DIRECTOR

• Ralph Hines

  Ralph joined the FIPSE staff in May 2007. Prior to his assignment to FIPSE, he served as Director of the Department's International Education Programs Service, which administers the international education programs authorized under Title VI of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and Section 102(b)(6) of the Fulbright-Hays Act. As such, he managed the major federal programs dedicated to the maintenance and development of a national capacity in foreign language, area studies, and international business. Ralph has held a variety of administrative, programmatic, and management positions during his 41-year tenure in the Department. He has served the public in a great variety of professional activities, including work on inter-governmental advisory groups and task forces in the United States and abroad, focusing on the federal effort in the fields of international training, exchanges, and higher education. His professional activities have included travel and consultations in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Norfolk State University and the George Washington University, respectively, and a Senior Executive Fellows certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

  (202) 502-7618
  ralph.hines@ed.gov

PROGRAM STAFF

• Sarah Beaton
  Program Officer and Co-Coordinator, Comprehensive Program

  Sarah joined the FIPSE staff in July 2007. Prior to this position, Sarah served as Team Leader of the International Studies Team, in the International Education Programs Service. Sarah directed seven discretionary grant programs with an annual budget of over $30 million and a staff of nine to improve the academic teaching of area studies, foreign languages, and international business. Her background includes the study of economics, liberal arts, and business both at home and abroad. She received her B.S. in Business and Economics from the College of New Rochelle and M.A. in International Studies from George Mason University. She is an enthusiastic internationalist and uses her influence and talents to help develop sustainable and creative international programs at universities and colleges throughout the United States.

  (202) 502-7621
  sarah.beaton@ed.gov

• Claire Cornell
  Program Officer and Coordinator, Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program & Off-Campus Community Service Program

  Claire joined FIPSE in January 2008. Over more than 25 years she has worked with federal, state, and foundation grants in bioscience, physical science, engineering, mathematics, humanities, and social science disciplines; developed and managed grants offices; and provided grant consulting for higher education institutions, non-profits, and state government agencies. At the University of Iowa, Claire directed the grants office of the Liberal Arts College, Business College, Graduate College, and University Libraries. She also designed and administered grants offices for the University of South Carolina’s College of Science and Mathematics, the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, and for health and science non-profit organizations. While serving as the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Federal Grants Division Director, Claire developed strategic plans for government-business-academic partners that convened teams from the banking, agribusiness, biotechnology and biomedical research sectors, and from government.

  Claire has published in business education and public health peer-reviewed journals. Claire holds a Bachelors Degree in English Literature from Queens College, CUNY. While transitioning into grants development, she completed science prerequisite courses at Luther College, in Decorah, Iowa and graduate courses in both early childhood education and nutrition at the University of Iowa.

  (202) 502-7609
  claire.cornell@ed.gov

• Bette Dow
  Program Officer and Coordinator, Congressionally-directed Grants

  Bette joined FIPSE in mid-2003, coming from OPE's Accreditation and State Liaison unit. Prior to joining federal service in 2000, she lived in Beijing, China, where she served as CEO for the development of a postsecondary MBA and executive management training programs for a China-USA joint venture. Bette's academic background includes a Ph.D., M.A., & B.A., in Psychology and a postdoctoral degree, Ed.M. in Administration, Planning and Social Policy, with an emphasis in quantitative/qualitative evaluations. Bette grew up in Ecuador and Chile, but spent most of her adult life in California. She has worked as a private practitioner in clinical psychology, vocational psychologist for the California Department of Rehabilitation, Acting Dean for the Education and Psychology Departments for National University, Sacramento, postsecondary education specialist for the Council for Private Postsecondary Education in California, consultant to postsecondary institutions on accreditation/licensing issues, and legislative advocate for a California Association for Counseling and Development. Bette has taught graduate-level courses at National University, Chapman University, and CSU-Sacramento in areas of organizational development, tests and measurements, operant conditioning, social psychology, psychology for managers, and values and ethics. Bette's primary responsibilities are as coordinator of Congressionally-directed Grants and as a program officer with the Comprehensive Program.

  (202) 502-7835
  bette.dow@ed.gov

• Frank Frankfort
  Program Officer

  Frank joined the FIPSE staff in September 1994. After receiving his doctorate in Medieval Studies, he taught History at Westminster College (PA) for fourteen years. From 1987 to the present he has been in the Washington area, first as a program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities, then as a Professor of Humanities and Dean of Arts and Sciences at Hood College. His special interests include globalization and the impact on higher education and comparative educational systems.

