Archive for category: Press Releases

VOL. 3, ISSUE 4

Jan. 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
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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.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

Why we will thrive— through thick and thin
Times have been
tough. Here at UF, budgets have been trimmed. Out there, schools are
groaning under the weight of student poverty. Still, Dean Catherine
Emihovich sees something inspiring in the spirit that sustained the
college through 2007—a spirit that will go out into the world and
make it a better place. (more)

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TOP STORIES

COE taps one of its own as associate dean for academic affairs
Professor Tom Dana, director of the School of Teaching and Learning,
has been selected to succeed Jeri Benson as associate dean for academic
affairs. The self-described “technology and data geek” will take over
COE’s No. 2 position in July. (more)

Couple gives COE $600,000 to carry on tradition of middle-grades reform
The College of Education has been a leader in the middle school
movement since its beginning. Now Gainesville residents Fred and
Christine Shewey have given the college a major gift that will help UF
pioneer the next generation of middle-school reform. (more)

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NEWS AND NOTICES

China: the Next Educational Frontier
They’re the world’s most populous nation, they excel at producing
science and mathematics graduates, and they have hundreds of years of
experience with high-stakes testing. What can we learn about education
from China, and what can China learn from us? Faculty are invited to
share their experiences teaching, learning and researching in the
People’s Republic of China, in a Brown Bag Lunch hosted by Dean
Catherine Emihovich, to be held Feb. 11 from noon-1:30 p.m. in the
Norman Terrace Room. You bring the brown bag lunch; the Dean’s office
will provide drinks and dessert.

Scholarship of Engagement nominations open
It’s always hard to pick winners for COE’s annual Scholarship of
Engagement Awards. After all, Norman Hall is filled with accomplished
scholars who are putting top-notch research skills to work on the
community’s most troubling problems. Please help the college narrow
down the field: if you know someone whose socially-engaged research
stands above even COE’s high standards, you have until Feb. 22 to
nominate them. Go here for more details.

Learn about new professional practice doctorate
UF is part of a multi-university effort to reshape the Doctor of
Education degree into a professional practice doctorate that better
fits the needs of 21st Century educators. If you want to learn more
about professional practice doctorates—and how other research
universities have devised their degree programs—a panel of experts
will discuss these issues in a teleconference Jan. 25 from 1-3 p.m. in
the Terrace Room. Presenters include David Marsh of the University of
Southern California and a panel of scholars from Vanderbilt University.
Attendees can submit questions in advance of the meeting to syraj@ufl.edu or Hagedorn@ufl.edu.

Beta Chapter offers new ways for counselor educators to connect
UF’s Counselor Education students and faculty are well-known for their
desire to change the world for the better. Check out the latest issue
of the Beta Chapter Bulletin
to find out how they are making that change. Published by the local
Beta Chapter of Chi Sigma Iota International, the international honor
society for counselors and counselor educators, the newsletter is
available on the Counselor Education Web site (go to https://education.ufl.edu/counselor-education/
and look under Current News). Featured in the current issue: an
overview of the department’s work in Africa, a profile of retiring
counselor education Professor Larry Loesch and an update on the
chapter’s fundraising efforts.

Bring cutting-edge linguistic research into your classroom with new lecture series
If you teach anything related to language—writing, reading, speech or
the whole gamut of subjects that draw on those skills—you’ll want to
attend the “Contemporary Issues in Secondary Language Acquisition”
series this semester in Dauer Hall. Organized by COE Assistant
Professor Maria Coady and faculty from UF’s Linguistics and Romance
Languages Programs, the series brings accomplished linguists to UF to
discuss cutting-edge ideas about the ways humans learn and process
language—and to discuss how those insights can be applied in the
classroom, particularly with second-language learners. The first
speaker, Elaine Tarone of the University of Minnesota, will speak at
Dauer Hall at 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, followed Jan. 31 by Jim Cummins
of the University of Toronto. More information is available here.

Commencement Awards nominations due Jan. 25
Do you know a COE student or recent graduate who deserves to be honored
for their scholarship or public service? At the college’s May 3
commencement, COE will honor outstanding students who graduated in
Summer 2007, Fall 2007 or Spring 2008. Faculty have until Jan. 25 to
nominate students for the Commencement Awards. Applications are
available here, and must be turned in to the Student Services office in G416 Norman Hall. For more information, call 392-0721 x400.

Support first-generation college students through CROP doughnut sale
The College Reach-Out Program (CROP) is holding a Krispy Kreme doughnut
sale to raise funds to help middle and high school students from low
socio-economic backgrounds visit educational sites and college
campuses. You can buy doughnuts for $5 per box in the CROP office in
G-415 Norman Hall. The sale ends Jan. 31 and doughnuts will be
delivered Friday, Feb.1.

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FACULTY/STAFF HONORS/APPOINTMENTS

Snyder appointed to editorial duties
Patricia Snyder, holder of the David Lawrence Jr. Chair in Early
Childhood Studies, has been appointed an associate editor for the
journal Topics in Early Childhood Education. She also was appointed on Jan. 1 as a consulting editor for the American Journal on Mental Retardation (AJMR). Snyder recently completed her final issue of Journal of Early Intervention, which
she edited for five years during her tenure at Louisiana State
University Health Sciences Center and Vanderbilt University. In
addition to these assignments, Snyder is currently a member of the
editorial boards of Infants and Young Children, Young Exceptional Children, and Educational and Psychological Measurement.

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STUDENT AWARDS AND HONORS

Doctoral student named Teacher of Distinction
Nicole Bien, a 10-year veteran of the special education classroom and
UF doctoral student, was named a Collier County Teacher of Distinction
in late November. The honor includes membership in the Collier Schools
Teacher Academy (the district’s teacher leader program) and a $1,000
honorarium which Bien will use on a project with her school community.
Bien is pursuing a doctoral degree in special education administration
through UF’s Project EXCEL.

Orlando gets Karen Koegel scholarship
Doctoral student
Ann-Marie Orlando is this year’s recipient of the Karen Koegel
Scholarship, awarded annually by COE’s Department of Special Education
to one student who provides leadership in the field and produces
scholarship that makes a difference in the lives of people with
significant disabilities. Orlando’s research investigates the use of
assistive technology in literacy development for children with
significant disabilities.

Five win Minority Teacher Education Scholarships
Five ProTeach students have been awarded the Minority Teacher Education
Scholarship by the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers. The recipients –
Jeffrey Andre of Boynton Beach, Kristina Barkus of Deland, Chandani Bhakta of Orange Park, Kia Cheers of Pompano Beach and Frances Arrebola-Llopiz
of Coral Gables—will receive $2,000 per semester while completing
their undergraduate work. Current UF students and transfer students are
selected for the scholarship through a competitive process involving
analysis of transcripts and a personal essay. Winners are required to
teach in a Florida school upon completion of their degree.

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PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

COE doctoral students bring classroom democracy to conference
Democracy
and the 2008 elections took center stage when six COE doctoral students
presented their classroom practices to secondary social studies
teachers from all over the country at the annual conference of the
College and University Faculty Association/National Council for Social
Studies in San Diego Nov. 28. Bob Dahlgren, Sheryl Howie, Emma
Humphries, Cheryl Kmiec, Michele Phillips, and Steve Masyada, all of
whom work with Professor Elizabeth Yeager of the School of Teaching and
Learning, shared their methods for establishing a democratic classroom,
using critical media analysis to examine political ads, creating a
political campaign and critically analyzing referendum and ballot
initiative proposals.

Hagedorn offers expertise—from Iowa to India
Presidential hopefuls weren’t the only people flocking to Iowa in
December 2007. Professor Linda Serra Hagedorn, chair of COE’s
Department of Educational Administration and Policy, traveled to Iowa
State University over the break to offer a workshop on “Understanding
Community College Students” to the doctoral candidates in Iowa State’s
respected Community College Leadership program. Hagedorn also answered
a call for help from across the globe: the University of Madras
recently asked her to be external reviewer for a dissertation on
India’s community college system.

Presentations
Clark, M.A. (2007, November). Examining the Gender Gap in Educational Outcomes in Public Education: Implications for School Counselors. European Branch of the American Counseling Association Annual Conference: Bad Herrenalb, Germany.

Clark, M.A. & Stone, C.B. (2007, November). Leaving No Child Behind: Issues and Trends in 21st Century School Counseling. European Branch of the American Counseling Association Annual Conference: Bad Herrenalb, Germany.

Clark, M.A., Dahir, C., Burnham, J. & Portman, T.A. (2007, October). The Changing Dynamics of 21st Century School Counseling. Poster presented at national conference of the Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors. Columbus, Ohio.

Clark, M.A., Yacco, S. & Rant, J. (2007, November). Examining Male Underachievement in Public Education: Parental and Educator Perspectives. Florida Counseling Association Annual Conference. Daytona Beach.

Publications

Puig, A. & Adams, C. (2007). Introducing spirituality into multicultural counseling. In W.M. Parker & M.A. Fukuyama. Consciousness raising: A primer for multicultural counseling (3rd Ed.), pp. 181-203. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publisher.

Lee, S.M., Puig, A., Pasquarella Daley, L., Rai, A.A., Dallape, A.,
& Parker, M. (2007). Revising the White Racial Consciousness
Development Scale. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 39, 4, 194-208.

Lee, S. M., Puig, A., & Clark, M. A. (2007). The role of religiosity on postsecondary degree attainment. Counseling and Values Journal, 52, pp. 25-39.

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P.K. YONGE NEWS

PKY research to create new options for struggling readers
Intensive reading intervention classes are supposed to help struggling
readers master the fundamentals before moving on to higher level work.
But many Florida educators worry that the system is dooming these
students by exposing them to the same instructional approach again and
again—even when it isn’t working. P.K. Yonge Developmental Research
School is looking for a way to break the cycle with Project CHOiCE,
which researches new approaches to teaching struggling readers. (more)

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IN THE NEWS

A recent sampling of “media hits” from the College of Education:

The (Nashville) Tennesseean—Professor and Chair James McCleskey, Special Education (12/01/07) In
a story on the high number of children in special education classes in
Tennessee, McLeskey was quoted as saying that, under No Child Left
Behind testing requirements, school districts feel pressure to move
low-performing students out of the general classroom.

The Gainesville Sun—Director Bernie Oliver, UF Alliance (12/02/07) Oliver
was quoted in a story about the annual conference of the Anti-Racism
Coalition at Duval Elementary School. Oliver urged students and
teachers to stand up and challenge people who express “warped ideas”
about race in the classroom.

The Chronicle of Higher Education—FloridaTeach Program (12/19/07) The
College of Education’s new teacher preparation program for science and
mathematics teachers was mentioned in a lengthy article on similar
programs being adopted across the country—all modeled on the
University of Texas-Austin’s successful UTeach program. The program was
also mentioned in stories in the Arizona Daily Sun and the Dallas Morning News.

Education Week—Professor Candace Harper (12/05/07) Harper
was quoted in a story about a study that assessed the nationwide state
of testing to evaluate the progress of English language learners.
Citing her own studies—which found some Florida schools administering
tests over a loudspeaker while others were administered by individual
teachers—Harper said that some states’ test results might be invalid.

Daytona Beach News-Journal – Associate Professor Stephen Pape (12/24/07) Pape
was quoted in a story on American students’ lackluster performance on
international measures of mathematics achievement—and its possible
links to the lack of qualified K-12 teachers. Pape noted that the
traditional “direct instruction” approach does not work for all

students.

Counseling Today – Assistant Professor Cirecie West-Olatunji and Professor Edil Torres Rivera (12/01/07) West-Olatunji
and Torres Rivera provided their insights on race relations in
academia, as part of a feature article inspired by recent race-related
incidents including the Jena Six controversy and the hanging of a noose
on a professor’s office door at the Teachers’ College at Columbia
University.

