Meet our Team

Our team of Alternative Licensure Instructors (ALIs) and education professionals are ready to share their real experience and guide you towards your goal every step of the way.

Together we offer over 60 years of experience as professional learning leaders and educators and have built a learning community that mentors and empowers new teachers towards a successful teaching career built upon culturally responsive and inclusive teaching practices.

Stickney, Dane

Dane Stickney PhD

Clinical Assistant Professor
  • Affiliate Faculty, Learning Design & Technology
  • Extended Studies

After a decade as a newspaper reporter in Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa, Dane became a 6th grade writing teacher at a middle school on Denver's Northside. He and his students tackled social justice topics including undocumented student access to higher education, gentrification, and school-related gun protections while also scoring in the top 3 in Denver Public Schools state testing scores in writing growth. After five years in the classroom, Dane moved to CU-Denver where he is a senior instructor supporting teacher development through the ASPIRE to Teach program, the Curriculum & Instruction master's track, and the Student Voice and Leadership initiative through Denver Public Schools. Dane is also a PhD student exploring the ideas of student voice, teacher agency, and sociopolitical development.

Areas of Expertise

  • Student voice
  • Critical pedagogy
  • Problem-based pedagogy
  • Sociopolitical development
  • Teacher agency

Education, Licensure & Certifications

  • PhD Education and Human Development with the Urban Ecologies concentration
  • Master's of Curriculum & Instruction, CU-Denver, 2012
  • Bachelor's of Journalism in News-Editorial and Bachelor's of Arts in English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2002
  • Professional Teacher License, K-12 ELA, 2010-present
  • Linguistically Diverse Educator certification, 2012-present

Resumes/CV:

Awards

  • Jared Polis Foundation Teacher Recognition Award: Received from the U.S. representative one of 10 statewide teacher grants for outstanding classroom contribution and dedication; included a $1,000 personal award and $1,500 classroom award, used for purchasing classroom technology (2013)

ASPIRE has been so supportive through my whole first year of teaching. I have had so many questions and issues come up and I know I can count on my ASPIRE Instructors to be there. They are supportive and always make sure that they are there to answer all of my questions. - Kiwi , ASPIRE Candidate
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