April 29, 2011 The Friday Post Vol. 6, No. 5
You’re reading coE-News, an electronic newsletter produced several times a year by the College of Education News & Communications Office to keep faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends up-to-date on college news, activities and achievements.
GOT NEWS? We want to hear it. Submit individual or unit news and calendar events of collegewide interest to llansford@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. (Include full titles and program areas of featured faculty and staff; for featured students, include their program area, degree status and major or concentration area.)
Headlines
UF special ed, psychiatry faculty team up to help black adolescents with ADHD
Gagnon
UF special education and psychiatry faculty are teaming up to help African American adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and their families. Joe Gagnon, assistant professor in special education, is the co-principal investigator of the project with Melanie Sberna Hinojosa (PI) and Regina Bussing (Co-PI). The project is funded by a $15,000 grant from the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute, an NIH-supported program. The researchers will work with at-risk adolescents, and their families, enrolled in special after-school programs at the Reichert House Youth Academy in Gainesville, creating culturally-appropriate photo novels to improve their ADHD treatment compliance.
UF showcasing 1,100 teacher-learning presentations around Florida in May
More than 1,300 public school educators are presenting 1,100 problem-shooting research projects this month at University of Florida learning showcases around the state. The UF Lastinger Center for Learning is staging the showcases with its partner school districts in Miami-Dade, Duval, Pinellas and Collier counties as part of its award-winning Florida Master Teacher Initiative. The events highlight educator-conducted, classroom-oriented inquiry projects designed to boost student achievement. (more)
Visit the college home page for links to these and other reports about College activities, accomplishments and faculty-staff-student-alumni news and achievements.
College News & Notices
‘EduGator Nation’ Intro video available online
Mount…headed video project
A brief video overview of the College of Education, titled EduGator Nation, is now available online for viewing and downloading. EduGator Nation, just over 4 minutes in length, is posted on the Video page of the COE website and can be viewed online or downloaded for viewing on computer or embedding into PowerPoint slide shows and other presentations. The video highlights the college’s history, points of pride, key initiatives, organizational structure and other key facts and figures. EduGator Nation was produced by the COE’s offices of Development-Alumni Affairs and News & Communications, in conjunction with the broadcast section of the UF News Bureau. Alumni affairs coordinator Jodi Mount was project manager.
COE Green Team wins UF Sustainable Solutions Award for engagement
UF’s Office of Sustainability has chosen the College of Education’s Green Team to receive its Sustainable Solutions Award for engagement in promoting energy conservation. COE Green Team captain Chris Cook hosted a number of fun and engaging programs in 2010-11 that not only reduced waste but rallied faculty, staff and students to get involved in sustainability efforts. She coordinated a collection drive of office and school supplies to donate to Alachua County Tools for Schools, and hosted the second annual “Drop, Shop & Swap Recycle Fest.” Last summer, she staged an educational campaign to reduce cigarette butt waste to coincide with UF going tobacco-free. Her office partnered with the college Staff Council and the English Language Institute on a litter cleanup of the Norman Hall parking lot.
Recognition banquet honors scholarship students, donors, year-end award winners
The College feted its top students, introduced its 2011 scholarship recipients to their benefactors, and honored departing dean Catherine Emihovich at the COE’s 2011 Recognition Banquet (formerly known as the Scholarship Banquet), held April 15 at the UF Hilton. The College last year awarded $109,000 in scholarships and fellowships to 64 of our most deserving students. Pictured, right, are Outstanding Student Award recipients Daisy Pua, Dana Gustafson, Daniela Otero and Mary Theresa Kiely, with Associate Dean John Kranzler. See photo album of event on the COE Facebook page.
