About Us
Arizona is facing a critical teacher shortage.
More than 19% of teachers in Arizona leave their school every year (the highest turnover in the U.S.). And, even though research shows that teachers of color advance beneficial outcomes for students of color, over 75% of teachers in Arizona are white—while more than half the students are people of color. The teacher shortage and lack of diversity are major problems, because teachers impact student achievement more than any other school factor. We believe that by recruiting, preparing, and supporting diverse and talented people who want to become educators, every child in Arizona can receive an outstanding education.
Vision
Our vision is that every child in Arizona receives an outstanding education taught by a well-prepared teacher committed to the profession and the children they serve.
Mission
The Arizona Teacher Residency recruits, prepares, and supports diverse and talented people who want to become teachers through a rigorous graduate education, year-long clinical apprenticeship, and ongoing professional learning.
Our Values
AZTR believes all students deserve teachers who are caring, committed, and inclusive. Teachers who understand and respond to students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs. These are exceptional professionals who hold high standards for all students—and for themselves, continuously reflecting on their practice.
As such, we value:
We are committed to serving partner communities, advancing the work of schools, and providing an excellent education to students. Residents are members of learning communities, committed to the learning of their students and to their own continuing growth and development as teachers, while serving partner districts for at least four years.
We work deliberately to include and represent all voices in our recruitment, coursework, and advocacy. Residents reflect, understand, and serve students from diverse backgrounds in partner districts.
We hold high standards for our work, teaching practice, and student learning. Residents know their students and learn to employ appropriate strategies and methodologies for each student to excel. To that end, they are responsible for managing and monitoring the learning of their students.
We believe that education is a human profession, and that the basis of the work is about forming meaningful connections. Residents develop reciprocal and respectful relationships through knowledge of, and authentic care for, the students and families they serve.
We are committed to creating learner-centered classrooms in which teachers work to engage, understand, and honor the students they teach. Residents learn responsive approaches to teaching and learning that include constructivist, relevant, reflective, and inquiry-based pedagogies to deepen understanding, critical thinking, and learning.
We rigorously evaluate and reflect upon residents’ work in communities and pre-service teacher education. Residents embrace feedback and think critically about their own practice to provide for a cycle of continuous improvement.
Meet the team
Our team is made up of dedicated staff, advisory members, and program ambassadors.
Faculty & Staff
Dr. Victoria Theisen-Homer
Founding Director and Assistant Clinical Professor for NAU
Victoria Theisen-Homer is the Founding Director of the Arizona Teacher Residency. She grew up in Arizona and is a product of public schools in Phoenix. Prior to joining NAU's faculty, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at Arizona State University’s School of Social Transformation and completed her Doctorate in Education at Harvard University, where she studied teacher residencies. She was also an English teacher at a large public Title-1 high school in Los Angeles, where she received a Los Angeles Unified School District Teacher of the Year award. Victoria served as an editor on the Harvard Educational Review Board and continues to review manuscripts for a range of journals. Her own research – which lies at the intersection of teaching, teacher residencies, and the formation of meaningful human relationships – is represented in the book Learning to Connect: Relationships, Race and Teacher Education, scholarly journals like Journal of Teacher Education, Schools and Theory and Research in Education, and periodicals like Salon, Education Week, Alternet and The Arizona Republic.
Dr. Jessica Manzone
Assistant Professor of Practice for AZTR and NAU
Jessica Manzone is an Assistant Professor of Practice in the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. She was a classroom teacher and instructional coach before entering higher education. Jessica currently serves as lead faculty for the Arizona Teacher Residency where she works to prepare graduate students for future careers serving their local communities. Jessica’s research interests include curriculum and instruction for diverse gifted and advanced students. Jessica speaks at state, national, and international conferences on gifted education and provides demonstration lessons for school districts related to curriculum and instruction.
Dr. Thuy Padilla
Academic Program Coordinator for Recruitment and Adjunct Faculty for NAU
David DeCabooter
Academic Program Coordinator for Operations
Dr. Evandra Catherine
Course Instructor
Advisory Board
Bruce DuPlanty
Mr. DuPlanty currently serves as the Deputy Associate Superintendent for the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) and is on the Arizona K12 Center’s Board of Directors. He also served in the role of the Director of Certification for the ADE. Mr. DuPlanty has over 25 years of experience in the K-12 education system and was a teacher for many of those years. In this capacity, he received multiple teaching awards, including the prestigious Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award in 1999 and the O.M. Hartsell Excellence in Teaching Music Award from the Arizona Music Educator’s Association in 2005. Mr. DuPlanty has also served as professional development specialist and an administrator. He received his master’s degree in education from NAU, just as the residents in AZTR will do by the end of the program. In his role on the Board, Mr. DuPlanty provides guidance on teaching, licensure, operations, and compliance with the rules established by the Arizona State Board of Education.
