M E S S A G E  
F R O M  T H E  D E A N
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RONALD W. MARX
Special Edition: 
March 2016
We're abuzz with literacy and the Tucson Festival of Books!
ron marx
The college is proud of its involvement with the Tucson Festival of Books, a community-wide celebration of literature. All proceeds from the festival are used to sustain the event and support local literacy programs, such as Reading Seed, Literacy Connects, and UA Literacy Outreach Programs. Since 2009, the festival has contributed more than $1,050,000 to agencies that improve literacy in the community.

This year's festival is March 12-13, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. The festival is offered free of charge to the public. Parking at the UA is complimentary during festival weekend, although use of public transportation is strongly encouraged.

savage inequalities book cover

On Saturday, March 12, at 4 p.m., please join us in the College of Education, Kiva Auditorium, for a special presentation by Jonathan Kozol, a celebrated crusader for a  
balanced public school education and author of Savage Inequalities and The Shame of the Nation Art, among other books.

kozol with child
In the passion of the civil rights campaigns of 1964 and 1965, Kozol gave up the prospect of a promising career in the academic world and moved from Harvard Square into a poor black neighborhood of Boston to become a fourth-grade teacher. He has since devoted his life to the challenge of providing equal opportunity to every child in our public schools.

His talk, The Influence of Testing and Accountability on Curriculum: A Feast of Riches, explores how art, aesthetics, inquiry, and critical thinking are being crowded out by obsessive testing and punitive accountability within public schools, especially schools serving our poorest children. He will address why these virtues are essential for the learning of all students and offer a critical view of current issues within public schools.

DETAILS
Jonathan Kozol
The Influence of Testing and Accountability on Curriculum: A Feast of Riches
Saturday, March 12
4-5 p.m.
College of Education, Kiva Auditorium
Followed by a book signing

Tickets for this featured session will be available on the Tucson Festival of Books website on March 7-11. Individuals are allowed to request two  tickets per day for any ticketed events at the festival (no charge for the tickets). In addition, tickets will be available at the event on a first- come basis. Friends of the Festival can request tickets beginning March 2.


And for K-12 students...
Another exciting event, offered by our friends in the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, is on Sunday, March 13, at 10 a.m. in the SBS tent: The Power of Fairy Tales is an interpretive reading of fairy tales put on in conjunction with the student-run Fairy Tale Review and Tiny Donkey literary magazines. Here's more.
 
demigods on speedway book cover and sheehan
Also, inspired by UA English Professor Aurelie Sheehan's book Demigods on Speedway, not to mention the phenomenal success of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, SBS will host a Myths Revisited session on Sunday, March 13, at 11:30 a.m. Students can attend a reading and talk about the importance of
myths in literature and how we might go about retelling them. Here's more.

 
One of the world's leading experts on
terrorism and hate crimes to speak at the college
mark hamm

Mark Hamm, College of Education alumnus and professor of criminology at Indiana State University, will be on campus Thursday, March 31, to present a talk on  Prisoner Radicalization and the Terrorist Threat.

Hamm was featured in our fall Imagine magazine here. He graduated with an education degree from Indiana University and worked as a teacher, principal, administrator, and warden at juvenile and adult corrections facilities. During this time, he earned a master's degree in education from the UA College of Education and then a Ph.D. in public administration from Arizona State University.

He has been a professor in the Indiana State University criminology department for 30 years. This year, ISU honored him with the President's Medal, the university's highest award for faculty. He has published hundreds of articles and is the author of several books about terrorism, hate crime, and prisoner subcultures. He is one of the few criminology researchers who actually meets with his subjects.

DETAILS
Thursday, March 31
2-3:30 p.m. 
College of Education, Room 102

This event is free, but please let us know if you will be attending here.
You also may participate via telepresence.


Professor Bosworth's research 
may be expanded to Nogales, Arizona
bosworth with nogales group
From left to right are Joan Molera (Ph.D., 2015),
 a middle school principal in the Nogales district;
Kris Bosworth; and Roman Soltero (Ph.D., 2009),
also a middle school in the district. 

For more than a decade, Professor Kris Bosworth's research has focused on positive school climate, which enhances learning and promotes a college-going culture. Her research was featured in the fall issue of the college's Imagine Research magazine. (Read the article here.) 

Not long after we sent out Imagine in October, the president of the Nogales Unified School District Board picked up the magazine, read the Bosworth article, and decided he wanted to apply the model in Nogales. Bosworth and Joan Molera, who received her Ph.D. from the college last year and is a middle school principal in the district, were asked to give a presentation to the board February 22, which was "well received," according to Bosworth. Stay tuned to see where it goes from here. 

PEOPLE

Educational Psychology 

ida rose florez
Ida Rose Florez, who received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and was awarded a Marshall Foundation Graduate Dissertation Fellowship during her time here, is the new executive director for the Elementary Institute of Science in San Diego, which provides hands-on STEM (short for science, technology,  engineering, and math) education for underserved children and youth. Here's more .


all century diving and swimming team
As the Pac-12 continues its 100-year anniversary, the league continues to announce All-Century teams. Over the last few weeks, the UA has had a number of former student-athletes recognized on the swimming and diving All-Century teams, headlined by  Michele Mitchell, who was named  Diver of the Century . Michele is a four-time All-American, nine-time national champion, and two-time Olympic silver medalist. She also happens to be a College of Education grad, receiving a Ph.D. in 2007. 

Educational Psychology has yet another connection to the All-Century team. Graduate student  Samantha Pickens also was named to the All-Century swimming and diving team. Samantha is the first female in Arizona to win a national title in diving, the NCAA title in the 1-meter. 

There must be something in the water in Educational Psychology!  Read on  about these great athlete s. 


T eaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

kellie fox
As if that weren't enough, we have yet another winning athlete to brag about. USA Softball announced its Female Athletes of the Year, and the UA Softball program swept the awards with  Kellie Fox earning Female Athlete of the Year. Kellie graduated from our Literacy, Learning & Leadership program last year and is a member of the USA Softball team. Here's more  on Kellie.

crystal soltero
Associate Professor of Practice Crystal Soltero is one of the newest UA Faculty Fellows, serving the students of Posada San Pedro Hall. The program allows faculty to meet students where they are, whether that is a residence hall, a cultural center, a resource center, or a place they work.
"I love being able to serve as a resource for students' questions about Tucson and the UA," says Soltero. "Connecting students with all of the opportunities offered at the UA feels really good. But even more than that, I love being able to connect students with each other as a way to build a stronger residence hall community. We have a lot of fun together, and I know our activities have helped a lot of them get to know each other in a deeper way." Read more here .

sara tolbert
Assistant Professor Sara Tolbert partners with teachers at Changemaker High School to improve science teaching to underserved students. Her work was featured in  this article in the Desert Leaf.

We'll see you at the Tucson Festival of Books!

signature of Ron Marx
Dean Ron Marx

GIVE

If you would like to support the College of Education, one way to do it is through a gift of real estate.

A gift of real estate:
Generates a tax deduction, bypasses capital gains, and, in some cases, provides income. 

Steps: 

Obtain an independent qualified appraisal.
Contact the UA Foundation for a review process.
Once accepted, decide how to fund your charitable intent to support the College of Education. You can f und a charitable gift annuity (income paid to you until your death; principal then goes to UA Foundation to support the college) or fu nd a charitable bequest (specify the property to be gifted to the UA Foundation upon your death; proceeds are stated  in your will to support the college).

For more information, contact Director of Development Rick Zurow at 520-621-7143 or [email protected].

We want to hear from you! Send your news to [email protected] .