Revival - College of Education - University of Florida

up frontDespite hard times, there’sstill much good in education“Dreams come true if you survive the hard times.” This anonymous quote from theInternet sums up perfectly the tenor of this edition of EducationTimes. The magazineis packed with articles that describe wonderful initiatives by faculty and students thatenable people across the state to achieve their dreams. Whether the story reports on a dynamicschool-university-community partnership to create “Ready Schools” to help young childrensucceed in the early grades, or describes creative ways to help teachers’ reach struggling ESOLlearners, or tells of an innovative project to attract more girls of color into the sciences, just toname a few examples, the focus is always on how education plays a critical role in making thesedreams come true. In her guest column, Lacy Redd, winner of our recent student essay conteston “What’s good in education,” poignantly reminds us that what matters are the little things thatseem inconsequential, but yet add up to an enduring picture of what it means to be deeply connectedto life in schools. From cover to cover, readers can find striking examples of the dramaticresults achieved when committed, passionate scholars link the power of their research and teachingin pursuit of the common good.As heartwarming as these articles are, we cannot minimize the painful realities of the recentbudget reductions felt across the state. Like other units on campus, the College of Education hasfelt the brutal impact from losing 22 faculty and staff positions in a single year due to retirementsor resignations and which will not be replaced—closing some academic programs, restructuringdepartments, and most painfully of all, laying off qualified, dedicated people. Without question,the college is financially stressed beyond belief, and even though the economic fortunes ofthe state will certainly rebound in the future, the damage done in the present poses considerablerisks to our continuing success. Now more than ever, the strong support of our loyal alumni andfriends of education is critically needed if we are to continue on our course as Florida’s partner inpublic scholarship.The special four-page centerspread on the College’s Florida Tomorrow capital campaignhighlights some of our dreams that will only be realized if they are shared and supported by thosewho care most about the future of this College, and the lives of the people we touch. As EleanorRoosevelt said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”Catherine EmihovichDean

ontentsstoriesAll-out push in early childhood educationUnder a shared $10 million grant, the College has launched anambitious school-readiness effort to prepare all Florida pre-schoolkids for success by the time they enter the classroom.Cover StoryWe’re sparking a revivalin math and scienceEducation faculty specialists are taking action in a big wayto help make U.S. students in science and math competitivewith the rest of the world. (Illustrations by istockphoto.com)What’s good in education?Despite all the doom and gloom we read about education, there’sstill a lot that’s GOOD about education. Our guest columnist, a schoolprincipal and UF doctoral student, offers some feel-good examples.We are NOT AFRAIDTwo professors in counselor education take onthe racist “noose incident” at Columbia University.Social bullying: the hurt can linger for yearsUF researchers discover the psychological consequences ofsocial bullying by schoolmates can linger into early adulthood.Gift as tribute boosts middle school reformTo honor their daughter-in-law, a longtime teacher, a Gainesvillecouple creates a $600,000 endowment to support new researchand programs aimed at middle school reform and enhancement.special sectionFlorida Tomorrow and the COEThe College’s ambitious $20 million goal in UF’s capitalcampaign reflects a commitment to transform educationat all levels—from cradle to college to career advancement.4813141644Centerspread16departments413182326343644NewsFeaturesResearch & Public ScholarshipStudentsFacultyPassagesAlumni/Class NotesPhilanthropy14The mission of the College of Education is toprepare exemplary practitioners and scholars; togenerate, use and disseminate knowledge aboutteaching, learning and human development;and to collaborate with others to solve criticaleducational and human problems in a diverseglobal community.DeanCatherine EmihovichEditor/Director of News & CommunicationsLarry O. Lansford, APRContributorsTim Lockette, staff writerJuawon Scott, graphic artistAnwen “Wendy” Norman, student assistant EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes DesignKristi Villaloboskno limit designsPhotographyKristen Bartlett Grace, UF News PhotographyCoE News & Communications staffistockphoto.comJupiterImages.com123rf.comAssociate Director of Developmentand Alumni AffairsNekita RobinsonCoordinator of Alumni Affairs and EventsJodi MountTo make a gift to the College, contact the COEDevelopment Office at (352) 392-0728, ext. 600Update your contact info or send alumni news(promotions, honors, appointments, experiences)electronically to news@education.ufl.edu.EducationTimes is published by the Universityof Florida College of Education, Office of News& Communications, for its alumni, friends andkey stakeholders. Please send all correspondenceto: Editor, EducationTimes, PO Box 117044,UF College of Education, Gainesville, FL32611-7044; or to news@education.ufl.edu.© 2008, University of Florida College of Educationwww.education.ufl.eduNow on ET.extraseducation.ufl.edu/ET.extrasVisit ET.extras, our online supplement to EducationTimes magazineon the College’s Web site, featuring more special features andnews reports:COUNSELOR EDUCATIONReligious devotion linkedto finishing collegeAdolescents who consider themselves“very religious” are generally morelikely to finish college than their lessdevout counterparts, according toa UF study.TEACHING & LEARNINGElection ’08 is great tool for teaching about democracyCivics education Professor Elizabeth Washington and her doctoral students share theirclassroom-tested techniques for harnessing the power of the 2008 Presidential electionto get contemporary students involved in the political process.Also on ET.extras:HIGHER EDUCATIONADMINISTRATIONWho should U.S. emulatein global research race?Oh, CANADA!To stay afloat as a world economic power,the United States must radically change itsmodel for funding scientific research—and weneed look no further than to our neighbors tothe north--Canada, says UF higher educationresearcher Pilar Mendoza (left).• Graphing technology takes math teaching to next level• Study: Review boards hamper social sciences research• Ed tech professor helping Rwandan schools go high-tech• CAMP Gator: Student-athletes learning and leading

