News Archive

Michael Fiorentino Jr., Ed.D. 1978, named Lock Haven University president

Dr. Michael Fiorentino Jr., executive vice president and provost of Fitchburg State University in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, was selected by the Board of Governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) to serve as the next president of Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.

Fiorentino will assume his new duties on July 1, succeeding Dr. Barbara B. Dixon, who served as interim president of LHU.

Fiorentino served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Fitchburg State for six years. He was named executive vice president in June, responsible for all academic and student service administrative offices and academic departments. He also served on the Senior Cabinet, the Development and University Advancement Team and the University Foundation Support Team, and as the university’s chief administrative officer in the absence of the president. He works closely with the executive director of development on the university’s capital campaign.

Fiorentino earned his Bachelor of Science degree in special education from Fitchburg State College in 1971. He has a Master of Education degree in special education from Boston University and a doctoral degree in educational administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education. He worked for a year as a special education teacher in the Needham, Mass., public schools before joining the faculty of Fitchburg State as an assistant professor of special education in 1974.

He spent five years as associate dean and principal of the McKay Campus School/Teacher Education Center at Fitchburg before being named associate vice president for academic affairs in 1987. He also served as associate vice president and executive assistant to the president and chair of the Special Education Department. He has held the rank of professor since 1998.

Fiorentino is a member of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Higher Education’s Task Force on Student Learning Outcomes and Assessment and served on the National Voluntary System of Accountability Workgroup. He also has served as a consultant to the Association of American Schools of Central America and the Bermuda Ministry of Education, among others. He is a member of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education and AASCU, and has worked with numerous community organizations.

Lock Haven University was founded in 1870. It currently enrolls nearly 5,500 students and has approximately 275 full- and part-time faculty at its main campus in Lock Haven and branch campus in Clearfield. It offers 70 undergraduate and four graduate degree programs.

2011 Graduation Celebration!

School of Education’s Graduation Celebration
Thursday, May 12, 2011

Our Graduation Celebration was awesome! Check out some of the photos.

School of Ed hosts South African look at U.S. diversity

A group of 20 students from the University of the Free State in South Africa has been visiting the School of Education since Sept. 26, hoping to see how diversity is addressed in U.S. culture - and specifically within its educational institutions.

During their two weeks here, the students visited local schools, met with educational leadership organizations, attend classes that reflect on diversity, justice and social change, and discuss their experiences among themselves and with UMass Amherst students. The also visited Mount Holyoke College and Holy Cross. The group returns to South Africa Oct. 7.

The six students hosted by the School of Education visited Mohawk Regional School in Buckland, Springfield Central High School, Northampton High School and Peck School in Holyoke. They attended seminars and lectures on cross cultural communication, learning through community engagement and other topics offered by School of Education faculty, said program coordinator Barbara Madeloni, a lecturer in the School of Education's Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies.

The program is part of an initiative of the University of the Free State to develop student leaders who are able to act as agents of change within diverse settings. Professor Jonathan Jensen, rector and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, said he developed the idea for this initiative when, in 2009, he found himself forced to address lingering racism in the acts of white students against black university staff. His idea is that within school communities, students themselves must be prepared to think about, understand, and take action to support justice. His hope is that by selecting a group of student leaders, preparing them through workshops and asking them to experience the diversity of another country, these students will directly impact the culture of the institution.

In the program, selected university students are sent to the United States for a two week period to see how another country is addressing diversity within its culture and society, specifically its educational institutions. Students come to the U.S. after a rigorous selection process focused on academic achievement, leadership skills, and interest in and openness to questions of diversity, spend a few days in Washington DC learning about customs in the U.S., and then travel to a variety of colleges and universities.

Mishy Lesser helps make Rwandan documentary

A new documentary film about the current situation in Rwanda recentle held its World Premiere in Boston. The film is called Coexist and CIE graduate Dr. Mishy Lesser (Ed.D.1996) is the film's learning director. Coexist tells the story of how survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide relate to those who persecuted them and killed their families. It gives voice to victims, perpetrators, and bystanders, and shows how the unleashing of fear and scapegoating can endanger a society.

Coexist raises important and difficult questions about forgiveness, reconciliation, revenge, remorse, coexistence, compassion, and tolerance. Lesser wrote a Viewer's Guide to help teachers and youth workers lead discussions about how violence escalates, the role of bystanders, lifelong moral trauma of perpetrators, and how to develop values and behaviors that cultivate peace.

Coexist was selected by the Artivist Film Festival in Hollywood and was screened recently in Canada at the annual conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association.

Lesser and filmmaker Adam Mazo are screening the film and leading workshops at Boston area middle and high schools, and universities. For more information, go to www.coexistdocumentary.org.

Management guru returns to UMass for talks, dinner
by Daily Hampshire Gazette

AMHERST - With the 1982 publication of their business blockbuster "The One Minute Manager," Ken Blanchard and co-author Spencer Johnson became gurus of the fledgling leadership in business movement.

"Doors broke down," Blanchard recalled of the book's reception. "Everybody wanted to talk to us."

That book, whose sales hit 13 million copies and counting, spawned a genre of similar titles devoted to compassionate management, a philosophy admired but not exactly embraced by corporate America before or since. Read full story

Botelho, Nappi present at NECME

Films by School of Education Professor Liane Brandon to Be Screened at New York’s Museum Of Modern Art

Two groundbreaking independent films of the women’s movement by Liane Brandon, professor emeritus of education, have been restored and will be screened Nov. 7 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as part of its celebration of its ongoing relationship with New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT).

The films by Brandon that will be presented are Anything You Want to Be (1971) and Betty Tells Her Story (1972). They have been selected for preservation and screening through the Women’s Film Preservation Fund which was founded by the Museum of Modern Art and NYWIFT in order to safeguard the cultural legacy of women in the film industry.

Both films have won multiple awards and have inspired countless discussions of gender-role stereotyping, self-image, and cultural perception.

At the time Brandon started making films in the late 1960s, there were few women making independent films and even fewer who were dealing specifically with women’s political issues. Her works, which were distributed widely, established that women had an important role to play in the predominantly male independent film movement. Both titles have become milestones in the women’s movement, have been screened extensively in festivals around the world, and continue to be used in school and university film and social studies curricula.

Released in 1971, Anything You Want to Be became a landmark in both the women’s and political film movements. It features a bright high school girl who is repeatedly told that she can be “anything you want to be” but who repeatedly, and humorously, collides with sex-role stereotypes. It was one of the first films to examine the external pressures and the more subtle, internal pressures a girl faces in finding her identity.

Betty Tells Her Story was one of the earliest non-fiction films to give voice to an individual (not famous or glamorous) woman. This 1972 documentary explores contemporary culture’s emphasis on female beauty. Betty describes in delightful detail the saga of her search for “the perfect dress” and why she never got to wear it. Later, when asked to tell her story again, it is strikingly different. While the facts remain the same, Betty’s underlying feelings emerge. The contrast between the two stories is haunting.

Betty Tells Her Story received national recognition a year later when critic Gene Siskel wrote about it in the Chicago Tribune and invited Brandon to discuss it with him on his nationally syndicated radio program. He liked the film so much that he programmed it at a screening in Chicago with Jack Nicholson’s Drive He Said as his two favorite films of the year.

With roots in the Bread and Roses collective of the late 1960s, Brandon’s work coincided with other key seeds of the women’s movement. At that time there was very little media attention given to grass roots organizing and consciousness raising efforts, and the press largely ignored the fundamental issues in favor of publicity stunts and other sensational events. The work of Brandon and other innovators helped counteract these images and broadened the appeal and scope of the women’s movement.