Dallas Morning News—Professor and Chair Linda Serra Hagedorn (12/27/07) Hagedorn’s
study on “course-shopping” among college students was mentioned in an
article on a Texas law that limits students to six dropped classes
throughout their college careers.

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CALENDAR

JAN. 17

“Rethinking SLA Data Collection: Dealing with Naturalistic Learners”
Elaine Tarone, University of Minnesota
4 p.m., Dauer Hall
Contact: Maria Coady, mcoady@coe.ufl.edu

JAN. 21

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

JAN. 23-27

Holmes Partnership Annual Conference, Orlando

JAN. 25

Panel Discussion on the Professional Practice Doctorate
1-3 p.m., Norman Terrace Room
Contact: Linda Serra Hagedorn, Hagedorn@coe.ufl.edu; 352-392-2391 x263

JAN. 29

Elections—Presidential Primaries, Ballot Measures & Gainesville City Commission

JAN. 31

“Rethinking the Scientific Basis for Literacy Instruction”
Jim Cummins, University of Toronto OISE
4 p.m, Dauer Hall
Contact: Maria Coady, mcoady@coe.ufl.edu

FEB. 7-10

AACTE Annual Meeting, New Orleans

FEB. 11

“China: the Next Educational Frontier”
Faculty Brown Bag Lunch with Dean Catherine Emihovich
Noon- 1:30 p.m, Norman Terrace Room

FEB. 21

Education Career Night
7-8 p.m., Reitz Student Union
Contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext: 250

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Minority recruitment and retention event coming up
If you
know a school administrator who is trying to improve faculty diversity
– or an education student of color who is looking for a position—let
them know about the upcoming Recruitment and Retention Conference, to
be held April 6-8 by the Florida Fund for Minority Teachers. The
conference was developed to assist school districts in identifying and
recruiting high quality minority teachers. This year’s event will be
held at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, and will feature scholarship
recipients from 33 public, private and independent institutions,
presenters on various topics, and pre-professional development
workshops for community college students entering the profession
through the Minority Teacher Education Program. To date, the Florida
Fund for Minority Teachers—headquartered here at Norman Hall—has
brought 2,500 new teachers into Florida’s schools. For more information
about the conference, contact Cheryl D. Williams at (352) 392-9196.

Save the date: respected series on death education returns in April
University of Chicago professor Froma Walsh, creator of a
research-based system for helping families endure grief and loss, will
be the featured speaker in this year’s Peterson Death Education Series,
to be held April 17 at the UF Hilton Conference Center. The lecture
series, one of the nation’s first on end-of-life issues, got its start
at UF more than 30 years ago under the direction of former COE
Professor Hannelore Wass, a leading researcher in the field of death
studies. For information on the lecture, contact Ana Puig in the
College of Education at anapuig@coe.ufl.edu or 392-2315, ext. 235.

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QUICK LINKS

UF: www.ufl.edu
College of Education: education.ufl.edu
coE-News: Publications
Education Times magazine: Publications

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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)

Intensive reading intervention classes are supposed to help struggling readers master the fundamentals before moving to higher level work. But many Florida educators worry that the state system is dooming these students by exposing them to the same instructional approach again and again – even when it isn’t working. P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School is looking for a way to break the cycle with Project CHOiCE, which researches new approaches to teaching struggling readers.

Funded with $270,000 from the Florida Department of Education’s Just Read Florida program, Project CHOiCE is a partnership between P.K. Yonge, the UF College of Education and Levy County Schools, led by P.K. Yonge Research & Outreach Director Lynda Hayes, University School Professor Nancy Dean, Assistant Scholar Nancy Corbett, and UF Associate Professor Nancy Waldron.

The study will evaluate the effectiveness of two alternative intervention methods, and will compare them to results from Florida’s most popular intervention program, Read 180 (Scholastic).

One of those alternate options is a program called Leadership through Reading, which Dean created in her classroom at P.K. Yonge. Dean teaches struggling high-school readers basic instruction in how to teach reading to younger children, then asks them to tutor elementary students in their reading – giving them additional incentive to master reading skills.

The study will also evaluate a program called Speech and Debate, which was created by Assistant Scholar Nancy Corbett, P.K. Yonge secondary reading coach Christy Garison and Buchholz High School debate coach Kirsten Flamand. Focused on developing students’ reasoning skills, the program presents students with contemporary, challenging topics and asks them to develop, present and defend their positions on these topics.

Courtesy Associate Professor Karen Kilgore will conduct interviews to assess student experiences in both alternative interventions, as well as their experience in Read 180.

The researchers will discuss the project and provide opportunities for classroom observations during a Research in Action event at P.K. Yonge from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 1. To register for participation in the event, contact Lynda Hayes at lhayes@pky.ufl.edu .

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2008! Although the new year did not begin auspiciously (the Gators lost their bowl game, the state budget picture is still looking very grim), I still retain a small but durable sense of optimism that events will change for the better, and that this year will improve upon last year.

When I look around the college, I see clear signs of real change and progress:

• excellent faculty undertaking significant research and scholarship, and teaching with innovative technology;
• bright capable students engaged in a variety of service activities and achieving well;
• staff that are dedicated and hard working despite increased workloads;
• and, generous and loyal alumni and friends of the College of Education who provide necessary and critical support for new programs and initiatives that often make an incredible difference for children and families, especially for those in challenged schools and communities.

I feel privileged to lead a college that has so many positive elements in place even as we grapple with complex and difficult challenges in these unsettled times.

One of the defining hallmarks of President Machen’s leadership is his emphasis on sustainability issues, and he has already helped UF to become nationally recognized as a leader in this area. When most people think of sustainability, they tend to assume it applies only to issues such as energy conservation and the “greening” of the campus. But I believe that sustainability can have a much broader meaning, and that it is equally important to apply it to other quality of life issues, such as increased education, better health care, and access to the arts.

From this perspective, the work of many in the College of Education takes on added importance, since it has now become abundantly clear that increasing levels of education are pivotal for having a sustainable life and in overcoming the deleterious effects of poverty. The Southern Education Foundation recently released a report that contained alarming news which will impact the state, and nation’s future. According to their report, over 50 percent of all children in public schools in 15 Southern states are from low-income families, and that many of these children are from ethnic and/or linguistic minorities. Even more disturbingly, if current demographic trends continue across the US, within the next 10 years the majority of students in public schools will be from low-income families.

The social and human costs of these data are staggering, especially when other factors are taken into account, such as the fact that low-income children routinely attend schools with fewer resources and well-qualified teachers. The lack of highly qualified teachers, who are both experts in their content field and who possess deep pedagogical knowledge, is alarming because a highly qualified teacher can increase student achievement by as much as two to three grade levels in a single year.  In fact, persuasive evidence exists that if every poor child had access to such a teacher, the persistent and disturbing achievement gap between white and non-white students could be eliminated. Few other investments in education would bring such a massive return, and the quality of life for these children would be immeasurably improved.  

In the next few columns, I plan to focus on education as a sustainability concern, and to highlight various initiatives across the college that result in a richer and deeper quality of life. The concept of engaged scholarship has a clear moral and ethical dimension that is often downplayed in academic circles, but the appalling conditions that now exist in many public schools and communities across the nation suggest that this moral dimension of scholarship can no longer be overlooked.

New teaching and learning models must be developed to enable our institutions of higher learning to partner more effectively with preK – 20 schools, community organizations, businesses, and families to create a more sustainable and equitable future for the next generations to come, and I believe that the UF College of Education will be nationally recognized for our part in this overdue transformation.   

GAINESVILLE, Fla.— A lawyer turned teacher, an outside-the-box science instructor and an innovative principal were among the educators honored as University of Florida Distinguished Educators at the fall commencement ceremony Dec. 15 in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The UF College of Education presented five Florida educators with the Distinguished Educator Awards, which were created in 1988 to honor the important role teachers and school administrators play in shaping the lives of Florida’s children. While the Sunshine State is home to thousands of teachers who deserve to be honored, the Distinguished Educator Award is granted only to a select few who are identified by their peers as exceptional educators.

This semester’s honorees were :

• Special education teacher Susan Ames. In addition to her work at Bradford County’s Starke Elementary School , where she has been both a special educator and a general classroom teacher for nine years, Ames serves as the student council sponsor, chair of the hospitality committee and T-ball coach. Last December, she organized a holiday fund drive and purchased presents to deliver to needy families in the community. For her efforts in both the classroom and the community, Ames was named Bradford County Teacher of the Year for 2007-08.
• Fourth grade teacher Donna Barber. Donna Barber teaches in Franklin County, hours away from St. Augustine – but every year she organizes a trip across the state to give her fourth grade history classes a chance to see, hear and touch historic sites in America’s oldest city. Barber also serves on the school’s leadership team and is very active in community affairs. Her activities led her colleagues to honor her as Carrabelle School Teacher of the Year. She has also been named Sam’s Club Regional Teacher of the Year.
• Science teacher Richard Ellenburg of Camelot Elementary School in Orlando. For the last six years, Ellenburg has taught his students about ecosystems, food chains and the life cycles of plants and animals in an award-winning school garden. He regularly posts his current study topics on his website and in a monthly newsletter, so parents can get involved. On any given day of the school week Ellenburg can be found working with students in the garden, daring them to use Archimedes’ principles of balance to lift him off the floor, or watching them launch rockets from the schoolyard. His efforts to bring out the fun side of science have steered many of Ellenberg’s students toward scientific careers – and have twice won him Orange County’s Teacher of the Year Award. In July, he was honored as the 2008 Florida Department of Education/Macy’s Teacher of the Year. As Florida’s Christa McAuliffe Ambassador of Education, Ellenburg is currently on sabbatical representing Florida’s teachers by speaking, giving workshops and working with students and educators across the state.
• Business teacher Gretta Sancho, of Manatee County’s Johnson Middle School. Recognizing that her students often come to class with limited background knowledge, Sancho routinely takes them on tours of local campuses, from Manatee Technical College to the University of South Florida, to see how people train for various future careers. Sancho is chair of Johnson Middle’s electives department, a member of several district-wide committees, and a building representative for the Manatee Education Association. She also mentors students through the district’s Take Stock in Children program and serves as sponsor for the Delta GEMS program, designed to “catch the dreams” of African-American at–risk high school girls. Sancho holds a Juris Doctor degree from UF’s Levin College of Law, and is pursuing a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of South Florida.
• Principal Mark Strauss, of Virginia Shuman Young Montessori Middle School in Fort Lauderdale. Strauss, who became principal in 2002, attributes the school’s continued success – including an A rating for eight years in a row — to an excellent faculty and staff and the school’s focus on balancing the needs of the FCAT with the needs of the child. Earlier this year, Strauss was named Broward County Principal of the Year and was also a finalist for Florida Principal of the Year. In 2001, while working at Flamingo Elementary in Davie, Strauss was named Broward County Assistant Principal of the Year.

Each fall and spring term, a county from each of the five educational regions of the state is identified and asked to select a distinguished building-level educator representative of all of the outstanding educators in the county. The chosen educators are invited to take part in University of Florida commencement ceremonies as members of the platform assembly in full academic regalia. Each educator is recognized by the president of the university and presented the Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Florida.

Writer
    Tim Lockette, lockette@coe.ufl.edu, 352-392-0726, ext. 274

People from all over the world come to Gainesville to get a fresh start in a place of real opportunity. But there are probably very few who get here the way Nekita Robinson did.

Knowing she had more potential than could be realized in a mill town of less than 20,000 in eastern North Carolina, Robinson decided to force herself to move on – by writing down the names of all the states, putting them in a hat, and promising herself that she would move to the state she drew out of the hat.

