Co-Directors
Chris Unger
Co-Director
Dr. Unger is a Teaching Professor in the Graduate School of Education, teaching in the Doctor of Education program. His primary interest is in the design, development, and proliferation of learner-centered and agency-focused schools and schooling, entrepreneurship as a means of creating new possibilities in education, the support of change agents and change agent work in our educational ecosystem, and the transformation needed in support of youth, our communities, and society.
Dr. Unger has more than 30 years of experience providing technical assistance and conducting research and evaluation in schools, districts, and state education departments in the U.S. and South America. Previously, he led a number of school, district, and state improvement efforts while at Brown University and directed several university, district, and school improvement and research initiatives while at Project Zero of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His current work includes supporting our doctoral students to be change agents in education, networking for the creation and proliferation of learner-centered learning communities, and finding ways to create new possibilities for learning within and outside the current ecosystem of education.
Dr. Unger joined Northeastern in 2010, teaching a number of classes in the Doctor of Education program, and has graduated over 90 advisees since 2011. His areas of expertise lie in the area of education entrepreneurship, experiential learning, school design, change agent activities, and networking.
Allison Ruda
Co-Director
Dr. Ruda is Associate Dean of Use-Inspired Research and Development at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies, where she spearheads initiatives that leverage technology to expand access and equity in teaching, learning, workforce development, and research.
With partnerships across the private sector, K–12, and workforce development, she leads use-inspired projects that reimagine learning to meet modern learners’ needs. Her scholarship on skillification, micro-credentialing, and organizational change appears in leading publications, and she co-founded the CPS LEARN Lab—an incubator for AI-enhanced education research and experimentation.
Dr. Ruda holds an EdD from Northeastern University, an EdM from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a BA from Mount Holyoke College.
Faculty Collaborators
Dan Serig
Dr. Serig is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Graduate School of Education (GSE), teaching in the higher education administration doctoral concentration. He joined the GSE after serving as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he also served as Associate Vice President, Dean, Chair of Art Education, and tenured associate professor.
Dr. Serig’s research interests include AI in education, curriculum design, assessment, program evaluation, metaphor, material culture, and artistic research.
He has been part of dozens of arts programming evaluations throughout the U.S., and his published work appears in several art and design education journals. He has taught Pre-K through adults in public and private schools in the U.S. and China. In Shanghai, he was a founding faculty member of Concordia International School.
Dr. Serig received a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis and his doctorate from Teachers College – Columbia University.