Dr. Respress has been an Associate Professor at Tennessee State University in the Department of Educational Administration since August of 2007. She is also the Project Co Director of the SITES-M project. Prior to her work at Tennessee State University, Dr. Respress was employed by Florida A & M University as Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor. She received her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from East Tennessee State University and M.A. in Educational Psychology and Mental Health from Tennessee Technological University. She has taught courses in both Educational Leadership and Counselor Education. Prior to her work at FAMU, Dr. Respress was employed by Florida State University through a collaborative effort with the Florida Department of Education as an Education Specialist. She has evaluated and provided technical assistance to educational programs across the state of Florida, as well as, worked with district administrators, principals, and teachers to improve classroom instruction. She also has over eleven years of experience working with at-risk youth in both educational and mental health settings. Dr. Respress has been the author and co-author of several refereed publications on whole brain learning, strength-based learning, juvenile justice education, teacher attrition, and violence prevention. Most recently, she is noted in a McGraw Hill book publication titled Diverse Approaches to Family and Community Violence Prevention: A National Perspective. She has also been the principal investigator of a million dollar grant provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services titled HEARTS Family Life Center, an after school violence prevention program for at-risk youth which utilized the fine arts.