Perhaps it wasn’t the most scientific way to pick a place to live. But there was nothing random about her selection of Gainesville – Florida’s intellectual capital – as her eventual destination.

“Once I settled on Florida, everything else seemed to fall into place,” she said. “I knew I wanted to work on a graduate degree eventually, and being near UF seemed like a good idea.”

She visited Gainesville for one weekend in 2003 and returned with a job offer and a lease. A month later, she started her job UF’s Levin College of Law – where over the next three years, she would work her way to a slot in the law school’s development office where she would get a real sense of the importance of development. Then she made the leap to the UF Foundation, as a Development Associate.

Marshaling support for a worthy cause, she says, is a job anyone would envy.

“I guess I’m a good Samaritan at heart,” she said. “It makes me happy to give people a chance to do something good with their money. If I had a million dollars to give, I’d give it to the College of Education. This job is the next best thing.”

Robinson officially assumed her permanent post as associate director of development in November, but to many readers of Alumni coE-News, she’s already a familiar face. Known as an up-and-coming “star” employee at the University of Florida Foundation, she spent most of the summer at COE as an interim staffer, helping Education Dean Catherine Emihovich launch the college’s new $20 million dollar capital campaign.

Despite her unorthodox way of getting here, Robinson says she won’t be picking a new community out of the hat any time soon. She now has a family here: 16-month-old daughter Autumn and fiancé Michael. And she has exactly the career she hoped to find.

“I see this as the true beginning of my professional career,” she said. “This may not be where it ends, but I definitely want my career to start with success in the Florida Tomorrow Capital Campaign.”

It’s a silent tragedy within our midst.

Every year, tens of thousands of canned food product leave the processing plant with high hopes for their futures – hopes of feeding the hungry and changing the world. Most end up on store shelves, lined up in rows and lost in the crowd. Others wind up in darkened pantries, behind the spaghetti, forgotten.

They’re called “non-perishables” – but each of these cans has a “Sell By” date staring them in the face. The lucky ones are eaten while young. But tragically, many go bad.

You can help. Every holiday season, the Family Food Pantry rescues thousands of cans from meaningless lives – placing them on the tables of struggling families, where they can make a real difference. You can see them standing proudly in the collection bins in every department/area within the College of Education: canned beans, tins of tuna, boxes of rice all ready to serve humanity. Even a bottle of canola oil can be somebody here.

You can be the one who makes all the difference in the life of a can. Bring non-perishable – or two of them, or 15 – to the Family Food Drive today. Each department has a drop-off point for donations.
Just go to the department office and ask where to put your
donations.

Your cans will thank you.

P.S. – If you don’t want to “adopt” a can yourself, feel free to drop a few dollars in the collection box at the COE Holiday Party Dec. 5.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — In the world’s most technologically advanced country, math and science teachers are in shockingly short supply. Now the University of Florida is making a bold move to make sure the state has enough qualified science and math teachers to educate the next generation.

Equipped with a grant of up to $2.4 million from the National Math and Science Initiative and an additional $1 million endowment from the Helios Education Foundation, two UF colleges are launching a new program to recruit science and math students to the teaching profession, molding them into top performers in both the laboratory and the classroom.

Known as FloridaTeach, the program will combine the efforts of UF’s College of Education and its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to retool the university’s programs for preparing math and science educators.

“We think that the best incentive to attract new teachers is to create a place where they’re celebrated and rewarded,” said Professor Tom Dana, director of the School of Teaching and Learning in UF’s College of Education and principal investigator on the project.

The United States has long been a world leader in technological innovation, but the numbers of new college graduates in math and sciences are too low to meet the demands of the marketplace – and, some say, the needs of a highly technological society. As a result, the flow of math and science majors into the classroom has slowed to a trickle.

Shortages of certified science teachers have been reported in all 50 states – and they are setting off alarm bells in the business community. With well-prepared teachers in short supply, the theory goes, the nationwide shortage of qualified high-tech workers can only get worse.

“The shortage of mathematics and science teachers has been identified as a critical state workforce need,” said Alan Dorsey, chair of UF’s Department of Physics in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and co-principal investigator on the project. “It has also received national attention; for instance, this is a critical part of the "American Competitiveness Initiative" President Bush mentioned in his 2006 State of the Union address.”

FloridaTeach proposes to correct that shortage with an innovative program designed to recruit science-minded students into the teaching profession, give them a strong background in both science and the art of teaching, and induct them into the community of educators.

When the program begins in fall 2008, FloridaTeach administrators will recruit freshman science majors into the program, offering scholarships and other incentives to attract them. From their first semester in the program, students will have the chance to teach what they’ve learned in the classroom, and will be coached by experienced middle school and high school teachers.

Perhaps more importantly, they’ll be treated as researchers and educators in their own right as soon as they begin the program.

“It will be clear to them, and to everyone else, that there is something special about this program,” Dana said. “We plan to create a contiguous space, with labs and classrooms, that is set aside for them.”

The program is modeled University of Texas at Austin’s successful UTeach program. Begun 10 years ago, the program graduates between 60 and 80 new teachers every year, and has contributed hundreds of math and science teachers to the Lone Star State’s once-dwindling supply. Because UTeach graduates have a higher retention rate than most new teachers, their effect on the overall teacher supply is magnified.

The successes of UTeach have led to a drive to replicate the program nationwide. The National Math and Science Institute (or NMSI) – a nonprofit education advocacy group created by a $125 million gift from the ExxonMobil Corporation — is awarding grants to 12 universities to set up similar programs.

The Helios Education Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 2004 to provide young people with opportunities for post-secondary education.

“The Helios Education Foundation congratulates the University of Florida for being designated as one of the universities that will implement the UTeach program in math and science education,” said the foundation’s president, Paul Luna. “We’re also pleased to provide a commitment of just over $1 million toward this initiative, and we support the university’s efforts to build programs that will improve teacher quality and retention. We look forward to a long-term, successful partnership with the University of Florida.”

UF’s leaders cited the grants as a good example of the academic and non-profit spheres working together to solve a critical social problem.

“These grants from NMSI and Helios will help University of Florida educators head off a scientific ‘brain drain’ by putting bright scientific minds into teaching positions in public school classrooms,” said UF Provost Janie Fouke. “It’s a great way for the academic world to serve the public and help our nation’s economy.”

FloridaTeach will also offer a science education minor in collaboration with UF’s new, campuswide Science for Life program, accommodating undergraduate students who change majors or decide on teaching at any point during their studies.

Florida State University has also been awarded an NMSI grant, and will be setting up its own program founded on the UTeach model.

Dana said the UF’s FloridaTeach program will rival UTeach in size and number of graduates. The combined efforts of UF and FSU, he said, should be able to make significant headway toward eliminating the state’s shortage of qualified math and science teachers.

The grant creating FloridaTeach was officially announced in a press conference Nov. 14 at the Capitol in Tallahassee. Speakers at the event included Chancellor Mark Rosenberg of the Florida Board of Governors, FSU President T.K. Wetherell and UF Provost Janie Fouke.

FOR
MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

SOURCES
Tom Dana, University of Florida College
of Education
(352)392-9191 ext. 200
tdana@coe.ufl.edu 

Alan Dorsey, University of Florida
College of Liberal Arts
and Sciences
(352) 392-4031
Dorsey@phys.ufl.edu

WRITER / MEDIA RELATIONS
Tim Lockette, Information Specialist
UF College of Education,
News & Publications
(352) 392-0726, ext. 274

A new study by three University of Florida education professors could cause a nationwide change in the way colleges prepare teachers to deal with students who speak English as a second language.

Assistant Professor Maria Coady and Associate Professors Ester de Jong and Candace Harper, all of UF’s College of Education, have been awarded a $1.2 million U.S. Department of Education grant for Project DELTA (Developing English Language and Literacy through Teacher Achievement), an ambitious project designed to assess the effects that UF’s own graduates from the elementary teacher preparation program (ProTeach) are having on English language learners in the K-12 classroom.

 

“Florida’s model for preparing teachers in this area is unlike any other state’s model,” said Coady, co-principal investigator for the study. “Other states are considering a similar model, but we lack the data to prove that our approach works.”

More than a decade ago, a coalition of Latin American groups sued the state of Florida, arguing that poor academic performance among immigrant children was due to a failure to provide adequately trained teachers for students who speak English as a second language (known in Florida as ESOL – or English for Speakers of Other Languages students). The state settled the case out of court, agreeing to make ESOL preparation a mandate for practicing and new teachers.

Rather than add a significant number of courses to their already tightly-regulated coursework, Florida’s education colleges adopted an ‘infusion’ model for initial teacher preparation programs requiring two or three ESOL-specific courses while including some ESOL content in its general teacher preparation classes.

“We believe our approach works,”Coady said. “But there hasn’t been enough follow-up to prove, with hard data, that the infused approach is effective.”

Coady and her colleagues will use the Florida K-20 Education Data Warehouse, a statewide database of public school records that is one of the most detailed education databases in the U.S. They plan to look at the educational outcomes of ESOL students who have been taught by a graduate of UF’s Elementary ProTeach program since 2002. In addition, follow-up surveys and case studies of teachers in the area are also part of the study

Finding students taught by graduates of the elementary ProTeach program does pose a challenge, Coady said. UF graduates between 220 and 250 elementary school teachers per year. Some will teach in all-ESOL classrooms. Others may have only one or two ESOL students per year — or none at all.

“We have no clear idea, as yet, of just how many ProTeach graduates work with ESOL students,” Coady said.

Once the research is complete, however, the impact on teacher training could be tremendous, Coady said. With immigrant populations growing across the country, a growing number of states are looking for new ways to give teachers the ESOL tools they need. Many are mulling an infusion approach based on the Florida model. Even so, the researchers are primarily concerned with improving UF’s own teacher education program.

“We want to know what we’re doing right and what we’re doing wrong,”Coady said. “Given the scope of the study and the detail of our data, we’re likely to find insights that will be of use throughout the field, not just here at UF.”

VOL. 3, ISSUE 2

OCT. 15 , 2007

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.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

How to survive – even thrive – in an era of budget cuts
When Tallahassee catches a cold, Gainesville sneezes. But no matter what emerges from the budget-cutting session in the state capital, Dean Catherine Emihovich writes, the can-do spirit of the UF College of Education remains the same, and the college is bringing in impressive amounts of grant funding from sources other than the state. (more)

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TOP STORIES

EAP launches new journal for school leaders, education policy scholars
Concerned about math and science education in America? Want to know how the French school system is reacting to riots in the Paris suburbs? Need to know how to prepare East Asian graduate students for study in your college? These and other timely topics are addressed in the first issue of the Florida Journal of Education Administration and Policy, the University of Florida’s new outlet for scholarship on the issues affecting school leaders from pre-kindergarten to the university level. (more)

UF alum chosen as Florida’s Commissioner of Education
Eric Smith, a UF College of Education alumnus known for his reform efforts as a superintendent in North Carolina, has been selected to fill the highest post in Florida’s school system. The Florida Board of Education voted on Oct. 5 to offer Smith the post of Commissioner of Education, the top administrator for Florida schools. (more)

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NEWS AND NOTICES

Adams pens new education column for local paper
Publish or perish, they say. With dozens of articles and presentations to her credit, STL Associate Professor Thomasenia Adams is in no danger of perishing, but now she has added a new kind of writing to her list of accomplishments. Last month, Adams began co-authoring a monthly column on education for The Gainesville Guardian. She and co-author Karen Cole-Smith, director of outreach at Santa Fe Community College, addressed child-rearing issues in the first installment of the column, but their plan is to develop the column as a place to discuss African-American issues in higher education. The move is part of The Guardian’s plan to increase its circulation beyond East Gainesville and into the UF campus, Adams says. The next installment will hit the stands Thursday, Oct. 18. You can read the current column here.