newsShared $10M grant spurs all-out push to help children succeed in school, lifeTop scholar fills endowed chair in early-childhood studiesAn alarming number of young children face extremeobstacles to learning before they enter school—poverty, pooraccess to health care and meager early-learning opportunities,to name a few. But some impressive help is on the way.Two champions of early child development and educationin Florida are sharing a $10 million grant and joining forcesto improve learning by smoothing the transition to schoolfor children who are likely to start school unprepared. Thepartnership pairs the University of Florida’s Lastinger Centerfor Learning with The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation,based in Miami, in an ambitious school-readiness effort calledReady Schools Florida.The shared grant was awarded last spring by the W.K. KelloggFoundation of Battle Creek, Mich.Early child educators, researchers, program developers andmeasurement experts involved in the initiative’s four-year rolloutare taking a research-proven model of early child interventionand rapidly bringing it to scale in Miami-Dade Countyand, ultimately, to other Florida counties and states.“Every year, 4-million children in America enter kindergarten.As many as one in three starts school behind and nevercatches up. The time to reach kids and their families is well beforekindergarten,” said David Lawrence Jr., a prominent leaderof the school-readiness movement who has close ties with bothpartnering organizations. “The Ready Schools Florida modelseeks to prepare both ‘ready children’ and ‘ready schools’ toenhance a child’s healthy growth and development.”Lawrence, former publisher of The Miami Herald, is presidentof The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation. He also is a1963 University of Florida graduate and a board member of theLastinger Center for Learning at UF’s College of Education.He joined the UF faculty in 2001 as the University Scholar forEarly Childhood Development and Readiness, and last year hisalma mater created a $1.5 million endowed chair in early childhoodstudies in his name at the College of Education (seedetails next page).For Ready Schools Florida, Lawrence said participatingschools, neighborhoods and community organizationsare working together to create after-schooltutoring programs and make sure all children haveaccess to medical and dental care. The initiative alsocalls for increasing the number of accredited earlylearningcenters in Miami-Dade and collaboratingwith local and state agencies to create an effectiverating scale for such centers.While mobilizing community support is key, the initiativefocuses intently on the teaching and learning culture insideschools and classrooms, according to Lastinger Center DirectorDon Pemberton.“We will coordinate and align training for pre-kindergartenand elementary teachers and increase parent involvement tocreate a family-friendly school culture,” Pemberton said. “We’vecreated the Florida Ready Schools network to link participatingschools for teacher collaboration, shared learning and resources,and ongoing professional development.”Teachers and principals at participating schools can takeadvantage of a new “job-embedded” master’s degree program inearly child education. The program enables cohorts of teachers(pre-K through third grade) and principals from the sameschool to earn their degrees on-site while working with masterteachers and University of Florida education professors fromthe Lastinger Center for Learning.The UF College of Education degree program is free exceptfor the cost of books, and participants must commit to remainat their schools for at least five years, helping many high-povertyschools retain some of their most highly qualified teachersand principals.“This is a brand new concept, combining online graduateeducation with hands-on coaching by university ‘professors-inresidence’who embed themselves in the teachers’ own classrooms,”Pemberton said. “Teachers can learn a new teachingstrategy one afternoon and immediately apply it in theirclassroom the next day.”The job-embedded program is already underway in someMiami schools and also in Collier and Pinellas counties.– Larry LansfordTIM LOCKETTE/Ed TimesFor Patricia Snyder, being named the first occupant ofthe David Lawrence Jr. Endowed Chair in Early ChildhoodStudies at UF was a natural fit.For infants, toddlers and pre-school children in Florida,Snyder’s selection to the $1.5 million teaching and researchpost means they now have a leading scholar in earlyeducation and care working on their behalf.Snyder’s appointment last August placed her in aprestigious professorship named for one of Florida’s mostprominent advocates of the school-readiness movement,which focuses on smoothing the transition to school foryoung children who are likely to start school unprepared.UF created the endowed chair in 2006 in the Collegeof Education, hoping to attract a world-class scholar tolead collaborative, cross-disciplinary research and developprograms addressing the complex needs of children frombefore birth to entering kindergarten.Snyder’s credentials seem the perfect match. Her workand leadership in linking public and private sectors onbehalf of early education and care spans nearly 30 years,most recently at the Center for Child Development atVanderbilt University Medical Center (2005-07) and theLouisiana State University Health Science Center’s Schoolof Allied Health Professions (1984-2005). At LSU, shewas the founder and first director of the state-designatedEarly Intervention Institute. She also was editor of Journalof Early Intervention, a“leading refereed scholarlyjournal, from 2002-2007.She received her doctoratein early childhoodspecial education with aminor in psychology fromthe University of New Orleans.Before starting herhigher-education career,she worked as a children’sspeech and language therapistin community-based early childhood programs, at ahigh-risk, follow-up clinic for infants born prematurely,and as a preschool director and teacher of young children.“I gained insight early in my professional career aboutthe importance of linking health, education and socialservice systems to support and enhance child and familywell-being,” Snyder said. “I was mentored by colleagueswho stressed the importance of being ‘family-centered’ ininteractions with children and families, long before thisconcept gained widespread recognition.”Snyder has generated more than $13 million in researchand training grants in her career, including several fromfederal funding agencies. Her leadership experience inLARRY LANSFORD/Ed TimesLawrence and SnyderI gained insight early in my professional careerabout the importance of linking health, educationand social service systems to support andenhance child and family well-being.interdisciplinary research was a key factor in her selection,according to UF Education Dean Catherine Emihovich.“About a third of all children begin kindergarten alreadybehind,” Emihovich said. “There is a growing recognitionof the need for collaborative, policy-oriented approachesto fully address the complex needs of children from beforebirth to age 5. As the first David Lawrence Chair holder, Dr.Snyder will help to bridge the existing research gap in earlychildhood development.”Lawrence, an active UFalumnus and the namesakeof Snyder’s new endowedchair, retired in 1999 aspublisher of The MiamiHerald. He now is presidentof the Early ChildhoodInitiative Foundation inMiami.— Patricia SnyderSnyder has hit the”ground running at UF.She has quickly becomeinvolved with several key community and statewide initiativesfocused on early learning, including UF’s ambitiousReady Schools Florida program launched last year in collaborationwith the Early Childhood Initiative Foundation(see story facing page). She is an active contributor on severalstate planning forums, national advisory panels and journaleditorial boards focused on early childhood policy andeducation. Snyder has already recruited several outstandingdoctoral students who will train and work with her on studiesof new intervention strategies for young, at-risk childrenand their families.— Larry Lansford EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes

newsWe’re Sparking a Revivalin math and scienceCOE draws major $upport to help make U.S. studentsin science and math competitive with rest of world– b ± b2 –4ac2a– b ± b 2 – 4ac2aGriff Jones (below), a past recipient of the Presidential Awardfor Excellence in Science Teaching, joined the COE faculty lastyear and serves as the master teacher for science in the newUFTeach program.What would America look like if itweren’t at the forefront of science?What if the Wright Brothers hadstuck with fixing bicycles? What if thelight bulb had been invented in France, the telephonein Russia, the motion picture in Italy? If the flag onthe moon were British, we might still be in fine shapehere—but who would we be?If something doesn’t change, we might soon findout. While developing powers like China and Indiaare turning out science and mathematics graduatesin record numbers, American kids are increasinglyKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF Photographyturning away fromthese careers. Theshortage of scienceand mathematicsgraduates has led toa crisis in the K-12classroom, wheregrowing numbersof children learnscience and mathfrom teachers withdegrees in otherfields. As a result,this generation’sshortage of sciencegraduatesmay become thenext generation’sdrought.UF’s College ofEducation is takingaction to stop thedownward spiral inthe technologyrelateddisciplines—and it’s taking actionin a major way.by Tim LocketteWith millions of dollars in newly funded grants fromnon-profit organizations and the state and federalgovernment, the college is teaming up with otherFlorida universities on two major initiatives to revitalizescience and math education in the state.This year, the School of Teaching and Learning islaunching UFTeach, a dramatic revision of the college’sscience and mathematics education programs.Loosely based on the highly successful UTeach programat the University of Texas-Austin, the programwill recruit science majors at all points in their collegecareers—from freshmen to graduate students—withscholarships and other incentives.“We think that the best incentive to attract newteachers is to create a place where they’re celebratedand rewarded,” said Professor Tom Dana, associatedean of academic affairs in the College of Educationand co-principal investigator on the project with UFPhysics Chair Alan Dorsey.There wasn’t anything wrong with the way UF wasteaching math and science education before UFTeach,Dana says—there just weren’t enough young peoplewilling to enter the program. With science graduatesin short supply and high demand, teaching justcouldn’t compete with the high-pay, high prestigeoptions available to college students with talents inthese fields.UFTeach will combat this problem not only by offeringscholarships, but also by conferring a respectedstatus on its recruits. UF will set aside dedicated labspace for the UFTeach scholars, and will encouragethem to do research—effectively treating them as thescientific colleagues they are.The program will also offer students the access toclassroom experiences from their first semester as preserviceteachers. The joy of the “teachable moment” iswhat draws many teachers to the job, and by exposingUFTeach students to that experience early on, theprogram can get them “hooked” on teaching.The shortage of science and mathematics graduates has led to a crisis in theK-12 classroom.When a similar approach was tried at UT-Austin, it produceddramatic results in combating the teacher shortage inTexas—so dramatic, in fact, that major industries took notice.In 2007, the National Math and Science Institute, an organizationfunded largely by the ExxonMobil Corporation anddedicated to revitalizing mathematics and science curriculain American schools, set aside millions of dollars to promoteprograms similar to UTeach at other schools.UF and Florida State University were the first pair ofschools to be awarded grants under the program. UF received$1.4 million from NMSI and an additional $1 million fromthe Helios Education Foundation to begin its program. Withpossible additional incentives and matching funds from stategovernment, UFTeach could earn up to $5 million in grants.UF is also teaming up with two other Florida universitieson a multi-million-dollar effort to improve the skills ofmathematics and science teachers who are already at work inFlorida’s classrooms. Last February, the Florida Departmentof Education announced a $5.9 million grant for FloridaPROMiSE (short for Partnership to Rejuvenate and OptimizeMathematics and Science Education), a bold push to revampthe way Florida does professional development for teachers inscience and math.The program will place UF, the University of South Floridaand Florida State University in partnership with four Floridaschool districts (Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Duval and Seminole),the Florida Virtual School and various other organizationsto find ways to prepare math and science teachers for thestate’s tougher new science standards, passed in February.While teachers know the importance of good professionaldevelopment, people outside the profession often have a hardtime understanding why it is so important. Florida PROMiSEhopes to change that through a public awareness campaign—one that will explain the scope of the science education crisisto Florida taxpayers, introduce the new science standards, andshow how Florida PROMiSE can help resolve the problem.“Florida PROMiSE represents an unprecedented statewideeffort to enhance teacher quality and student preparation inmathematics and science,” Dana said.2 2 ways we’re helping U.S. get its groove back inScience, Technology, Engineering, Math educationHere is a sampling of other steps UF and the College of Educationare taking to turn the tide in America’s crisis in the so-called STEMdisciplines—science, technology, engineering and mathematics. EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008Fall / Winter • 2008EducationTimes 1Science for Life: A $1.5 million partnership between UF and theHoward Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to improve scienceeducation from kindergarten through college. Under the program,COE has been involved in creating an undergraduate science teachinglaboratory.2Emerging pathogens project: UF is the first place Florida farmerslook for answers to new plant and animal diseases. With fundingfrom HHMI, the college gives promising but underprivileged students achance to work with UF researchers who explore these new pathogens.3Graphing calculator study: COE Professor Stephen Pape is one of thelead investigators on a nationwide study that investigates the use ofnetworked graphing calculators to increase student achievement in thealgebra classroom.4Online professional development: A new online professionaldevelopment program boosts the mathematical knowledge, andthe math-specific teaching knowledge, of elementary teachers in ruralschools, where professional development opportunities are often limited.5Making self-motivated math learners: In any discipline, the beststudents are the self-regulated learners: students who are motivated,aware of their own thought processes, and ableto create learning strategies for themselves.UF is working with the University of NorthCarolina-Charlotte to create ways toteach these strategies to elementary mathlearners—and we’re testing those methods inimpoverished communities such as Immokalee.6Preparing preschoolers for math: UF ispreparing preschool teachers to providebetter support for young children’s learningof mathematics concepts such as numbersense, counting principles, patterns andgeometric reasoning.7Lake City Educator Preparation Institute:UF is working with Lake City Community College on a mathematicseducation module for their Educator Preparation Institute, helpingprepare non-education majors for transition to the classroom.8– Tim LocketteUFTeach: Building on successful national models such as the UTeachprogram at the University of Texas at Austin, UF has developedan intensive, comprehensive program that prepares science and mathmajors for teaching in grades 6-12.more on following pages

