Leadership
Heather Googe
Principal Investigator
Dr. Heather Googe serves as the Principal Investigator for SCPI. In this role, Dr. Googe works with SCPI’s funders and the University of South Carolina to ensure SCPI meets grant compliance and reporting requirements. Dr. Googe also works as a Research Assistant Professor at the UofSC Child Development Research Center and as the Director and Principal Investigator of the South Carolina Child Care Inclusion Collaborative. She has over 20 years of experience working in the field of early childhood special education and holds a Ph.D. in Special Education.
Kerri Kannengieser
Program Director and Co-Principal Investigator
Kerri Kannengieser is the Program Director and Co-PI for SCPI. In this position, Kerri oversees the day-to-day operations of SCPI, facilitates strategic planning, supervises staff & the delivery of technical assistance, and works with SCPI’s PI to meet grant compliance and reporting requirements.
Kerri holds an M.S. in Special Education and has over 20 years of experience in the special education field. She has worked for the University of South Carolina’s Child Development Research Center since 2016 when SCPI was in its inception. Kerri is a member of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and is a board member with the Division for Early Childhood (DEC). She is also a Certified Child Care Trainer in South Carolina, a member of the Pyramid PIECES State Leadership Team, and served on the South Carolina Advisory Council for Educating Students with Disabilities (ACESD) as the co-chair of the Preschool Committee from 2022 to 2025.
Technical Assistance Team
Melissa Griffin
Technical Assistance Coordinator
Dana Bennett
Technical Assistance Specialist
Dana Bennett serves as a Technical Assistance Specialist with SCPI. In this position, she provides training and technical assistance to districts to increase their use of evidence-based practices that support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early learning programs.
Dana holds a M.Ed. and has 18 years of experience teaching in the public school system. She has also served as a family childcare teacher and an Inclusion Specialist. Dana was also awarded the 2019 Council for Exceptional Children Special Educator of the Year Award for the state of South Carolina.
Jo Wallace
Technical Assistance Specialist
Jo Wallace serves as a Technical Assistance Specialist with SCPI. In this position, she provides training and technical assistance to districts to increase their use of evidence-based practices that support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in early learning programs.
Jo holds an M.Ed. in Educational Administration, is currently pursuing her Doctoral degree in Curriculum and Assessment, and has over 10 years of experience teaching and working in the public school system. She has also served as an Early Interventionist working with children aged birth-three.
Support Team
Kate Ascetta
Consultant
Dr. Kate Ascetta is an Assistant Professor in Residence at the Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) at UConn Health. Before pursuing her Ph.D. at University of Oregon, she worked in a variety of early childhood intervention settings with young children and early childhood teachers. Dr. Ascetta's scholarship and teaching focus on the design and provision of technical assistance related to teacher preparation programs in higher education as well as the implementation of interventions to increase equitable access to inclusive settings for young children with disabilities.
Aaron Prince
Communications Coordinator
Aaron Prince is the Communications Coordinator for SCPI. In this role, he is responsible for all content management for SCPI and its partner programs SCIC and Pyramid PIECES. This includes website updates, newsletter publishing, social media management, and the creation and execution of content calendars.
Aaron holds an MA in Copywriting and Strategic Design. He has spent the past several years in ad agencies and in-house teams creating materials for everything from small startups to multinational conglomerates. He has experience writing, designing, and crafting marketing and communication deliverables for the healthcare, insurance, home building, and retail industries.
Suzanne Wingard
Events Coordinator
Suzanne Wingard is the Events Coordinator for SCPI and its partner programs SCIC and Pyramid PIECES. In this position, Suzanne is responsible for planning, managing, and organizing functions and events that align with the mission of our work for externally funded projects.
Suzanne holds a B.S. in Health Sciences from Clemson University and has 10 years of experience around training and conference coordination. She has worked directly with SC partners to implement multiple state and nationwide conferences that provided training, support, and resources to families of children, youth, and young adults with special healthcare needs and the professionals who serve these families. As a trainer, she has provided multiple trainings directly to caregivers, professionals, education students, and youth. She is also an appointed member of the SC Developmental Disabilities Council, seated as a parent of a teen with a disability.