Workshops to focus on distance education
Want to know more about using technology to support teaching and learning? Curious about what the college is doing to advance the cause of distance education? Throughout the month of October, the college’s Office of Distance Education is hosting events designed to demonstrate new technologies and introduce new concepts in the field. For more information, click here.

Explore a world of learning at international education event
Learning knows no boundaries – so why not look beyond the U.S. for answers to your classroom challenges? COE will honor International and Comparative Education Week with a half-day event starting at noon Nov. 13 in the Norman Terrace Room. Events will include a student panel on education in China and a speech by UF alumnus Suzann Cornell, of Whispering Winds Charter School. More information is available here.

Help the homeless at CSJ brown bag lunch
First she was an attorney and professor at UF’s law school. Then she became a writer and an activist for Gainesville’s homeless. Come hear Liz McCulloch talk about her days as one of the first volunteers for Gainesville’s HOME Van – a local program that provides services to the homeless population – and about her work on other social justice issues in a brown bag lunch, sponsored by Counselors for Social Justice, on Tuesday, Oct. 16 at noon in the Norman Terrace Room. All students and faculty are invited, and all attendees are asked to bring an item (canned food, socks, bug spray, etc.) for the HOME Van.

New Lastinger cohort to begin in January
One of UF’s most powerful efforts to reach underprivileged kids is about to expand into new territory. At the beginning of the spring semester, COE’s Lastinger Center for Learning will begin training a new cohort of teachers in Pinellas County. The center’s job-embedded graduate program is already helping 160 teachers – all from low-income urban schools – study and earn graduate degrees through COE. Earlier this year, more than 400 teachers from schools in the participating counties (Alachua, Duval, Miami-Dade and Pinellas) participated in the center’s Summer Institute, covering a variety of topics from best practices for developmentally appropriate instruction to the strengthening of school culture to support all learning.

College of Medicine seeks evaluation/accreditation expert for faculty position
UF’s College of Medicine is seeking candidates for a full-time, non-tenure faculty position in its Physician Assistant Program, a graduate-level, two-year program. Applicants should have education or experience in the development an educational evaluation system and be knowledgeable about the principles of a professional program’s national accreditation process. Applicants do not have to be physician’s assistants, but those who are must be eligible for licensure in Florida. For more information, e-mail patricia.foutz@medicine.ufl.edu.

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RESEARCH

NSF-funded study looks at how African American girls are steered away from science and math
Are you a “math person” or a “word person?” Ask almost anyone that question, and they can give you an instant answer. But how did each of us decide we belong with the math whizzes or the budding novelists? How much of this is our own decision, and how much is forced on us by teachers and parents? And what roles do race and gender play in all of this? These questions are the focus of a new study by three professors at the UF’s College of Education. Funded by a $439,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the study will look into the ways African American girls are steered – and learn to steer themselves – away from science, mathematics and other technical subjects. (more)

Federal grant helps UF to prepare next generation of special education leaders
Who will lead special education services in America’s public schools in the 21st Century? With baby-boom-age administrators headed for retirement en masse, and schools already scrambling to find qualified special education teachers, a serious shortage of qualified special education administrators may be just a few years away. Equipped with an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, two COE faculty members are preparing the next generation of leaders to make sure special needs students get the education they deserve. (more)

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FACULTY/STAFF HONORS/APPOINTMENTS

Adams honored by FATE
The Florida Association of Teacher Educators presented Professor and Associate Dean Thomasenia Adams with its Mary L. Collins Award at its annual meeting in Orlando Sept. 28-29. The award is presented each year to a Florida education professor who has made an outstanding and substantial contribution to the profession.

COE staffer lends PR talents to NASA
When he isn’t doing public relations for the College of Education, News and Publications Director Larry Lansford is, well, doing public relations. Lansford took a brief leave of absence over the summer to work as a volunteer for NASA, shepherding the press through the much-anticipated launch of the space shuttle Atlantis. For a day-by-day account of the experience, complete with dazzling launch pictures, click here.

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PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

Professor speaks out on parents of successful African American schoolchildren
“Why don’t we give parents the credit they are due?” wondered Professor Cirecie West-Olatunji in a recent op-ed article for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Earlier this year, West-Olatunji completed a study of a group largely overlooked by the public: African American students who thrive in the school system, and the parents who nurture them. She shared some of what she learned about these parents, and their techniques, with the Alachua County School Board. In her June 18 Sun-Sentinel article, West-Olatunji celebrated these parents as “exemplifying the authoritative style of parenting: discipline coupled with demonstrative caring” and urged the public to pay more attention to educational successes in the African American community.

Conwill presents at UF/NEA symposium on Florida writer
Assistant Professor William Conwill (shown here with his wife, Professor Faye Harrison of UF’s Anthropology Department) presented “The Portrayal of Domestic Violence in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God” Sept. 29 at a discussion on the famed Florida novelist. The event, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, UF’s Museum of Natural History, the UF African-American Studies Program and the Alachua County Library District, was the culminating event of the local installment of “The Big Read,” an NEA initiative to restore reading to the center of American culture.

COE professor addresses university/K-12 “rules of engagement”
Assistant Professor William Conwill presented “University-School Partnerships: the Rules of Engagement” at a conference on university-school cooperation Sept. 25 at the University of Tennessee’s Howard Baker Center for Public Policy.

Jones receives grant for incorporating Africa into science curriculum
In September, Professor Linda Cronin Jones of the School of Teaching and Learning received a grant from UF’s Center for African Studies for the development of materials to help K-12 teachers infuse African issues into the science curriculum. Earlier this month, she traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to present those materials as an invited speaker at the annual conference of the Association of American Schools in Central America, Colombia, Caribbean, and Mexico.

Professor consults on juvenile justice issues in Indiana, D.C.
Professor Joseph Gagnon, of UF’s Department of Special Education, recently filed reports as an expert and monitor in two court cases involving education in the juvenile justice system. Gagnon is an expert consultant on the education of incarcerated youth in the case District of Columbia Public Schools and Department of Corrections [defendants], and Court Monitor for J.C. et al. v. Vance, et al. He is also monitoring conditions of confinement and provision of educational services in the South Bend, Indiana juvenile corrections system for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Publications

Garrett, M. T. (2007).  Nuwati: Native American medicine, healing, and the sacred way of being.  A. Eisen, & G. Laderman (Eds.), Science, religion, and society: History, culture, and controversy (pp. 654-664).  Armonk, NY: Sharpe.

Cutting, C., & Gagnon, J. C. (2007). Teaching mathematics to secondary students with emotional/behavioral disorders. In L. M. Bullock & R. A. Gable (Eds.), Seventh CCBD mini-library series. Arlington, VA: Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders.

Terzian, S.G. & Grunzke A.L. (2007) Scrambled eggheads: ambivalent representations of scientists in six Hollywood film comedies from 1961 to 1965. Public Understanding of Science, 16, 407.

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DISSERTATION DEFENSES

Students, faculty and staff are invited to attend the following dissertation defenses. Please RSVP if you plan to attend:

Title
Doctoral candidate: Ronald C. Lester
11 a.m. Oct. 17, 290 Norman Hall
Title: “Student Success and Its Relationship to Occupational Status Score in the Los Angeles Community College District”
RSVP to: Linda Hagedorn, Hagedorn@coe.ufl.edu

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IN THE NEWS

A recent sampling of “media hits” from the College of Education, many of them resulting from press releases or media requests coordinated by COE News & Publications:

Bradford County Telegraph (10/08/07) – The college was mentioned in an article about U.S. Department of Education grants to Bradford County Schools. COE faculty are involved in two of the projects funded under the grants: the Let’s Talk Science project (a science initiative for K-5 students) and Exploring Science Content: Digital Strategies (an initiative to develop and evaluate online science modules for use in the high school classroom).

Yahoo! Finance – Associate Professor Rick Ferdig, STL (10/05/07) – Ferdig presented preliminary findings of his AT&T-funded study of online learning techniques to AT&T officials on Oct. 5. The press release about the event was reprinted on dozens of telecommunications- and finance-related websites, including the “news ticker” features for Yahoo!Finance, Reuters UK and the online edition of the German newspaper Die Welt.

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CALENDAR

OCT. 16

CSJ Brown Bag w/Liz McCulloch, of Gainesville’s HOME Van
Noon, Norman Terrace Room
Please bring canned food or other item to donate to the homeless.
Contact: kfallon@coe.ufl.edu

OCT. 16

Distance Education Conversation
Noon, 158 Norman
Contact: csessums@coe.ufl.edu

OCT. 25

Distance Education Showcase
3 p.m., G518 Norman
Contact: csessums@coe.ufl.edu

OCT. 30

Elluminate Demonstration
Noon, G518 Norman
Contact: csessum@ufl.edu

NOV. 2

Homecoming – No Classes/Holiday for UF Staff

NOV. 2

Homecoming Alumni Gathering
(contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext: 250)

NOV. 12

Veterans Day Observed

NOV. 13

International and Comparative Education Event
Noon-5 p.m., Norman Terrace Room

NOV. 16

Grand Guard – UF alumni 50-year reunion
(contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext: 250)

NOV. 22–23

Thanksgiving Holiday

DEC. 5

Last day of fall classes

DEC. 14

Fall Advanced Degree Commencement Ceremony
3:30 p.m., Stephen C. O’Connell Center

DEC. 14

Distinguished Educators Dinner
7 p.m. Reitz Union
(contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext: 250)

DEC. 15

Education Commencement
2 p.m., Stephen C. O’Connell Center

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QUICK LINKS

UF: www.ufl.edu
College of Education: education.ufl.edu
coE-News: Publications
Education Times magazine: Publications

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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, Student Writer/Copy Editor
Marta Pollitt, P.K. Yonge (mpollitt@pky.ufl.edu)

Who will lead special education services in America’s public schools in the 21st Century? With baby-boom-age administrators headed for retirement en masse, and schools already scrambling to find qualified special education teachers, a serious shortage of qualified special education administrators may be just a few years away.

Equipped with an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, two COE faculty members are preparing the next generation of leaders to make sure special needs students get the education they deserve.

Associate Professor Jean Crockett and Assistant Professor David Quinn have secured funding for a four-year grant that will send working school leaders and future education researchers to UF for a new doctoral program that combines special education courses with courses in educational administration.

“There are about 20,000 administrators in charge of special education across the country right now,” Crockett said. “Many of these people are going to retire within the next few years, and there are fewer than a dozen colleges with programs in special education administration and policy.”

To fully understand the problem, one must look back to the mid-1970s, when what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other federal laws reformed American schools, requiring states to provide a “free appropriate public education” to all children with disabilities. To meet the needs of all students and eager to stay out of court, school districts across the country hired administrators to supervise special education. Most came to the field from other areas of school administration. Few had any training or experience in administrative problems specific to special education.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was a boom in federal funding to support special education administration programs – but as growing numbers of administrators got up to speed on the provisions of IDEA, funding shifted to support training for special education teachers and enrollment in those programs plummeted. When programs closed, administrators had to learn on the job. At most universities, special education topics are still not covered in leadership courses.

Fast forward two decades. Seasoned directors and supervisors of special education are now heading en masse for retirement, taking much of their specialized knowledge with them, and teachers are beginning to worry about what will happen when those administrators leave.

“To do special education well, we need instructional leaders who understand how students learn and how schools can be organized to support their learning,” Crockett said. “Without administrators who really understand special education, we face a real threat to our ability to offer specialized services that are effective or legally correct.”

