Meet Us

Michael E. Murphy was born in New York City and raised on Long Island. He received his BA from Providence College in Providence RI, majoring in Political Science and Economics. While working full time in the investment side of a bank, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the George Mason University Anton Scalia School of Law, followed by an MBA at Northwestern University. After completion of his MBA, Michael returned to George Mason University Law School to complete a Masters in Taxation (LLM). 

Michael’s work experience focused in the Wealth Management industry and he finished his career as a Senior Vice President and the National Director for Client Service at BNY Mellon, a responsibility which included 500 staff members, 22 offices in twelve states along with the operations group and other support groups, strategic planning and marketing.

His passion to address the challenges posed by dyslexia began with his son Christopher who was diagnosed with both dyslexia and ADHD. Michael became with his wife, co-President of the Fox Chapel School District’s parent support group advocating for learning disabled students in the district and later, became a Board member of Pennsylvania’s Education Law Center which engaged in both lobbying at the state level to support greater resources as well as in support of litigation to improve outcomes for learning challenged students at state schools.

Katharine Donnelly Adams is the Director of Teaching and Learning at Reading Futures. Prior to joining Reading Futures, Dr. Donnelly Adams was an Assistant Teaching Professor of Psychology at Penn State. Early in her teaching career, she was a Research Teacher for dyslexic and struggling readers at Benchmark School with Dr. Irene Gaskins and at Tufts University with Dr. Maryanne Wolf. She helped to develop the Benchmark Word Detectives and RAVE-O programs in these positions. Her doctoral research with Dr. Wolf focused on how to best deliver research-based interventions to students through summer programming while training teachers in the research behind the programs. Her postdoctoral training with Dr. Janet van Hell focused on neurocognitive and behavioral methods to investigate how children and adults learn second languages. Her current work investigates how technological tools can be used in linguistically diverse classrooms to support reading development. Katharine also serves on the board of the Restorative Justice Initiative at Penn State.

Amy Bader is a current school board director in the State College Area School District, where she has served for the past eight years. Before becoming engaged in advocacy for public schools, Amy had been a practicing small animal veterinarian. Although she no longer is in practice, she values the education she received in evidence-based decision-making. Amy was familiar with dyslexia due to family members' experiences. When her child exhibited signs of a reading disability she was thankful for the Center. Now she is grateful to serve in the interests of other students.

Keith began his career as a tutor of students with learning disabilities at the Landmark School in Beverly, Massachusetts. He has been a vocational rehabilitation counselor in the states of New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania assisting individuals with disabilities to gain employment. Most of his career has been as a postsecondary disability services professional at two postsecondary institutions, Dickinson College and his alma mater Penn State University. At Penn State University, he was the Executive Director of Student Disability Services. Keith holds a B. A. in Liberal Arts from Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York, having majored in psychology. He completed graduate studies M.Ed., in Counselor Education, Rehabilitation Services from Penn State University. He also completed graduate training at Leslie University to qualify for teacher certification in Elementary Education in the State of Massachusetts. He has also qualified for certification as a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Pennsylvania (both currently inactive).  His interest in assisting individuals with learning disabilities to realize their potential arises from his own difficulties learning to read and inspiration derived from educators who assisted him. Keith retired from Penn State University after 12 years in July, 2019. He lives in Ferguson Township with his wife, Karen, also retired. They have two daughters, Christine in Portland Oregon, and Kali in White Plains, NY. 

Schalyn Sohn is Director for the Integrated Master of Accounting program and an Assistant Teaching Professor in Accounting at the Smeal College of Business. Sohn is the Advisor for the Accounting Society Student Organization and Advisor for the MAcc Program Student Organization. Before joining Smeal, she taught at George Mason University, Northern Virginia Community College, and Strayer University.

Sohn graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Master of Science in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame. She received the Academic Excellence Award and the Federation of Schools of Accounting Student Achievement Award from Notre Dame. She graduated with High Distinction from the Bachelor of Science in Accounting program from Penn State University at University Park and received the Senior Award: Dorothy M. Kelley Memorial Scholarship.

Sohn worked first as an accountant in the Assurance & Advisory Services for Deloitte & Touche LLP, then as a Senior Accountant with General Dynamics, and then as the Manager of Regulatory Reporting for E-Trade Financial before starting a limited liability company. Sohn received a patent for a parenting product in April 2014.

Andrea was raised in State College, PA, and attended Penn State, graduating with a

philosophy and religious studies degree. She moved to California after graduation and

subsequently pursued a career in clothing design. She worked for eight years as a

pattern maker for a women’s wear manufacturing company based in San Francisco.

After moving back to Pennsylvania, Andrea changed careers, becoming a special

education paraeducator. She became concerned when she saw that some students

struggled to read even with conventional reading instruction and intensive remediation.

On the recommendation of a parent whose son had dyslexia, Andrea took the one-year

training program with a teaching practicum in the Orton-Gillingham method offered

through the State College branch of the Children’s Dyslexia Center (now the Dyslexia

Reading Center.) She has tutored through the DRC since 2013.