Phone:   309-677-3177                                                                       

Email:   mrisen@bradley.edu

Michael Risen joined the Department beginning in the fall of 2004 Graduate courses taught by Michael Risen include American Public School Law, Legal and Social Justice, The Principalship, Special Education Law, School Finance, Leadership Perspectives, Community Relations, and Research Methods. Recent research centered on analyzing the behaviors of principals who have demonstrated they are effective social change agents, graduate program assessments that are aligned with ELCC standards, effectively reconstructing the internship experience to improve leadership practice, and analyzing the consistency of ISBE rules and regulations with the language of IDEA. Past research includes his dissertation on the many types of teacher incentive pay programs, total quality management and its application to public schools, and technology and its uses in K-12 education. His implementation of teacher incentive programs from his dissertation research has been published in the Illinois School Board Journal and he has co-authored a manual on using metaphorical analysis in qualitative research designs entitled Mastering Metaphor: Policy Analysis for the Visionary Leader. He has presented numerous times on the two topics of Quality and Technology at various State and National Education Conferences over the past 15 years.

Background
Dr. Risen comes from a K-12 Public Education background where he served as a building administrator for 15 years in East Peoria Elementary School District #86. He also served nine years as Superintendent of Schools at Green Valley Grade School and the subsequent Midwest Central Community Unit District #191, and six years as Superintendent of Byron CUSD #226. He has experiences in leading the successful consolidation effort of the Green Valley Grade and High Schools and Forman Unit and in developing strategic planning. He is a certified facilitator in the Cambridge Group's Strategic Planning Process.

Degrees and Certification
Michael Risen received his PhD in educational administration in 1989 from Illinois State University where he also earned his MS in educational administration in 1975 and his BS in Business Education in 1971. He also earned an Education Specialist degree from Western Illinois University in 1983. He holds three Illinois teaching certificates, including high school, a type 75 for school administrators and the Illinois Superintendent’s Endorsement.