M E S S A G E  
F R O M  T H E  D E A N
COE logo
RONALD W. MARX
April 2017

WHY WE'RE HEADING TO SAN ANTONIO
ron marx
This week, the College of Education building will be mighty quiet as many of our faculty members and graduate students head to the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

Founded in 1916, AERA focuses on improving the educational process by encouraging scholarly inquiry related to education and evaluation. 

AERA's more than 25,000 members are faculty, researchers, graduate students, and other professionals with diverse expertise in education research. Based on their research, they produce and disseminate knowledge, refine methods and measures, and fuel the translation and practical application of research results.

More than 74 percent of AERA members work in education fields. Other disciplines include psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.

At the conference from April 27 through May 1 in San Antonio, we'll make about 70 presentations -- from Broken Promises: Charter Schools as Opportunities for Anti-Blackness to Educational Equity for Refugee Populations. Here's a complete list of talks.
 
CALLING ALL GRADUATING STUDENTS!
WIN BIG WITH OUR GRADUATION-CAP DESIGN CONTEST

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beats headphones
Share your love of education  and creativity via your graduation cap for a chance to win Beats' most popular model, the Beats by Dr. Dre Solo2 headphones, in UA RED no less! 

These Beats have great acoustics, a wide range of sound, and enhanced clarity for all the music on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod. They also deliver greater comfort thanks to a streamlined, lightweight, and durable design. 

If you are graduating and will be attending the May convocation at McKale, you are eligible to enter our graduation-cap decorating contest on social media. Caps will be judged on creativity and effort.

Upload your cap picture to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #coecapchallenge2017. All entries will be uploaded to a photo album on the college's Facebook account.

Photos must be submitted between Sunday, May 7, and Wednesday, May 10, by noon to be eligible. You also must attend the College of Education convocation ceremony to be eligible.

The winner will be announced during the ceremony on Friday, May 12.


ERASMUS EVENT INCLUDES RETROSPECTIVE
OF DEAN MARX'S TENURE

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The stunning home of Paul Lindsey and Kathy Alexander was the perfect location for the Erasmus Circle Donor Recognition Reception last month. 

Dean Marx presented A Retrospective of Dean Marx's Tenure at the College of Education. His leadership tips?

  • Hire good people and get out of the way
  • Find out who owns each rule and get rid of as many as you own
  • The fight against creeping bureaucracy is endless
  • Don't make rules for the one bad case
  • Like everyone you possibly can
  • Hold a sense of humility -- give as much credit to others as possible
  • Own your decisions and apologize often

  • Danielle Thu was honored by her brothers Dino, Dennis, and David DeConcini, who created a scholarship fund in her name. The Danielle DeConcini Thu Education Scholarship Fund already has reached endowment level and provides an annual scholarship in perpetuity.

    Associate Professor Sheilah Nicholas was named 2017 Erasmus Circle Fellow. A member of the Hopi Tribe, Nicholas joined the college in 2008. Her work focuses on indigenous and Hopi language maintenance and reclamation, Hopi language literacy, indigenous language ideologies and epistemologies, and cultural and linguistic issues in American Indian education.

    Nancy Woodling and The Stocker Foundation received the Erasmus Circle Outstanding Achievement in Education Award. Woodling volunteers as a Reading Seed Coach for Literacy Connects, is a member of the college's national advisory board and has been an Erasmus Circle patron since 2004. Woodling and her sister Mary Ann Dobras are founding members of The Stocker Foundation, whose mission is to support literacy projects for preschool through fifth grade in addition to other education advocacy programs. 

     
    Dean Marx greets Jerry and Dell Bromiel.
    Dell Bromeil is on the college's national advisory board.

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    Patrice Brown talks to the crowd as Danielle Thu, one of the evening's honorees, joins the event via telepresence (on screen). Brown is on the national advisory board. 

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    David DeConcini (left) with Charlotte Harris, president of the national advisory board, and Paul Lindsey, who hosted the event along with his wife, Kathy Alexander.
    dobras_marx_woodling
    Dean Marx with sisters
    Mary Ann Dobras (left) and Nancy Woodling
    of The Stocker Foundation.
     
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    Provost Andrew Comrie with his wife, Lee Comrie, and Paul Lindsey.
    IT'S AWARDS TIME!
     