news9Summer camps: Working with the Northeast Florida Science,Technology and Mathematics Center for Education (NEFSTEM), UFhas created a specialized math-and-science oriented summer camp forgifted and high-achieving middle school students.10Engineering GatorTrax: This program paves the way to engineeringcareers by providing students in grades 6-12 with opportunities tolearn mathematics with hands-on activities, regular classroom instruction,Saturday engineering programs, mentoring, field trips and more.11Learning science through global warming: UF researchers andAlachua County teachers have teamed up to create a curriculumthat uses the concept of global warming to teach K-12 students about thephysical sciences.12Socioscientific Issues for Science Education Project: UF and theUniversity of South Florida are working together to study how theexploration of socioscientific issues—moral or political debates in whichscience plays a role—affect students’ content knowledge and reflectivejudgment in science courses.13Smallwood Science Scholarship: With funding from the SmallwoodFoundation, UF is offering scholarships for high school studentsfrom groups underrepresented in the sciences to participate in summerresearch opportunities.14Engaging future scientists: College of Education professors areworking with UF scientists to develop tools for assessing theresearch experiences available to undergraduate students. The longtermgoal is to conduct a longitudinal study that will provide a “bigpicture” view of the changes that need to be made in the undergraduateexperience.15From science student to science teacher: Research shows that the transitioninto teaching is one of the most crucial phases of professionaldevelopment. This project explores factors that contribute to the successes andfailures of teachers as they progress from teacher candidate to early careerprofessional.Lansford near the shuttlecraft Atlantis launch pad on the morningof launch.Ed Times editor lendsPR expertise to NASAWhen he isn’t doing public relations and editingEducationTimes for the College of Education, Newsand Communications Director Larry Lansford is,well, doing public relations. Lansford took a briefleave of absence last summer to work as a volunteerfor NASA, assisting the space agency’s media relationsteam in shepherding the 1,000 or so membersof the international press through the much-anticipatedlaunch of the space shuttle Atlantis. For aday-by-day account of his experience, complete withdazzling launch pictures, visit the college’s Web siteat http://news.education.ufl.edu/node/254.BILL RANDOLPH/Orlando FPRANew UF teachers cohortforms in Pinellas CountyOne of UF’s most powerful efforts to reach underprivilegedkids has expanded into new territory. Lastyear, the college’s Lastinger Center for Learning startedtraining a new cohort of teachers in Pinellas County,which includes St. Petersburg and Clearwater. Thecenter’s job-embedded graduate program was alreadyhelping 160 teachers—all from low-income urbanschools—study and earn graduate degrees through thecollege while continuing their classroom responsibilities.Earlier in the year, more than 400 teachers fromschools in the participating counties (Alachua, Duval,Miami-Dade and Pinellas) participated in the center’sSummer Institute, covering a variety of topics frombest practices for developmentally appropriate instructionto the strengthening of school culture to supportall learning.COE View Bookwins ADDY AwardThe College of Education last year created its first“View Book”—a publication designed to introducethe collegeto prospectivestudents,faculty and acommunityat large. The20-page,color booklethas receiveda 2007 SilverADDY Awardfrom the Gainesville Advertising Federation. Held annuallyat the local and national levels, the ADDY Awardcontest is one of the toughest competitions in advertisingand public relations. The View Book—available onlineat http://news.education.ufl.edu/files/news/ViewBook.pdf—is also designed and written to direct people tothe COE Web site, where they will find more detailedinformation.16African American girls in the sciences: African-Americans andwomen have historically been underrepresented in the sciences.UF researchers are studying African-American girls in a crucial period(sixth grade) to understand their experiences in the math and scienceclassroom and find pathways to better academic outcomes.17From bench to bedside: UF provides professional developmentto help teachers learn more about the working world of thebiomedical sciences—so they can boost students’ awareness of careersin the biomedical field.18SPICE: Science Partners in Inquiry-Based Collaborative Education: UFand Alachua County Public Schools are strengthening the sciencecurriculum by placing science and engineering graduate students intomiddle school classrooms, where they implement hands-on, inquirybasedlearning of ecology-related topics.19Project TALL: Teachers as Learners Learning Mathematics: COEfaculty work in high-poverty, largely minority schools to increaseclassroom teachers’ mathematics content knowledge and measure theimpact that knowledge has on student outcomes.20Better reading through scientific inquiry: Will kids become betterreaders if reading is part of a scientific project all their own? ACOE study is investigating the impact of an integrating reading into aninquiry-based science curriculum.21Strengthening virtual high schools: Going beyond the question ofwhether virtual schooling is effective, this project focuses on the“what and how” of successful e-schools.22TEGIVS: Teacher Education Goes Into Virtual Schooling: Are today’steachers ready to teach in the “schools that technology built?”This COE project looks for ways to expose new teachers to examples ofeffective virtual schooling practices.10 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 11

featuresKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF PhotographyNotAfraidby Tim LocketteUF professors take on ColumbiaUniversity noose incident“We are not afraid.”That’s the message Cirecie West-Olatunji, UF assistant professor of counselor education, knewshe wanted to send the world the minute she heard the news about a racist threat against a facultymember at Columbia University.Asa graduate student, she had once walked the hallsof Columbia’s Teacher’s College—the same placewhere the nation’s media converged in October 2007 tocover an incident many considered unthinkable. Someonehad hung a noose on the office door of African-Americanprofessor Madonna Constantine, whose work focuses onracial issues in education.UF Professor Edil Torres-Rivera heard about it, too. Heknows Constantine and her work—the study of “microagressions,”the many acts of below-the-radar hostility thatpeople of color experience daily. West-Olatunji and Torres-Rivera would become leaders in the nationwide reaction tothe Columbia incident.West-Olatunji is president ofthe Association for MulticulturalCounseling and Development(or AMCD), a division of theAmerican Counseling Associationdevoted to fostering cross-racialempathy between counselors andclients. Within 48 hours of theincident, AMCD formed a taskforce on dealing with race-basedthreats. A portion of that response—including a set of onlineresources for people who want to fight hate crimes—isstill online at www.amcdaca.org/amcd/nooseincident.cfm.West-Olatunji and Torres-Rivera also spoke out in thepress, relating their own experiences and advice in a frontpagestory in Counseling Today. They traveled to Columbiato appear in a panel discussion on the incident.While both professors were appalled to see so blatantan act of racism emerging in an institution of higherlearning, neither were completely surprised. “When youhave something as obvious as a noose or a swastika, it’seasy to make everyone understand that there is a problem,”said Torres-Rivera, who is immediate past president ofthe nationwide Counselors for Social Justice group. “Butthere are racist acts happening every day in academia thatare not so obvious—unless you are the one experiencingthem.””Torres-Rivera, who is Puerto Rican, recalls an incidenthe experienced a few years ago. When he left a bilingualmessage on his answering machine, someone left a messagesaying “why don’t you go back where you came from?”He saved the message—as proof. Proof, that is, of a biasthat white faculty often don’t see. The subtle verbal jab. Thecomment about someone’s accent. The meeting where yourproposals are ignored.