coE-News: February 15, 2008, VOL 3 ISSUE 5
VOL. 3, ISSUE 5
Feb. 15, 2008
You’re reading coE-News, an electronic newsletter produced monthly during the academic year by the College of Education News & Publications Office to keep faculty and staff up-to-date on college news and activities. Click here to download a PDF version of this edition. You will need a PDF reader to view this document.
GOT NEWS? We want to hear it. Submit individual or unit news and calendar events of collegewide interest to news@coe.ufl.edu for publication consideration. All submissions must be in writing or via e-mail and must include contact information for follow-up questions.
* * * * * * * * * *
IN THIS ISSUE:
* * * * * * * * * *
DEAN’S MESSAGE
Going green for a young century
Today’s world presents us with two great challenges. First, the economy is increasingly high-tech and globally competitive, while our schools are mired in 19th-century models. Second, we have to come to terms with humanity’s impact on our environment. In her February column, Dean Catherine Emihovich outlines the college’s vision for the Experiential Learning Complex, a proposed building that would serve as a laboratory for truly 21st-century learning techniques—with a much smaller environmental footprint than most academic buildings. (more)
* * * * * * * * * *
TOP STORIES
COE professor heads half-million-dollar effort to bring civics back to middle schools
What happens when you establish a high-stakes testing regime —but forget to test students on their basic knowledge of American government? Professor Elizabeth Yeager is one of the many who are alarmed by the lack of civic education in Florida schools, and she just secured a $566,000 grant to prepare teachers to bring civics back to the middle grades in Florida. (more)
Terzian garners Undergraduate Teacher of the Year honor
What do Native American boarding schools, 1950s mental hygiene filmsand the Booker T. Washington/W.E.B. Du Bois debate have in common? They’re all part of the history of American education—and they’re all things Associate Professor Sevan Terzian uses to teach his undergraduate students how our schools became what they are today. Terzian, known for his innovative approaches to teaching education history, has been named the College of Education’s Undergraduate Teacher of the Year. (more)
* * * * * * * * *
NEWS AND NOTICES
Education Career Week at UF showcases plethora of career options in education
UF’s College of Education has declared Feb. 18-22 as Education Career Week at UF and is staging two special events on campus to introduce more UF students to the many career paths that a new education minor or an advanced degree from the college can lead to. A College of Education Open House is set for 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19, in the Terrace Room at Norman Hall; the college also will host Education Career Night at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21 in the Arredondo Room of Reitz Union. For more details, see news release about the events on the College of Education Web site.
Meet education deans, faculty at AERA reception
If you’ve ever been to one of the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association, you know that the receptions are often where the action is—where colleagues meet and new collaborations are formed. At this year’s AERA meeting in New York City, UF is organizing the one reception you can’t miss. Hosted by deans, faculty and graduate students from Southeastern Conference colleges, the event is expected to draw a crowd of hundreds from around the region. All UF faculty and doctoral students are encouraged to attend. No need to RSVP, just show up March 26 at 7 p.m. in the Metropolitan Ballroom of the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers. The event includes heavy hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. For more information, contact Jodi Mount at jmount@coe.ufl.edu.
Learn the newest ed-tech tools in distance ed workshops
Web 2.0 tools—those online applications that let Internet users manipulate Web content—are revolutionizing the way we teach. If you’ve discovered one or two of them, you’re probably hungry for more. So why not attend “Learning Online 2.0: 10 Web Tools Every Educator Should Know About,” a workshop set for 12:15 -1:30 p.m., Feb. 21, in room G518? The meeting is part of the Spring Education Workshop series held by COE’s Office of Distance Education. Future installments in the series include a workshop Feb. 28 on using Moodle to enhance face-to-face courses, an introduction to developing online courses on March 6, and a class on using networks to facilitate online participation on March 13. For more information, contact Chris Sessums at csessums@coe.ufl.edu.
CROP goes to Atlanta for MLK Day
The statewide College Reach-Out Program, based at COE, took advantage of the Martin Luther King Day weekend to introduce some of Florida’s prospective first-generation college students to the wealth of post-secondary education opportunities available in the Atlanta area. CROP staff and faculty took their charges—all of them students from mostly-minority schools in low-income areas—to Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, the American Professional Institute and Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Institute. CROP students also visited Georgia’s rich historical sites and museums including the Harriet Tubman Historical Museum in nearby Macon and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and the Sweet Auburn Historic District in Atlanta. The highlight of the trip occurred when CROP students marched with thousands of people through downtown Atlanta during the Martin Luther King Day parade.
