September 2020
THE COLLEGE INSIDER
NEWS ABOUT FACULTY, STAFF, AND STUDENTS OF
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
|
|
Stay informed to stay safe
While the University of Arizona is excited to welcome students back for another semester, we know things will look very different this year. If you are returning to campus for in-person classes, please remember to wear a face mask, wash your hands frequently, and download Covid Watch Arizona.
|
|
Announcing the College of Education 2020 Erasmus Circle Scholars
Congratulations to all 2020 Erasmus Circle Scholars! The Erasmus Circle scholarship program was developed by the Dean's Advisory Board to support and recognize our outstanding students who show promise in their area of study. Many of these students have already made significant contributions to their communities, the college, and The University of Arizona.
Graduate students:
Faqryza Ab Latif (Educational Psychology)
Tasnim Alshuli (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Celeste Atkins (Education Policy Studies & Practice)
Johnyne Blair (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Zach Brown (Educational Policy Studies & Practice)
Karina Callejas (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Chelsea Carr (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Stephanie Celaya Serventi (Educational Policy Studies & Practice)
William Ekstrom (Educational Psychology)
Allison Fairchild (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Angela Gunder (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Michael Hernandez (Educational Policy Studies & Practice)
Priscila Ledezma (Educational Psychology)
Huitzilin Ortiz (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Jinseok Park (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Cristin Phibbs (Educational Psychology)
Felise Tagaban (Educational Policy Studies & Practice)
Marie Tanaka (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Wen Wen (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Xiao Yin (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Leah Zachariah (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Di Zhang (Educational Psychology)
Undergraduate students:
Carely Bravo (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Brennen Feder (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Lauren Fisher (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Jose Hernandez (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Kirsten Hillig (Disability & Psychoeducational Studies)
Vanessa Holmes (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
Amy Spotted Wolf (Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies)
|
|
Carol Brochin, Leah Durán, and Kathy Short awarded NEH grant to host summer institute that will explore histories that have been erased
The two-week institute for 30 K-12 educators will examine Arizona as a case study. While U.S. history is often taught from the perspective of the 13 colonies, looking at this history from the perspective of the last coterminous state added to the union invites participants to explore stories and perspectives left out of traditional narratives, particularly those of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color. Teachers will learn through the combination of literature, historical records, social science research, artifacts, film, and hands-on inquiry, exploring what histories have been erased, and how they might be recovered.
|
|
Associate Professor
Carol Brochin
|
|
Assistant Professor
Leah Durán
|
|
|
Thomas Good awarded E. L. Thorndike Career Achievement Award
According to the Division 15 website, the E. L. Thorndike Career Achievement Award "is among the most prestigious award given to living educational psychologists for their substantial, career-long achievements and contributions to the field. Winners are recognized for research in the best tradition of educational psychology, meaning that the award is conferred for original, scientific, empirically-based research that contributes significantly to knowledge, theory, or practice in educational psychology.”
Past recipients include Albert Bandura, B.F. Skinner, Sandra Graham, and Jacquelynne S. Eccles, and, of course, our own Professor Emeritus Joel Levin, who received this distinguished award in 2002 while a member of our faculty (see full list of past recipients.)
Congratulations Professor Emeritus Good!
|
|
College of Education doctoral students awarded the UAZ Hispanic Alumni Graduate Scholarship
Congratulations to language, reading, and culture doctoral candidate Michelle Aguilera and school psychology doctoral candidate Jaclyn Wolf on being awarded the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni Graduate Scholarship! The scholarship is granted to University of Arizona graduate students whose research helps underserved Latino communities.
Some other good news about Aguilera: she was also accepted into the Council of Anthropology and Education New Scholars Poster Session for the American Anthropological Association 2020 Annual Meeting (but unfortunately it was cancelled due to COVID-19).
|
|
GRANTS, AWARDS, AND FUNDING |
|
Erin Turner, Sanlyn Buxner, and other UArizona faculty members awarded three NSF grants
The Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies has been busy (especially TLS Professor Erin Turner)! Congratulations to the following faculty members on winning this funding:
Turner and Mathematics Professor Marta Civil received the Together - Parents, Teachers, and Multilingual Children Doing Mathematics grant. This grant will develop and research an innovative mathematical partnership that engages teachers, parents, and multilingual children in grades 3-5, from schools in underserved communities, in mathematical experiences by integrating two different approaches to advancing equity in mathematics education—positioning theory and funds of knowledge.
Turner and Mathematics Associate Research Professor Cynthia Anhalt received a grant for Advancing Equity and Strengthening Teaching with Elementary Mathematical Modeling. This project focuses on equity-centered professional development designed to improve mathematics teaching and learning through mathematical modeling in grades K-5.
Turner, TLS Associate Research Professor Sanlyn Buxner, and Systems and Industrial Engineering Professor Ricardo Valerdi received a grant for Growing Mathletes: STEM of Baseball in Informal Settings. This four-year Innovations in Development project that integrates sports, math and science concepts, and growth mindset to broaden participation, and enhance math/science learning and engagement among youth in grades 4-8 underrepresented in STEM fields, particularly Latinx and African American students.
|
|
|
|
Associate Research Professor Sanlyn Buxner |
|
Kristin Gunckel awarded NSF grant to deconstruct and analyze practices in middle school science
TLS Professor Kristin Gunckel received a National Science Foundation grant for Learning Progressions in Science: Analyzing and Deconstructing the Multiple Dimensions in Assessment. The goal of this grant is to tease apart practices (e.g, scientific argumentation), cross-cutting concepts (e.g. patterns), and content in each of the foundational middle school science contexts - physical, life, and Earth sciences.
|
|
Jill Castek awarded NSF grant to coordinate research on equity practices and cultures in STEM maker education
Associate Professor Jill Castek received a National Science Foundation grant for Developing a Network to Coordinate Research on Equity Practices and Cultures in STEM Maker Education. The four-year Advancing Informal Science Learning project will bring together scholars and practitioners working at the intersection of equity and interdisciplinary making education in STEM.
|
|
Megan Baker awarded Fulbright U.S. student grant
Congratulations to higher education doctoral student Megan Baker on being awarded a 2020-21 Fulbright U.S. student grant! The 9-month grant, which begins in March 2021, will allow Baker to explore how curriculum and classroom experiences can be purposefully designed to expose students to multiple perspectives and trigger new ways of approaching issues.