“There are people who want to think discriminationended in the 1960s – but really, it has just gotten smarter,”he said.West-Olatunji has seen some of that evolution in herown career as an African-American in academia. She recallshow, as a graduate student at Columbia,she studied under a HispanicThere are people who want toprofessor who reported a number ofthink discrimination ended in anonymous threats. When Westthe1960s — but really, it has Olatunji entered the professoriateyears later, no one threatened her,just gotten smarter.but there was still the pressure of beinga “first” for her students.— Torres-Rivera”“There are quite a few studentswho make it to graduate schoolwithout having had a single African-American teacher, sowhen they’re confronted with an African-American professor,they’ve found something that doesn’t fit their model,”she said. “They react with microaggressions—challengingmy authority, challenging my scholarship, challenging thesubject matter itself.”West-Olatunji believes colleges should take activemeasures to head off incidents like the one at Columbia.“Universities need to send a message, systemwide, thatthey’re committed to protecting the most vulnerable amongtheir faculty—and that they take hate crimes seriously—before an incident like this takes place,” she said.EDITOR’S NOTE: At press time, news reports revealed Madonna Constantine hadbeen suspended by Columbia University amid allegations of plagiarism. Constantinehas appealed the decision, calling the investigation an institutional “conspiracy andwitch hunt.” Whatever the outcome of events at Columbia, EducationTimes felt theoverall topic of this story—racial bias in academe—was too important not to cover.14 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008Torres-Rivera and West-OlatunjiFall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 15

”research & public scholarshipDempseyistockphoto.comSocial bullying: the hurt can linger for yearsSpreading rumors and gossiping may not cause bruises or black eyes, but thepsychological consequences of this social form of bullying could linger into earlyadulthood, a new UF study shows.In a studyof 210 college students, UFresearchers discovered a linkbetween what psychologists call relational victimization inadolescence and depression and anxiety in early adulthood,according to findings published recently in the journalPsychology in the Schools. Rather than threatening achild with physical violence, these bullies target a child’ssocial status and relationships by shunning them, excludingthem from social activities or spreading rumors, saidAllison Dempsey, a doctoral student in the UF College ofEducation and the study’s lead author.“Even though people are outside of high school, thememories of these experiences continue to be associatedwith depression and social anxiety,” said Dempsey, whograduated from Columbine High School in Coloradoone year before the infamous 1999 school shooting thereand now studies school violence prevention programs. “I’mhoping this study will help shed light on the fact that thisis a real problem and continues to be a real problem afterstudents leave school.”To uncover the relationships between social bullyingand loneliness, depression and anxiety, researchers surveyedcollege undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25 andasked them to recall their experiences from high school.They were also looking to see if having friends mitigatedsome of the effects of bullying and if there was any relationshipbetween gender and the severity of psychological symptoms,said Eric Storch, an assistant professor of psychiatryin the UF College of Medicine and a co-author of the study.“Boys do tend to be more physical, but both sexesengage in relational victimization,” Storch said.But researchers found no gender difference in the linkbetween this type of bullying and depression. They alsodiscovered that having friends or other positive socialrelationships didn’t lessen rates of depression and anxiety inadulthood, a finding that surprised them.Dempsey said she hopes this study and others will helpother researchers and psychologists design programs thatcan help stop this form of bullying in schools.— April Frawley Birdwell, Special to Ed TimesDOE grant helping UF scholars addresslooming shortage of special ed leadersWho will lead special education services in America’s public schools inthe 21st Century?With baby-boom-age administrators headed for retirement en masse,and schools already scrambling to find qualified special education teachers,a serious shortage of qualified special education administrators may be justa few years away.Supported by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education,two UF education scholars are preparing the next generation of leadersto make sure special-needs students get the education they deserve.Associate Professor Jean Crockett (in Special Education) and AssistantProfessor David Quinn (in Educational Administration and Policy) havesecured funding for a four-year grant that will send working school leadersand future education researchers to UF for a new doctoral program thatcombines courses in special education and educational administration.“There are about 20,000 administrators in charge of special educationacross the country right now,” Crockett said. “Many of these people aregoing to retire within the next few years, and there are fewer than a dozencolleges with programs in special education administration and policy.”“To do special education well, we need instructional leaders whounderstand how students learn and how schools can be organized to supporttheir learning,” Crockett said. “Without administrators who reallyunderstand special education, we face a real threat to our ability to offerspecialized services that are effective or legally correct.”The UF researchers’ project—known as Project EXCEL (short for“Expanding the Capacity of Educational Leaders for Driving Change”)—aims to help correct the problem in at least one Florida county by providingfull scholarships for five practicing Collier County school leaders.Those individuals will take courses in special education and administrationin pursuit of a professional practice doctoral degree (Ed.D.). In addition,the project is conducting a nationwide search for three Ph.D. scholarshiprecipients—students who would be groomed as the next generation ofcutting-edge researchers in special education administration and policy.Crockett says Project EXCEL will have an effect beyond the eightscholarship recipients. The five Collier County administrators are expectedto have a major effect on the culture of special education in that county—and in any other systems these administrators work for in the future. Thethree Ph.D. recipients will ideally go on to work as faculty linking specialeducation and educational administration programs in the future.“A specialty in special education administration is offered at fewer thana dozen universities in the country,” she said. “There need to be manymore, and Project EXCEL is a step in that direction.”To do special educationwell, we need instructionalleaders who understandhow students learn and howschools can be organized tosupport their learning.— Jean Crockett”– Tim LocketteDavid QuinnJean Crockett16 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 17

