Wednesday, March 27, 2013

SOE Students & Faculty Recognized at 2012 Honor Awards Ceremony

At the 31st annual Honor Scholars and Faculty Awards Ceremony on March 26, 2013, 14 SOE students were among the more 80 students from across the full spectrum of academic programs at UM-Dearborn who received recognition as Honor Scholars.   In addition to the student awardees, Julie Taylor, SOE associate professor, received the Distinguished Teaching Award.

The Distinguished Teaching Award is given to faculty members whose teaching record illustrates effectiveness in the classroom and the revitalization of courses and curriculum, interaction with students outside the classroom, as mentor or advisor; professional growth as a teacher; and commitment to undergraduate and/or graduate education. This award is made annually to at most one faculty member in each of three categories (tenured, non-tenured, and lecturer), and Dr. Taylor won in the category of tenured faculty.

The Honor Scholar Award is presented to at most one student in each degree program, and it recognizes superior academic performance. Awards are made within both undergraduate and graduate programs. Faculty members within a program area choose the award winner.

The Honor Scholar Award winners in the School of Education at the undergraduate level were Maureen Fleming (Social Studies), Maggie Gearns (Mathematics Studies), Melissa Gellenbeck (Language Arts), Jacqueline Laforet (Reading), Steven Pascoe (Science Studies), Jennifer Rosecrans (Early Childhood), Jennifer Urso (Special Education), and Tracy Winkelman (Children & Families).

At the graduate level, the SOE awardees were Jonna Fessenden (M.Ed. Special Education), Hannah Greaves (MAT), Timothy Marley (MA in Education), Carissa Quinones (MA Educational Technology), Jeanette Reifenberg (MA Educational Leadership), and Tracy Rumfelt (MS Science Education),

Please join me in congratulating all of the SOE award winners. We celebrate their academic excellence and distinguished accomplishment!





Saturday, March 23, 2013

Local High School Students Compete in Maize & Blue High School Classic Quiz Bowl

On Saturday, March 23, while the UM basketball team was preparing to face and then soundly thrashing VCU in a NCAA Basketball Tournament game at the Palace of Auburn Hills, more than 100 area high school students came to UM-Dearborn to compete in the Maize & Blue High School Classic Quiz Bowl. This event was sponsored by UM-Dearborn’s School of Education, the SOE Alumni Affiliate, and the UM Alumni Association. The Alumni Affiliate hopes to make this an annual event

The Maize & Blue High School Classic featured eight rounds of competition. During the first seven rounds, 16 teams of students answered questions on a wide range of subjects, including history, current events, science, literature, art, music, mathematics, and even pop culture. The grand finale was a session that featured a competition between the two highest scoring teams: Olmsted Falls High School and Catholic Central High School. The final session was tied going to the 20th and final question, which was answered successfully by the winning team from Catholic Central.

Many of the competing teams were accompanied not only by their coaches but also by a contingent of parents and family members. Making it all possible was a team of 27 volunteers who served as competition moderators, room moderators, judges/scorers, and hall monitors. The volunteer group was comprised of UM- Dearborn faculty, staff, students, and alumni, including 3 SOE faculty (Stein Brunvand, Chris Burke, & Julie Taylor), 4 SOE staff (Karen Claiborne, Catherine Parkins, Reetha Perananamgam, & Joann Otlewski), and 4 members of the SOE Alumni Affiliate (Sabrina Ali, Betsy Ardisana, Donovan Rowe, & Toni Simovski).

Please join me in thanking all those who competed, those who supported the competing teams, and those from UM-Dearborn who volunteered their time to make possible this wonderful celebration of academic achievement and commitment!











Thursday, March 21, 2013

ECEC Team to Attend Reggio Emilia Study Group in Italy

Later this month a team of 13 SOE faculty, staff, and students associated with the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) will travel to Italy to participate in a Reggio Emilia Study Group. The team from UM-Dearborn is led by Seong Hong, Rosalyn Saltz Collegiate Professor of Education, and includes LaShorage Shaffer (SOE assistant professor), Debbie Jones (ECEC Site Director), Lauren Stine (SOE senior, majoring in early childhood education), and 9 ECEC teachers: Daniel Camardese, Tammy Daigneau, Caryn Finkelstein, Sara Kurtjian, Kelly Lenihan, Cyndi McAuliffe, Daniel Muehlenbein, Catie Stone, and Amy Szymazck.

