Hunter named NAE fellow
Ally Hunter, a doctoral candidate in science education, has been named a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences for the 2011-12 academic year. This honor is given as a result of her selection to and participation in the 2011 National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology held at Yale University. Institute participants from 12 research colleges and universities in the northeast assembled at Yale for five days of presentations and discussions focused on enhancing undergraduate education. Teams of Participants developed or adapted a series of “teachable tidbits” that they agreed to implement in a course during this academic year and to assess students learning based on that material, as well as a mentoring seminar designed to enhance the ability of graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and others to mentor undergraduates in the research laboratory.
Colleen Champ Receives Graduate School’s Boscov Scholarship
 Colleen “Birdie” Champ, a doctoral student in the School of Education, was awarded the 2010 Joseph L. Boscov Scholarship by the UMass Amherst Graduate School. The scholarship is awarded annually to a current or incoming female graduate student whose work will “equip her for increased service to the needs of people and/or the environment.”
Champ, who received her M.Ed. in Learning, Media and Technology at SOE, is an award-winning scientific illustrator who holds a B.S. in cytogenics, has 12 years of experience working in a diagnostic genetics lab, and is certified to teach basic science to middle school students.
Champ said that her career goal is to improve the nation’s health literacy by developing interactive, educational, 3D, virtual learning environments. She plans to accomplish her goal by creating patient-centered learning environments where people can interact, play games, and learn to make decisions about their health while situated in safe, virtual environments.
 She stated as an example of such an environment, a “game” in which a patient, who had been given instructions by a doctor to reduce her cholesterol, would virtually “walk’ through veins to see how cholesterol blocks blood flow with the result being a data-based decision to improve her diet. Champ notes that “these online environments will be education prescribed by doctors, and accessible from both the doctors’ waiting rooms and personal computers.”
Champ said that she could not believe that she had been chosen as the Boscov Scholarship recipient. “I was so surprised to get the news! Initially, my advisor, Dr. Florence Sullivan, suggested that I apply. When I found out that the School of Education had chosen me to represent the school I was honored. When I found out later that I had won, I didn't believe it!”
"My goals as a doctoral candidate are lofty but attainable with effort," she added. "In my scholarship application, I discussed creating a team that crosses domains, working with other schools here at the university. To paraphrase Dr. Weibo Gong, a computer engineering professor here, the university is like a forest of old growth domains, and problems within each domain can be similar. I believe we can be more creative in our problem solving when we collaborate across these domains. The Boscov Scholarship will help me to create a gestalt greater than anything I had imagined, and hopefully, healthier and happier people because of it.”
Champ said that she looks forward to becoming “Dr. Champ” someday, and showing her children “what hard work can accomplish, and giving something back to a world that has been so abundantly generous to me.”
Chelsea Mullins raises awareness about hunger through art
 Students in Momodou Sarr’s class at Amherst Regional High School spent the spring semester learning about the root causes of hunger and solutions to reducing it.
Through a project designed by Chelsea Mullins, School of Education Master’s student in the Social Justice Education concentration, the high school students created paintings, drawings and collages depicting their own visions for ending hunger. The art will be exhibited at the Jones Library in Amherst, as a part of the town’s seasonal Art Walk. The students will also donate their art to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts for use in a Hunger Advocacy and Education Campaign. The Food Bank plans to incorporate the art into postcards to send to local, state and national representatives urging them to take action against hunger, said Mullins.
Mullins’ project is part of her student teaching practicum. One of the principles of teaching for social justice is "working in reciprocal partnership with student’s communities, to teach community-related skills, and to teach about historical and contemporary activism, power, and inequity in schools and societ" said Mullins, quoting her teacher, Dr. Alison George Dover, a lecturer in SOE’s Student Development and Pupil Personnel Services Department. The collaborative project between the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Education, Amherst Regional High School students and staff, and the staff at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts seeks to honor those principles, Mullins said.
| Doctoral student Veloria honored |
|
School of Education doctoral student Carmen N. Veloria, who is an assistant professor of Education and Human Services at Suffolk University, was honored with the Creating the Dream Award at Suffolk University’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., luncheon.