esearch & public scholarshipUF honors educators forpublic-minded scholarshipSome of North Central Florida’s most committedteachers, school administrators and education professorsand students were honored for their impact onthe community in the UF College of Education’s 2008Scholarship of Engagement banquet held in April at theUF Hilton.The banquet recognized educators and students fromUF and Alachua County public schools whose scholarlyoutreach activities contribute to improved schools andstudent learning or address important social and communityissues.The honors are based on the “scholarship of engagement”philosophy, or engaged research and educationalactivities done for the public good. The research-intensiveconcept is a burgeoning movement in higher educationthat UF education Dean Catherine Emihovich hasinfused as a core principle of a faculty-led transformationof the college’s research and teaching programs.The event also was a forum for recognizing this year’sCollege of Education student scholarship recipients andthe donors who funded their endowed scholarships. It isa rare occasion where scholarship donors get to meet thestudents who benefit from their philanthropy.The College of Education recognized several localteachers, principals, school district administrators,university faculty and UF education students whosescholarly activities are yielding an immediate positiveimpact on teaching and learning in the classroom or onthe community.This year’s award recipients included:University AwardMartha Monroe, Professor,UF School of Forest Resources and ConservationWildfire is a serious threat to people and propertyin the Sunshine State, but few Floridians knowwhat they can to do prevent it – and publicagencies sometime send conflicting messagesabout the topic. Monroe researched popularmisconceptions about wildfire risk and coordinateda multi-agency approach to craft a set of materialsand messages to educate homeowners in fire-proneecosystems around the state.Graduate Student AwardChristopher Mullin,Educational Administration and PlanningIn these economically trying times, institutionsof higher education are having to make toughdecisions that affect the lives of young people.Chris Mullin has studied and published numerousworks on funding issues affecting communitycolleges, which are the gateway to higher educationfor millions of people. Mullin was also deeplyinvolved in the launch of the Florida Journal ofEducational Administration and Policy, UF’s newjournal for research on higher education issues.Educational Psychology Faculty AwardDiana JoyceFor a child who is struggling in school, competentand perceptive school psychologists can make allthe difference. UF’s practicum program is vital tothe preparation of school psychologists, and underJoyce’s direction, the program has doubled in sizeto include five school districts and seven clinics.Joyce is a psychologist and a researcher with aninterest in social-emotional needs and effectiveinterventions to improve student academic andmental health outcomes.Counselor Education Faculty AwardSondra Smith-AdcockThroughout her career, Smith-Adcock has focusedher research on interventions to help marginalizedyoung people. She has looked at the role of peersin the lives of girls in the juvenile justice system;called attention to a lack of Spanish-speakingcounselors in Florida schools; and found new wayscounselors can help culturally diverse groups oflow-income students.School District AwardTom Ringwood, Alachua County SchoolsAs a district-level inclusion specialist, Ringwoodhas played a crucial role in school reform effortsthat allowed students with disabilities to find aplace in the general education classroom. Throughnational conference presentations and a widelydistributedvideo presentation, he shares his ideaswith other school systems with an eye towardreplicating Alachua County’s successes elsewhere.Educational Administrationand Policy Faculty AwardLuis PonjuanEvery college administrator knows that African-Americans and Latinos are underrepresented inhigher education—and that this state of affairsis a serious social justice issue. Ponjuan’s workaddresses the reasons behind the disparity—atboth the faculty and student level—and sheds lighton crucial issues in science education and facultyretention.Community AwardMercantile BankThrough the leadership of its president, AndyCheney, Mercantile Bank has made sustainedinvestments in improving the quality of teachingand learning in Florida. The bank has worked withUF’s Lastinger Center for Learning to launch aninnovative professional development initiative forteachers in high-need schools.Special Education Faculty AwardHazel JonesIn her work with UF’s Baby Gator ChildDevelopment and Research Center, the EarlyLearning Coalition and the Northeast FloridaEducation Consortium’s Early Reading Firstproject, Jones has helped preschool teachersemploy research-based practices to promote youngchildren’s language and literacy development.School of Teaching and Learning Faculty AwardNancy DanaAs director of UF’s Center for SchoolImprovement, Dana has worked with schoolsthroughout Florida to help practitioners andprincipals systematically study pressing issues theyface while working in high-need and high-povertyschools. She has been a leader in the movement toencourage teachers and principals to take charge oftheir own professional development.P.K. Yonge AwardKelly DolanAs a first, third and fourth grade teacher, KellyDolan has worked to acquire National BoardCertification, and actively participates in uniqueprofessional development opportunities. She hasbeen a Florida Reading Initiative trainer since2002 and a regular host of PKY Research in Actionvisitors. Her work has inspired many teachers toreconsider their approaches to comprehension,vocabulary and decoding instruction.Scholarship recipients* and their benefactors*Recipients’ names italicizedBelow, from left: Lillian Hall, Olivia Generales, Bonnie Northsea andLincoln Hall; Renee Fox and Marjorie Schear Waggoner; Jennifer andCarolyn Marty with Jeffrey Ditterline and guest Laurie Morrison; Mary-Anne and Alice L. Primack. Not pictured: Rebekah Wobrak.20 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 21

esearch & public scholarshipspecial section: capital campaignHistoric Capital Campaign kicks off with high ambitionsFlorida Tomorrow. . . and the College of EducationKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF PhotographyIn NSF study, UF researchers address the question:What steers African American girlsaway from science and math?From left, co-researchers Cirecie West-Olatunji, Rose Pringle and Thomasenia Adams hope their study findings help to encourage students of allbackgrounds to enter science and mathematics fields.Areyou a “math person” or a“word person?”Ask almost anyone that question, andthey can give you an answer. But how dideach of us decide we belong with the mathwhizzes or the budding novelists? Howmuch of this is our own decision, and howmuch is forced on us by teachers and parents?And what roles do race and genderplay in all of this?These questions—particularly the lastone—are the focus of a new study by threeprofessors at UF’s College of Education.Funded by a $439,000 grant from theNational Science Foundation, the studylooks into the ways African-American girlsare steered away from science, mathematicsand other technical subjects.“If you ask an African-American girlin middle school to draw a picture of ascientist, chances are she’ll draw a whiteman with a long coat and a beard,” saidAssociate Professor Rose Pringle, a scienceeducator who is leading the study. “Somewherealong the line we have lost too manyof these children, and they are not beingmade aware that they can be successful inthe sciences.”Pringle and her colleagues, ProfessorThomasenia Adams (in mathematicseducation) and Assistant Professor CirecieWest-Olatunji (in counselor education),have spent the past year trying to find outwhy. They’ve interviewed African-Americangirls in the crucial middle grades tofind out why so many bright young sciencestudents choose to go no farther thanthe basics in math and science.The collaborating researchers foundthat the girls in the pilot study did not, byand large, see themselves as future scientists,and they adopted that attitude largelybecause the people around them didn’t seethem as scientists either. What’s more, thegirls were well aware that they were beingpushed in a certain direction.The researchers say counselors andteachers send out subtle—but veryclear—messages about their expectations.For instance, when a black studentexpresses an interest in higher education, acounselor might suggest community college,rather than a four-year college.