About Us

Staff Profiles

Kristen Reynolds
Kristen Reynolds serves as State Director for Texas GEAR UP. As a program manager for the Texas Education Agency's Federal and State Education Policy Division, Ms. Reynolds also works with programs and initiatives related to dropout prevention and recovery, differentiated instruction, college readiness and preparation, educator quality, mentoring and P-16 collaboration.  Ms. Reynolds was recently appointed to the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships (NCCEP) GEAR UP Advisory Commission.

 

 

Amy B. Koenning
Amy B. Koenning serves as the Implementation Director of the GEAR UP/STAR grant. Housed at the Pre-College Outreach Center on the campus of Texas A & M University - Corpus Christi, Ms. Koenning and her staff provide technical assistance and support services to the six STAR districts in the project. In her 37 years in public education, Amy has had experience as a classroom teacher, elementary and high school principal, and district coordinator for each of the Texas state GEAR UP grants.

 

 

Doris Teague
Doris Teague, who serves as the Statewide Initiatives Coordinator to the Texas Education Agency GEAR UP/STAR Project, has coordinated initiatives in the areas of advanced academics, GEAR UP, and the Texas Education Agency’s performance standards project. Ms. Teague has worked with projects in the twenty service center areas of the state and coordinated the production, training of trainers, and distribution of GEAR UP toolkits for middle and high schools in Texas.