Baker says the proposed project will bring together faculty from The University of Arizona and Universidad Adolfo Ibañez to co-design and implement collaborative cross-institutional learning experiences for students that promote interdisciplinary approaches to complex issues.
|
|
Fellowship will support STEM education along US-Mexico border
Thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the college is launching the Noyce Border Fellowship Program for middle and high school teachers along the U.S.-Mexico border. The program will create field-trip sites in rural Southern Arizona to provide students with informal STEM-learning opportunities. Congratulations to Professor Etta Kralovec, the principal investigator for the grant.
"If you're a teacher in Phoenix, you can take your students to the Arizona Science Center or the Children's Museum of Phoenix once a month," Kralovec said. "There's public transportation to these places, and there are robust educational programs for students. But in rural areas, there aren't those kinds of opportunities, and we believe that that lack of informal STEM opportunities contributes to the achievement gap that you see on the border."
|
|
Welcome Iliana Reyes as the college’s new associate dean
In case you missed it, we have a new associate dean! Last month, the college welcomed Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Professor Iliana Reyes into this role and she has been busy ever since. Reyes has been with the college for 18 years, having started as an assistant professor in 2002. Professor Reyes received her master’s and doctoral degrees in developmental psychology from UC Berkeley. She is a former early childhood teacher and worked as a child psychologist for the San Francisco Unified School District. Her expertise in biliteracy in schools and communities is widely recognized, as is her work on borderlands with immigrant families and children.
|
|
Tenure-track faculty members
Congratulations to the following tenure-track faculty members on their promotions:
Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice
Jill Koyama: promoted to full professor
Z Nicolazzo: promoted to associate professor with tenure
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies
Alberto Arenas: promoted to full professor
Carol Brochin: promoted to associate professor with tenure
Kristin Gunckel: promoted to full professor
Sheilah Nicholas: promoted to full professor
Jessica Summers: promoted to full professor
Marcy Wood: promoted to full professor
|
|
Career-track faculty members
Congratulations to the following career-track faculty members on their promotions:
Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice
Heidi Burross: promoted to full professor of practice
Elizabeth Pope: promoted to associate professor of practice
Department of Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Studies
Sanlyn Buxner: promoted to associate research professor
Crystal Soltero: promoted to full professor of practice
|
|
Do we need more productive theorizing?
Teaching, Learning, and Sociocultural Professor David Yaden co-authored an article in the Reading Research Quarterly article entitled Do We Need More Productive Theorizing? A Commentary that is now available to preview on the International Literacy Association website. Due to copyright restrictions, please contact Yaden directly for a copy of the article.
Reinking, D., & Yaden Jr, D. B. (2020). Do We Need More Productive Theorizing? A Commentary. Reading Research Quarterly.
|
|
Be sure to send in your news for the next College Insider!
We're interested in workshops, publications, new faculty and staff,
stellar students to feature, and awards. Click the link below to submit.
|
|
Spotlight on Stellar Students!
Name: Susana Segura Plasencia
Major: Bilingual Elementary Education & Spanish
Expected graduation: May 2021
Hometown: Hermosillo Sonora
What made you want to study elementary education?
I consider myself one of the lucky ones because I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher. I believe that everyone has a special power and mine is working with young children. I wanted to pick a profession where I can not only be around kids, but also a career that allows me to give back to our community. So what better way of giving back than helping our future generations become strong, kind, and independent leaders? Being an educator is not only about teaching them academics, it is also about pushing them to be the best version of themselves. To encourage them in working hard and guide them to success! I believe that teachers are like superheroes and I have always wanted to be one. So, that is why I want to become a strong role model and be a guide for my future students. That is why I want to be a teacher!
What have you learned in the College of Education that's made a difference to you?
I am so grateful to be part of the College of Education because they have taught me so much! I have been so fortunate to have had amazing professors who are so passionate about educating future teachers. Not only have they taught me how to become a great educator, but they have also taught me what the life of a teacher looks like. I knew I had the passion and motivation to become a great educator, but sometimes that is not enough. They have taught me the reality that we face, when it comes to our profession. Luckily those challenges have not made me afraid, if anything they have encouraged me to be brave and I am happy to say that I am ready to face challenges that might come my way!
Tell us about your experience with Upward Bound this summer.
I was very lucky to be part of the Upward Bound staff this summer. Even though we couldn't meet with the students in person, UB still managed to adapt and it was an unforgettable experience. We provided different courses for all grade levels that would help them gain skills and challenge one another. We also hosted workshops that would help us come together as a community. The UB staff and program is like a family and I'm very grateful to have been part of it.
What are you planning on doing with a degree in elementary education after graduating?
After I get my degree in education, I plan on applying to get my masters in creative writing. My dream job is to be an elementary teacher but I have always wanted to be an author as well! So why not do both?
What advice do you have for students just getting started in the college?
I would recommend coming into the college with an open mind and a positive attitude. There will be some days that will be harder than others but do not let it discourage you! We have all been there and it has been a learning experience. It will give you the opportunity to grow as a person and as an educator! You will meet amazing professors and you will learn so much!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
