McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY McCormick Center Staff | April 26, 2024

A woman wearing glasses and a green shirt is smiling.

The McCormick Center will soon be housed in the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood as the Center for Early Childhood Leadership. The Institute, which will launch in late Fall 2024, will expand access, equity, and innovation within the early childhood education (ECE) sector. With this important work and transition already underway, Lisa Downey, Ed.D., has assumed the role of Executive Director of the McCormick Institute for Early Childhood.

Though new to this role, Dr. Downey is a familiar face at National Louis University (NLU) and in the ECE field. She most recently served as the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Educator Preparation at NLU, where she grew the program from just under 200 students to over 1500 and secured over 13 million dollars in grant funding. The program is designed to support teacher candidates from underrepresented communities and the incumbent Early Childhood workforce.

Since starting at NLU in 2011, she has also held the roles/ranks of field coach, adjunct professor, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor. Dr. Downey has spent over 30 years working in the field of education in roles such as Early Childhood Teacher, Child Care Center Director, Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Resource Developer, Training Coordinator, and Director of Provider Services at Illinois Action for Children, where she oversaw a multi-million-dollar program across eight sites in Cook County.

In her admittedly limited free time, Dr. Downey said she enjoys puzzling and reading romance and historical fiction novels. Her home is a bustling one: she lives with her wife, two German Shepherd mutts, three cats, and two teenagers. The dogs are siblings, the cats are siblings, and her children are not only siblings but paternal twins.

Dr. Downey reminisced that, when they were growing up, her children often asked her if she knew the people she would converse with in public. She’d have to say “No, I’m just making friends,” because that’s what she does; Dr. Downey knows everyone has a story to tell, so she is open and loves meeting new people. She said she is a very relationship-based leader.

“Lisa is the type of leader who is committed to developing and supporting those around her,” said McCormick Center Managing Director Kimberlee Hendricks. “I’m really excited about all that we will learn and the ways that we will be able to contribute with her at the helm.”

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The AI-Enabled Administrator: Reclaim Valuable Time

By Dr. Neal Green • February 8, 2026
Tools: Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, Perplexity Spaces Overview The evidence is clear that early childhood professionals' most significant challenge is a lack of time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, when used strategically, can give administrators some of the time they desperately need, allowing them to focus more on their staff and the children and families in their care. This approach aligns with the foundational goal of strengthening leadership effectiveness and program impact (Abel, Talan, & Masterson, 2023). When I scan the AI landscape of available products and platforms, it becomes overwhelming. There are so many options that it is impossible to keep up with every new development. Focusing on a limited number of AI tools backed by organizations with strong infrastructure and fiscal stability is a wise place to start your AI journey. McCormick Institute for Early Childhood’s (MIEC’s) upcoming professional development sessions will focus on three AI tools. These include Gemini Gems, NotebookLM, and Perplexity Spaces. Think of Gemini Gems as your customized AI assistant that you "train" to follow your rules and meet your goals. Gemini Gems are the right tool to tackle Internal Operations . NotebookLM is perfect for creating Family Support resources that stick. NotebookLM is a powerful AI tool that uses only the documents or other resources you add to generate specific, focused output. Perplexity Spaces is a fantastic choice to address Marketing demands. Like many AI tools, you can toggle back and forth between open web searches and focused documents that are specific to your work. Gemini Gems: The “Specialist Teammate” Gemini Gems allow you to create templates you can use repeatedly for agendas, HR policies, and more. If you have used AI in the past, you know that writing an effective prompt takes time, and they can easily get "lost" if you use AI often. Gems removes that challenge and lets you save your most effective prompts without having to rewrite them every time you use Gemini. It is up to you to decide if you want to create several smaller Gems to tackle common challenges you face or create larger Gems that encompass large swaths of your work. For our purposes, we will focus our Gem work on Internal Operations, addressing Program Administration Scale (PAS) Item 9: Internal Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). Imagine using a Gem to turn messy staff meeting notes into professional minutes with clear action plans in minutes or less! NotebookLM: The "Walled Garden" NotebookLM is an excellent tool for Family Support for your center, addressing PAS Item 17: Family Support and Involvement (Talan & Bloom, 2011). After uploading documents and resources, such as your parent handbook or community referral lists, to your Notebook, you can create several resources that parents/guardians of your center students will love. Just a few of the impressive features available with NotebookLM include audio (podcast) summaries, video summaries, and reporting functions with templates or the option to create your own report with metrics that matter most to you. Perplexity Spaces: The "Research Librarian" Perplexity Spaces is a perfect AI partner for Marketing your early childhood education (ECE) program, addressing PAS Item 18: External Communications (Talan & Bloom, 2011). You can build your own centralized repository, with control over branding to ensure consistency and present a professional, current image. Adding specific instructions to your space eliminates the need to format documents constantly and saves valuable time. The consistency that a Perplexity Space offers in this regard allows you to upload messages that are the "voice” of your brand. Your marketing efforts are not only more aesthetically pleasing but also enable you to track trends at similar centers in your area, helping you assess the competition. Strategies for Success: Audit your Internal Communications: Identify one repetitive task, such as creating staff meeting agendas (PAS Item 9), and automate it with a Gemini Gem. Curate your Family Resources: Gather three to five existing documents to "feed" a NotebookLM project for more responsive family support (PAS Item 17). Standardize your Brand: Use a Perplexity Space to ensure all public relations tools project a consistent, professional image (PAS Item 18). Reflection Questions: Which administrative task takes the most time away from your interactions with staff and families? How might centralizing marketing materials (branding) impact the professional image to prospective families? Table 1: AI Tools for ECE Professionals
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