“Educators are constantly asking, howdo we win their hearts and minds, howdo we get these kids interested in science,”West-Olatunji said. “Yet, in practice, itseems that counselors and teachers are stillplaying a gate-keeping role.”The problem doesn’t start or stop in theclassroom, the researchers say. After all,students spend most of their time outsidethe classroom, in a world that sends kidsa million little messages about gender andrace. For the most part, those messagesaren’t telling black girls they should bescientists. In fact, the researchers say, eventhe girls’ teachers may doubt their own rolein the scientific and quantitative world.“We’re not laying the blame on teachers,”Adams said. “We ought to ask ourselves:does the teacher in the science classroomeven perceive herself as a scientist?”The grant comes as the NSF and othernational organizations are searching for newways to encourage students of all backgroundsto enter science and mathematicsfields.“For African Americans, and especiallygirls, the crisis is not coming, it’s alreadyhere,” said Pringle.The Promise of TomorrowIn today’s tumultuous world of education, the UFCollege of Education holds the promise of the future.Florida Tomorrow—a place, a belief, a day. Florida Tomorrowis for dreamers and doers, for optimists and pragmatists,for scholars and entrepreneurs.What is Florida Tomorrow? Here at the College ofEducation, we believe it’s an opportunity, one filledwith promise and hope. It is that belief that feeds theuniversity’s record capital campaign to raise more than$1.5 billion.The college has set its sights on an equally ambitious$20 million fundraising goal, reflecting a commitment totransform education at all levels—from cradle to collegeto career advancement.Few issues will dominate the 21st century as much asthe need to increase educational levels even higher amongall citizens as we move into a more competitive globalenvironment.With dwindling state support and stiff competition forfederal research funds, the College of Education must relymore than ever on private charitable giving to address themost critical needs of education and enhance our nationalstanding as one of America’s best education colleges.Our Florida Tomorrow campaign will shape the college,certainly. But its ripple effect will also touch the stateof Florida, the nation and entire world. Florida Tomorrowis pioneering research and spirited academic programs.It’s a fertile environment for inquiry, teaching and learning.It’s being at the forefront to address the challengesfacing all of us, both today and tomorrow.College of EducationFlorida Tomorrow Campaign GoalsCampus EnhancementEducation technology annex and renovations at Norman HallFaculty SupportEndowed chairsEndowed research professorshipsP.K. Yonge program for teacher renewalGraduate Student SupportEndowed fellowshipsEndowed scholarshipsProgram Support & ResearchEarly Childhood Center of ExcellenceStrengthen outreach programs of national impactP.K. Yonge education and outreach in science, technology,engineering and mathTOTAL$7.3 million$6 million$1 million$5.7 million$20 million22 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008

special section: capital campaignspecial section: capital campaignCollege of EducationMaking a CaseOur Florida Tomorrow campaign identifies the College’s most critical needs and fundraising priorities, and outlines the College’spromise and vision for the future. The public phase of the campaign kicked off in September of 2007 and runs through 2012. As ourmost ambitious fund-raising initiative ever, the support generated by Florida Tomorrow will yield unprecedented advances in teachingand learning, enhance educator preparation and help us address the most critical issues and concerns of the day in education.Campaign Goals & Objectives1. CAMPUS ENHANCEMENT: Create a new physical infrastructurewithin historic Norman Hall that supports key growthin a new area of interdisciplinary research and teaching—focusingon technology and education.Objective: Perform sorely needed renovations and expansion ofvintage Norman Hall, to include a new Experiential LearningComplex (ELC) to study and promote technology as a key componentto future learning.2. FACULTY SUPPORT: Continue to build an already strongreputation nationally by supporting and recruiting top faculty inkey research areas.Objectives: (1) Add at least three research professorships andfund at least one endowed chair in the following areas: urbanleadership, math and science education, and education technology;(2) Support new Teacher Renewal Program at our P.K. YongeK-12 laboratory school.3. GRADUATE STUDENT SUPPORT: Continue to build astrong student base by focusing on graduate level students.Objective: Create at least two new endowed graduate fellowshipsand three endowed graduate scholarships.4. PROGRAM SUPPORT & RESEARCH: Strengthenacademic and outreach programs at both the college andP.K. Yonge Developmental Research School at UF that focus onengaged scholarship and have a national impact.Objectives: (1) Create an Early Childhood Center of Excellence;(2) Further extend the reach and impact of three major outreachprograms: the UF Alliance, the Center for School Improvementand the Lastinger Center for Learning; (3) Boost the P.K. Yongeschool’s education and outreach programs in the critical “STEM”disciplines of science, technology, engineering and math.Florida Tomorrow is . . .a place . . .Florida Tomorrow is a place where every school isready to help all students succeed.a day . . .Florida Tomorrow is a day when all children enterschool prepared to learn.Early childhood education is a core priority at UF’s College of Education. UF early-childhoodspecialists are partnering with public schools, school districts and communities to expandresearch-proven school-readiness programs—first in Miami-Dade County schools and thenthroughout Florida. The program is designed to smooth the transition to school for the alarmingnumber of children who are likely to start school unprepared.The 2007 appointment of top scholar Patricia Snyder as the first occupant of the David LawrenceJr. Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Studies is the latest milestone in the College’s effort.UF is emerging as a national player in the movement to ensure that every child will have anearly childhood that lays the foundation for a successful life.Three College-wide centers each focus on different aspects of school improvement, and allare expanding their reach. The Lastinger Center for Learning, known for developing improvedmodels of teaching and learning, now partners with some 40 elementary schools around thestate. The UF Alliance, already paired with six inner-city high schools in Jacksonville, Orlandoand Miami, has extended its college awareness and access initiatives into 15 middle schools inFlorida’s three largest cities. The third program, UF’s Center for School Improvement, providesspecialized professional development to educators throughout North Central Florida and is nowbroadening its focus to include some partnering middle schools.a belief . . .Florida Tomorrow is a belief that everyonedeserves access to high-quality education.Like most of her high school classmates in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, Jackie Bassallofaced tough odds of making it to college. No family member had ever attended college, noteven before fleeing their Cuban homeland.Jackie’s fortunes changes thanks to the UF Alliance. Through that program, Jackie joinedclassmates on a campus visit to UF and received an Alliance scholarship to UF, eventually earninga marketing degree and then a master’s in 2008.The UF Alliance provides outreach, peer-mentoring, scholarships and myriad college accessactivities to more than 1,000 middle and high school students from Florida’s most challengedurban areas.The UF Alliance joins a growing list of College activities—fostering college access, inclusion oflearning-disabled students and statewide school improvement—that can ensure that all Floridianshave access to high-quality education.