Brandon, who is also a photographer, taught in the UMass Amherst School of Education from 1973 until her retirement in 2004. She is a co-founder of New Day Films, a nationally known feminist/social issue cooperative that has pioneered in the distribution of films and videos about women, and a founding member of FilmWomen of Boston, and Boston Film/Video Foundation. Before becoming a filmmaker Brandon was a ski instructor, high school teacher and professional stunt woman.

Her still photography credits include the PBS productions of Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, Typhoid Mary: The Most Dangerous Woman In America and Murder at Harvard.

Brandon’s classic films, which include Anything You Want To Be, Betty Tells Her Story and Once Upon A Choice, have received numerous national and international honors and have been presented at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Whitney Museum, Chicago Art Institute and the Museum of Modern Art and have also been featured on HBO, USA Cable and Cinemax. Her other films include How to Prevent A Nuclear War and Sometimes I Wonder Who I Am. They are distributed by New Day Films.

For more information:
Women’s Film Preservation Fund
MoMA
New Day Films

Professors Rallis and Rossman present at Academic Colloquium in Ramallah, Palestine

	Dr. Sharon Rallis		Dr. Gretchen Rossman

Drs. Sharon Rallis and Gretchen Rossman recently attended the fourth annual Academic Colloquium for the Palestinian Faculty Development Program (PFDP) in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine.

Rallis and Rossman presented scholarly research papers with their recently-graduated doctoral students, Dr Ayman Khalifah and Dr Ola Khalili, both of whom studied at the School of Education’s Center for International Education. The theme of this year’s Colloquium was on building partnerships internationally and across Palestinian institutions to improve teaching practice.

Launched in October 2005, the Palestinian Faculty Development Program (PFDP) aims to increase capacity within the higher education sector in the West Bank and Gaza and address long-term issues of reform in teaching and learning practices. The program, which is funded by USAID and the Open Society Institute (OSI) and administered by AMIDEAST and OSI, has three main objectives: 1) to promote the expansion, retention, and professional development of promising academics teaching in the social sciences and humanities; 2) to revitalize and reform teaching in these areas at Palestinian higher education institutions, and 3) promote an institutional culture of teaching and learning.

Benbow promoted at American Institutes for Research

Dr. Jane Benbow (Ed.D. 1994), an international education professional with extensive experience in the areas of international development, program development, and management, has been promoted to vice president and director of American Institutes for Research’s International Development Division. Benbow currently is a Managing Research Scientist with AIR, where she has been serving as Chief of Party of a large education reform project in Egypt funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In Egypt, she works closely with the Ministry of Education and oversees a staff of more than 250.

Plan to join us!
Friday and Saturday
November 19 and 20
Ken Blanchard - author of The One Minute Manager

Leading at a Higher Level
Please join us at two very special events to honor the journey of Ken ( School of Education faculty 1970-76) and Marjorie Blanchard (UMass Amherst Ph.D. 1976) and the founding associates of The Ken Blanchard Companies from their roots in the School of Education and UMass Amherst to their roles as globally-renowned consultants in people-centered management

Friday - Reception and Dinner
Keynote by Ken Blanchard - "Lead with Love"

Saturday - Leading at a Higher Level workshop
with the Blanchards, founding associates and presenters from The Ken Blanchard Companies

• Proceeds from these events will benefit School of Education students and faculty.
  

Click HERE for more information about the event.

Floris Wilma Ortiz Marrero is Massachusetts Teacher of the Year

From the Boston Globe
Watch TV40's interview with Wilma.

Educator honored for teaching language, confidence
By June Q. Wu
Globe Correspondent / June 12, 2010

Takuto Kimura, 13, remembers his first day in an American classroom three years ago. He did not speak a word of English.
This fall, the Japanese native will enter the eighth grade at Amherst Regional Middle School. Today, he jokes with classmates and can discuss the contributions of Martin Luther King Jr. without difficulty.

Kimura credits his developing language skills to Floris Wilma Ortiz-Marrero, 52, who was named the 2011 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year yesterday for her work in building the ESL program at Amherst Regional Middle School.

Mrs. Ortiz, as he calls her, fills the English as a Second Language classroom with her “amazing energy.’’

“She helped me to boost my confidence, saying I will be a doctor or an astronaut,’’ Kimura said. “Or both.’’

The first ESL teacher to be awarded this distinction, Ortiz-Marrero will be giving speeches and conducting workshops throughout the state over the next year. She will also receive $16,000 worth of smart classroom technology for her school, funding for classroom materials, and a laptop.

At yesterday’s State House ceremony, Governor Deval Patrick commended the state’s teachers for their efforts in shaping elementary and secondary education and closing the achievement gap among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

“There is the sense out there that the profession is under siege,’’ Patrick said. “But teachers are not the problem — poverty is the problem.’’

Coming from a family of teachers, Ortiz-Marrero recalls as a child lining up her dogs in a makeshift classroom at her home in Puerto Rico, giving them little pieces of paper (and detention when they misbehaved).

“I loved to spend time teaching my dogs how to read and write,’’ Ortiz-Marrero said. “I feel that’s why I wanted to be a teacher.’’ After moving to the United States in 1985, Ortiz-Marrero enrolled in ESL classes so she could work toward a teaching degree.

“Teaching English is complex and takes time,’’ said Ortiz-Marrero, who has been at Amherst since 1993. “My goal is to empower students to be able to advocate for themselves, to inquire about the world.’’

Ortiz-Marrero said she allows her students to use their native languages, which range from Spanish to Portuguese to Korean, in pre-writing exercises as part of the thinking process. Peer teaching and working in small groups are also encouraged in her classroom.

“At the end of the day, I want my students to be able to have a connection with the outside world,’’ Ortiz-Marrero said. “What we learn and what we teach is relevant to life outside the classroom.’’

Ortiz-Marrero also teaches a graduate course in language literacy and culture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-founded the English Language Learners initiative of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project.

Other teachers honored at yesterday’s event include Kelley R. Brown of Easthampton High School, who was named the state’s history teacher of the year; Rebecca Duda of Lakeview Junior High School in Dracut; Sharon Hessney of John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury; Nancy Johnson of Hopedale Junior Senior High School; Lynn Smith of King Philip Middle School; Charles Duggan of Watertown High School; Mark Greenman of Marblehead High School; and Rosemary Rak of Taunton High School.

Marino Kimura praised Ortiz-Marrero’s work in improving her son’s language skills, adding that he is much more confident in conversing in English.

Her son said he feels relaxed and “ready to learn’’ when he is in her brightly decorated classroom.

“She just hugs everyone — big hugs,’’ he said. “It makes us feel good. We can’t be sad with her.’’

June Q. Wu can be reached at jwu@globe.com.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

More here.

UMass Amherst’s School of Education Ranked Among Top Graduate Programs by U.S. News & World Report

April 30, 2010

The School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst offers one of the top graduate programs in the country, according to the latest ranking by U.S. News & World Report.

Of the 172 graduate schools of education on the list, UMass Amherst is 47th, tied with Temple University and the University of Tennessee.

U.S. News bases its rankings on two types of data: expert opinions about program quality and statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school’s faculty, research and students. The statistical indicators are measures of the qualities that students and faculty bring to the educational experience and measures of graduates’ achievements linked to their degrees. During the fall of 2009 and earlier this year, the magazine surveyed 279 graduate programs in education to get the information used in the ranking of top education schools.