The UF researchers’ project — known as Project EXCEL — aims to help correct the problem in at least one Florida county by providing full scholarships for five practicing Collier County school leaders. Those individuals will take courses in special education and administration in pursuit of a professional practice doctoral degree (Ed.D.). In addition, the project is conducting a nationwide search for three Ph. D. scholarship recipients – students who would be groomed to become the next generation of cutting-edge researchers in special education administration and policy.

Eight students may not sound like a lot, but Crockett says Project EXCEL will have an effect beyond the eight scholarship recipients. The five Collier County administrators are expected to have a major effect on the culture of special education to meet the needs of special needs students in that county – and in any other systems these administrators work for in the future. The three Ph.D. recipients will ideally go on to work as faculty linking special education and educational administration programs in the future.

“A specialty in special education administration is offered at fewer than a dozen universities in the country,” she said. “There need to be many more, and Project EXCEL is a step in that direction.”

Are you a “math person” or a “word person?”

Ask almost anyone that question, and they can give you an answer. But how did each of us decide we belong with the math whizzes or the budding novelists? How much of this is our own decision, and how much is forced on us by teachers and parents? And what roles do race and gender play in all of this?

These questions – particularly the last one – are the focus of a new study by three professors at the University of Florida’s College of Education. Funded by a $439,000 grant from the National Science Foundation, the study will look into the ways African-American girls are steered – and learn to steer themselves – away from science, mathematics and other technical subjects.

“If you ask an African-American girl in middle school to draw a picture of a scientist, chances are she’ll draw a white man with a long coat and a beard,” said Associate Professor Rose Pringle, a science educator who is leading the study. “Somewhere along the line we have lost too many of these children, and they are not being made aware that they can be successful in the sciences.”

It’s no secret that women in the sciences were once a rarity – and that American culture pushed girls, in subtle and not-so-subtle ways, away from the lab and toward the home. A whole generation of teachers has worked to create a gender-neutral environment in the math and science classroom, and there is evidence these efforts are working. The gender gap in enrollment in upper-level science and math courses is closing. African American girls, however, have mostly been left behind by those gains.

Pringle and her colleagues, Associate Professor Thomasenia Adams and Assistant Professor Cirecie West-Olatunji, have spent the past year trying to find out why. They’ve interviewed African-American girls in the crucial middle grades to find out why so many bright young science students choose to go no farther than the basics in math and science.

The collaborating researchers found that the girls in the pilot study did not, by and large, see themselves as future scientists, and they adopted that attitude largely because the people around them didn’t see them as scientists either. What’s more, the girls were well aware that they were being pushed in a certain direction.

The researchers say counselors and teachers send out subtle – but very clear — messages about their expectations. For instance, when a black student expresses an interest in higher education, a counselor might suggest community college, rather than a four year college.

“Educators are constantly asking, how do we win their hearts and minds, how do we get these kids interested in science,” West-Olatunji said. “Yet, in practice, it seems that counselors and teachers are still playing a gate-keeping role.”

The problem doesn’t start or stop in the classroom, the researchers say. After all, students spend most of their time outside the classroom, in a world that sends kids a million little messages about gender and race. For the most part, those messages aren’t telling black girls they should be scientists. In fact, the researchers say, even the girls’ teachers may doubt their own role in the scientific and quantitative world.

“We’re not laying the blame on teachers,” Adams said. “We ought to ask ourselves: does the teacher in the science classroom even perceive herself as a scientist?”

The NSF grant will allow the researchers to spend three additional years in North Central Florida schools, surveying parents, observing teachers and counselors in action, and looking for those crucial moments when adults send messages about their expectations for their students. They will also talk with students and analyze how those students internalize the message they’re getting from the people around them.

The grant comes as the NSF and other national organizations are searching for new ways to encourage students of all backgrounds to enter the sciences, technological fields and mathematics – sometimes known as the STEM disciplines. In recent years, increasing numbers of college-bound students seem to have turned away from STEM majors and toward other fields, and many educators fear a coming brain drain in the hard sciences.

Long before those concerns arose, however, diversity was a problem in STEM fields.

“For African Americans, and especially girls, the crisis is not coming, it’s already here,” said Pringle.

Eric Smith, a UF College of Education alumnus known for his reform efforts as a superintendent in North Carolina, has been selected to fill the highest post in Florida’s school system.

The Florida Board of Education voted on Oct. 5 to offer Smith the post of Commissioner of Education, the top administrator for Florida schools. Details of the hire have yet to be finalized, DOE officials say.

A 1984 Ed.D. graduate of the College of Education, Smith was most recently a vice president for the College Board, the New York-based nonprofit which oversees the administration of the SAT and other college entrance exams.

Smith previously has worked as a superintendent in Anne Arundel County in Maryland and in Charlotte-Mecklenberg Schools in North Carolina. In both systems, he acquired a reputation as a hard-charging and sometimes controversial school reformer.

Smith’s work has also been covered widely in the press. He was one of the subjects of the PBS documentary Making Schools Work (you can read the transcript here). His selection for the commissioner position was covered in a number of newspapers including the Tallahassee Democrat, the Palm Beach Post and the Baltimore Sun.

Before selecting Smith, the board had narrowed the field to three finalists, including one other COE alumnus – 1967 graduate Joseph Marinelli, who oversees 25 school districts in four counties in New York.

The College of Education helped the University of Florida kick off the public phase of its landmark $1.2 billion capital campaign Friday, Sept. 28, announcing its own $20 million campaign goal and outlining lofty fundraising priorities that promise to raise the college's national standing and improve the quality of teaching and learning at all levels.

Education Dean Catherine Emihovich said meeting the campaign goal would help the college make sorely needed renovations and technology improvements to aging Norman Hall, recruit top scholars to the faculty, create new scholarships for graduate students, and support new and existing scholarly ventures that address some of education's most critical needs.

The college's stepped-up fundraising effort is part of UF's "Florida Tomorrow" capital campaign, so-named because of its focus on showing how-with help from those who believe in the university's mission of teaching, research and service-the University of Florida has the potential to turn today's dreams into tomorrow's realities.

UF launched the "Florida Tomorrow" campaign, which runs through 2012, with a campuswide symposia and separate events at each college or major academic unit. The College of Education staged tours and a full day of presentations and live demonstrations on "Teaching and Technology" for alumni, donors and friends.

The college's campaign goals call for raising funds for more than a dozen programs and activities, all falling into one of four categories: facility upgrades ($7.3 million), faculty support ($6 million), outreach scholarly programs ($5.7 million), and new graduate student fellowships and scholarships ($1 million).

The top fundraising priority is the renovation and expansion of historic Norman Hall, with plans to create an education research and technology annex called the Experiential Learning Complex, or ELC. There, interdisciplinary research teams from across the campus would adapt the latest information technologies to transform how education has been traditionally defined and delivered.

The college's campaign goals reflect a commitment to transform all levels of education-starting with our youngest children. By partnering with public schools, school districts and communities, UF education faculty will expand school-readiness programs in communities throughout Florida (starting in Miami-Dade County) to smooth the transition to school for children who are likely to start school unprepared. A multidisciplinary Early Childhood Center of Excellence also is planned to study all aspects of education and health for young children.

As funding allows, additional strategic collaborations will extend to the elementary, middle and high school grades, with UF professors leading school-improvement activities through core college programs such as the Lastinger Center for Learning, the UF Alliance and the Center for School Improvement.

Campaign support will help faculty in the college's Institute of Higher Education provide mentoring, networking and continuing professional development for higher-education practitioners and leaders, with special emphasis on Florida community colleges and underrepresented groups.

The college also has targeted adding more endowed faculty chairs and named professorships to lead vital studies in math and science education, urban school leadership, inclusion and assessment.

Nearly one-fourth ($4.8 million) of the college's campaign goal is earmarked for two new programs at P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, the college's nearby K-12 laboratory school. One is a novel "teacher renewal" professional development program; the other calls for educational outreach activities in the critical "STEM" fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

"Few issues will dominate the 21st century as much as the need to increase educational levels even higher among all citizens as we move into a competitive global environment. In the College of Education, we are committed to preparing the most qualified educators to transform schools or become the next generation of leaders in higher education," Emihovich said. "We have an ambitious agenda, but we believe it is achievable with the strong support of our loyal alumni and friends of education."

An itemized list of the college's campaign goals is available online at education.ufl.edu/CampaignGoals/.

For a comprehensive overview of the College of Education's "Florida Tomorrow" capital campaign, visit the UF Foundation's Web site for the college at: www.floridatomorrow.ufl.edu/education.

To make a gift online right now to the College of Education, click here.

For more information, contact the college's Office of Development at 352-392-0728, ext. 600, or toll-free at 866-773-4504; or via email at development@coe.ufl.edu.

Writer:
Larry Lansford (352-392-0726, ext. 266; llansford@coe.ufl.edu)

VOL. 3, ISSUE 1

SEPT. 17 , 2007

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.

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IN THIS ISSUE:

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DEAN’S MESSAGE

From budget cuts to Florida Tomorrow. . .
It may seem like the budget ax fell particularly hard this summer, but, as Dean Catherine Emihovich notes, “every crisis brings opportunity.” (more)

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TOP STORIES

UF takes lead in $2 million study of special education teacher development
Nowhere is the teacher shortage more painfully obvious than in the special needs classroom – but in special education, being shorthanded is only part of the problem. The teachers who do work in the field need a wider range of skills than other teachers, but they often do not have sufficient on-the-job learning opportunities. Equipped with a $2 million federal grant, COE Professor Mary Brownell and her colleagues are investigating a professional development model that could help teachers learn the skills they need. (more)

Smallwood Scholarship gives low-income kids access to UF labs
UF’s Summer Science Training Program has been turning teenagers into practicing scientists – and sparking brilliant careers in research – for almost a half-century. Now the College of Education and the Smallwood Foundation have teamed up to help put the program within closer reach of low-income high school students. (more)

College welcomes 15 new faculty
There were lots of fresh new faces at this year’s Faculty Welcome Reception, where COE faculty got to meet a bumper crop of new colleagues. Fifteen of them, to be exact. If you missed the reception, you can read about our new faculty and what they’re researching by clicking here.

UF Alliance welcomes alumni as new staff
The UF Alliance is welcoming two recent COE graduates, Diane Archer-Banks and Diana Melendez, on board as full-time staff. (more)

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NEWS AND NOTICES

West-Olatunji, Counselor Education students learn from South African system
When American academics travel to sub-Saharan Africa, the public often sees them as missionaries – sharing the advanced learning of the West with struggling people on a strife-torn continent. But when Professor Cirecie West-Olatunji and her students traveled to South Africa and Botswana this summer, it was clear the Americans were the ones who had the most to learn. (more)

Science education students go global in Costa Rica
Students from the School of Teaching and Learning got a chance to go global this year, spending the final part of the spring 2007 semester in Costa Rica with Science Education Professor Linda Cronin Jones. The 12-day trip took six students from Jones’ Global Studies Methods in Science graduate class to several informal learning sites around the Central American nation, including Poaz Volcano National Park, La Paz Waterfall and Butterfly Gardens, and the Organization for Tropical Studies’ La Selva Biological Station. Students had plenty of chances to expand their own environmental and scientific knowledge regarding the flora and fauna of the tropics. They also put their skills to work in visits with faculty, staff and students in their host school, the County Day School of San Jose, and three other schools in rural and inner-city areas.