At Suffolk, Veloria has worked for more than a decade with the AHANA community; GEAR UP, national initiative to encourage young people to have high expectations, stay in school, study hard and take the right courses to go to college; and as a mentor for the McNair Scholars program, helping talented Suffolk students of color prepare for rigorous graduate work. According to the university, Veloria “inspires University students to work for a more just society through her example and teaching.”
Read more about Veloria at http://www.suffolk.edu/40102.html |
 |
2010 Scholarship Recipients
See photos
6th graders from Springfield interview SOE students
See the photos of their visit...
New Degree Candidate - Spring '10
Yang Gyeltshen asks: Why do we teach?
 I have been teaching in one of the teacher education colleges in Bhutan for the last fifteen years or so. How I got into teaching some may say is one’s destiny, and others might say it is through opportunities availed. Whichever may be the case, teaching is one thing that was never in my mind until I tripped over it during my initial job as an educational media illustrator. The drawings I analyzed to illustrate some teaching materials meant for primary education lead me into the minds of how children look at art and learning. I started reading more and more books on children’s art and saw the correlation between art and learning, hence, did a research on children’s art and wrote a thesis – The Role & Place of Children’s Art in Bhutanese Primary Schools. Opposed to my earlier thinking, I became a teacher, profession which I now take with great pride.
If we take it seriously, teaching is not as simple as most assume it to be. Why do we teach? We teach so that learners will learn. How do learners learn? Well, each individual is different and their learning styles vary. Despite such variations, should all learners simply follow and adapt to how the teacher teaches, or, should the teacher cater to each learning style and individual’s needs? Should one follow the latter, what it tales for a good teacher to accomplish such Proficiency?
Confronting such thoughts and issues has motivated me to seek further tools and answers. Young or old, good learning can bring great changes in one's life and teachers are the agents of that change. For a number of years I have been involved in classroom teaching and learning discussions for children - the Pedagogy. This seems to differ from how adults learn - the andragogy. The venue for such academic discussion can’t be better than Center for International Education, UMass. I am very happy and proud to be here at CIE and look forward to accomplish as much as what CIE has to offer.
Doctoral student Manly receives Distinguished Paper Award from NERA
 Cathy Manly, School of Education doctoral student in the higher education concentration, and Ryan Wells, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Research and Administration, were awarded the 2009 Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award by Northeastern Educational Research Association (NERA) for their paper “Financial Planning for College: What Parents Do to Prepare.” This study explores reported parental financial college preparations and the amount parents have saved for college, with a goal of determining strategies used by different parents based on parental college aspirations and expectations for their child, as well as the highest reported parental and grandparental educational levels.
The Lorne H. Woollatt Distinguished Paper Award is presented annually in recognition of the paper deemed exemplary by the Award Committee. The award is automatically accepted for presentation at the subsequent American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting as part of the special session sponsored by the AERA/SIG State and Regional Educational Research Associations (SRERA).
Manly’s research interests involve the transition from PK-12 to college, the increased relevance of postsecondary education to all citizens, and the role of online learning in reshaping the education landscape. Her professional experience has revolved around the intersection of technology, teaching, and learning in liberal arts, community college, and online settings. Most recently, she directed the Educational Technology and Distance Learning Department at Manchester Community College in Connecticut. She received her MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix Online in 2000, and her BA from Amherst College in 1994. The award winning paper evolved from research begun in a Finance of Higher Education class she took with Dr. Wells.
Afghan Master’s students complete studies here, depart for home |
Konda Reddy Chavva, a CIE doctoral student, spent this past summer in Southern India working with World Education project staff and farmers to design participatory methodology for collection of baseline data on climatic variability. World Education assists the 