With 53 tenured and tenure-track faculty, the UMass Amherst School of Education enrolls about 396 students and offers advanced degrees with concentrations in educational administration, education policy and leadership, higher education, international education, research and evaluation methods, school counselor education, school psychology, social justice education, special education, child and family studies, early childhood and elementary teacher education, language, literacy and culture, mathematics, science and learning technologies and secondary teacher education.

The ratio of full-time doctoral students to full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty is 4 to 1. The school operates four national research centers.

For more information, visit http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools/rankings

SOE alumnus Bill Cosby Receives Philadelphia's Marian Anderson Award
Read the news clip...

SOE Alumna Named Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life

Jean Kim has been named vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, assuming the post she has held on an interim basis for the past nine months.

Kim is a UMass Amherst alumna who launched her career in student affairs at the university’s flagship campus in the mid-1970s and has worked at seven universities. This is Kim’s fifth tenure as the chief student affairs officer.

Chancellor Robert C. Holub announced the appointment, citing Kim’s long experience as a student affairs administrator and her outstanding performance as interim vice chancellor.

“We are fortunate indeed to be able to look to someone not only who knows the challenges of this job, but who also has shown grace, leadership and vision in meeting those challenges in recent months,” said Holub.

Kim called her appointment “a true honor, and a vote of confidence for which I am extremely grateful.”

“The last nine months have been wonderfully engaging and rewarding for me,” said Kim. “I can’t tell you how delighted I am to be able to continue the work we have begun and to continue to serve our students and this university. I find our students to be very thoughtful and a joy to work with.”

During her interim appointment, said Kim, the student affairs division worked to strengthen its managerial infrastructure, including the completion of a strategic plan and programmatic realignments; developing a campus-wide plan to enhance the first-year experience; planning for on-campus housing expansion; and increasing collaboration with academic colleagues on integrating the students’ living-learning experiences.

After completing her B.A. in sociology at UMass Amherst in 1973, Kim served as a senior head of residence from 1974-78 in John Quincy Adams Tower and assistant director of Southwest Residential College in 1978-79. She also worked as assistant director of the Student Development and Counseling Center at UMass Amherst from 1979-81. During those years, she also completed her master’s degree in sociology and a doctorate in counseling psychology at UMass Amherst.

Subsequently, Kim served as director of student development at Western New England College in Springfield; assistant dean for graduate student affairs at Stanford University; vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Hartford; vice chancellor for student affairs at the 25,000-student University of Colorado at Boulder; vice president for student affairs and dean of students at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., and vice chancellor for student affairs at UMass Dartmouth.

During her service in Colorado, Kim led 20 departments with an $80 million budget and 1,200 staff. Her accomplishments included the development of a strategic enrollment management plan and securing an $869,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reduce high-risk drinking on campus.

Kim has also been an instructor at the UMass Amherst School of Education and the department of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. She was an adjunct faculty member in the business school at Western New England College.

Throughout her career, she has also been a consultant to corporations, higher education institutions and organizations on issues such as career development, multicultural workforce management, cross cultural communication, diversity training, strategic planning, team and leadership development, and executive coaching.

Kim was born in South Korea and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 12. She is a first-generation college student, and a beneficiary of public higher education. She is the mother of two college-educated daughters.

SOE offers webcast of Latino Education and Advocacy Day from California State University on March 29

Laura A. Valdiviezo, assistant professor, School of Education, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum studies, will facilitate a UMass Amherst webcast viewing of the Latino Education and Advocacy Day (LEAD) summit held at California State University, San Bernadino, on Monday, March 29, in Furcolo Hall, IPC Lab, Room 22 from 10:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. and in Furcolo Hall, Room 222 from 3:30- 10:00 p.m.

The summit will be transmitted across the U.S. and abroad. Its purpose is to reunite community members, academics, government officials and students interested in education opportunities for Latinos in the U.S., Valdiviezo said.

Students, staff and faculty are invited to attend the webcast in part or for the entire day.

Attendees from UMass Amherst who would like to submit questions to summit presenters by video may do so. Instructions for submitting questions can be found at http://lead.csusb.edu/TownhallViewingEventLocations.htm.

More than 35 presenters will participate in the Summit, including Dr. Juan Sepulveda, director, White House Initiative on the Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans; Sylvia Mendez, civil rights activist and plaintiff in historic precursor to Brown v. Board of Education; and Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers. A capstone event with Huerta is the screening of the documentary “Viva La Causa” at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Detailed information about the Summit, including the program schedule in Pacific Time, is available at http://www.csusb.edu/coe/LEAD/index.htm. The schedule for the UMass Amherst webinar is:

11:30 am - Welcome and Opening Remarks

12:00 pm - Inaugural Address

12:30 pm - "History, Schooling and Outcomes"

1:45 - "Theory and Research into Action"

4:00 - "White House Initiative"

5:00 - "Policies and Politics of Education Access and Opportunities"

6:30 - "Youth Development and Future LEADers"

8:30 – Documentary: “Viva la Causa”

Wells' research shows benefits for adjuncts improves job satisfaction for all faculty

SOE hosts animal behavior and autism expert Temple Grandin March 2

School of Education associate professor Claire Hamilton will host a presentation by Temple Grandin, an advocate for people with autism and a world renowned animal behaviorist and expert on their humane treatment, on Tuesday, March 2, from 9:30-10:30 a.m., at 137 Isenberg School of Management.

Grandin, is one of the most accomplished and well-known adults with autism in the world. She has been featured on National Public Radio, major television programs such as the BBC special "The Woman Who Thinks Like a Cow," ABC's Primetime Live, The Today Show, Larry King Live, 48 Hours and 20/20. She has been written about in national publications such as Time magazine, People magazine, Forbes, U.S. News and World Report, and New York Times.

The subject of a recent HBO movie, Grandin has said that her autism gives her a special understanding of animals and has helped her to become a leader in the ethical treatment of all animals, in particular farm animals and cattle held in commercial stockyards and at slaughterhouses. She is well-known for designing low-stress facilities for livestock being held in such areas. Through observing how cattle can be calmed when held in a press, she created a similarly-designed hugging machine that helps her to relax.

“I thought that the perspective that Temple gives on being autistic in the world and how she relates it to her everyday life would be interesting to School of Education students. So I contacted Dr. Hamilton,” said Carrie Chickering-Sears, UMass Amherst Extension educator, who scheduled the Grandin events at UMass Amherst.

Hamilton has used the BBC documentary about and NPR interviews with Grandin in a child development class for a number of years. “They provide a way for students to better understand how individuals with autism might experience the world,” Hamilton said. “My goal for students in this General Education course is that they not only understand Autism Spectrum Disorder in terms of how it is defined or diagnosed, but also in terms of the impact it has on children with ASD and their families.”

The SOE presentation and other events featuring Grandin at UMass Amherst are sponsored by the Center for Agriculture as part of a USDA Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant-funded collaborative project of the University of Connecticut, University of Rhode Island and UMass Amherst. While in Amherst, Grandin will also speak to a Veterinary and Animal Sciences class, sign copies of her book at the University Store, and tour the UMass Amherst Hadley Farm..

Grandin was born in Boston in 1950. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Franklin Pierce College, a master’s in animal science from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in animal science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is on the faculty at Colorado State University. She has published over 400 articles within the field of Animal Sciences. Her current bestselling book on autism is “The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's.” She also authored “Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships,” “Animals Make us Human,” “Animals in Translation,” “Thinking in Pictures,” and “Emergence: Labeled Autistic.”

For more information about these events, contact Chickering-Sears at ccsears@umext.umass.edu
or at 413-549-3257.

