(L-to-r) Top row: Jo R. King, Kathy Kim, Erica Caasi, Jenny Nissel,; Bottom row: Jaime Suvak, Kyle DeMeo Cook, Kristina Moore, Jenna Sung

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BU Wheelock Welcomes New Faculty for 2025

BU Wheelock welcomes a dynamic group of new faculty members whose work spans a wide range of fields—from early childhood policy and language education to sport psychology, mental health, and educational leadership. Their areas of focus include culturally responsive literacy, trauma-informed care, second language acquisition, digital mental health tools for youth and families, and inclusive practices in sexual violence prevention.

With experience in both research and practice, these scholars are deeply engaged in real-world issues affecting children, families, and schools. As they join the BU community, they bring fresh perspectives and a shared commitment to equity, innovation, and meaningful impact in the lives of learners and communities.

Erica Caasi

Erica Caasi is a clinical assistant professor in language & literacy education. She prepares future educators and partners alongside practicing teachers and schools to support culturally responsive and community-engaged literacy practices. Her scholarly work explores representation in literature for youth and investigates how narrative can function as a medium for both connection and disruption. Before joining BU Wheelock, she held several roles in both K–12 and higher education.

Kyle DeMeo Cook

Kyle DeMeo Cook is a clinical assistant professor with the early childhood programs at BU Wheelock. In her research, she explores early childhood policy topics, such as access to early education and childcare, the transition to kindergarten, and collaborations between early education and K–12. She has conducted research in nonprofit and academic settings, and taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Kathy Kim

Kathy Kim is an assistant professor of applied linguistics and director of the Second Language Acquisition Lab at BU Wheelock. Her research examines how contextual and instructional interventions shape the development of explicit and implicit L2 knowledge. She also studies research inclusivity in web-based experimentation, NLP-supported assessment, and the pedagogical potential of generative AI for Korean pragmatics.

Jo R. King

An assistant professor in educational leadership & policy studies, Jo R. King uses quantitative research methods to study K–12 education policy in the U.S., with an emphasis on how exclusionary school discipline policies may impact equitable outcomes for marginalized groups. Their research focuses on how schools address student behavior, whether through suspension, police interventions, or special education classification. They are a research affiliate at the Wheelock Educational Policy Center.

Kristina Moore

Kristina Moore is a lecturer in the Counseling program, with a focus on sport psychology. A committed scientist-practitioner, her research has explored self-handicapping and motivation in adolescent and collegiate athletes, as well as parental influence on adolescent athletes’ self-handicapping, sport stress, and enjoyment. She has also studied character development in high school athletes’ and coaching philosophies of preservice coaches. She is an AASP Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) and AASP Approved Mentor.

Jenny Nissel

Jenny Nissel is a research assistant professor in applied human development. Her research explores the imagination across cultures and development. In her primary line of work, she investigates possibility conceptions, with a focus on how theories about the way the world works—both natural and sociocultural—constrain developing beliefs about what’s possible (and what’s not). She also studies developing ontologies of unobservable scientific, supernatural, fantastical, and religious agents within diverse cultural contexts.

Jenna Sung

An assistant professor in counseling psychology & applied human development, Jenna Sung is also the director of the Lab for Expanding Access for Families (LEAF). In her research, she focuses on transforming mental health care systems to make evidence-based support more accessible for youth and their caregivers—especially those facing socioeconomic barriers. Her research centers the development, evaluation, and implementation of brief, scalable digital mental health interventions (single-session interventions, or SSIs).

Jaime Suvak

Jaime Suvak is a lecturer in counseling psychology & applied human development. A licensed mental health counselor, she is a trauma therapist, activist, educator, and prevention specialist in the field of sexual violence prevention, response, and healing for over 25 years. Her area of research is creating inclusive pathways to prevention, response, and healing for survivors of sexual violence who are persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).