Erin Oldham LaChance, Ph.D. eMail
Executive Director
Erin Oldham, Ph.D. is the owner of Oldham Innovative Research, a Maine-based research and evaluation company. Dr. Oldham's specialty is educational research. Her research across New England and beyond focuses on early education, quality rating and information systems, early intervention, early childhood mental health, school readiness, and school-based interventions. Dr. Oldham is currently leading the evaluation of the Sanford (Maine) and Lewiston (Maine) Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiatives as well as three Department of Education Early Reading First grants (in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut). She is leading the evaluation on two Elementary and Secondary Education Counseling grants in Maine as well as a Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse and Drug Free Communities grant in Maine. She recently worked with the Maine Department of Education and Maine Keeping Kids Connected on a grant to integrate mental health services into schools. Dr. Oldham has worked with Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts as a consultant to facilitate the design of their child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS). Dr. Oldham has worked with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and the New Hampshire Alliance on Infant Mental Health on mental health services for young children. Dr. Oldham has recently worked with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care on profiling higher education programs for early childhood professionals, on monitoring quality rating and improvement grants to early childhood programs and on profiling data related to child assessments being collected throughout Massachusetts. Dr. Oldham is also currently conducting research on the use of early education and care among Somali, Sudanese and Cambodian immigrants in Maine and Mexican refugees in Colorado. She brings a flexible, innovative down-to-earth approach to her research and evaluation resulting in meaningful, useful results for her clients.
Curriculum Vitate:
Erin Oldham LaChance, Ph.D.Susy Hawes eMail
Research Analyst
As a 2008 graduate of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine with an interdisciplinary degree in Public Health and Culture, Susy’s work focuses on cultural awareness and sensitivity in a variety of fields. This concentration, as well as her Spanish language skills, aptly prepares her to work with Oldham’s diverse clientele. While she provides assistance and support to a variety of projects, her work has focused on the Connecticut Early Reading First project, the Massachusetts Institutes of Higher Education mapping project, and most recently, the Maine Children’s Growth Council’s research on the “state of the state” of screening in Maine. Outside of the office, Susy is particularly excited about her recent mastery of a yoga headstand (and the realization that the dog needs to be in a different room while she is practicing).
Haven Lindsey eMail
Business Manager/Research AssistantHaven fills a couple of roles at OIR and enjoys the distinction of each! She brings a wide array of work and travel experiences to the group and works as part-time business manager as well as part-time research assistant. Both roles are a nice fit as she relies on experience from a successful 11-year sales career and starting and running her own business in Southern Maine. After selling the business, she most recently worked as a healthcare paralegal specializing in the research and writing of Certificate of Need applications for a variety of healthcare clients. In her spare time, Haven is an avid cyclist and is learning to play the violin (which usually results in her cats scampering off to hide).
Dawn Miller eMail
Research Analyst
The work of Dawn Miller focuses on youth and early childhood education evaluation. Her experience in cognitive development, legal, mental health, and substance abuse fields brings a versatile and rich body of knowledge to the projects on which she works. She is the data manager for an Early Reading First project in Rhode Island that evaluates the impact of an intensive early literacy intervention in preschools. Another concentration is her research on the Safe Schools/Health Students Initiative in Lewiston and Sanford, Maine with attention on crime, substance abuse, and access to mental health services. Dawn received her B.A. in Psychology with a concentration in Developmental from Castleton State College in Castleton, Vermont. In her free time, Dawn is a passionate volunteer in her local community dedicated to the stewardship of the Earth and travels extensively to learn from a myriad of cultures and environments.
Nan Simpson eMail
Research AssociateThe work of Nan Simpson focuses on early childhood education and public education research and policy. The integration of mental health services in the public school arena as well as the evaluation of the elements of Safe Schools/Healthy students have been areas of recent work for Nan. Her experience with Head Start, Child Care, Child Care Resource and Referral and Elementary Education bring practical skills to the research and evaluation conducted by Ms. Simpson. Nan received her B.S. degree in Elementary Education from the University of Maine at Orono and is currently pursuing a Masters in Social Work from UMaine.
Curriculum Vitate:
Nan SimpsonEmily Kennedy eMail
Research Analyst
Emily graduated in 2007 from Amherst College. She then spent four years teaching elementary special education in New York City while earning an M.S. in Urban Education from Mercy College and an M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. Most recently, Emily worked as a research assistant at the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, where she collaborated on a project investigating the quality and availability of childcare and related services for families in Long Island. Having recently returned home to Maine, Emily is excited to draw on her experiences as an educator and student in New York City as she begins work at OIR. In her spare time, Emily’s favorite activities include hanging out with her cat, Simon, and planning her upcoming wedding with her mom.