Delegation from Portugal learns about U.S. education during visit to School of Education

Ten educators and journalists from Portugal met with School of Education faculty recently to learn about teacher education practices, licensure, and trends and challenges in teacher preparation and evaluation in the United States

The group was invited to the U.S. under the auspices of the Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program. Their program was arranged by World Learning Visitor Exchange Program, an organization dedicated to facilitating exchanges among professionals from the United States and around the world, and it was organized locally by the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts.

“Portugal is in the process of putting in place standards for teacher training and evaluation,” said Cynthia Melcher, World Affairs Council executive director, explaining the context of the visit.

The Department of State outlined the specific objectives for the Portugal project as providing an overview of elementary and secondary education structure, administration, and financing issues at the federal, state and local levels; learning about the role of non-governmental organizations and professional associations in promoting education policies; and engaging in discussions with government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations and school administrators about issues of assessment and measurement of student performance.

Following a two-hour meeting in the School of Education with faculty from the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, the group lunched at the Worcester Dining Commons where the delegates chatted with UMass Amherst students, then traveled to Gill-Montague Regional School in Turners Falls, Mass., to meet with the school’s principal, sit in on a class conducted by a School of Education student teacher intern, and talk about school practices with other teachers.

Prior to their visit to the UMass Amherst School of Education, the group had meetings at the U. S. Dept. of Education in Washington D.C., met with representatives from the University of Maryland, and attended discussions at World Learning.

Members of the delegation included Miguel Alves Lobo Da CostAzevedo, Director of Projects, Forum para a Liberdade de Educacao; Ms.Ana Rita Barreira Duarte Bessa, Project Coordinator, School Leadership and Management, Empresarios pela Inclusao Social (Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion); Ms. Maria Leonor Venancio Estevens Duarte, Inspector, General-Inspectorate Office, Ministry of Education; Ms. Isabel Navarro Affonseca De Sous Leira, Journalist, Expresso; Mr. Manuel Isabelinho Miguens, Secretary-General, National Council of Education; Mr. Joao Paulo Ramos Duarte Mineiro, Director, Quinta das Palmeiras Secondary School, Covilha; Mr. Michael Lothar Mendes Seufert, Deputy, CDS-PP (Popular Party); Ms. Luisa Maria Ucha Da Silva, Head, Curriculum Development Bureau, Ministry of Education; Susana Maria De Moura Alves Da Silva Toscano, Education and Youth Advisor, President of the Portuguese Republic; and Ms. Barbara Maria Baptista Wong, Journalist, Publico.

Porter publishes new book

Rosalie Pedalino Porter (Ed. D. 1982) has published “American Immigrant: My Life in Three Languages”, iUniverse, 2009. Part personal memoir, part an account of education reform on a national scale, Porter’s book chronicles three decades of professional and political activities on behalf of immigrant children in the U.S. and other countries including Bulgaria, China, Israel, Italy, Japan and Turkey.

Porter, who arrived in the U.S. at age six not knowing one word of English, earned prominence as a  promoter of the importance of English language for immigrant children, and as a reformer of bilingual education in the face of opposition.

She has been involved in education research and advocacy for English Language Learners in Arizona public schools for almost a decade. On June 25, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling in the Flores v. Arizona case, the first case on the education of English learners since 1974 Lau v. Nichols. Porter had been an expert witness in Flores, and assisted in the crafting of an amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court. The 5-4 decision cited some of the arguments and research contained in the brief and Justice Steven Bryer cited her by name in his dissenting opinion, Porter said.

Porter is also the author of “Forked Tongue: The Politics of Bilingual Education” and “Language and Literacy for English Learners: Grades 7-12, Four Programs of Proven Success.” She lives in Singer Island, Florida, and Amherst, Massachusetts.

Prager Named Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) named Marcy Prager (B.A. 1973),  a first and second grade teacher at Driscoll School in Brookline, Mass., Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year. She was honored at the 89th NCSS Annual Conference in Atlanta, Ga., in November.

This award is presented annually to recognize outstanding social studies teachers who demonstrate exceptional abilities in developing and using instructional material creatively and effectively; show that they incorporate innovative instructional strategies and techniques into their teaching; are able to demonstrate the ability to foster a spirit of inquiry; and encourage the development of democratic beliefs, values, and skills needed to become effective citizens

Taking advantage of her sound understanding of how young students learn, Prager manages to transmit what she has learned first hand in her travel experiences in a manner that engages and challenges her students in developing a range of skills, according to NCSS.  "Marcy runs a high-energy and fast-paced classroom where every student has a secure place to learn and a stimulating lesson to work on," said Jim Parziale, Principal at Michael Driscoll School.

At a conference session, Prager shared her exceptional teaching strategies that demonstrated how she uses media to introduce the Hopi culture to her second grade students and focused on how a different culture can come alive for students through the use of inquiry, technology, and hands-on activities.

A veteran elementary grades teacher, Prager is deeply committed to integrated education and to building curriculum around units of study that enable learning about and experiencing the world and other cultures. When in 2000 the Freeman Foundation awarded Michael Driscoll School a grant to develop an integrated program of study for Chinese language and culture, Prager mentored incoming Chinese language teachers in structuring effective lessons for young children; she took up producing the elementary chapters of the grant-required curriculum book; provided guidance to her colleagues in the primary grades in developing integrated curriculum; and learned Chinese to continue her students integrated learning in her classroom.

Prager is the recipient of the AIG WorldSource Award for Excellence given to teachers for creative and significant progress in developing an international focus in schools, as well as of three Brookline Education Foundation grants to tour Ghana, China, and Japan to develop "visual texts," and the Charlie Baker Legacy Award to travel to HOPI Land to develop an age-appropriate Native American geography curriculum for second graders.

Founded in 1921, the National Council for the Social Studies has a membership of 20,000 social studies professionals in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and 69 foreign countries. Membership includes K-16 classroom teachers, curriculum supervisors and specialists, curriculum writers and designers, and teacher educators. The NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for K-16 teachers of civics, history, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology and law-related education. Social studies is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence.

For more information visit: http://www.socialstudies.org/awards/teaching.

Clark Atlanta University President Dr. Carlton E. Brown selected as first recipient of the UMass Amherst Dr. Norma Jean Anderson Award for Leadership for Diversity

	SOE Dean Christine B. McCormick with Dr. Carlton E. Brown

Carlton E. Brown, president of Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, has been named the first recipient of the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Norma Jean Anderson Award for Leadership for Diversity.Brown delivered a lecture, "In Search of a Transforming Education," prior to the award ceremony on Monday, May 4, in the Massachusetts Room of the Mullins Center.

Brown, a Georgia native, earned his doctorate in education from UMass Amherst in 1979, with emphases on multicultural education and educational change. He was named Clark Atlanta University’s third president in August 2008 after having served there as executive vice president and provost.

Dr. Brown and family The award recognizes leadership in promoting diversity in education through research, practice or policy. “Diversity in education is the compass that has led Carlton Brown throughout his professional life,” said Christine B. McCormick, dean of the School of Education at UMass Amherst. “His selection as the first recipient of the Norma Jean Anderson award for leadership for diversity in education recognizes his constant and steadfast belief in and action towards accomplishing access and equity in education. This award is a tangible demonstration of the School of Education’s legacy and continuing commitment to diversity, excellence and equity in education.” Among Brown’s appointments before his move to Clark Atlanta, he served nine years as president of Savannah State University, when the campus saw a 48-percent increase in enrollment, major grant and contract increases, improved student retention and more minorities pursuing graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Brown also served as a faculty member and administrator at Old Dominion University and Hampton University, both in Virginia. He helped implement statewide education initiatives for the Georgia Board of Regents, as well.

	Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Esther Terry greets Dr. Carlton E. Brown, president Clark Atlanta University

The Norma Jean Anderson Award for Leadership for Diversity was established in 2004 when Anderson was honored with the first UMass Amherst Distinguished Achievement Award. Before her death in 2006 at age 74, she had served the School of Education for more than 30 years as a faculty member, administrator, mentor and volunteer. Anderson was known for her diligent work to eliminate barriers to education, build a more culturally, racially and educationally diverse campus community, raise awareness of institutional racism and instill social justice values among the students, colleagues and other communities she served.

The Norma Jean Anderson Lecture and Award for Leadership for Diversity was created to perpetuate UMass Amherst’s recognition of Anderson’s values and work.

Watch video of and listen to Dr. Brown's lecture "In Search of A Transforming Education."

Dr. Sonia Nieto gives annual presentation to EDUC 377 students

School of Education Professor Emerita and multicultural and bi-lingual education expert Sonia Nieto recently gave her annual presentation to students in EDUC 377 “Intro to Multicultural Education.” Dr. Nieto talked about the case studies of multicultural students across the country that are noted in her book, Affirming Diversity: the Sociopolitical Context of Multicultural  Education, which is going into its 6th edition. The studies are models for the final cultural profile project students complete at the end of the academic year. The presentation was held in Mark’s Meadow School’s auditorium, adjacent to Furcolo Hall.

The School of Education named partner in Pioneer Valley Readiness Center.

The School of Education is one of four lead partners, with Westfield State College, the Hampshire Educational Collaborative, and the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative, in the recently established Pioneer Valley Readiness Center.

The purpose of the center, as charged by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, is to provide professional development and instructional services to educators at all levels and targeted assistance to improve districts and schools.

For more information about Massachusetts’ Readiness Centers go to the Governor's site here.

Dissertation of the Year Award to Bloomgarden (Ed.D. 2009)

Dr. Alan Bloomgarden (Ed.D. 2009) has received the Dissertation of the Year Award from the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), an international nonprofit membership organization devoted to promoting research and discussion about service-learning and community engagement. This award is given annually to one dissertation that advances research through rigorous and innovative inquiry. Bloomgarden’s dissertation is titled “Prestige Culture and Community-Based Faculty Work."

The organization’s criteria for dissertations considered for selection for the award include addressing important questions, developing robust theoretical or conceptual frameworks, demonstrating the use of rigorous data collection and analysis, showing compelling conclusions, and expanding on the study’s results to suggest important implications for theory/research on service learning and/or community engagement.

Dr. Bloomgarden is currently the coordinator of the Community-Based Learning Program in the Weissman Center for Leadership at Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass. He resides in Florence, Mass.

Lesser visits Chilean family that saved her life

Mishy Lesser (Ed.D. 1996) tells people that she first personally experienced terrorism on September 11. She pauses, and clarifies: September 11, 1973.

Then a 20-year-old college student turned community organizer and activist working in Chile during the government of Salvador Allende, Lesser was forced to go into hiding when the September 11, 1973 military coup d’état caused the country to descend into violence and terror. She was safely hidden by a doctor and his family while thousands disappeared, were tortured or murdered. The dead would include her Chilean boyfriend and two American colleagues who were inspired by the movement for social justice that flourished during the Allende government.

Now an education consultant working in the Boston area, Lesser still possesses the flimsy means by which she escaped Chile with her life: a forged letter claiming she was a university student studying history, a U.S. Embassy document certifying the fraudulent letter, and a calling card with a reluctantly scribbled note of support from a retired police general.

Early in 2008, Lesser returned to Chile to reunite with the family she credits for her survival. The reunion was the subject of a piece on “The World,” the international radio news program presented by Public Radio International, the British Broadcasting Company, and WGBH Boston.

The trip and its media coverage supported Lesser’s process of coming to terms with her Chilean experience. The School of Education also played a role, she said.

After her escape from Chile, Lesser worked with anti-Pinochet activists in her home town of New York City. In 1980 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and travelled as close to Chile as she could get: Ecuador.

“In Ecuador I was able to use some of what I’d learned in Chile in my work with both urban underserved communities as well as indigenous populations in the highlands,” she said.

After a decade, Lesser came back to the U.S. and, searching for a doctoral program, learned about the School of Education’s Center for International Education and the Amherst-based Institute for Training and Development where she secured a consulting job. She was admitted to SOE’s doctoral program in international education and took courses in the Family Therapy program. Her research focused on people from opposing sides of the civil war in El Salvador.

“It allowed me to look at what happens to people after they’ve been exposed to political violence, and to try to answer the question of whether an educational setting can further psychological as well as social healing among people who might otherwise be more inclined to rip each other to shreds than reconcile,” she said.

Her studies at the School of Education gave her a framework in which she could look at her experience in Chile with deeper understanding.

“Someone asked me how these different events - Chile and the coup, working for the Chile solidarity movement, and then the Fulbright and Ecuador, how they all fit together,” Lesser said. “It wasn’t until I got to Amherst and was able to sink into the program at CIE that I began to examine some of my experiences from that painful period. Those of us who got out of Chile when I did…did not have the language to describe how what we were doing in the political arena affected us psychologically. So the Family Therapy program and CIE gave me a context to look critically at all of that, and to begin my own healing.”

In Memoriam: Dr. Richard "Dick" Clark Read more...

Graduation Celebration 2009

The Campus Center auditorium was packed with excited graduates, undergraduates, and families and friends attending our 2009 Graduation Celebration.

AERA meeting in San Diego

See photos from the School's reception at AERA meeting in San Diego

Dr. Craig N. Mills Promoted

Dr. Craig N. Mills (Ed.D. 1982) has been promoted to vice president of examinations at American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in recognition of his leadership and contributions to the profession. A prominent psychometrician and a pioneer in the computerization of testing, Dr. Mills was responsible for the transition of the CPA examination from pencil-and-paper to a computerized format.

Prior to joining AICPA, Dr. Mills directed the computerization of the GRE General Test for the Educational Testing Service, which he joined in 1986.

In 2008, Dr. Mills received an Award of Distinction from the School of Education during the Centennial celebration recognizing 100 years of preparing educators on the UMass Amherst campus.

Can SOE Alum Evan Dobelle Remake Westfield?
From The Hartford Courant
Pursuing Vision of a College Town
By Tom Condon
May 3, 2009

It's hard to get more post-industrial than Westfield, Mass. It is called the "Whip City" because of the buggy whips that were made there when horsepower was measured by the horse. That of course was a long time ago. The town has nice neighborhoods and other businesses, but the moribund downtown suggests it hasn't fully recovered from the onslaught of the newfangled automobile.

But there are handsome historic buildings in the center of town. With the right vision, the downtown could be revived and reborn. And a new guy in town has that vision.

That would be Evan S. Dobelle, who became president of Westfield State College 15 months ago. If you were in Hartford when Dobelle was developing The Learning Corridor as president of Trinity College from 1995 to 2001, it comes as no surprise that he's trying to make his school a catalyst for urban development. That's what he does, and that's what he thinks other colleges should be doing.

"Higher education is an industry. There are 270 colleges in New England that have 250,000 jobs, including 38,000 faculty, and spend $20 billion a year just in operating expenses. Why wouldn't you build on that? You can have a creative economy and bring cities back."

