Faculty and Staff News

Dr. Davis Receives Public Service Endowment Award to implement energy curriculum project in Springfield schools

Kathleen Davis, associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, is a recipient of a Public Service Endowment Award from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The Public Service Endowment Grant, intended to enhance the public service mission of UMass Amherst, funds the delivery of public services through special projects with an emphasis on converting knowledge into readily usable forms for immediate applications. This year, the awards were given to projects that related to outreach and engagement in Greater Springfield.

Dr. Davis’ project, titled “Energy Thinking - Energy Action: Teaching about climate change and renewable energy,” operates in conjunction with the award-winning Hitchcock Center for the Environment, and targets elementary and middle-school teachers and 700 students at three high-priority schools of the Springfield Urban Schools Consortium. It is designed to foster a perspective essential to sustainable living: that human needs and achievements are both supported and limited by the natural world. Throughout the duration of the project, students will be introduced to basic ecological principles and systems thinking, helping them achieve an understanding of the natural world’s processes and the ability to think in terms of patterns, relationships and contexts.

The project will partner a Hitchcock Center science educator with Springfield teachers and School of Education teacher interns in the target schools. Classroom instruction will emphasize experiential learning, inquiry, problem-solving, cooperative learning, and other teaching methods proven to advance science proficiency.

Dr. Carey Dimmit part of new honors seminars

Carey Dimmitt, professor in the Department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Studies, will participate with faculty from 21 UMass Amherst departments in Commonwealth College’s Advanced Honors Seminars designed to prepare the college’s students for their independent research and capstone projects. Dr. Dimmitt’s seminar is titled "EffectiveTeaching PreK-16: What Works?"

The Advanced Honors Seminars cap the innovative Honors Seminar Series. Together, the seminars hone students’ critical interpretation skills and encourage them to consider carefully how data is presented. The courses introduce them to the value of interdisciplinary study and the expectations of being an honors student.

“The new Advanced Honors Seminars give students a chance to see how faculty identify and pursue questions worth asking,” said Priscilla Clarkson, dean of the college.

School of Education’s Center for International Education begins work with Kabul Medical University, Afghanistan

Recently, USAID asked the School of Education’s Center for International Education’s Higher Education Project (HEP) to take on an additional responsibility to strengthen The Kabul Medical University. The new component is managed by the Academy for Educational Development in partnership with three U.S. universities. The School of Education’s Center for International Education (CIE) and the Institute for Global Health (IGH.) comprise the UMass Amherst unit.

HEP is working with Kabul Medical University (KMU) and in partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) to improve the pre-service medical training offered in Afghan public universities to better meet workforce needs, beginning with KMU, and to establish a cadre of doctors graduating from Afghanistan’s public universities who are able to offer high quality services to the Basic Package of Health Services and Essential Package of Hospital Services in Afghanistan.

	From left: Dr. David Evans, Dr. Joseph Berger, Chancellor of Kabul Medical University Dr. Obaid, and Dr. David Buchanan in Kabul, Afghanistan

HEP and KMU will also work towards achieving improved coordination among stakeholders, revised and updated curriculum at Kabul Medical University; improved teaching methods at Kabul Medical University; strengthened systems for clinical rotations; and revised and rationalized admissions requirements.

Other responsibilities include creating a new School of Public Health at KMU with revised undergraduate course offerings, and designing a new Masters in Public Health for KMU. CIE/IGH is also responsible for strengthening the pedagogy across all of KMU to support their goal of implementing a problem-based methodology which is adapted to the realities which will be faced by graduates working Afghanistan’s health services.

Drs. David Evans and Joseph Berger, both of the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Development, and David Buchanan of the School of Public Health, work together with a team of UMass Amherst employees in Afghanistan and here on campus to carry out the work of the project.

Faculty Briefs

	The Second Edition of “Understanding Human Development” by Dr. Grace J. Craig and Wendy L. Dunn, was recently published by Prentice Hall/Pearson.
An article, “On the Run, In the Real,” in which teacher candidates describe their year in an immersion preparation program, by Drs. Robert W. Maloy, Kathleen Gagne and Ruth-Ellen Verock-O’Laughlin, appears in the October issue of Phi Delta Kappan, published by Phi Delta Kappa International, the premier professional association for educators.