The week-long Reggio Emilia Study Group experience includes presentations by Reggio pedagogistas, atelierstas, and teachers; site visits to the internationally acclaimed Municipal Infant-Toddler Center and Preschool classrooms in Reggio Emilia; a visit to the Loris Malaguzzi Documentation and Research Center, and extensive interaction with other students and faculty members visiting from the U.S.

The participants from UM-Dearborn will be among the 143 participants from the United States. Participants include teams from 12 universities, with teams ranging in size from 2 to 44. Other universities sending teams to this week-long institute include Columbia College, Portland State University, the University of Colorado-Denver, University of North Carolina at Charlotte; University of Washington, and West Virginia University.

The ECEC has based its educational program on the Reggio Emilia philosophy for more than 15 years. The Reggio Emilia teaching philosophy is also an integral part of the required courses in the SOE’s early childhood education curriculum for prospective teachers. Thus, the Reggio philosophy is central to all our endeavors in the area of early childhood education at UM-Dearborn, and this trip provides an opportunity for the participants both to visit the birthplace of these foundational and influential ideas and to network with other professionals similarly engaged in Reggio-inspired pedagogy.

The Reggio Children Organization was founded in 1994 to promote and defend children’s rights and to organize pedagogical and cultural exchanges between Reggio Emilia’s municipal early childhood centers and academics from around the world. Many U. S. universities have participated in study groups and exchanges. The schools of Reggio Emilia are widely recognized as providing a seamless model of excellence in early childhood education with respect to curriculum, environment, parent involvement, and staff development.

Please join me in wishing the group a hearty Bon Voyage!

For more on the trip after the group returned from Italy, see the story in the UM-Dearborn Reporter.




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

SOE Faculty Winter/Spring 2013 Presentations at Professional Meetings

The scholarly work of University of Michigan-Dearborn School of Education faculty is once again well represented at Winter/Spring 2013 national professional meetings.  Here is a summary of recent and upcoming conference presentations:

Martha A. Adler, associate professor, presented a webinar titled "Planning and Implementing Effective Professional Development" for the Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy Center in February.

Sara Byrd, assistant professor, and Kim Killu, associate professor, presented a paper at the 27th annual conference of the Behavior Analysis Association of Michigan in February discussing the issue of applied behavioral analysis and academic instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Dr. Byrd will also be presenting two papers at the 73rd Annual Michigan Council for Exceptional Children conference in March. The first paper, with Kim Killu, is focused on research-based instructional strategies designed to engage learners with emotional/behavioral disorders in order to promote academic learning and success. The second presentation, including co-presenters LaShorage Shaffer (assistant professor) and Tammy Morris (Center for Exceptional Families), describes a unique transdisciplinary partnership involving the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC) at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and Oakwood Hospital's Center for Exceptional Families (CEF).

Danielle DeFauw, assistant professor, presented a paper at the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly of Research Conference in February. Her presentation examined the impact of art lessons on writing development among 4-5 year old students.

Susan Everett, associate professor, along with Charlotte Otto, professor, and Suria Beydoun (a former student of Everett and Otto) presented a paper at the Association for Science Teacher Educators International Conference in January discussing the investigation of middle level science teacher certification tests. Dr. Everett will present another paper at the Michigan Science Teachers Association 60th annual conference in March on using STEM activities to integrate science and engineering practices. Co-presenting with Richard Moyer (professor emeritus), Dr. Everett will attend the National Science Teachers Association national conference in April talking about “NSTA Press: Everyday Engineering.”

Joining her colleagues, Melissa Peet (Director of Integrative Learning and Knowledge Management, University of Michigan) and Yves Labissiere (Associate Professor, Portland State University), Laura Reynolds-Keefer, associate professor, attended the 2013 Association of American Colleges and Universities annual meeting in January to discuss weaving e-portfolios with peer mentoring to support underrepresented minority students’ success.