COE professor and recent doctoral graduate to co-edit prominent journal
Professor Dale Campbell and recent UF doctoral graduate Matt Basham have been invited to jointly edit the SACS-SACJTC Journal, the scholarly publication of the Southern Association of Community, Junior and Technical Colleges. (more)

Busy summer for UF Alliance
Who said summer was a slow time on a university campus? Clearly not anyone who is familiar with the UF Alliance. This summer, for the seventh year in a row, the Alliance hosted its Summer Leadership Institute, an annual professional development forum for leaders in Alliance partner schools. Speakers included notable authors and scholars such as Susan Eaton, Jennifer Lerner, Robert Barr, Nan Henderson, Victoria L. Bernhardt and Michael Nakula. The Alliance also hosted its annual Explorations in Teaching Leadership Retreat, a four-day event that engages about 70 students from partner schools to opportunities in the teaching profession, while developing their leadership skills and awareness of college.

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RESEARCH

Course shopping hurts colleges, students, COE study finds
For some students, last-minute dropping and swapping of courses seems like a good way to avoid getting stuck in a too-tough class. But a recent study by COE professor Linda Serra Hagedorn shows that “course shoppers” are not only failing to increase their own GPA – they’re draining resources from colleges and their fellow students. (more)

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FACULTY/STAFF HONORS/APPOINTMENTS

West-Olatunji gets national award for community service
During its annual meeting Aug. 3, the Association of Black Psychologists (ABPsi) presented COE Professor Cirecie West-Olatunji with one of its highest honors – the Community Service Award. Just back from a research and outreach trip to southern Africa (see story in “News and Notices”), West-Olatunji traveled to Houston to receive the award, which honors her work abroad as well as her post-Katrina recovery efforts in New Orleans and her extensive work with Florida Alternative Break – a program which allows UF students to spend their spring break on public-service projects. “This couldn’t have come at a better time,” West-Olatunji said. “Coming back from South Africa I was exhausted; when I heard I had been selected, I was honored and encouraged.”

COE lecturer’s research on gender, achievement wins inaugural Psychological Corporation/NASP Junior Faculty Award
Do boys really lag behind girls in reading achievement, and do girls really lag behind boys in math? Diana Joyce, a lecturer in UF’s Department of Educational Psychology, took another look at this bit of conventional wisdom. The results earned her the Psychological Corporation/National Association of School Psychologists’ inaugural Junior Faculty of the Year Award. (more)

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PUBLICATIONS/PRESENTATIONS

Oliver, Maxis present at international conferences
UF Alliance Director Bernard Oliver and Holmes Scholar Sophie Maxis presented a paper titled “The Elephant in the Room: Student Identity and School Achievement,” at the 14th International Conference on Learning in Johannesburg, South Africa in June. Oliver also presented “Built to Last: Building Sustainable School Leadership,” at the 12th Annual China-USA Conference on Education in Beijing.

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P.K. YONGE NEWS

PKY has best all-around sports program…
Everybody follows the state high school football and basketball championships. But what about the thousands of other kids who make it to the finals – in less recognized sports? One award – the Dodge Sunshine Cup/Floyd E. Lay Award – honors the Florida school with the most-accomplished overall sports program, recognizing excellence in all sports, including boys’ and girls’ competitions. For the fourth year in a row, P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School has brought the Division 2A cup home. The next time you see a PKY coach or player – no matter what sport – be sure to offer your congratulations.

”¦and they’re not bad in the classroom, either.
PKY also brought home another honor, earning an “A” rating on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test for the sixth year in a row. As most of our readers are aware, a school can maintain an “A” rating only if scores improve every year. The school has also met the requirements of No Child Left Behind every year since those requirements took effect.

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IN THE NEWS

A sampling of recent “media hits” from the College of Education, many of them resulting from press releases or media requests coordinated by COE News & Publications:

The Gainesville Sun – Dean Catherine Emihovich and David Lawrence Jr. Chair occupant Patricia Snyder, Special Education (09/04/07) The Sun’s “Chalkboard” column mentioned both Dean Emihovich and Professor Snyder in a column item on Snyder’s selection as the first occupant of the new David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies.

Chronicle of Higher Education – Professor and Chair Linda Serra Hagedorn, EAP (08/20/07) Chronicle blogger Elyse Ashburn covered Hagedorn’s study on the effects of “course shopping” by community college students.  The study was also the subject of a detailed story on the website Inside Higher Education, and was covered by student newspapers at UF, the University of Missouri, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Illinois.

Gainesville Magazine – Professor Silvia Ecchevaria-Doan, Counselor Education (07/01/07) In the magazine’s “Unexpected Turn” section, Ecchevaria-Doan recounted her experiences as the adoptive mother of her daughter Emilie, who was born in China.

Chronicle of Higher Education – College of Education (06/29/07) Legislative efforts to rename the college in honor of former Gov. Jeb Bush were mentioned in a story on UF’s interactions with the Florida Legislature.

Daytona Beach News-Journal – Professor and Chair Mark Shermis, Educational Psychology (05/24/07) Shermis was quoted in an article about errors in the formulation of the 2006 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which allowed many third-graders to progress to fourth grade when they were not academically ready. Shermis said the problem would have been worse if the error had held back students who were ready to move on to the next grade.

The Gainesville Sun – Professor Linda Lamme, STL (05/13/07) Lamme was quoted in an article on FCAT reading scores. She said that reading scores rise when children read voraciously both inside and outside the classroom. She said students must be given reading material they enjoy.

Jacksonville Times Union – Professor James McLeskey, Special Education (05/07/07) McLeskey was quoted in an article about efforts to include students with disabilities in the general classroom in Duval County schools.

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CALENDAR

SEPT. 20

Faculty Brown Bag Lunch: “Using Geospatial Analyses to Predict Student Achievement on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT): What’s Right and What’s Wrong with the FCAT.”
11:30 a.m.- 1 p.m., Norman Terrace Room
Contact: Rosie Warner, rwarner@coe.ufl.edu by 4:30 p.m. Sept. 17

SEPT. 26

Ice Cream Social – COE Deans Welcome Students Back
2:30 p.m. – 4 p.m. Norman Courtyard
Contact: Jodi Mount, jmount@coe.ufl.edu

SEPT. 28

“Florida Tomorrow” Campaign Kickoff event: “Teaching and Technology”

To attend, RSVP to events@coe.ufl.edu or (352) 392-0728, ext. 250

OCT. 6

Retired Faculty Reception
Contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu

OCT. 8

Fall Faculty Meeting
2 p.m., Norman Terrace Room
Contact: jmount@coe.ufl.edu

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

Give a helping hand with Community Campaign
Okay, so the Gators are now the Official Champions at Everything that Ever Was. But what’s the point in being the best if you don’t have heart? This month, UF employees will be able to show just how much they care about their community, through the University of Florida Community Campaign. Starting Sept. 24, UFCC representatives will be passing out easy-to-complete forms that will allow you contribute to any of several agencies helping people right here in Alachua County.

National K-6 literary conference in February
Literacy experts Mary Fried and Regie Routman, Bridge to Terabithia author Katherine Paterson, and hundreds of your fellow teachers will be on hand to share their wisdom at the National K-6 Classroom Literacy and Children’s Literature Conference Feb. 9-12 in Columbus, Ohio. Over 150 sessions will be offered at the conference. For more information, go to National Reading Recovery & K-6 Classroom Literacy Conference or call 614-310-7340.

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QUICK LINKS

UF: www.ufl.edu
College of Education: education.ufl.edu
coE-News: education.ufl.edu/publications
Education Times magazine: education.ufl.edu/publications

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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, Student Writer
Marta Pollitt, P.K. Yonge (mpollitt@pky.ufl.edu)

Professor Dale Campbell and recent UF doctoral graduate Matt Basham have been invited to jointly edit the SACS-SACJTC Journal, the scholarly publication published by the Southern Association of Community, Junior and Technical Colleges.

Campbell, a professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy, is also director of the Community College Leadership Consortium, a national policy forum that brings community college administrators together to identify critical issues in their field. He is founder of the Bellwether Awards, given every year to honor leaders in community college innovation.

Matt Basham, now an assistant professor of educational leadership at the University of Texas-Arlington, graduated from UF's Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration, Department of Educational Administration and Policy earlier this year. Basham is director of UT-Arlington's Higher Education Leadership Institute

(also known as HELIX).

"Their expertise in community college research, leadership training and workforce development provides a good catalyst towards helping the journal grow into a world-class resource for community colleges with regard to improving institutional effectiveness, quality enhancement and preparing for SACS accreditation visits," said SACJTC President Charles Mojock in a press release announcing the new editorship.

Nowhere is the teacher shortage more painfully obvious than in the special needs classroom – but in special education, being shorthanded is only part of the problem. The teachers who do work in the field need a wider range of skills than other teachers, but they are often the least prepared teachers to do their job and frequently do not have sufficient on the job learning opportunities to learn the sophisticated skills they need. Equipped with a $2 million federal grant, COE Professor Mary Brownell and her colleagues are investigating a professional development model that could help teachers get the skills they
need.

This grant was based on previous teacher quality research conducted by Brownell and her colleagues under the auspices of the Center for Personnel Studies in Special Education. This research demonstrated that while special education teachers were very successful in managing student behavior and knowledgable about teaching reading, they needed more opportunities to deepen their skills in word study and fluency instruction.

"When teachers have the opportunity to learn more content, figure out how to put it into action, and reflect on how their efforts are working, they become better teachers," said Brownell, a professor of special education in UF's College of Education and principal investigator on the project. "We're trying to find a better way to make that experience available to teachers."

Brownell and James Algina, a professor in UF's Department of Educational Psychology, along with co-researchers from two other universities – California State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder – recently secured a highly competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute for Education Science to see whether students perform better when their teachers participate in a new kind of professional development model.

The new model puts special education teachers together in groups of five, each working under the guidance of an instructor. Each group attends a training institute, then delves more deeply into training institute topics in small group meetings and an e-community. The small group meetings are intended to enable teachers to work more deeply with topics and examine how students are responding to their instruction. The e-community is intended to provide a forum for tackling implementation barriers, sharing great ideas, watching examples of outstanding instruction, and supporting their colleagues as they try new ideas.

"Our model is a combination of a top-down and a bottom-up approach," Brownell said. "The teachers get assistance from us, but they also create a learning community that advances their understanding of the topic."

The four-year grant will put 60 teachers per year through professional development courses here in Florida, and another 60 in California and Colorado. The course will focus on teaching reading to teachers of special-needs children in upper elementary grades, where students may have their last chance to truly develop good reading skills.

This project may reach only a few hundred teachers – but if the study shows that the new professional development model leads to better student performance, the study would give school systems nationwide a new tool for improving special education teacher quality in the area of reading.

Brownell and her colleagues are now selecting the first cohort of teachers to participate in the project. For the Florida portion of the project, Brownell is seeking teachers in Levy, Gilchrist, Alachua, and Duval counties.

"Recruiting teachers for this study may be tough," Brownell said. "Clearly, these teachers are busy, and we are asking for  more of their time and effort, but hopefully we can provide them something worthwhile in return."

Brownell said the researchers are currently seeking "observers" among the faculty in these school systems – people who can suggest teachers who would be good candidates for the study, as well as former teachers and principals who might help with data collection.

Welcome back to a new academic year! We have a record number of new faculty who have joined the college, 15 in all, and enrollments in several graduate programs have increased. Among the new faculty appointees is the inaugural holder of the David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies, Dr. Patricia Snyder, who comes to UF most recently from Vanderbilt University. Everyone got a chance to meet the new faculty at a reception Sept. 7 at the Thomas Center, and we will have our traditional ice cream social for students, new and old, Sept. 26 from 2 – 4 p.m. in the courtyard.

