About Cultivated Conference
Understanding Minds. Transforming Learning.
Join us Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, at The Seven Hills School.
Hosted by The Seven Hills School, the CultivatED Conference is a regional gathering designed to foster learning, connection, and conversation for pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade educators and pre-service educators currently attending university.
The theme for our next CultivatED Conference is Understanding Minds. Transforming Learning. Join us as we explore the neuroscience of learning with topics focusing on Mind, Brain, and Education (MBE), motivation, memory, attention, brain development, and more. Learn research-informed methods to transform theory into practice in classrooms.
We are thrilled to have Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D., a leading expert in MBE, join us as this year’s keynote speaker.
Registration
Registration will open in August. Please check back soon for more information!
Keynote Speaker
Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa, Ph.D.Educator, Researcher, Author, and Co-Founder Tracey is co-founder of Conexiones: The Learning Sciences Platform, an instructor at the Harvard University Extension School, where she teaches a course called “The Neuroscience of Learning: An Introduction to Mind, Brain, Health and Education,” and an Associate Editor of Nature Partner Journal Science of Learning. She is a former member of the OECD expert panel to redefine Teachers’ New Pedagogical Knowledge due to contributions from Technology and Neuroscience. She has taught kindergarten through university and has more than 35 years’ experience in more than 40 countries around the world. She firmly believes in the power of a single teacher to change many lives. As an interdisciplinary researcher in neuroscience, cognitive psychology and education (cultural and linguistic anthropology), Tracey is author of 15 books and dozens of peer-reviewed articles on themes ranging from improved indicators to measure educational quality; the expansion of the Mind, Brain, and Education field; learning in the digital age and paradigm shifts using appropriate technologies; bilingualism and multilingualism; and the general improvement of teacher education practices. Tracey received her BA in International Relations and BS in Communications from Boston University (magna cum laude), her Master’s in Education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, and her Ph.D. from Capella University and is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA); the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); Founding Member of the Global Learning Sciences Network (GSoLEN); International, Mind, Brain, and Education Society (IMBES); the Society For Neuroscience (SfN); and World Educational Research Association (WERA). |
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Session Leaders
Shannon Eastep
Teaching Professor and Instructional Technology Coordinator in the College of Education, Northern Kentucky University
Eastep is a teaching professor and instructional technology coordinator in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky University. With 22 years of experience at NKU, she specializes in leveraging technology to enhance teaching and learning. Eastep teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on instructional technology and has been invited to speak at area K-12 schools and university workshops on practical strategies for utilizing AI and technology in the classroom. Shannon has received multiple awards at NKU for her contributions to teaching and technology, including the “Excellence in Online or Technology Enhanced Teaching Award” in 2018 and the “Michael C.C. Adams and Susan S. Adams Outstanding Non-Tenure Track Faculty Member Award” in 2024.
Jennifer Gibson, Ph.D.
Director, Associate Professor, School of Psychology, Xavier University
Dr. Gibson is a licensed clinical psychologist with interests and expertise in school-aged children, school-based mental health, and prevention and promotion interventions. Dr. Gibson earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Miami University after completing her predoctoral internship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Steven C. Guy, Ph.D.
Pediatric Neuropsychologist, Dr. Steven C. Guy & Associates
Dr. Guy is a pediatric neuropsychologist in private practice in Columbus, Ohio, and works with children and adolescents with a wide variety of developmental and acquired conditions. He completed his undergraduate work at Judson College in Elgin, Illinois, and his graduate work at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Guy completed his internship at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in neuropsychology at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He has worked in both inpatient and outpatient hospital settings as well as in private practice in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. He has held positions of clinical instructor at both The Ohio State University and in the Division of Pediatric Neurology/Department of Pediatrics at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Dr. Guy has completed research in the area of lead poisoning, the effects of chronic illness on family functioning, memory abilities, learning disabilities, and in the area of executive/regulatory functioning. He is also one of the coauthors of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF Parent, Teacher, and Self-report) and Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function Second Edition (BRIEF-2). His current research interests include learning disabilities and ADHD, and he is continuing his research, developing methods designed to assist in the assessment and treatment of executive function.
Yvette Harris, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology, CHDLT Faculty Associate, Professor of Psychology; Miami University
Dr. Harris is a professor of psychology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. She received her doctorate degree in psychology from the University of Florida with a specialization in cognitive development. Dr. Harris has spent more than 25 years focusing on exploring the environmental contributions impacting the cognitive development of preschool and school-aged adolescents. She has published four books, two of which focus specifically on African American children (“The African American Child Development and Challenges: 2nd edition”) and children of African origin. As a result of this scholarship, Dr. Harris has appeared twice on National Public Radio and other media programs and participated as a panelist discussing “African America Children and Bullying: What Parents Should Do, for the Black Caucus Annual Legislative Session.”
