Assistant Professor of Education Cindy Basse leads and teaches in the early childhood graduate program. She launched the MAE in Early Childhood Education with four students and has been instrumental in teaching and growing the program to its current level of eighty students. She has focused her professional development on pedagogical approaches to online learning that engages students in active learning within a supportive classroom community.
In addition to teaching, Basse led the development of an Education Specialist (Ed.S.) program with an early childhood concentration. She made significant contributions to curriculum revisions for the revised MAE in Early Childhood Education with BK certification, and is the chair of the Graduate Review Committee for the School of Education.
She also serves on the Bay College Early Childhood Advisory Board, the UP Early Childhood Conference Committee, and the Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (MiAEYC) T.E.A.C.H. Advisory Board. She was recently selected as a peer reviewer for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) higher education accreditation.
Basse's research interests include nature-based learning in the early years to promote academic learning, and teachers' use of interactive technology in preschool classrooms to extend and enhance learning in the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Her scholarship of teaching focuses on innovative student internship experiences for non-teaching, graduate early childhood students.
Basse completed her bachelor's degree in music from Butler University, her master's degree in early childhood education from the University of North Dakota, and her doctorate in education from Walden University. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, bicycling, kayaking, playing, and teaching violin, road trips to visit family in Indiana, and time spent with their two dogs and family.