Honors & Appointments
Faculty
UF taps Cynthia Griffin as UF Research Foundation Professor
Griffin
University of Florida special education professor Cynthia Griffin, recognized nationally for her research on teaching mathematics to students with disabilities, has been named a UF Research Foundation (UFRF) Professor for 2011-2014. Griffin, a top-funded research professor in the College of Education, is one of 33 UF faculty scholars selected for the prestigious professorships. (more)
Jacobbe in math education named top undergraduate teacher
Jacobbe
Mathematics education instructor Tim Jacobbe has been named the 2010-11 Undergraduate Teacher of the Year at the University of Florida’s College of Education, with a faculty selection panel citing his outstanding ability to help his students see the connection between research-based math concepts and their use in teaching practice. (more)
Graduate Teacher of the Year: Holly Lane
Lane
Having earned her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in special education from the University of Florida, it’s understandable how Holly Lane, an associate professor in special education, can relate so well with her UF students at any stage of their college experience. Her commitment to her students also explains why she was selected as the 2011 Outstanding Graduate Teacher at the College of Education. (more)
Ex-professor, major donor Bill Hedges publishes autobiography
Robbie & Bill Hedges
Longtime, retired UF education professor William D. Hedges, who with his wife Robbie made the second largest donation ever to the College of Education, has published his autobiography. Titled “From Life in the Hamptons to a Life of Poverty in Arkansas,” his book is published by Xlibris, one of the pioneering print-on-demand publishing firms. The 142-page book can be purchased on the Xlibris web site as an ebook ($9.99) and in paperback ($19.99) and hardback ($29.99).You can read an excerpt from his book online about “The Teenage Years.” Hedges, 86, spent the final 20 years of his academic career at UF until his retirement in 1991 at age 67. The Hedgeses in 2005 pledged nearly $2 million to the college to create a research fund in their name, dedicated to helping marginal K-12 students get the help they need.
Students
LEAD doctoral candidates chosen for national workshop for Latino education leaders
Two UF doctoral candidates from the college’s Leadership in Educational Administration Doctoral program (LEAD) in Higher Education Administration have been selected to participate in a national leadership-training workshop for promising Latino educational leaders. Lisandra De Jesus and Angel Rodriquez were selected for the highly-competitive National Community College Hispanic Council’s Leadership Fellows program. De Jesus is dean of admissions at Albany (Ga.) Technical College; Rodriquez, a marine biology and environmental science specialist, is an assistant professor in science at Broward Community College. The fellowship awards cover the $1,800 registration fee for the workshop.
P.K. Yonge Update
News from P..K. Yonge Developmental Research School, UF’s K-12 laboratory school . . .
Drama teacher presents at national symposium
Drama and theatre instructor Kathy Byrne recently presented a paper at the fifth annual Summer Institute Alumni Symposium of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. Participants took on “the most challenging and enduring archetype in the human experience–the Mother figure.” Byrne spoke on “The Mother Figure in Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis: Clytemnestra: the Mother that cannot separate from her daughter.”
Choruses, vocal ensemble rate superior
The PKY Middle School Combined Chorus and the High School Concert Chorus both received Superior ratings in performance and sight-reading recently in the Florida Vocal Association Choral Festival in St. Augustine . . . In the state competition of the Florida State Vocal Music Association at Stetson University, the PKY Vocal Ensemble sang their way to straight Superior ratings, with perfect scores in the men’s, women’s and mixed groups.
They talk well, too
The Blue Wave high school and 8th grade debate teams won a record eight awards at the BDI Speech and Debate Competition at Buchholz High.
In the News
Below is a sampling of recent news media reports featuring the College of Education and its faculty, students and alumni.
April 11 & 12, 2011
Ross
Gainesville Sun: Dorene Ross (STL)
Professor Dorene Ross was quoted extensively in segments one and two of a five-part series in the Gainesville Sun about the value and impact of standardized testing in Alachua County public schools.
March 1, 2011
Gainesville Sun: Christopher Sessums (education technology)
Christopher Sessum, a postdoctoral associate in educational technology, was quoted in a March 1 Gainesville Sun story about proposed Alachua County School Board policies that would discourage teachers from engaging students on social media networks without administrative approval.
(Visit “COE In-the-News” Archives for more listings of media hits)