Although each new year begins with the promise of great things to come, this year will be especially challenging as we grapple, for the first time since I’ve been dean, with the impact of significant budget cuts. The challenge will be to maintain quality programs and expand new initiatives in the context of declining state support. Two years ago, a collegewide meeting was held to focus on strengthening and enhancing the research culture within the college. Under the leadership of Associate Dean Paul Sindelar, we made great progress, and as result, grant submissions – and success rates – are significantly up as evidenced in research bulletins issued each month from the Office of Educational Research. At a meeting on Aug. 31, many faculty, department chairs and deans met to strategize on ways to retool the college to cut costs and seek more revenue through non-state sources. In subsequent columns, I will report on our successes in these endeavors.

Clearly, one potent source of revenue is through increased donor and foundation gifts. On Sept. 28, UF will officially kick off its capital campaign, “Florida Tomorrow”, and we have several exciting activities planned that day in our college around the theme of technology and education. The college’s campaign target is set at a high bar – $20 million – but I am confident that with the strong support of loyal alumni and friends of education, we will not only reach this target but exceed it before the campaign officially ends in 2012. A complete list of the college’s and P.K. Yonge’s campaign goals will be available on the college’s development and alumni affairs website next month, along with a description of other initiatives that will need continuing support to enable them to achieve even greater success.

In future columns, I will keep everyone informed of new directions the college will take in response to the rapidly changing financial landscape in our state. Now entering my sixth year as dean, I continue to be impressed and amazed at the wealth of talent, energy, and ideas we have in our college, and I expect us to have another excellent year. While it’s easy to become discouraged when faced with a budget crisis, I remind everyone of an old Chinese proverb: “Every crisis brings great opportunity.” I am confident we will find creative ways to take advantage of the multiple opportunities that are presented to us, often unexpectedly, and position ourselves well for a future where education matters more than ever in a global environment.

– Dean Catherine Emihovich

On the University of Florida campus this summer, a researcher is studying the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on fetal development. Another researcher is looking for ways to boost the levels of cancer-preventing compounds in broccoli. Yet another is examining the effects of pollution on tiny animals in Gainesville’s creeks.

All of these summer projects are being done by high school students – including low-income students from some of the state’s most stressed schools.

Through a grant from the Smallwood Foundation, UF’s College of Education is sending students from low-income families to the university’s Student Science Training Program – a seven week on-campus experience, administered by the UF Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (CPET), that for almost half a century has served as the pipeline to a brilliant career in the sciences.

“This program offers an authentic experience in the sciences that can not be replicated in classroom laboratories,” said Troy Sadler, an assistant professor in the College of Education and administrator of the grant. “We want to make this opportunity available to any student who has the desire and ability, no matter how much money their parents make.”

For 49 years, the Student Science Training Program, or SSTP, has been bringing promising high school students to the UF campus for seven weeks of real scientific work. Students in the program live at UF, work in laboratories under the supervision of scientists, attend advances science classes and share what they have learned with peers and professors. It’s much more than the usual educational summer camp.

“These students come to college with a tremendous leg up on their fellow students,” said Mary Jo Koroly, a research associate professor at UF and director of CPET. “By the time they start college, they’ve spent seven weeks working as a fully-integrated member of a lab – usually a lab working on an NSF (National Science Foundation) or NIH (National Institutes of Health) grant.”

SSTP has a track record of producing students who go on to careers in the sciences. Koroly, who teaches at UF’s College of Medicine, says it is a common experience to see former SSTP students returning to UF for medical or graduate school. Several UF faculty members got their start in SSTP, she said.

However, the program does carry a price tag. While SSTP is much less expensive than most similar programs at top-ranked universities, UF does charge tuition for the program, the seven-week program does cost $3,000. Not surprisingly, that’s a major hurdle for families living at or near the poverty line.

Enter the Smallwood Foundation, a Texas-based family foundation with a history of making grants in situations where a little funding can have a big impact. Smallwood agreed to fund five scholarships for students from low-income families. The effect goes far beyond just the five kids involved, said Sadler.

“If you look at the work being done by students in SSTP, it’s just amazing,” Sadler said. “It would be a shame to see these opportunities limited just to people whose parents can afford the summer program. It would be a shame if economic factors kept the next great scientist from entering the profession.”

Sadler noted that African-Americans and Hispanics are also underrepresented in the sciences, and overrepresented among the poor. The Smallwood Scholarship is targeted toward low-income students who are members of underrepresented minorities.

“People know that certain groups are underrepresented in the sciences, but I don’t think they realize just how much this affects the larger society,” Sadler said. “Think of the impact of scientists as role models. Think of the ways a scientist’s background can affect the questions being asked in research.”

 

In the new global economy, you have to be able to re-create your professional persona from scratch in order to survive – even if you’re in a traditionally secure job like teaching.

So says University of Florida alumna Elizabeth Van Ella, the teacher-turned-corporate-CEO who delivered the address to graduating seniors at the UF College of Education’s Spring 2007 baccalaureate commencement.

“I think my own story suggests that if you’re a jack of all trades, you can do quite well,” Van Ella (BAE ’65) said. “Most people in the workforce today are going to have a number of careers, and you need to be able to reinvent yourself.”

Van Ella is herself a highly successful career chameleon, and her career started right here at Norman Hall. After earning her B.A.E. here, Van Ella used her teaching skills as a ticket to see the world – teaching at a school in Orleans, France; serving as an instructor for adult education programs on a military base in South Korea; and studying at the Universidad del Atlantico in Barranquilla, Colombia.

Soon she made a major career leap, becoming an investigative reporter for WBBM-TV in Chicago. While working in the Chicago area, she met and married James Van Ella, founder of Van Ella and Associates, a private investigation firm specializing in high-level, white-collar crime investigations.

When her husband died in 1992, Elizabeth Van Ella found herself at the helm of the company – a business that had lost one of its primary assets.

“Van Ella and Associates was built largely on my husband’s investigative skills and contacts,” she said. “There was really no one who could match his ability in this area.”

So Van Ella remade the company, shifting its focus to the growing field of pre-employment background checks. She also invested heavily in information technology, foreseeing the day when “data mining” would become a standard part of any background investigation. Those changes spurred a five-fold growth in the profits of the company.

Van Ella says her ability to learn and adapt was always her greatest career asset. For denizens of the 21st Century, she says, adaptability is more than an asset – it’s an essential career skill. Adaptability, she says, is a quality teachers must possess if they want to stay relevant in the classroom.

“I think it’s also important to teach for change,” she said. “My generation had a sense that there were no limits to how far we could go. Young people who are entering teaching today need to know that they can, and should, make a difference.”

Jane Myers, a University of Florida counselor education alumna and widely published expert on counseling and wellness, was honored with the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award at the UF College of Education’s commencement ceremony on May 5, 2007.

Myers is known nationally as an expert on counseling and wellness issues for persons of all ages, with a special focus on older adults. In her adopted home of Greensboro, N.C., she is equally well-known as an activist and volunteer dedicated to helping older people cope with their problems. 

A former professor of the UF’s College of Education, Myers has authored more than 23 books and monographs and 130 scholarly articles on counseling. She is the co-author of two well-known wellness models that have been used in more than 35 doctoral dissertations and translated into several languages. The American Counseling Association’s Journal of Counseling and Development named Myers among its top 1 percent of contributors.

She has been named a Fellow of the American Counseling Association and the Gerontological Society of America, and is the recipient of prominent awards from these organizations as well as the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association.

Currently a professor of counselor education at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Myers is involved in aging issues in the local area, serving on the Guilford County Council on Aging, appearing on local television and radio programs to discuss aging-related issues, and volunteering as an adjunct chaplain at Moses Cone Hospital.

Do you matter to the people in your life? A small but growing group of researchers—including a new UF Counselor Education scholar—says “mattering” may be the hidden key to a variety of psychological phenomena.

By Tim Lockette

An ailing woman hangs on just long enough to see her grandson graduate from college, and dies the week after commencement. A wounded soldier refuses a chance to be transferred home, because his buddies are still in Iraq. A homeless man, barely able to find food for himself, adopts a stray dog as a pet.

What do all these people have in common? Andrea Dixon thinks she just might know.

“Mattering to others is one of the most vital elements of mental health, and possibly one of the most overlooked,” said Dixon, who joined the faculty of UF’s College of Education this year as an assistant professor in counselor education. “People have a fundamental need to be important to others, and if that need isn’t met, it can have adverse effects on mental and even physical health.”

Dixon is a member of a growing group of researchers who are putting this simple idea on the scientific map once again. In the past few years, researchers have linked mattering to a wide variety of psychological and social phenomena—from the stresses on medical residents’ marriages to job satisfaction to suicide rates among adolescents. Their studies have shown a striking number of consistencies, suggesting that mattering may be a key to fighting depression, high dropout rates and even poor physical health.

For Dixon– one of the few researchers who study mattering in an educational setting, and perhaps the only researcher to look at mattering from a counselor’s perspective—the excitement of this newly re-emerging field is palpable.

“There’s a lot of work to be done here, and it’s good to be in on more or less the ground level,” Dixon said. “Every day I hear about people doing new work in mattering, and every day someone in the ‘mattering’ community calls me to compare notes. There’s a sense that we’re all mapping out new territory.”

Self-Esteem’s Little Brother

Mattering, as a subject of study, isn’t entirely new. Famed sociologist Morris Rosenberg first began exploring the concept in the early 1980s.

Rosenberg is best known for his pioneering 1960s studies on the mental health role of self-esteem, which changed the way America raised a whole generation of kids. Toward the end of his career, however, Rosenberg began asking people—homeless men, for instance—whether they felt important to society at large, or to anyone in particular.

Being important, Rosenberg theorized, was a key element of good self-esteem, and therefore mental health. It wasn’t enough to be accepted as a member of a group, or have a social support network to help out when things get rough. People also need to needed. They need a pet to feed, a diaper to change, a rehearsal they cannot miss. These simple duties provided a feedback loop that could shore up a person’s self-esteem even on tough days, Rosenberg figured.

His concept was deceptively simple. That may be why, for more than a decade, very little work was done to follow up on his.

“This is such a powerful idea, it’s hard to understand why researchers ignored it for so long,” said UF alumna Jane Myers (EdS 76, PhD 78), a professor of counseling and educational development at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

In recent years Myers has researched the effects of mattering on a number of phenomena, from the marital happiness of medical residents to the coping skills of West Point cadets. But she wasn’t even aware of mattering as a topic of research until she took on Dixon as a doctoral student.

“We were discussing possible dissertation topics, and Andrea seemed very interested in a phenomenon she’d observed as a school counselor,” Myers said. “She’d noticed that kids seemed to fare better when they were connected to other people in relationships in which the students were important.”

Dixon and Myers searched a name for that concept, and soon came across Rosenberg’s work. They quickly realized they’d found an important field of study that was almost entirely unexplored—one they seemed to have all to themselves.

As it turns out, they weren’t as alone as they thought. Across the country, others were rediscovering mattering. Researchers at Florida State University and the University of Maryland found that mattering was an important factor in depression among women. A study at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania found strong correlation
between mattering and suicidal thinking among adolescents. Other studies found links between mattering and job satisfaction, the duration of romantic relationships and a number of other phenomena.

In other words, a community of “mattering” researchers was beginning to emerge. And Andrea Dixon became their “go-to” person for questions about counseling and education.

Do Students Matter?

“Our society often ignores kids’ need to matter,” Dixon said. “We focus on caring for kids and providing them support—but we often don’t show them that they are important, or give them a chance to matter. And mattering may be the one thing they need most.”

Dixon’s early studies bear that out. She and Myers surveyed 500 adolescents, asking questions designed to gauge their sense of mattering and a number of other psychological factors.

They found that mattering was the best predictor of a student’s overall psychological and social well-being. Mattering was a better predictor than “acculturation”—psychological jargon for a student’s sense of fitting in. Minority students with a strong sense of ethnic identity were often emotionally healthier than others, but mattering had a far stronger effect.

