Courtney Howard (PHD ’03, Curriculum Instruction) was recently hired as director for the Center for Partnerships to Improve Education at the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Prior to this position, Howard spent seven years in the School of Education at Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC) as teacher education faculty member (2004-2011), Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment (2008-2010), and Interim Dean (2010-2011)

The EduGator Nation spreads far and wide, even Ankara, Turkey.

Our latest international update comes from Cagdas Kockan (MED ’01, Math. Ed.) who currently works as a civil engineer at the Disaster and Emergency Management Office of Ankara, Turkey. He previously worked as a research assistant at the Gazi University Kirsehir Education Faculty between 2002-2007 and held a position at the Directorate of Public Works and Settlement Office of Kırsehir, Turkey.

Michelle (Thompson) Donice (Higher Ed Admin ‘05), a 2005 Ph.D. graduate in higher education administration and a former Holmes Partnership Scholar, published her debut novel, The Other Side of Through, in June. The author explores one woman’s painful search for self against the backdrop of her crumbling marriage and a steamy affair that makes her want to leave it all behind. Available now at Amazon and Barnes & Noble (http://www.plenarypublishing.com/).

Donice in 2005 was one of three UF recipients of the prestigious Holmes Scholarship, which recognizes advanced-degree students of color for their character, academic standing and career goals in education. She previously graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s in communications from Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach. She lives in Ormond Beach with her husband and children and teaches English and creative writing.

She says she wrote The Other Side of Through after hearing so many women talk about marital issues.

Joyce Miller-Alper (MED ’71, ES ’74) has been teaching for over 40 years. Says Alper, “In the early 1970’s everyone wanted to intern in Gainesville and stay there to teach.”  She began at Gainesville High but quickly wanted to teach at the “new school”, Buchholz High,where at the time everyone was vying to work.  She taught at Buchholz for nine years before moving to Texas where she has been teaching ever since.

Several college of education professors had a profound impact on Alper, including Dr. Timmons and Dr. Casteel, who “would drink so much coffee when they visited the campus”.  She noted that Professor Ted Hipple debated with Alper for years whether or not you teach students or you teach the subject.  She recalls meeting with Dr. Hipple years later at a conference in Knoxville and continuing the debate.

“The University of Florida made me who I am. I am proud to be a Gator and to have been recognized by the college,” says Alper, “but the foundation was my professors. To them I am grateful for eternity.”

In 1989 Alper was named Outstanding Graduate by the UF College of Education and Texas Teacher of the Year.