Under Dobelle, Westfield State's foundation privately raised $120,000 and initiated a plan that, if fully executed, will send up to 1,000 students to live downtown, and locate some of the college's programs there as well. Some of the student housing could be on upper floors in older buildings, over storefronts. In addition, downtown will become a performing arts center, with small theaters and studios.

Dobelle has brought in the highly regarded architect and planner William Rawn of Boston, designer of the lovely Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, to do the master plan and Gideon Lester of Harvard's American Repertory Theater to plan the performing arts program. Residents reviewed the draft plans at a series of workshops over the past two weeks. The plans are beginning to draw private sector interest. "The restaurant guys from Northhampton have been down," Dobelle notes.

As Dobelle sees it, the town is in too good a location not to respond to the right stimuli. It's at the foot of the Berkshires and all their arts and music, it is served by an airport, a main rail line and a highway, and is part of the Hartford-Springfield Knowledge Corridor. His school, Westfield State, is something of a hidden gem; many consider it the top regional college in the Massachusetts system. It can all come together.

"I can jump-start this," Dobelle says assertively. There, in that one sentence, is the mix of vision, audacity and confidence that makes him such a compelling character.

The lanky, well-tailored educator left Trinity to take over the troubled University of Hawaii system, where he served until 2004. He says it was "a great time but a little awkward at the end."

Well, yes. Dobelle was caught up in a huge statewide political controversy that I have neither the space nor the inclination to recount in detail. Clearly he pushed for a lot of good things and got a number of them done; he also ruffled feathers and got entwined in gubernatorial politics, something usually to be avoided. When a Republican beat the Democrat in 2002 and changed the leadership of the university's board of regents, Dobelle's days were numbered. He was fired "for cause" but went to court, reached a seven-figure settlement and had the firing rescinded.

A member of his administration at the university summed it up by saying: "We left it better than we found it." Let's leave it at that.

The tempest didn't knock Dobelle out of the game, by any stretch. In 2004 the six New England governors, three from each party, named him president of the New England Board of Higher Education, where he again pushed colleges to help their communities. In December 2007, Dobelle took the job in Westfield.

"I thought it would be fun to make a difference for kids whose parents I grew up with," he says.

It's easy to think of Dobelle as a blueblood; he was chief of protocol in the Carter White House as well as president of Trinity. That misses another side of him. Dobelle grew up in nearby Pittsfield, and served as its Republican mayor when he was 28. He also served as president of two urban two-year colleges, Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Mass., and City College of San Francisco.

So he knows the kids he's got, and likes them. "These are really smart kids, who can do amazing things." With the economy deep in the tanklet, Westfield State is getting kids who were accepted at such schools as Holy Cross and Fairfield. Never mind acceptances, deposits are up 29 percent over last year. Night classes are filling up.

I took my daughter to look at Westfield a few years ago. Architecturally, the campus had a 1950s institutional feel, sort of like Central Connecticut State University before the makeover. Dobelle has put some zip into it with new electronic signs, landscaping and other such stuff. The guy gets things done.

Dobelle stays in touch with Hartford, not least via the fantasy baseball league run by former Hartford police captain Jim Donnelly. Mention of the long-undefeated Trinity squash team, whose status he greatly enhanced, brings a smile to Dobelle's oval visage.

Dobelle is proud that three of his top people at Trinity, Jim Mullen, Sharon Herzberger and Ron Thomas, are college presidents at Allegheny College, Whittier College and University of Puget Sound, respectively. "Being a president is like being a coach, it's about spotting talent," he says. The staffer about whom he is clearly distressed is Eddie Perez, who supervised the Learning Corridor project. Dobelle said Perez looked him in the eye and told him he did nothing wrong. That will have to do for now.

Dobelle looks much the same as he did when he left Trinity, and remains a font of ideas and opinions. When kids who don't know what to study ask for advice, he tells then "computer technology and Spanish." You may watch the movie "Rudy" to see a kid fulfill his dream. Dobelle sees a role model for how to get into the college of one's choice (be relentless!). He has sent the video of the remarkable singer Susan Boyle to his faculty, lest they judge students too soon.

Perhaps Dobelle flew too close to the sun in Hawaii, but he's back in New England, further from the fiery orb, working with the kinds of kids for whom he really can make a difference. At 63, this could be his last time at bat, and I suspect it will be a good one. Keep an eye on Westfield; it could become the Whip-Smart City.

Dr. Smethurst Interim Head at Pegasus

Dr. Jacqueline Smethurst (M.Ed. 1972, Ed.D. 1984) has been appointed Interim Head of the Pegasus School, Huntington Beach, CA. After a thorough and nation-wide search, Dr. Smethurst received unanimous support from both the search committee and board of trustees. She holds both bachelors and masters degrees in English from Oxford University and a doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education. She began her career in education at UMass Amherst where she served as a teacher and administrator. She went on to serve as the head of school at Northfield Mount Hermon School for 10 years. In 1998, she began a successful consulting career helping more than twenty schools nationwide on matters of governance, curriculum and strategic planning. She served as the Interim Head of Sage Hill School for 18 months in 2006 following the retirement of their founding head. She has also guided several school founders to the successful establishment of innovative schools in California.

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Frederick R. Preston, former School of Education faculty member, wrote “Historic Doorways of San Antonio.” Read more about it here.

Dr. Sorcinelli is distinguished visiting professor in Egypt

Mary Deane Sorcinelli, Ed. D. 1978, School of Education associate professor, Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, and associate provost for Faculty Development, served as distinguished visiting professor at the American University in Cairo from March 15-22. She was the keynote speaker for a conference on “Learners in Focus: Innovative Practices Across the Disciplines” and offered classes and workshops on teaching, learning and faculty development topics. She also consulted with a range of faculty and academic leaders and met with UMass Amherst undergraduates who are studying at the Egyptian school this year.

Alumni update Rick Haggerty (M.Ed. 1994) was promoted to Senior Behavioral Health Care Manager at the Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan, a MassHealth managed care organization, where he has been employed at their Springfield, Massachusetts, branch office since February of 2005. Rick and his wife, Tabitha, sons Phil and Patrick, and dog, Brandi, reside in the Florence section of Northampton, MA.

Dr. Khyati Y. Joshi speaks at global security and human rights gathering

Dr. Khyati Y. Joshi (Ed.D. 2001), an associate professor in the Sammartino School of Education at Fairleigh Dickinson University, recently addressed the “racialization of religion” at an international gathering of security and human rights officials in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Joshi, whose research focuses on the experiences of Indian-American Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, was the only American scholar to make a presentation at the event, which is sponsored by the human rights unit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The OSCE is the world’s largest regional security organization, with 56 participating nations in Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America, including the United States.

Dr. Joshi presented her work at the plenary session on “Racism in the OSCE Region: Old Issues, New Challenges.” The Vienna meeting was sponsored by the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and was scheduled to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Dr. Joshi is the author of New roots in America's sacred ground (2007) and co-author with Dr. Warren Blumenfeld ( Ed.D. 2001) of Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States (2009). Raised in India and Atlanta, Georgia, she now resides in Wayne, New Jersey.

SOE Alum Dr. Bill Cosby to receive Mark Twain Prize

School of Education alumnus, entertainer and educator Dr. Bill Cosby (Ed.D.1976) will receive the 2009 Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

More about the award from The Kennedy Center.

Lora McNeece Barrett (Ed. D. 1993) has become the newest partner in Gallery 31, 31 Main Street, Orleans, MA. The gallery is artist owned and maintained. Lora works in the mediums of oils and pastels, creating landscape paintings right on location (en plein air) or working from the still life in her studio. Lora will have a featured, solo exhibit at the Gallery August 15-28, with an opening reception on Aug 15 from 5-7. She invites SOE alumni to stop by!