Omani educators visit; discuss school counseling with CSCOR

A delegation of five visitors from the Ministry of Education of the Sultanate of Oman with an interest in college advising and career counseling recently met with faculty from the School of Education’s Department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services under the auspices of the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts.

Each member of the delegation heads the Career Guidance Section for a particular region in Oman. The delegation specifically requested to meet with faculty from the School 's National Center for School Counseling Outcome Research (CSCOR), said Cynthia Melcher, World Affairs Council’s executive director.

During the morning meeting on the Amherst campus, the Omanis, aided by interpreters, discussed research-based school and career counseling practices in the U.S. with Drs. John C. Carey, Carey Dimmitt, and Richard Lapan, and assistant research fellow Karen Harrington. Over the course of three days the delegation also met with representatives from Holyoke Community College, Deerfield Academy and the Bement School in Deerfield, Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School in Springfield, Holyoke Catholic High School in Chicopee, and Smith College in Northampton. They visited Omaha, NE, Raleigh, NC and Washington, D.C., before returning to Oman.

The Center for School Counseling Outcome Research is dedicated to improving the practice of school counseling by generating, identifying, and disseminating research related to the field, providing evaluation and consultation to support best practices, developing interventions with demonstrated efficacy and positive outcomes, and building the capacity of school counselors. CSCOR provides a range of services, including professional development training, intervention and program evaluation, and consultation.

The World Affairs Council is associated with the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US Department of State that brings to the United States approximately 5,000 foreign nationals from all over the world to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to experience America firsthand. Dozens of Chiefs of State and Current Heads of Government are IVLP Alumni, including Nicolas Sarkozy, Yukio Hatoyama, Gordon Brown, Morgan Tsvangirai, and Hamid Karzai.

Three SOE faculty retire
Drs. Alan Feldman, Masha Rudman and David Schimmel announce retirement
Read more...

Dr. Sireci Receives 2009Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity.

Stephen G. Sireci, professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, was one of seven UMass Amherst faculty members to receive a 2009 Award for Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity. UMass Amherst Chancellor Robert C. Holub presented the award during the Faculty Convocation, Oct. 2, in Stockbridge Hall.

The Awards were created to annually recognize faculty achievements and current campus initiatives that bring national and international renown to the University. The awardees are chosen by Chancellor Holub based on the recommendation of a Nomination Committee.

Dr. Sireci is internationally known and respected for his work to advance fair, useful and efficient educational assessment practices. During his 14 years at the School of Education, he has focused on issues such as test content validity, test bias, cross-lingual assessment, standard setting and sensitivity review. He is the director and co-founder of the School’s Center for Educational Assessment which conducts research and provides training in the areas of psychometrics, research methods and educational statistics. The Center is a valuable resource for educational policy makers and others who use tests to make decisions regarding individuals, organizations or institutions.

Dr. Sireci is the author of more than 100 publications and conference papers that have appeared in respected journals such as Applied Measurement in Education and Applied Psychological Measurement. He has generated more than $6 million in externally-funded grants and contract projects. He serves on many national commissions, editorial and advisory boards. He is a senior scientist for the Gallup organization.

Emeritus Professor Konicek-Moran receives NSTA award

Emeritus Professor Richard Konicek-Moran was awarded the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) 2009 Presidential Citation. This award honors K-12 teachers, professors, principals and others for their outstanding achievement and innovative programs in science education. Dr. Konicek-Moran was a member of the faculty of the School of Education from 1967 to 1995.

Dr. Sorcinelli participates in conference in Beijing

Mary Deane Sorcinelli, professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Development, and associate provost for Faculty Development, traveled to China July 13-15 to participate in a conference on “Theory, Practice and Implications: Professional and Organizational Development for Chinese Higher Education in the Global Context.”

Sorcinelli discussed a range of topics, including new faculty development, faculty career stages and establishing mutual mentoring networks among scholars.

Co-sponsored by Beijing Normal University and Beijing Institute of Technology with support from the Chinese Ministry of Education, the conference featured faculty developers from Australia, Norway and the United States.