Kristy High
Children’s Book Author and Vice President of Winn Reading
High is an award-winning children’s book author and an in-demand publicist and coach. She is the vice president of Winn Reading, a literacy nonprofit serving Cincinnati. High is the author of “How About You? An Introduction to Dyslexia,” “Did I Upset Grandma,” “Strong and Healthy-Like a Car,” “How to Tame My Busy Brain,” 3x co-author of the acclaimed children’s books, “Peter’s Perfect Pipes,” “I’m No Different Than You,” and “I am Powerful, I am Amazing, I am a King.” Her first book, “Peter’s Perfect Pipes,” is featured in Scholastic Books and has been adapted into an animated series that will be used as an educational resource for hospitals and schools nationwide. High has assisted several successful authors with live events, public relations, book clubs, retail placement, and more. Her books are in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Saint Louis Children’s Hospital, Brooklyn Children’s Hospital, Kansas City Children’s Hospital, and several other hospitals and clinics nationwide. Her work has been featured by Sickle Cell Foundations nationwide.
Kellina Lupas, Ph.D.
Member, Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology
Clinical Lead, Center for ADHD
Assistant Professor, UC Department of Pediatrics
Dr. Lupas’ areas of expertise are behavioral medicine and clinical psychology. One of the foundations for Dr. Lupas’ career was her work as a Fulbright Fellow with Dr. Sarah Durston at the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on reward processing in children with ADHD (2011-2012). As an undergrad, she pursued a degree in neuroscience to better understand the mechanisms behind behavior and learning. Over time, Dr. Lupas transitioned into practicing more clinical intervention work, particularly in applied contexts like the school and home. Her research mirrors her clinical work and focuses on motivational, behavioral, and training techniques to help adults implement evidence-based practices with greater consistency and self-efficacy.
Gerardo Ramirez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Ball State University
Dr. Ramirez is an associate professor of educational psychology at Ball State University, where he teaches both undergraduate teacher education courses and advanced classes in our doctoral and master’s programs. His primary areas of research include emotion and math achievement. Dr. Ramirez is interested in understanding how students’ academic struggles, personal narratives, and sense-making processes shape math learning.
Brooke Richart, LPCC
Behavioral Health Counselor, Pediatric Associates; Intervention Specialist
Richart spent the first decade of her career as a middle school teacher, specializing in teaching students with learning disabilities and ADHD. She earned her master’s in education from Hunter College in New York City and taught first in the Bronx and then in Cincinnati. In 2020, she transitioned from teaching to counseling and graduated from Xavier University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program two years later. After completing her internship with Pediatric Associates, Richart joined the Behavioral Health team full-time in Fall 2022. She is a licensed counselor in both Ohio and Kentucky, as well as a certified K-12 intervention specialist in Ohio.
Joseph “Beau” Stephens, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Psychology, Xavier University
Dr. Stephens is a cognitive neuroscientist who earned his Ph.D. in psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also completed the graduate training program in the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. He also has a B.A. in Germanic studies from Indiana University. He grew up in southeastern Indiana and is a graduate of St. Xavier High School. Prior to returning to the Cincinnati area, Dr. Stephens was a faculty member for 16 years at North Carolina A&T State University, the nation’s largest historically Black University. Dr. Stephens’s research investigates cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie auditory and visual perception, speech and language, memory, decision making, and cognitive aging. His research is highly collaborative and has been funded by grants from a variety of sources, including the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and Air Force Research Laboratory.
Karl William Stukenberg, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Psychology, Xavier University
Stukenberg, Ph.D., ABPP, has been a faculty member at Xavier for over 25 years. He trained as a clinical psychologist at The Ohio State University, with an Internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. His three years of post-doctoral training were in psychological assessment and treatment in tertiary care settings at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. Once at Xavier, he trained to become a psychoanalyst at the Cincinnati Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Stukenberg continues to have an interest in psychological assessment, having published on the MMPI and having taught graduate courses in intellectual assessment, personality assessment with “objective” instruments, and also with the Rorschach, and integrative personality assessment. He has also taught intervention courses and is currently teaching the graduate course in psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Dr. Stukenberg has taught general psychology, abnormal psychology, senior comprehensive review, and history and systems of psychology at the undergraduate level. He has also served the university as the director of psychological services and as the chair of the School of Psychology.
Suzie White, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Education, University of Cincinnati
Dr. White is a professor and mom helping parents, students, and educators apply the latest brain science to feel better, connect more deeply, and thrive. Dr. White currently teaches at the University of Cincinnati, where she leads graduate-level courses in educational leadership, equity, well-being, and systems change. Before academia, she helped lead a non-profit that empowered parents to thrive. She was also a college counselor and teacher at a Cristo Rey high school in Lawrence, MA.
Location
The conference will be held at The Seven Hills School, 5400 Red Bank Road, Cincinnati, OH 45227.
Hotel & Transportion
More information coming soon.
Questions?
Reach out to cultivatedconference@7hills.org with questions.