Samples of her work can be seen on the Gallery 31 website at http://www.gallery31capecod.com.

Lora is retired from a 35 year teaching career in the Holyoke (Mass.) public schools, and in addition to her painting career, currently teaches Art Ed at UMASS Amherst. Her work has been shown internationally and is in numerous private and public collections, including The Federal Reserve.

Kim named interim VC for Student Affairs and Campus Life

SOE alumna Jean Kim, Ed.D.1981, a student affairs administrator with more than 35 years of experience, has been named interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life.

Chancellor Robert C. Holub chose Kim to the fill the vacancy created by the retirement of longtime professor and campus administrator Esther Terry, who served as interim vice chancellor since 2008. During Kim’s one-year appointment, which starts July 1, a national search will be conducted for the permanent post. Kim launched her career in student affairs on the Amherst campus. Kim said she plans to apply for the permanent position.

Kim most recently served as vice chancellor for Student Affairs at UMass Dartmouth, where she oversaw 17 departments and an annual budget of $40 million. Read more…

Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient:
School of Education’s Dr. Margaret Jablonski, M. Ed. 1984

The annual Distinguished Alumni Awards were presented April 16 at a luncheon in the Massachusetts State House in Boston. University of Massachusetts President Jack Wilson and UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub were scheduled to speak prior to the awards presentation.

Four alumni, a professor emeritus and an honorary alumnus received the awards, the highest honor bestowed by the Alumni Association.

School of Education alumna Dr. Margaret A. (Peggy) Jablonski, M.Ed. 1984, currently vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is one of the Distinguished Alumni Award recipients this year.

Dr. Jablonski has served higher education for 28 years, including in student affairs and as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Recognized as a leader in the field of student affairs, Jablonski also served as a dean in the student life areas at Brown University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Connecticut.

In each of these roles, her focus has been on fostering student learning and development while enhancing a strong sense of community for all students.

Read more at: http://www.umassalumni.com/awards_grants/profiles/2009/margaret_jablonski.html

Alumna Dr. Dolly Lambdin wins top award

School of Education alumna and physical education expert Dr. Dolly Lambdin ( Ed.D 1992) received the Physical Education Teacher Education Honor Award from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), the national authority in physical education and leader in setting the standard for practice in sport and physical activity.

Dr. Lambdin is a clinical professor at The University of Texas at Austin in the College of Education's Department of Kinesiology and Health Education. Her experience in physical education includes 16 years as a teacher in public and private schools, kindergarten through eighth grade, and over three decades in teacher preparation at the university level. For many years, she taught at Austin public schools as well as at the university, splitting her days into mornings with public school children and afternoons with her college students. She has supervised more than 100 student teachers and overseen their work in thousands of public school classes.

Dr. Lambdin has been president of the NASPE and was on the writing teams for the Texas Physical Education Essential Knowledge and Skills in Physical Education, the National and Texas State Physical Education Beginning Teacher Standards and National Physical Education Appropriate Practices Guidelines. She has written "Fitness for Life: Middle School" and co-authored "Putting Research to Work in Elementary Physical Education."

Learning in the Virtual World

Researchers are beginning to wonder whether video games might actually be a solution to what ails today's students rather than a problem. Read School of Education alumni Dr. Chris Dede's (Ed.D. 1972) thoughts about virtual worlds and video games in this article from the January 2009 issue of Science.

Doctoral student Lee wins Equity Scholars Award

Hyunju Lee, doctoral student in the School of Education's Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, was named by the Equity and Ethics Committee of National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) as a recipient of one of the 2009 NARST Equity Scholars Awards. The scholarships support early career science educators (advanced doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty) from under-represented groups within the U.S. to attend the 2009 NARST annual conference and to contribute to science education research, scholarship, and leadership.

Lee is a research assistant in Professor Allan Feldman's NSF- funded project, "Teacher Learning of Technology Enhanced Formative Assessment." She will present a paper at the NARST conference titled "Teachers' Implementation of a Classroom Response System to Perform Formative Assessment in Secondary Science/Math Class.

SOE alum Desmond (Ed.D. 1992) named chairman of Board of Higher Education

Former UMass Boston administrator Charles Desmond was recently appointed as the new chairman of the Board of Higher Education by Gov. Deval L. Patrick. Desmond is replacing Frederick W. Clark, Jr. More ...

SOE alumni Dr. Robert A. Gordon receives Canadian “Minister’s Lifetime Achievement Award”

Dr. Robert A. Gordon (M.Ed 1969, Ed.D 1971) has been awarded the fourth annual Minister's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to Ontario, Canada’s college system. His academic background includes an Honours BA in History and a Master's Degree in Modern British History from Bishop's University, a Master's Degree and Doctorate in Educational Administration from the University of Massachusetts’ School of Education, and a Master's Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. More ...

Doctoral student Runnell-Hall wins Future Leader Award

Marcella Runell-Hall, a doctoral student in the School of Education, is one of 10 graduate students in the nation to be recognized with the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Awards by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U). More ...

UMass Amherst studies dovetail with Edison Santana's life
Published in The Republican, Springfield, Mass.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Edison Santana (M.Ed. 1988) is a UMass-Amherst graduate all the way, having obtained a bachelor's in psychology in 1982, a master's in education in 1988 and doctorate in philosophy in 1994. He chose UMass-Amherst because of the counseling psychology program in the School of Education at the time he enrolled. More ...

Dr. Mary F. Lenox Honored

UMass Amherst School of Education alumna Dr. Mary F. Lenox (Ed.D. 1975) was recently honored as a recipient of the Chicago Teachers College / Chicago State University Alumni Association’s 2008 Golden Alumna Award. The award is bestowed upon an alumna or alumnus who is 70 years of age or older, in honor of their consistent service, commitment and dedication to the advancement of Chicago State University. More ...

Dr. Carey Honored

Dr. John C. Carey, professor in the department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services and director of the School of Education's Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR), recently received the Chancellor's "In the Field" Recognition Award in a public ceremony at the Mullins Center preceding the UMass Amherst-Holy Cross basketball game.

Dr. John C. Carey approved for Fulbright award

The Council for International Exchange of Scholars has recently approved Dr. John Carey, professor in the department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services, for a Fulbright award starting January 2010. More ...

Dr. Toran E. Isom Named Arkansas Teacher of the Year

Dr. Toran E. Isom, (Ed.D 1989) an instructor in University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s Department of Rhetoric and Writing, has been named Arkansas English Higher Education Teacher of the Year by the Arkansas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts (ACTELA.) More ...

Dr. Addison Reid new director of diversity at Lesley

Barbara J. Addison Reid (Ed.D. 1992) was recently named to the position of director of diversity and affirmative action at Lesley University, Cambridge, Mass. She previously served as the Executive Director of Human Resources at Bentley College, where she also taught graduate courses in Human Resource Management. At Bentley, she and colleagues developed a recruitment protocol to increase fairness in hiring, particularly for women and people of color, and presented a paper on a 13-year assessment of Bentley’s Diversity initiative at the International Conference on Diversity in Beijing, China.

Before joining Bentley in 1994, Dr. Reid served in personnel and human resource management positions at Automatic Data Processing Inc. for the New England Region in Waltham, at Tufts University in Medford and Harvard University in Cambridge. She received a Master of Education degree in 1985 and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1974, both from Northeastern. She lives in Burlington, Mass.