In Memoriam: Dr. Richard "Dick" Clark

Richard "Dick" Clark Jr., of Amherst, emeritus professor at the School of Education, died Tuesday, Aug. 11. He was 70.

After having been a 5th and 6th grade teacher in the Concord and Lexington, Mass., public schools and elementary school principal in Jefferson County, Colo., Clark came to the School of Education at UMass Amherst in 1968 for what he intended to be "a brief period of time." Thirty years later, having served the school as associate dean for program planning and development, chair of the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, special assistant to the Provost, and professor, he left to accept a position as the Dean of the College of Education at UMass Boston in 1997.

Clark was especially proud of the Math, English and Science Teacher Education Program (MESTEP) for master's level students in which he was deeply involved. MESTEP ran for 13 years in cooperation with Boston-area school systems.

Clark retired from the university in 2000. He had been a member of the School of Education's Dean's Leadership Council since its inception in 2007. He lived in Amherst with his wife, Casey.

There will be a memorial service for Clark on Friday, Aug. 14 at 1 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst.

Maloy and Edwards’ article in Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse addresses reading challenges in math problems

An article by Robert Maloy, senior lecturer, and Sharon A. Edwards, clinical faculty, both of the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, and Gordon Anderson, software engineer in the Department of Computer Science, has been published in the June 30 “Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse,” a web-based joint venture of the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English. (www.literacycoachingonline.org)

Titled “Reading Coaching for Math Word Problems,” the article notes that students in elementary math classes are learning two distinct yet related languages- one of numbers and one of words - both of which are combined in math word problems. It suggests that pupils who struggle with language or math comprehension, or both, face challenges in attempting to decode math word problems. The article proposes strategies for teachers to use to support students in addressing the reading challenges found in math problems.

Sonia Nieto Receives Honorary Degree

Emerita Professor Sonia Nieto (Ed.D. 1979) received an Honorary Degree from Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York, at the college’s Commencement ceremony on May 14, 2009.

Shelley B. Wepner, Dean and Professor, Manhattanville College’s School of Education, said that in selecting a recipient of an honorary degree, the College “takes great pride in choosing individuals who exemplify the college's four core values of academic excellence, development of the whole student, creation of a nurturing campus, and a commitment to service.”

Wepner added that the College is “honored to be able to recognize Sonia Nieto for her numerous achievements in education.”

Past recipients of honorary degrees from Manhattanville include Hillary Clinton, Elie Weisel, Maria Shriver, Tom Wolfe, and Jonathan Kozol.

A longtime champion of multicultural education dating back to her teaching days at the Bronx, New York, P.S. 25, the first fully bilingual school in the Northeast, Dr. Nieto is nationally recognized for her work in multicultural and bilingual education and curriculum reform. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Lesley University and Bridgewater State College. She is a recipient of the School of Education’s 2008 Award of Distinction, given to emeriti faculty, alumni or friends who have made significant contributions to the School, its students and their field.

Dr. Sally Gallman's book published

“Self-Study Research Methodologies for Teacher Educators,” edited by Sally Galman, assistant professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, and Cynthia A. Lassonde and Clare Kosnik, has been published by Sense Publishing.

Both Galman and Dr. Allan Feldman, professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum studies, contributed a chapter to the book.

Dr. Galman describes the book as a comprehensive text that delineates a range of research methodologies. The edited volume, with many chapters written by self-study scholars who are noted in the field for particular methodological and epistemological perspectives, helps fill the gap in the literature on self-study research methods. It provides readers with an opportunity to examine various methodologies which will not only help them deepen their understanding of research but also will allow them to select one that best suits their needs. Both new and experienced researchers will find this text valuable. It is available at Amazon.com.

SOE, SPHHS faculty share $799k grant for training speech-language pathologists

Faculty in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and the School of Education have been awarded a four-year, $796,809 Personnel Preparation Grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support speech-language pathology doctoral students focusing on special education.

	Participating faculty are (clockwise from top left) are Patricia Mercaitis, Mary Lynn Boscardin, Elena Zaretsky, Mary Andrianopoulos and Shelley Velleman.

The participating faculty are Mary Andrianopoulos, Elena Zaretsky, Shelley Velleman and Patricia Mercaitis in the Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) program in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and Mary Lynn Boscardin of the Special Education concentration in the School of Education.

