first post-secondary class independently.
After being at Berkeley College in several different capacities over the years, Dr. Marianne P. Vakalis has moved into a new role as Provost. Vakalis recieved her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from WMU in 1990. She began her tenure as Dean of Academic Affairs and was promoted several times before becoming Interim Provost in January 2013. Prior to serving at Berkeley College, Vakalis taught undergraduate and graduate computer science classes and has held various positions in academics.
Katie Eberling TLES Katie Eberling, an early childhood education major in 2011 and member of the WMU women’s volleyball team has taken the world as a professional bobsledder. A few career highlights for Eberling are claiming the 2011 U.S. National Push Champion in her rookie season, winning a silver medal in the World Championship, and throwing the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game. Eberling was chosen as an alternate for the USA Olympic Team for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, however did not get the opportunity to participate.
early childhood education
Marianne P. Vakalis ELRT
educational leadership
Kourtney is exploring all the additional aspects of being a faculty member and has been engaged at the departmental level with accreditation standards and data collection and completing an undergraduate and graduate postgraduation survey. Kourtney states, “All of this work is helping me toward my goal of becoming a professor at the post-secondary level.”