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School of Education Professor Dr. Willett to Receive University President’s Public Service Award

Dr. Jerri Willett, chair of the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Preparation and Curriculum Studies Department, has been named a recipient of the President’s Public Service Award for 2008, according to the Office of the President of the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Willett will receive the award along with other outstanding faculty at a ceremony and luncheon on Nov. 19 in the Great Hall of the Massachusetts State House in Boston. More ...

Dr. Vijay Kumar, CIE member, co-edits “Opening Up Education”

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and The MIT Press have published Opening Up Education: The Collective Advancement of Education through Open Technology, Open Content, and Open Knowledge, edited by Toru Iyoshi and M.S. Vijay Kumar (Ed.D. 1986.) The book is available for free download from The MIT Press website under a Creative Commons use license and also for sale in hard copy. More...

Dr. Howard J. Eberwein III Receives Educational Law Award

Howard J. Eberwein, III, (Ed.D. 2008) Superintendent of Pittsfield, Mass., Schools, received the Education Law Association’s Joseph C. Beckham Dissertation of the Year Award at the organization’s 54th Annual Conference held in San Antonio, Tx.
The award recognizes exemplary dissertations by doctoral students in the field of education law. More...

Ulysses Byas Visits Namesake School

School of Education alumnus Ulysses Byas (Ed.D 1977) recently travelled from his home in Macon, Georgia, to Long Island, New York, to celebrate a $31-million reconstruction of an elementary school that bears his name, as reported in a recent issues of Newsday.

The new Ulysses Byas Elementary School, renamed shortly before Byas retired from the school district in 1977, sports not only new classrooms and technology, but a portrait of its namesake, a recent gift from Byas himself.

In 1970, Byas was named county school superintendent in Tuskegee, Alabama. Seven years later, he moved to New York and took his place at the former Theodore Roosevelt Elementary School where he helped rebuild the financial structure of the school that then faced bankruptcy and that now offers advanced services including Chinese lessons and a chess coaching and sees its students continue to score well on state English and math tests.

Dr. Roy Jones, 1972 SOE Alumnus, Named for Pacesetter Award

The American Association of Blacks in Higher Education (AABHE) has named Clemson University professor Roy Jones (B.A. 1972) the winner of the 2009 AABHE Pacesetters Award for his commitment to leadership in black higher education. More ...

Scholarship Recipients and Donors Meet

Some of the scholarship recipients and donors who attended a recent Reception include (l to r) Heidi Bohler, Marsha Bryant, Mrs. Alma Keilty, Catherine Lynch, Mrs. Grace Carney, Mary Beth Carney and Kathryn Stead. More photos ...

Recipients of six scholarships and some of the donors who made them possible met on Oct. 2 at a School of Education reception held at the University Club. It was an evening characterized by laughter and deeply-felt exchanges of appreciation.

“It means so much to me to meet the students who received the scholarships,” said donor Alma Keilty, who created the Joseph W. Keilty Scholarship in memory of her husband. “I’ve read their letters of thanks and it is wonderful to put a face to the name.”

Keilty Scholarship recipients Heidi Bohler, Marsha Bryant, and Catherine Lynch attended the reception. Lynch, a doctoral candidate, spoke about how the Keilty scholarship impacted her life.

“I saw a bumper sticker the other day when driving home on Route 2 that read, ‘Too bad the people who know how to run the government are too busy teaching school.’ My first thought was, ‘Where can I get that sticker?’ That statement speaks to the work I am doing in my doctoral program in educational policy and leadership,” Lynch said. “I'm interested in the ways education is political, and how we can and should educate students, particularly in higher education, how to be engaged, responsible, and active citizens, as opposed to just active participants in the workforce.”

“I had no idea that being a full-time graduate student was possible,” she continued. “I recently graduated from the Master's program in higher education here at UMass and realized that I don't want to stop. When I was considering the doctoral program, though, I thought, ‘I don't have any money,’ so I applied for the Keilty Scholarship. Then I forgot about it, really, and when I saw the letter from the Dean of the School of Education, I thought, ‘Uh-oh. What's happened?’ I had to read the letter several times before it sunk in.”

“I would like to thank Alma Keilty, and I'm so glad to have this opportunity to meet her in person and be here tonight,” Lynch said. “Mrs. Keilty has come here all the way from San Diego which I think is wonderful. So thank you, thank you for this
opportunity to make a difference.”

Kathryn Stead, a first year student in the Secondary Teacher Education Graduate Program and a recipient of the Grace Norton Carney Scholarship also spoke to the group. Stead said that while she was “thrilled” to have been accepted in the School of Education, “the financial reality of paying for Graduate School set in and I was uncertain how I could afford the cost of living while paying for more school at the same time.”

“When I opened the letter that told me I had been awarded the Grace Norton Carney Scholarship, I was shocked and had to read it five times to be sure this amazing gift was really for me! It gave me hope,” she continued. “I wish that someday I will be in the position to bring hope to future UMass Amherst School of Education students as the donors have brought to me. I am eternally grateful to them.”

Other scholarship recipients who attended the reception were Rachel Boit and Laurice Ann Guillory, Early Childhood Education Scholarship recipients; and Michelle Lee, recipient of the Meline Kasparian Scholarship.

Also attending the reception were Dean Christine B. McCormick, Associate Dean Linda Griffin, School of Education Department Chairs Rich Lapan and Jerri Willett, members of the Dean’s Leadership Council, representatives from the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the Massachusetts Society of Professors, and other guests.

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Fitzpatrick Receives Best School Superintendent Award

Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Executive Director Thomas Scott and Director of Professional Development and Government Services Paul Andrews have announced that Michael F. Fitzpatrick (Ed.D. 1981), Superintendent-Director of the Blackstone Valley Vocational Regional School District, was named the Dr. Christos Daoulas Award recipient for 2008.  The award is presented each year to one superintendent who personifies the best qualities of dedicated school leadership and has contributed significantly to the association. More ...

Assistant Director of SOE's Center for Education Policy Named to State Committee
From the Hampshire Gazette

Amherst - Amherst School Committee Chairman Andrew Churchill has been recognized by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees for his service on the local board and statewide. More ...

School of Education Alumnus Receives Literacy Leadership Award

John Comings, former Director of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a University of Massachusetts School of Education alumni (Ed.D. 1979) is one of the recipients of the National Coalition for Literacy’s 2008 Literacy Leadership Awards presented at a reception at the Library of Congress on Sept. 10, 2008. More ...

Ann Courtney, Ed.D. '87, Awarded Fulbright Scholar Grant

Ann Courtney (Ed.D. 1987), an Associate Professor of Reading and Language Arts, and the Coordinator of Elementary Education at the University of Hartford (Conn.), has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and research at Mary Immaculate College-University of Limerick in Limerick, Ireland during the 2008-2009 academic year. More ...

Summer Olympics 1956! Read about SOE alum Dr. Charles Jenkins' run for the gold...

Dr. Charles L. Jenkins, 1978 School of Education alumni, participated in the 1956 Summer Olympics. (The following article recently appeared in The Washington Post.)

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Heriberto Flores named chairman of Holyoke Community College trustees

Heriberto Flores, Ed D 73, has been named the chairman of the Board of Trustees at Holyoke Community College. Flores, a former UMass Amherst trustee, has been a trustee at HCC since 2002. He is the executive director of the New England Farm Workers' Council.

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Films by UMass Amherst Professor Chosen for Preservation by New York Women in Film & Television

June, 2008 - Two early films by Liane Brandon, professor emeritus of education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, have been selected for restoration and preservation by the New York Women in Film & Television's Women's Film Preservation Fund.

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Meet our new Faculty 2008

Centennial Celebration

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