Mattering may explain why some students act out or display emotional problems even when they appear to have ample social support at home, Dixon said.

“When you ask students whether they matter to their parents or their teachers, you get some very revealing results,” she said.

Mattering may also explain why students in sports programs and other school activities tend to stay in school longer and show better overall mental health, Dixon said. Even if you’re not the star player, the theory goes, having a practice to attend or a zone to defend can improve your state of mind.

Curiously, students who matter more often report higher levels of stress than those who matter less—but they are less likely to show the ill effects of stress. Dixon found that out when she did a study of 533 freshmen at a Southwestern college. The women in her sample consistently reported higher levels of mattering, social support and general well-being—but they also reported higher levels of pressure to succeed. Studies by Dixon and others suggest that students who feel they matter are more likely to stay in school despite higher levels of stress.

“Mattering is a great buffer against stress,” Dixon said. “Students who matter may feel a lot of pressure in life, and they may even feel pressure from the responsibilities that allow them to feel a sense of mattering, but they tend to perform better under that stress.”

Why did female freshmen report a stronger sense of mattering? Researchers aren’t sure, but a number of studies have shown that women in general report a stronger sense of mattering than men.

“It’s probably due to the fact that women are more focused on relationships,” she said. “Men may not be paying close attention to their mattering issues, but they’re still affected by them.”

If mattering lowers dropout rates, and women matter more than men, does that explain why boys are now lagging behind girls in academic achievement? If sports participation increases a student’s sense of mattering, can Title IX be credited with turning around the academic fortunes of girls? Do students have a “right” to matter, and can schools institute programs to boost a sense of mattering among all their students?

All those questions have yet to be completely answered, Dixon said, which is why mattering is such an inviting field of study. But there are simple things parents, teachers and counselors can do to boost a child’s sense of relevance.

“Just tell them,” said Dixon. “If someone matters to you, you should let them know.”

Teachers and counselors can also prompt kids to think about
mattering. As any teacher knows, a little introspection goes a long
way.

“Ask them if they do matter, and to whom,” said Dixon. “Ask them to think about what they can do to matter more.”

On the court and in the classroom,
Angie McGinnis appears to be set for life

By TARA GOODIN
Student Writer

Parties, football games, clubbing and weekly night-before-test cramming sessions. Ah, the life of a college student.

Not so for Gator volleyball setter Angie McGinnis.

When McGinnis, an elementary education major, is not on the court, she is attending classes in Norman Hall, studying or volunteering at a local elementary school. There are barely enough hours in the day for school and sports, much less partying.

"It's definitely rougher being a student athlete. I have to be strict with scheduling, and playing helps me stay focused and use the two free hours I have in a week wisely," McGinnis said.     

The 5-11 junior began playing volleyball competitively by the time she was 10. Even then her inner drive was evident.

"I remember one day I ran two miles home after practice, and my mom wondered why I wanted to run after hours of practicing. It's just that I have so much intensity and it keeps me going," McGinnis said. 

With her senior season still to play, McGinnis is racking up some awesome numbers for the Gators. In 2006, league coaches selected McGinnis as SEC player of the year, the first setter chosen in the 15-year history of the award. She was a first-team All-SEC selection and became the first two-time All-American setter in school history when she was honored as a first-team American Volleyball Coaches Association All-American.

But McGinnis is more than just a setter. She has recorded three triple-doubles over the past two seasons. She broke the Florida career setting record for kills, attacks, block solos, block assists, total blocks and points, and is the fastest player in school history to record 4,000 assists. She sparked the Gators to a 30-3 record, a 16^th consecutive SEC title in 2006 and the school's 15^th NCAA regional semifinal appearance.

She also excels off the court.

"I am amazed that Angie can play two volleyball matches a week, some of which require hours for travel, attend all the practices and still get her assignments for my class completed and in
on time.  She is always prepared and participates actively in class," said Professor Linda Lamme, who teaches McGinnis in her children's literature and child education class.  

Despite her hectic schedule, McGinnis has been dating her boyfriend, Harry Polenychko, a Marine who recently returned from Iraq, for more than four years.

"It's been pretty rough having to do the long-distance thing, but we love each
other enough to make it work," McGinnis said.

After she graduates in 2008, she aspires to play for the USA National Team, which competes in a number of international competitions including the Olympics. McGinnis trained with the team last summer. She also hopes to play professionally for an overseas team one day. But teaching remains her long-term career goal.

"I plan on teaching after I finish my volleyball career. My mom is a kindergarten teacher, and I absolutely love working with kids," McGinnis said. 

While college life as both a student and athlete is a challenge, McGinnis attributes her success to her drive to excel in each activity.

"One of my favorite quotes is ‘Dreams don't come true without sacrifices,'" McGinnis said. "Don't let people tell you what to do, because it's that intensity that got me here."

Every April, UF honors some of its most impressive international and foreign-born students with its Outstanding International Student Awards. This year three graduate students from the College of Education made the list of award recipients.

Amrita Mukherjee, a student in the Unified Elementary Proteach Program, has excelled at coursework in special education. Mukherjee, who is from India, has shown a willingness to expand her expertise beyond the requirements of the program by examining issues related to cross-cultural aspects of gifted education.

Vasa Buraphadeja, a graduate student in Educational Technology, arrived at UF from Thailand with a strong background in the technical side of his field, but wanted to explore more of the scholarly side. In his first year at UF, he has already conducted an extensive literature review of models used to assess critical thinking skills in computer-mediated communication. In a study titled “Possible Sims, Possible Selves,” he looked at 66 narratives posted online by users of the online game “The Sims” to see if they reflected the structure and detail of “real life” narratives.

Fatma Aslan-Tutak, a graduate student in Mathematics Education, served as the lead research assistant on the Project TALL Math: Teachers as Learners Learning Mathematics. Aslan-Tutak, who is from Turkey, has also co-facilitated professional development sessions for teachers through Project TALL, and has used her insights from the program as the bases for a conference presentation and manuscripts that are currently under review for publication.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida College of Education will honor five of the state’s most effective school administrators at its spring commencement ceremony May 5.

Education leaders from five Florida counties will receive UF’s Distinguished Educator Awards, which were created in 1988 to honor the important role teachers and school administrators play in shaping the lives of Florida’s children. While the Sunshine State is home to thousands of teachers who deserve to be honored, the Distinguished Educator Award is granted only to a select few who are identified by their peers as exceptional educators.

This year’s honorees are:

• Principal Victoria Davis, known to her colleagues as “Calhoun County’s most accomplished school leader.” Under her watch, Blountstown Elementary School has received five A ratings. Known as a strong leader in curriculum development and data interpretation, Davis leads by example and inspires others to excel through her own work ethic.
• Judi Hughes, a Lee County teacher and administrator who came out of retirement to establish the Freshman Academy at Lehigh High School. The academy hosts Lehigh’s ninth-graders in a separate building, with a curriculum designed to help them transition from middle to high school – causing a dramatic improvement in academics, attendance and discipline. Hughes has also taken Lehigh’s new teachers under her wing in overseeing the school’s new teacher orientation program. Hughes was recognized as the Florida Commissioner’s Outstanding Middle Level Principal in 1995.
• Elizabeth A. Kennedy, principal of Bak Middle School of the Arts in West Palm Beach – an arts-focused magnet school which has received an A rating for the past six years. Kennedy is chairperson of the Palm Beach County Principals’ Association, president-elect of the Florida Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals, and site visitor and consultant for International Baccalaureate North America. In 2006, she received Palm Beach County’s Principal Achievement Award for Outstanding Leadership.
• Mary Mimbs, the current principal of Keystone Heights Elementary School in Clay County. Mimbs brought the school a renewed focus on reading and writing, urging teachers in all subjects to incorporate literacy skills into their classes. As a result, Keystone Heights has for the past two years maintained the highest fourth grade writing scores in the district. Keystone Heights Elementary as a whole has maintained a grade of A for the past three years.
• Principal Toni Wiersma, who was recognized by the Florida Board of Education in 2006 as a “Turnaround Principal.” As leader of Okeechobee High School’s Freshman Academy, Wiersma brought that institution’s rating from a D to a B in two years. As principal of Okeechobee High, she has implemented a continuous improvement plan that includes input from students and faculty. She meets individually with teachers twice per month to make sure the entire school is coordinated in its efforts to promote literacy across the curriculum.

Each fall and spring term, a county from each of the five educational regions of the state is identified and asked to select a distinguished building-level educator representative of all of the outstanding educators in the county. The chosen educators are invited to take part in University of Florida commencement ceremonies as members of the platform assembly in full academic regalia. Each educator is recognized by the president of the university and presented the Distinguished Educator Award from the University of Florida.

This will be my last column until the fall semester when the e-newsletter resumes publication in September. The end of the academic year is a good time to reflect on all that has happened, and to prepare for the coming one. This past year has been unusually busy with the culmination of our centennial celebration featuring the St. Petersburg conference in November and the burying of the time capsule in December, the receipt of significant grants by many faculty, a record number of searches for new faculty members, the largest attendance ever for our annual Scholarship of Engagement banquet, and of course, everyone’s favorite closing event, commencement ceremonies.

The undergraduate ceremony was held for the first time in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, again beautifully organized by
Assistant Dean Theresa Vernetson and her efficient and capable staff and collegewide committee. The commencement address was delivered by Elizabeth Van Ella, a COE graduate herself (BAE ’65) and the chief executive officer of a company in Chicago, VanElla Inc. Judging by the reaction of the crowd, her remarks were a great success, especially among those of us who remember the ‘60’s well. She constructed her speech in part around the famous John Lennon song, “Imagine”, and encouraged our graduates to see “only sky above” and imagine myriad possibilities for taking action to change society.

As I noted, the record number of searches this year (15) kept faculty extremely busy almost to the end of April. We were fortunate in filling 10 of them, along with increasing our faculty diversity, and the candidates selected will be an excellent complement to current faculty. Most encouragingly, many applicants commented on the high quality of research being done, particularly within the framework of engaged scholarship and it was evident that the high energy level among faculty and students was clearly apparent. As one candidate noted admiringly, “I can’t believe all the activities that are happening, especially out in schools and communities.” The most recent issue of the Education Times underscores this point beautifully; it is easily the best issue ever produced not just for the stories it tells, but also for the quality of the publication and the way the stories are written. Without question, Larry Lansford, Tim Lockette, and Juawon Scott have done a superb job! I have received numerous compliments on it, including one from Provost Janie Fouke, and I know our faculty, students, and staff are proud to be at a college of education that is as dynamic and forward moving as ours is. We welcome comments from alumni and friends of the college if they feel the same way; please drop us a line on our newly revamped alumni website.

The next major event on our horizon will be UF’s “Florida Tomorrow” Capital Campaign Kick-off on Sept. 28. Each college or academic unit is now planning a series of activities to showcase their area. Our focus will be on technology and education, both to highlight new directions education will take in the 21st century, and also to call attention to our major campaign goal, which is to raise funds to renovate old Norman Hall and add a whole new wing that will become the Experiential Learning Complex. We encourage all alumni and retired faculty living in the vicinity to mark their calendars to join us for a day in “imagining” the college of the future. More details on the specific activities will appear in the September column.

While summer may be a time when the “living is easy” for some, it’s still a very busy time for many faculty and students. I plan to enjoy the summer and relax if possible, because I already know it will be another active and exciting year. I also can’t believe that I have now been the dean for five years; as the old saying goes, “Time flies when you are having fun.” If our fundraising efforts are successful, I look forward to imagining us in a state-of-the-art technology complex and a newly renovated Norman Hall that will take us into a 21st century learning environment. “You may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one…” (John Lennon, Imagine).

– Dean Catherine Emihovich