  (202) 502-7513
  frank.frankfort@ed.gov

• Krishan (Krish) Mathur
  Program Officer and Coordinator, Pilot Program for Course Material Rental and OPE Liaison for STEM Activities

  Krish joined FIPSE in November 2007, after serving in the Office of the Chief Information Officer in Federal Student Aid as a project manager for two years. Previously, he taught in academia for 26 years and worked as an information technology (IT) project manager in the IT industry for seven years. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and Ph.D. in Computer Aided Design (CAD) from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. Being a part of the new and evolving field of CAD since its inception in the late sixties, he has developed new curricula and taught at universities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia, and Singapore. He served at the university and national level committees for the introduction of CAD and IT in undergraduate teaching. He was a member of a governmental initiative to provide a national information infrastructure for the city-state of Singapore. His teaching and research areas include CAD; artificial intelligence; construction engineering, economics, and management; architectural design; building sciences; systems engineering; and management sciences. Krish has co-authored books, book chapters, and over 70 publications as refereed papers, journal articles, and conference papers. He is on the editorial board of a number of IT and engineering refereed journals.

  (202) 502-7512
  krish.mathur@ed.gov

• Christopher McCormick
  Program Officer and FIPSE Database Administrator

  Christopher became a member of the FIPSE staff in April of 2010. Before joining FIPSE, he taught elementary school, kindergarten and fourth grade. He received a M.A. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Gifted Education from the College of William and Mary, and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Salisbury University.

  (202) 502-7580
  chrisopher.mccormick@ed.gov

• Erin McDermott
  Program Officer and Coordinator, Training for Realtime Writers Program and Liaison to FIPSE’s National Advisory Board

  Erin joined the FIPSE staff in February 2009. Prior to this, she served as an assistant to the Under Secretary and was responsible for higher education accessibility issues and for managing policy initiatives and outreach efforts for the Department’s college.gov Web site. Erin also served as a policy analyst in the Department’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development . A graduate of Xavier University’s Philosophy, Politics and the Public Honors Program, she began her work in education policy on Capitol Hill. She is currently pursuing an MA/MBA from the Johns Hopkins University.

  (202) 502-7607
  erin.mcdermott@ed.gov

• Helen Seide
  Program Officer

  Helen joined the FIPSE staff in April 2010. Prior to this, she served as an analyst at a private consulting company where she was responsible for tracking federal procurement opportunities. Helen graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a degree in Political Science. Helen is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy at George Mason University.

  (202) 219-7022
  helen seide@ed.gov

• Fred Winter
  Program Officer

  Fred joined FIPSE in March 2011, coming from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) where he was Senior Director of Advancement and Leadership Development. Before joining AAC&U in 2008, Fred was a senior program officer in the Office of Challenge Grants at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) where he served initially in the Endowment’s Higher Education in the Humanities Program. His responsibilities there focused on projects involving core curricula and the use of emerging technologies in undergraduate education. He joined NEH’s Office of Challenge Grants in 1995. He was the founding coordinator for the NEH We the People Challenge Grants in American History, Institutions and Culture, and he served on the NEH task force for its Digital Humanities Initiative. He also designed and administered special federal grant programs for historically black, Hispanic-serving, and American Indian colleges and universities, and was part of the NEH task force that provided funding for the restoration of cultural programs in Iraq. When he joined the Endowment in 1993, he was a tenured Professor of Classics with a joint appointment in the doctoral program at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the undergraduate program at Brooklyn College. His research and publications have focused on the pre-Roman era in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, and the archaeology of pre-Revolutionary, slave-worked plantations in the U.S. Northeast. Fred received his B.A. in Classical Greek Language from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and Ph.D. in Classical Archaeology from the University of Pennsylvania.

  (202) 502-7632
  frederick.winter@ed.gov

Administrative Staff

• Beverly Baker
  Management Program Analyst

  Beverly’s work at FIPSE has been varied. Currently her focus is on grant closeouts and reconciliation of accounts, but she has worked in some capacity with every major FIPSE program over the years. She is also the contracting officer's representative (COR) for FIPSE on the database contract. Beverly was awarded the "Secretary's Anchor Award" for her services to the Department of Education in 1996.

  (202) 502-7503
  beverly.baker@ed.gov

• Levenia Ishmell
  Program Specialist

  Levenia has worked for FIPSE since 1981 and is the lead support for the Comprehensive Program, Congressionally-directed Grants, and FIPSE's National Advisory Board.

  (202) 502-7668
  levenia.ishmell@ed.gov

FIPSE office location and general mailing address:

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education
U.S. Department of Education, OPE
1990 K Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington DC 20006-8544
Telephone: (202) 502-7500
Fax: (202) 502-7877
E-mail: fipse@ed.gov
Web Site: www.ed.gov/ope/fipse/index.html

Express mail delivery address*:

[Recipient Name]
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue S.W.
FIPSE
K Street Location, Room ____ [Recipient room number]
Washington DC 20202
Telephone: [Recipient Telephone]

* Effective April 8, 2011 all express mail packages must be sent to a central U. S. Department of Education location for security screening and tracking before transfer to other headquarters buildings.  Please direct express mail packages being delivered to FIPSE by UPS, FedEx, DSL, and similar carriers to the express mail address indicated.

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