* * * * * * * * *
RESEARCH
COE researcher: Review boards hampering social sciences research
Institutional review boards—created in the 1970s to protect human research subjects from risks and various abuses of power—are handing a raw deal to researchers who use non-traditional methods and research approaches. So says Associate Professor Mirka Koro-Ljungberg. (more)
* * * * * * * * *
FACULTY/STAFF HONORS/APPOINTMENTS
Higher-ed access group names Emihovich as president
Dean Catherine Emihovich has been elected to a three-year term as president of the Holmes Partnership, a consortium of local and national education interests dedicated to equitable education and reform in teaching and learning. (more)
Award for COE study of ‘ubiquitous computing’
What would happen if schools could provide a personal computer to every one of their students? Last year, two COE faculty members tried to find out, by studying a state pilot program that made ‘ubiquitous computing’ available in a number of Florida schools. One article produced through that study—conducted by Associate Professor Kara Dawson and Associate Professor Cathy Cavanaugh—was recently given an Outstanding Paper Award by the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education. For a closer look at the study, go here.
Pallas selected to national governing board
Clinical Associate Professor Pamela Pallas has been appointed to the governing board of the National Coalition for Campus Children’s Centers—a 700-member association of childcare centers on college campuses across the United States and Canada. Pallas, who is also director of Baby Gator Child Development and Research Center, will serve on the board for three years.
* * * * * * * * *
STUDENT AWARDS AND HONORS
Counselor Ed students chosen for honor society fellowships
Counselor education doctoral students Michael Brubaker and Eric Davis have been selected for 2008-2009 Chi Sigma Iota (CSI) fellowships. CSI, an international honor society for counselor educators, selects only 10 fellows per year, making two fellowships in the same department a major achievement. In addition to the fellowships, Brubaker also was awarded a CSI internship—one of only two offered across the nation. Brubaker and Davis are both officers of UF’s CSI Beta Chapter (Brubaker is president and Davis is president-elect).
* * * * * * * * *
PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS
Music, math and movement motivate at Lastinger-organized conference
An enterprising Alachua County teacher and UF’s professors-in-residence were among the headliners at the Winter Conference of the National School Reform Faculty held in November in Tampa —a conference organized in part by UF’s own Lastinger Center. Among other things, the Lastinger Center helped bring in Gloria Merriex, the Duval Elementary teacher who has incorporated music and movement into her mathematics curriculum—resulting in the highest FCAT math gains in the state. COE Professor Dorene Ross, Assistant Scholars Alyson Adams and Madgi Castaneda and doctoral candidate Phillip Poekert all led “home groups”—intense discussion groups which stayed together throughout the three-day conference. For more information on the National School Reform Faculty and its mission, click here.
UF Alliance hosts conference for novice teachers
The UF Alliance held its 2008 Annual Novice Teacher Conference, titled “Inspiring Improved Teaching and Learning in Urban Schools” on Jan. 11-12 in Orlando. The event attracted more than 70 participants representing schools in both Florida and Puerto Rico.
The conference, a part of the Alliance’s continuing effort to improve college access for all students, acquaints teachers—particularly novice teachers—with a repertoire of best practices to better prepare their students with the academic skills they need to gain college access. (more)
Hagedorn paper commissioned by federal DOE
Professor Linda Hagedorn, chair of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy, has been asked to write a paper for the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education. The paper will be titled “The Community College Transfer Calculator: Identifying the Course-Taking Patterns that Predict Transfer.”
Presentations
Archer-Banks, D., (2008, January) Voices of High-Achieving African American High School Girls: Improving their Opportunities to Excel. Paper presented at 12th Annual Holmes Partnership Meeting, Orlando, Fla.
Melendez, D., Archer-Banks, D., Maxis, S., Basallo, J., Primack, M., Oliver, B. (2008, January). Parent involvement in low-performing urban high schools: Empowering parents to empower their children. Paper presented at 12th Annual Holmes Partnership Meeting, Orlando, Fla.
Publications
Amatea, E., & West-Olatunji, C. (2007). Joining the conversation about educating our poorest children: Emerging leadership roles for school counselors in high-poverty schools. Professional School Counseling, 11, 81-89.
Bondy, E., Ross, D., Gallingane, C., & Hambacher, E. (2007) Creating environments of success and resilience: Culturally responsive classroom management and more. Urban Education, 42(4), 326-348.
Conwill, W.L. (2008). Neoliberal policy as structural violence: Its links to domestic violence in Black communities in the United States. In N. Gunewardena and A. Kinsolver (Eds.), The gender of globalization: Women navigating cultural and economic marginalities (pp. 127-146). Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press.