Zel Fowler
Ms. Fowler is a Gifted and Talented Lead Teacher at Balsz School District in Phoenix and is the President of the Arizona Alliance of Black School Educators (AzABSE). Ms. Fowler has been a teacher for over 15 years, working with kindergarten through 8th grade students. She has received numerous awards, including the State of Black Arizona’s Community Luminary Award in 2015, the National Alliance of Black School Educators Distinguished Educator of the Year, and was just named a 2023 Semifinalist for Arizona Teacher of the Year. This year, she supported recruitment efforts for AZTR and has helped to craft a program through AzASBE to support residents from AZTR outside of the classroom. Ms. Fowler understands the rigors and complexities of teaching from the inside and advocates for both children and teachers throughout the community in her role as the President of AzASBE. She supports AZTR with the recruitment, support, and retention of teachers from a range of backgrounds.
Dr. Adama Sallu
Dr. Adama Sallu currently serves as the Director of Equity and Inclusion for the Chandler Unified School District. She has extensive experience providing leadership in K-12 education, and her work focuses on educational equity, culturally responsive teaching, and inclusive practices in schools.
She is national and statewide presenter on educational equity and challenges school districts to examine the normalization of failure ascribed to historically marginalized students. She has focused on identity and cultural pedagogical practices as a vehicle in closing the racial achievement gap. Her recent discourse explored the Impact of Racialized Trauma on Black Students, her recent publication focused on Women Who Lead in which she co-authored a chapter. Dr. Sallu serves on the Arizona Department of Education –Equitable and Inclusive Practices Advisory Council as well as Arizona Committee on Diversity and Equity in STEM, with specific interest in decolonizing STEM education.
Dr. Sallu also serves as a board member – Arizona Teacher Residency Program at Northern Arizona University, board of trustee for Justice College in Chandler, Arizona and a board member for the Chandler/Gilbert YMCA. She is also a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) serving children in Arizona’s foster care system.
Dr. Sallu was the 2022 Keeping the Dream Alive Award from the City of Chandler, 2022 United States Congressional Recognition for Service, 2016 City of Tempe Arizona, Martin Luther King Jr. Education Award. She received her doctorate in educational administration and supervision from Arizona State University, master’s in educational leadership/principal certification from Northern Arizona University, master’s in clinical social work from Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts, and a Bachelor of Liberal Arts from Our Lady of the Elms in Chicopee Massachusetts.
She is a mother of two children.
Nikkie Whaley
Nikkie is the Vice President of the Washington Elementary School District (WESD) Governing Board. For over 20 years, Ms. Whaley has worked with children from a range of ages in behavior health and education. She has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and understands the complexities of running a program like a residency. Ms. Whaley is also a graduate of Valle del Sol’s Hispanic Leadership Institute and is deeply engaged in the community. Through her work at WESD, Ms. Whaley understands the importance of teacher preparation programs from a school board perspective; she also understands it from the perspective of a parent of school-aged children. She has expertise in recruitment and retention, as well as Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion and supports the Arizona Teacher Residency in these areas and others in her role on the Board.
Glenn Wike
Glenn is the Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Community Investment at the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF). As Chief of Staff, he serves as advisor to the President and CEO and leads the development and execution of special projects, manages and directs organizational priorities, and coordinates implementation of the foundation’s strategic plan. As Senior Vice President of Community Investment, Glenn leads ACF’s grantmaking operations, including management of statewide grant programs and donor-recommended grantmaking. He is deeply engaged in the community, has extensive experience on non-profit boards and initiatives, and understands the complexities of running and funding programs like the residency. ACF has been supportive of the Arizona Teacher Residency since its inception, funding the feasibility study that led to the program’s creation and providing additional funding to help get the program off the ground. Glenn has been engaged in each stage of this grantmaking, and now continues to engage with and support the residency through the Advisory Board.