Several SOE faculty will also be presenting papers at the 2013 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting. Laura Reynolds-Keefer will make two presentations at the conference. One presentation focuses on perceptions of poverty among educational psychology students; the other presentation, with associate professor Gail Luera, reports an examination of the success and retention of conditionally admitted university students in a particular university. At the 2013 AERA conference, Martha Adler will also present a paper, “Professional Development in Sheltered Instruction for Mainstream Secondary Teachers: University School District Collaborative,” and Dean Edward Silver will serve as discussant at a symposium, “Approaches to Analyzing Qualitative Data in Mathematics education: An In-depth View,” that includes papers authored by faculty at Vanderbilt University, University of California-Berkeley, and New York University.





Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Professor Taylor wins Distinguished Teaching Award

Each year a few University of Michigan-Dearborn faculty are recognized for their exceptional contributions in the areas of teaching, research and service. One of this year’s recipients is Dr. Julie Anne Taylor, SOE associate professor, who has been selected to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award (in the tenured faculty category). The award will be presented at the UM-Dearborn Honor Scholars and Faculty Awards Dinner on March 26.

The Distinguished Teaching Award is given to faculty members whose teaching record illustrates effectiveness in the classroom and the revitalization of courses and curriculum; interaction with students outside the classroom, as mentor, advisor, or group participant; professional growth as a teacher; and, commitment to undergraduate or graduate education.

Dr. Taylor teaches multicultural education courses and specialized offerings in the area of social studies education. Her contributions to the School of Education and University community include creating several new course offerings, leading the work of SOE and CASL faculty to obtain approval from the Michigan Department of Education for approved teacher preparation programs in several distinct academic areas, and fostering students’ engagement with community in numerous locations, including the Douglass Academy for Young Men, the Detroit Institute of Art, the Holocaust Memorial in Oakland County, and the Arab-American Museum in Dearborn. Among the distinctive features of her teaching are the integration of her own research and the extensive use of community resources to inform and enrich her classes. Also, she has been an innovator in her teaching, leading the way in the implementation of the M-portfolio in her classes, and being the first faculty member on campus to offer an online course in the area of social studies education.

The faculty member who wrote her nomination letter noted that her students regularly state that Dr. Taylor’s enthusiasm is contagious, that each of her classes is "an event," and that her concern for her students is energizing. Her colleagues in the School of Education agree and have long recognized her as a gifted teacher.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Julie Ann Taylor on winning this prestigious campus award, which signifies well-deserved recognition for her exceptional teaching and excellent pedagogical contributions to the school and university. Let's also thank her for all she does on behalf of the students with whom she comes in contact!






SOE Professor Emerita to Receive Prestigious Award


At its annual conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in April 2013, the Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children (MiAEYC) will award the 2013 Betty Garlick Lifetime Achievement Award to Mary Trepanier-Street, Professor Emerita of education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn.

Recipients of this award demonstrate a commitment to Michigan’s children and families, and have made exceptional contributions to the early childhood profession. The award is named for Betty Garlick, the first president of MiAEYC from 1974-1976, and honors her life-long commitment to young children and their families.

Dr. Mary Trepanier-Street has dedicated her entire career to the betterment of young children’s lives. She taught early childhood education at University of Michigan-Dearborn for over 33 years. She devoted much of her life to the preparation of educators of young children and to a scholarly program of research on teacher education, child development, and educational experiences for young children with and without disabilities,

In addition to teaching and mentoring students, Mary served as Director of the Early Childhood Education Center. She has also served on and chaired numerous committees, led many cooperative programs and projects involving community school districts, actively served on educational boards and advisory groups, and generously given her time sharing her knowledge and best practices in the field of early childhood education.

Mary’s effective and energetic advocacy for high quality education for all young children, combined with her teaching, research and service contributions over a lifetime, exemplify the spirit of Betty Garlick and make her a deserving recipient of this high honor from her professional colleagues. Please join me in congratulating Mary Trepanier-Street!