According to Andrianopoulos, the grant will help address a critical shortage of speech-language pathology Ph.D.s nationally and support the development of the next generation of research scientists and faculty. The grant will support between five and seven Speech-Language Pathology doctoral students planning to major in topics related to SLP with a minor in Special Education between 2009-13, she said. The doctoral students will conduct empirically-based research to assess the effectiveness of various remedial approaches to manage and educate individuals with communicative disabilities, including autism spectrum disorders.

It is the second such grant given to the group by the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) in two years. Last year, they received a four-year, $799,602 award. According to Andrianopoulos, the faculty members have been awarded more than $2.3 million by the federal agency over the past five years. “These faculty were funded thanks to their significant contributions to the professions and empirical research,” she said.

Two previously awarded autism personnel preparation grants from DOE are supporting 48 master’s students in Speech-Language Pathology between 2005 and 2013.

“Both grants allow the SLP concentration in Communication Disorders to attract and recruit higher-caliber students to the department, and also to enhance its national reputation,” Andrianopoulos said. “In 2008, U.S. News and World Report ranked the Speech-Language Pathology program in the Department of Communication Disorders in the top 30 graduate programs in the country. Moreover, the Special Education concentration at UMass Amherst was ranked in the top 50 programs nationally.”

The autism training grants also provide strong support for the Communication Disorders Department’s service mission, she said, by increasing and improving clinical services for people with autism in the Center for Language, Speech and Hearing. The center is an on-campus graduate teaching clinic that provides assessment and treatment services for residents of the Pioneer Valley and New England. SLP faculty and grant-related supervisors also send their practicum students to carry out graduate internships in local area schools, early intervention programs and other acute care and rehabilitation agencies. “They also contribute to community awareness and support for families with children with autism spectrum disorders,” said Andrianopoulos.

In addition, she said, the autism training grants enhance and support the research focus within the Department of Communication Disorders with respect to neurodevelopmental communication and motor speech disorders as well as literacy development in children with autism spectrum disorders. Graduate students supported by the grant carry out cutting-edge research projects and as members of the autism community, including school systems, learn about their work and volunteer to assist in the research endeavors of the five faculty members.

The team of faculty also networks and collaborates with other autism specialists in the Pioneer Valley and across the state, as well as in other countries, including Greece, Morocco, India and South Africa, said Andrianopoulos.

Dr. Galman lectures on gender competencies in the classroom at Swedish conference

Sally Galman, assistant professor, Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, will present in June a lecture at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, with her research partner, Renate Kosuch, professor of psychology at University of Cologne.

Called "Developing Critical Gender Competencies in the Classroom: Deconstructing Gender and Power," Dr. Galman summarizes the lecture: “ In seeking to develop communities of critique by explicitly putting gender on the classroom agenda, we sought to reframe and collaboratively deconstruct hegemonic gender norms but found that the student effects could vary: some students reacted with resistance to the material, some internalized only the most facile constructions of gender and identity and still others - as a (paradox) result of our explicit treatment of gender and power - reify their gender stereotypes instead of overcoming them. Based on these student reactions, we seek to discuss the development of non-imperative strategies.”

The conference is called "Challenging Education" and is the first annual Nordic conference on gender.

Education faculty awarded $799k federal grant to study special education issues

	Front, from left: Mary Lynn Boscardin and Rebecca Gajda. Back, from left, Michael Krezmien, Margaret Pierce and Carl Lashley

Professor Mary Lynn Boscardin and assistant professor Rebecca Gajda of the School of Education have been awarded a four-year, $799,860 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help prepare future leaders in the field of special education.

Studies carried out with the Special Education Leadership Personnel Preparation grant will provide special education administrators and policymakers with the research that can be used in the design and delivery of scientifically-supported services for students with disabilities. Assistant professors Margaret Pierce and Michael Krezmien will also be involved in the project and Carl Lashley from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro is the grant evaluator.

The grant will focus on the special education leadership knowledge and skills required to deliver effective services to students with disabilities from diverse backgrounds and create effective linkages between general and special education administration research and practice, said Boscardin. Research generated from the grant will identify effective evidence-based practices that support collaborative and data informed decision-making special education leaders will need to confront the increasingly complex demands of the field.

