New Leadership in the College of Education and Human Development
CEHD welcomes new leadership in its departments and centers this fall
With the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, the University of Delaware College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) is pleased to announce new leadership in its School of Education (SOE), Children’s Campus and Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood (DIEEC).
School of Education
On August 24, Christina Budde, associate professor in the SOE, and Kristen Ritchey, professor in the SOE, began their positions as co-associate directors of undergraduate studies in the SOE.
With a specialization in literacy and language education, Budde works to understand and enhance instructional practices for multilingual learners during early childhood and elementary school. In line with this work, Budde teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses related to literacy instruction, language development and teaching multilingual learners. She also serves as the program coordinator for the multilingual learner concentration within the elementary and middle school teacher education (EME) program, and she brings this knowledge and experience to her role as co-associate director.
With a specialization in special education and literacy, Ritchey’s research focuses on intervention strategies for elementary children with reading and writing disabilities. Her work includes research on beginning writing instruction and interventions, universal screening for academic difficulties and reading interventions for fourth and fifth grade students. Within the SOE, Ritchey teaches courses in instructional methods and assessments for students with disabilities. She has also served as the program coordinator for the EME special education concentration and the M.Ed. in Teaching Students with Disabilities (TSD) program. She currently serves as the project lead on the 2026 Grow Your Own cohort within the TSD program, a state-funded initiative that helps Delaware paraprofessionals become certified special education teachers.
Children’s Campus
On September 1, Leigh McLean, associate research professor in the Center for Research in Education and Social Policy (CRESP) and the SOE, will begin a new administrative position as faculty director of the Children’s Campus.
Located in Newark, the Children’s Campus houses three education centers for children from infancy through eighth grade, including the Early Learning Center, the Lab School and The College School. In her role as director, McLean will build meaningful partnerships that connect the Children’s Campus with the university and the broader community. She will also pursue innovative programming to enrich the experiences of the center’s children, families and staff and support the continued delivery of high-quality clinical and research experiences. As part of their missions to support UD and Delaware communities, the Early Learning Center, Lab School and The College School serve as teaching, learning and research sites for UD students, researchers and other professionals across the university and the state of Delaware.
As an associate research professor in CRESP and SOE, McLean brings expertise in teacher well-being and effective elementary instructional practices across content areas. In recent years, her research has investigated how teachers’ emotions and emotion-related experiences (like well-being) impact their effectiveness. She has also studied the impact of mentorship, especially among early career teachers.
Delaware Institute for Excellence in Early Childhood
On September 1, Anamarie Whitaker, associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, will begin her position as director of DIEEC.
Whitaker’s research focuses on how early care and education (ECE) policies at the local, state and federal level influence ECE programs, classroom practices and quality and children’s development. She also works to understand how ECE systems can best provide quality improvement supports—like professional development opportunities—to early childhood educators and how those supports are related to program quality and children’s development.
New this year, DIEEC will share a physical campus with the Early Learning Center, Lab School and The College School on the Children’s Campus—a move that centralizes many of CEHD’s key early childhood resources into a hub for its community members and partners. In August 2026, DIEEC celebrated its new home with statewide leaders, providers and researchers with a “block party,” highlighting Delaware collaboration and UD’s vital role in advancing early childhood education.
Header image caption: CEHD welcomes new leadership in its departments and centers this fall. Pictured are Christina Budde (left), Kristen Ritchey (second from left), Leigh McLean (second from right), and Anamarie Whitaker (right).
Article by Jessica Henderson. Photo compilation by Shelly Silva and photo courtesy of Jason Hustedt.