Kinnier, R. T., Dixon, A. L., Barratt, T., & Moyer, E. (2008). Should universalism trump cultural relativism in counseling? Counseling and Values, 52, 113-124.
Kurpius, S. E. R., Payakkakom, A., Dixon Rayle, A., Chee, C. & Arredondo, P. (2008). The appropriateness of using three measures of self-beliefs with European American, Latino/a, and Native American college freshmen. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 36, 2-14.
Vescio, V., Ross, D., & Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 80-91.
West-Olatunji, C., Pringle, R., Adams, T., Baratelli, A., Goodman, R., & Maxis, S. (2007). How African American middle school girls position themselves as mathematics and science learners. The International Journal of Learning, 14, 219-228.
* * * * * * * * *
DISSERTATION DEFENSES
Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the following dissertation defense. Please RSVP if you plan to attend:
“Special Education Students In Selected Florida High Schools: Adequate Yearly Progress As Measured By The Policies Set Forth In The No Child Left Behind Act”
Doctoral candidate: Mark Stockdale
Noon, Feb. 27, Norman Hall Room 2205
RSVP to: R. Craig Wood, rcwood@coe.ufl.edu
* * * * * * * * *
P.K. YONGE NEWS
PKY teacher/COE professor collaboration inspires new model for elementary science teacher preparation
Florida schools are knuckling down on science. The FCAT science test has been added to the K-12 school report card, and the state is about to implement toughened new science standards. A new project teams the College of Education, P.K Yonge Developmental Research School and Union County schools to prepare elementary school teachers for a more rigorous science curriculum. (more)
* * * * * * * * *
IN THE NEWS
A recent sampling of “media hits” from the College of Education:
The Gainesville Sun– Professor and Director Nancy Dana, Center for School Improvement (1/22/08) Dana was quoted in a story on the Shewey Excellence in Middle School Education Fund, established at UF by Gainesville residents Kathy and Fred Shewey to promote middle school reform. The gift was also covered by the Independent Florida Alligator.
* * * * * * * * * *
CALENDAR
FEB. 19
Education Career Week at UF—COE Open House
1-4:30 p.m.
Norman Terrace Room
FEB. 21
COE Education Career Night
7-8 p.m.. Reitz Union Arredondo Room
Contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext: 250
FEB. 21
Distance Education Workshop:
“Learning 2.0: Ten Web Tools Every Educator Should Know About”
12:15 -1:30 p.m., Room G518
Contact: Chris Sessums, csessums@coe.ufl.edu
FEB. 21-23
UF Alumni Association’s Back To College Weekend
www.ufalumni.ufl.edu
FEB. 25
Monday Morning Coffee “Let’s Talk Databases!” with Paul Sindelar & Cyndi Garvan
Open to all COE faculty.
10-11 a.m., Norman Terrace Room
Contact: Rosie Warner: rwarner@coe.ufl.edu; 392-2315, ext 234
FEB. 28
Distance Education Workshop:
“Blended Learning”
12:15 -1:30 p.m., Room G518
Contact: Chris Sessums, csessums@coe.ufl.edu
MARCH 6
Distance Education Workshop:
“Getting Started: Online Course Development Basics”
12:15 -1:30 p.m., Room G518
Contact: Chris Sessums, csessums@coe.ufl.edu
MARCH 6
Data Safety Issues with Cyndi Garvan
Open to all COE faculty
11 a.m. -1 p.m., Norman Terrace Room
Contact: Rosie Warner: rwarner@coe.ufl.edu; 392-2315, ext 234
MARCH 10-14
Spring Break
* * * * * * * * * *
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FFMT to hold recruitment and retention conference
More than 600 education majors from around the state (including some three dozen from UF) will converge on Orlando on April 5-6 for the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers, Inc.’s 12th Annual Recruitment and Retention Conference. Titled “FFMT and You: Embracing Florida’s Educational Success and Impacting its Future,” the conference will provide professional development, employment opportunities, networking and opportunities for recruitment into Florida’s graduate schools. For more information, please contact Cheryl Williams, cwilliams@coe.ufl.edu.
* * * * * * * * * *
QUICK LINKS
UF: www.ufl.edu
College of Education: education.ufl.edu
coE-News: Publications
Education Times magazine: Publications
* * * * * * * *
coE-News is produced by:
College of Education, University of Florida
Dean’s Office/News & Publications
Dean: Catherine Emihovich (cemihovich@coe.ufl.edu)
Director: Larry Lansford (llansford@coe.ufl.edu)
Editor: Tim Lockette (Lockette@coe.ufl.edu)
Correspondents:
Wendy Norman, Copy Editor
Marta Pollitt, P.K. Yonge (mpollitt@pky.ufl.edu)