The grant will also focus on the interactions between federal and state policy with government agencies and the public schools.

Graduate students supported by the grant will undertake cutting-edge research projects as part of a team and will be expected to make national and international presentations as well as disseminate their work in refereed publications.

The funding will support a combination of 10 post-master’s and doctoral students in Special Education Administration from 2009-13. Some $3 million in Special Education Leadership Personnel Preparation grants received over the past 10 years have supported 35 graduate students. “These grants help attract highly sought after students to the department and also enhance the national reputation of the program,” said Boscardin.

Boscardin, Pierce and Krezmien are in the Department of Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services, while Gajda is a member of the Educational Policy, Research and Administration Department.

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Dr. Hambleton named Inaugural Fellow of American Educational Research Association

Ronald K. Hambleton, Distinguished University Professor and professor in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, was recently inducted as an Inaugural Fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Dr. Hambleton is executive director of the School of Education’s Center for Educational Assessment which conducts research and provides training in the areas of psychometrics, research methods, and educational statistics to promote fair, useful, and efficient educational assessment practices.

He earned his B.A. degree (with Honors) in 1966 from the University of Waterloo in Canada with majors in mathematics and psychology, and an M.A. in 1968 and Ph.D. in 1969 from the University of Toronto with specialties in psychometric methods and statistics. He is a Fellow of Divisions 5 and 15 of the American Psychological Association (APA) and an active member in the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), the International Test Commission (ITC) and the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP).

The AERA Inaugural Fellows comprise AERA past presidents and scholars who had been selected to receive the AERA Distinguished Contributions to Research in Education Award and AERA members who had been inducted into other research organizations through 2006.

It is the AERA’s expectation that Fellows will be visibly engaged in important AERA programs and activities and that they will serve as models and mentors to the next generations of scholars in the field.

The AERA is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.

Dr. Sireci chosen as AERA Fellow

Stephen G. Sireci, professor of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, is one of 44 scholars selected as fellows by the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

The designation honors exceptional scientific or scholarly contributions to education research or significant contributions to the field through the development of research opportunities and settings. AERA Fellows are known both nationally and internationally for their outstanding contributions to education research.

Sireci and the other new fellows will be inducted April 14 during the AERA’s annual meeting in San Diego.

A member of the faculty since 1995, Sireci is co-director of the Center for Educational Assessment.

The AERA is the national interdisciplinary research association for approximately 25,000 scholars who undertake research in education. Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., AERA aims to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good.

Drs. Rudman and Botelho Co-author Book

Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children’s Literature: Mirrors, Windows and Doors by Dr. Maria José Botelho and Dr. Masha Kabakow Rudman, both of the School of Education’s Department of Teacher Education and Curriculum Studies, Language, Literacy and Culture concentration, has been published by Routledge.

The book, which “brings a critical lens to children’s literature,” prepares teachers, teacher educators, and researchers of children’s literature to analyze the ideological dimensions of reading and studying literature.

SOE Professor Emerita Sonia Nieto says in the book’s Forward: "Children’s literature is a contested terrain, as is multicultural education. Taken together, they pose a formidable challenge to both classroom teachers and academics…. Rather than deny the inherent conflicts and tensions in the field, in Critical Multicultural Analysis of Children’s Literature: Mirrors, Windows, and Doors, Maria José Botelho and Masha Kabakow Rudman confront, deconstruct, and reconstruct these terrains by proposing a reframing of the field…. Surely all of us – children, teachers, and academics – can benefit from this more expansive understanding of what it means to read books."

Note that Dr. Botelho’s father and sister are pictured on the book’s cover. When asking her family for permission to use the photo, Dr. Botelho said she described the book to her sister this way: “Critical multicultural analysis of children's literature offers mirrors for readers to locate themselves in texts and images, as well as unveils how language use reflects power…. The open window with your young image reminds us that literature offers us vistas of how society is organized. Our house [in the Azores] and its burgundy door reminds us that the door is an entry point for social participation. The carpet of flower petals and leaves created by Papá signifies the sacredness of human life and the possibility at hand for social transformation."

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