District Program Coordinators
Kelly Kesterson-Walker
Kelly Kesterson-Walker has been in education for 18 years as a paraprofessional, classroom teacher, an instructional coach, and now the Osborn School District's Program Coordinator for Arizona Teacher Residency. She has a passion for science, nature, and inquiry-based learning, and even obtained a masters degree in biological sciences through a partnership with The Phoenix Zoo. Kelley finds joy in working with students and teachers and strives to ensure that every student receives the best education while all teachers feel supported and appreciated. She has been married to her husband for 22 years; they have a ten-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter, who are her ultimate loves and the people who push her to be a better person every day.
Will Shropshire
Will Shropshire is a graduate of Northern Arizona University and Troy University. He has worked in the Tempe Elementary School District for more than 10 years. During that time he served as an 8th Grade Social Studies Teacher.
Windy Mariscal
Rebecca Williams
Inez Ramirez
Jennifer McAllister
2024-2025 Supervising Teachers
Edgar Ochoa
Molly Terriciano
Stephanie Murphy
Nancy Garcia
Kiera Lombardi
Adrienne Bass
Jill Richards
Melissa Wallace
Sergio Ramirez
Alice Kilby
Kirsten Callisen
Kayce Kahl
Lori Schmidt
Abigail Villavicencio
Paula Vaughn
Alisha Young/Ellis
Myisha Dixon
Nayely Sanchez Hernandez
Valerie Spadea
Candiece King
Kristy Strickland
Ann Hathaway
Betsey Sieveking
Shannon Lame
2024-2025 Teacher Residents
Uchenna Amajoyi
Yehudy Assaf Silva
Brianna Chilton
Brandi Clark
Suzanne D'Avino
Collins Ezemuonye
Bethany Harris
Eric Hernandez
Cecilia Nguyen
Alysse Normoyle
Harry Robinson
Allen Romanowski
Samuel Serrano
Citlaly Soto
Jayme Specker
Neriberth Tarazona
Ana Valenzuela
Scott Whaley
Alex Williams
Alexas Wilson
2023-2024 Teacher Residents
Christopher Blane
Gabriel Chacon
Sokie Chhim
Susan Cihak
Lorenna Corrales
Margarita Drauden
Greysen Everist
Ethan Franklin
Camila Hernandez
Alexis Hopper
Lisa Kasanicky
Manuel Lopez
Suemya Mazegri
Nikki Murray
William Nicholson
Eiraj Pourazar
Oscar Ramirez
Jennifer Suter
Our Partners & Affiliations
Working together to transform education.
We are grateful for the support we receive from our partners. Together, we are working to ensure every child in Arizona receives an outstanding education, taught by a well-prepared, committed teacher.
District Partners
The Arizona Teacher Residency program began with three partner school districts, expanded to five in the second year, and is expanding to addition school districts each year. If you are interested in partnering as a school or district, please for updates about the program and mark your partnership interest.
Osborn School District
Located in the heart of Phoenix, Osborn Elementary School District is a public school system serving more than 2,800 students.
Roosevelt School District
Serving more than 8,000 students, the district boundaries are the Salt River to the north, South Mountain to the south, 40th Street to the east and 35th Avenue on the west.
Tempe Elementary School District
Encompassing an area of approximately 36 square miles, including not only Tempe but also parts of Phoenix and the Town of Guadalupe, there are approximately 12,000 students in the district.
Cartwright School District
Located in the heart of Maryvale, Cartwright serves nearly 14,000 students.
Scottsdale Unified School District
SUSD serves 22,000 students across Scottsdale and into Phoenix, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, and Tempe.
Maricopa Unified School District
Serving more than 9,200 students in Preschool through grade 12 located in the Gila River Valley in Pinal County, Arizona.
The Arizona Teacher Residency program was established based on the teacher residency model codified by the National Center for Teacher Residencies (NCTR). Our program is the first and only NCTR affiliated program in AZ.
We are a proud program of Northern Arizona University. Residents are eligible to have their tuition covered at NAU by the Arizona Teachers Academy funding.*
Grants and Donors
Help us achieve our vision.
If you want to make a difference in education, whether you’re an individual educator, community organization, or potential funder, we want to hear from you!
You can make a difference in the lives of AZ students. We can help.
Learn about what it means to be a teacher resident— including earning your master’s degree, instructional responsibilities, and financial incentives.
