UF recognizes International Students of Year
UF’s College of Education has selected doctoral students Jungah Bae (special education) and Dadria Lewis (mental health counseling) as its 2011 Outstanding International Students.
Doctoral students Jungah Bae (left) and Dadria Lewis (right) accepted their certificates of academic achievement at the UF International Center’s awards ceremony. The award recognizes students from other countries who excel in academics, research and service to UF.
The award recognizes deserving students from other countries who demonstrate strong academics, innovative research activity and exemplary service to UF.
Bae and Lewis, along with honored students from other UF colleges, received certificates of academic achievement recently at the UF International Center’s annual, campuswide awards ceremony. Each college could nominate up to five students. The Nov. 17 ceremony was part of International Education Week at UF and worldwide.
Bae is one of two doctoral students in special education simultaneously pursuing a minor in the college’s rigorous research and evaluation methods program. She also teaches an online class for in-service and pre-service teachers struggling with math. She manages class forums and discussions for more than 30 students and also tutors some of her graduate colleagues.
She is a research assistant in the School of Special Education, School Psychology and Early Childhood Studies. Professor Cynthia Griffin, her faculty adviser, writes in a nomination letter that Bae doesn’t stop at analyzing data, but also helps faculty researchers illustrate and interpret their findings.
Dadria Lewis’s adviser, Cirecie West-Olatunji, a professor in counselor education, describes her as “an outstanding scholar in the making” in mental health counseling. She writes that Lewis consistently contributes to classroom discussions and research investigations and asks questions that bring out new ideas.
Lewis previously received a National Science Foundation research fellowship and UF’s Grinter Fellowship for exceptional incoming doctoral students. She also coordinated the college’s pediatric counseling research team under West-Olatunji. (Photo provided by the UF International Center.)
WRITER: Nicole La Hoz, communications intern, news and communications, UF College of Education