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    Congratulations to these stellar students and faculty members!

    COLLEGE STUDENT AWARDS

    Sara Frye
    Outstanding Graduate Student

    Stephanie Choi
    Outstanding Senior

    DEPARTMENT STUDENT AWARDS
    Disability & Psychoeducational Studies

    Ellery Lockwood
    Outstanding Senior, Rehabilitation

    Abby Hill
    Outstanding Senior, Deaf Studies

    Lily Kanefield
    Outstanding Student Teacher, Mild to Moderate Disabilities

    Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

    Luz Alicia Barrios
    Outstanding Student Teacher, Elementary Education

    Robin Zemaitis
    Outstanding Student Teacher, Early Childhood Education

    Lisa Daconta
    Outstanding Student Teacher, Teach Arizona

    FACULTY AWARDS
     
    Assistant Professor Carol Brochin
    Maria Urquides Laureate Award

    Associate Professor Jill Koyama
    Outstanding Faculty Service/Outreach Award

    Associate Professor Sheilah Nicholas
    Erasmus Circle Fellow

    MESSAGE FROM ALUMNI COUNCIL

    The college is preparing to graduate another class of excellent educators. Our students are prepared to make a difference as they join us members of our college alumni, but what they face in Arizona and the nation makes it more difficult to educate all of America's children equally. If you have not read U.S. House of Representatives Bill 610, find it and read it. 

    You are invited to join us for our annual planning retreat on Saturday, June 3, from 8 a.m to noon in room 102 at the College of Education. We are looking for new ideas to continue to make a difference. You can participate in person or by teleconference. 

    We wish to thank Dean Marx for his 14 years of exemplary service to the college and wish him well as he moves to the next adventure. He will be missed!

    Please send me your ideas and questions as we move forward. I can be reached at [email protected], and I will respond quickly


    dave overstreet
    Always remember to Bear Down!





    Dave Overstreet '80 '86
    Alumni Council President
    520-621-1375
    PEOPLE
    Dean's Office

    chavarria
    Assistant Dean of Research Development and Outreach Sara Chavarria was honored with the 2017 Excellence in Campus-Community Outreach for STEM Diversity Award. 



    Dean Marx received the Education Champion Award at a Tucson Values Teachers event, A Celebration of Education Champions

    During this month's national advisory board meeting, the board also thanked Dean Marx for his 14 years of service to the college with another type of award -- this time, he was presented with an edible award in the form of a delicious chocolate cake.

    cake for ron



    Educational Policy Studies & Practice

    jenny lee






    Professor Jenny Lee wrote " Who Is the 'Public' in Higher Education Today," which appeared in Inside Higher Education.

    lopez

    Associate Professor Francesca López provides some insight behind her research for the article, "Altering the Trajectory of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Asset-Based Pedagogy and Classroom Dynamics," in this interview for the Journal of Teacher Education.


    Educational Psychology

    mary mccaslin
    Tom Good
    Department Head Mary McCaslin and Professor Emeritus Tom Good are featured speakers at the upcoming Jacobs Foundation  Conference, which is held at Marbach Castle, located on the shores of Lake Constance in Germany. The conference is recognized throughout the world as a forum for discussing key issues of child and youth development.


    Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies

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    Associate Professor of Practice Crystal Soltero with Sergio Castro

    Sergio Castro, a literacy, learning, and leadership major, was named an outstanding junior in the Honors College.


    choi
    Choi is a voracious newspaper reader.

    Another literacy, learning, and leadership major, Stephanie Choi, who graduates next month, received the Honors College Schwarzman Scholarship. She's also the college's outstanding senior!

    gunckel
    Associate Professor Kristin Gunckel developed a high school curriculum, with funding from the National Science Foundation, which uses computer modeling to teach students about groundwater contamination. See this story in the Arizona Daily Star


    grijalva
    Rep. Grijalva
    Literacy, learning, and leadership student Alison Irwin of Connecticut is a big sister with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson. Her "little sister" wrote an essay about their relationship and was honored by Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva as a result. "It made me feel special that Alison came and visited me every Monday at school," said Alessa Lopez, the young girl who wrote about Irwin. "If you study hard and work hard, it may get you to a better place for school and the future as well." Read the touching story here.

    Until next time,
     
    signature of Ron Marx
    Ron Marx


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