special section: capital campaignOur Vision of TomorrowThe future of Florida and our nation rests upon ensuringequal opportunities to learn, at every education level. At UF’sCollege of Education, we are committed to prepare the mostqualified educators to transform schools and become the nextgeneration of leaders in higher education.Our faculty scholars work with families and parents to identifybest practices to facilitate children’s readiness for school.We create effective partnerships with schools and communitiesfor sustained improvement, especially in high-poverty areas. Weconduct innovative research on critical issues such as assessmentstrategies, professional development models, literacy andsecond-language acquisition, and science, technology and mathinitiatives.Your support through the Florida Tomorrow campaign canhelp us change the face of education in today’s complex world.Our campaign goals reflect our commitment to transform alllevels of education—starting with our youngest children.Plans call for expanding new school-readiness programs intocommunities throughout Florida. We also will create a multidisciplinaryEarly Childhood Center of Excellence to study allaspects of education and health for young children.Our statewide network of partnering schools continues togrow as funding allows, serving as a forum for sharing ideas andexperiences, and offering professional development and graduate-studyopportunities for partnering teachers and principalsonline and in their own classrooms.We have targeted adding more graduate fellowships andscholarships with a research-intensive focus, and more endowedfaculty chairs and named professorships to lead vital studiesin math and science education, urban school leadership andinclusion.The College’s most ambitious proposal is the expansionof historic Norman Hall to create an education research andtechnology annex—to be called the Experiential LearningComplex, or ELC. This state-of-the-art facility will draw interdisciplinaryresearch teams from across the campus, adaptingthe latest information technologies to transform how educationhas been traditionally defined and delivered.Our list of funding priorities also reflects our longstandingconnections with P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School,our nearby K-12 laboratory school.With your contributions spurring our efforts, Florida Tomorrowwill bring the day when all children enter school preparedto learn, every school is ready to help all students succeed, andeveryone has clear access to a high-quality education.What greater legacy than to help crystallize the FloridaTomorrow vision into reality?How will you change …Be the difference — contact the UF College of EducationDevelopment Office: Development@coe.ufl.edu,or (352) 392-0728, ext. 600.?ProTeach’er steps into big shoesas Solich Scholarship recipientAnyone who enters the teaching professionis taking on a daunting responsibility,but for Luke Witkowski, the pressure tosucceed just got turned up a notch.Witkowski, a recent graduate of SocialStudies ProTeach, is the first recipient of theMichael Solich Scholarship, an award namedfor one of the most respected—andmissed—studentsin recent COE history.“I never did get thechance to meet MikeSolich,” said Witkowski.“But I feel like I know himby reputation, becauseeveryone here knew him,and everyone has a storyabout what a great teacherhe was.”Michael John Solich wasconsidered one of the brightlights in Social Studies Proteachas he neared graduation in the summerof 2006. Students responded to his engagingclassroom delivery. Professors remarked onhis passion for the subject matter. Administratorsat Ida S. Baker High School in CapeCoral were eager to sign him up as a facultymember for the coming school year.When Solich died in a boating accidentover Independence Day weekend—justweeks before graduation—it left studentsand professors in a state of shock. To honorhis memory, friends and family collectedfunds to establish the Solich Scholarship, a$500 award for an outstanding social studiesProteach’er.For Professor Elizabeth Washington, oneof the three people charged with selectinga recipient, singling out a recipient seemedlike a daunting task. After all, Proteach’ersneed high GRE scores to get into theprogram, they need high grades to stay in,and each of them does largely the samecoursework. If anything was going to set onestudent apart, Yeager said, it would have tobe classroom presence.“We wanted to give the award to someonewho had that special something, likeMike did,” Washington said. “When MikeKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF PhotographyMike Solich (above) was oneof the “bright lights” in SocialStudies ProTeach.LARRY LANSFORD/Ed Timeswas in the classroom, it was like he waswalking on air.”After seeing Luke Witkowski in theclassroom during his internship at HowardBishop Middle School, Washington and hercolleagues knew they had their man.“When you see Luke in the classroom,you get the feeling thatevery moment of his life wasbuilding up to this,” she said.“There’s no place on earth he’drather be, and the students cansee that.”Witkowski, who is nowteaching full-time at HowardBishop, agrees with that assessment.As early as 10th grade,the Dunnellon native says,he was telling his guidancecounselors that he wanted toteach history.Years of amateur theater—he has appeared in more than 10 Shakespeareanproductions in Citrus County—helped Witkowski become more comfortablein front of a crowd. But they didn’tprovide the thrill he gets from teaching.“I just love the look in their eyes whenthey’re really into what they’re learning,” hesaid. “It’s the best feeling in the world.”– Tim LockettestudentsStudent studyon Muslim teenswins grantShifa Podikunju-Hussain, adoctoral candidate in CounselorEducation, was awarded a $500research grant from the Associationfor Spiritual, Ethical andReligious Values in Counselingfor her research on the acculturationissues of Muslim teens in theUnited States. The research, whichis part of her dissertation, wasalso profiled in the April 2007issue of the American CounselingAssociation’s Counseling Today.Podikunju-HussainFrom left, Professor Elizabeth Washington, Mark Solich (Mike’s twin), Luke Witkowski and parentsGary and Cathy Solich.TIMLOCKETTE/Ed TimesFall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 27 23

students20Student Awards08Andrew GrunzkeOutstanding Graduate Research AwardIn research, sometimes the mostgroundbreaking insights occur when theexperts share their knowledge with specialistsin other disciplines. Recent doctoralgraduate Andrew Grunzke is like a onemanmultidisciplinary research team.In his “day job,” Grunzke teaches ina special education classroom at the ClayCounty school district’s alternative learningcenter. As a UF doctoral student infoundations of education, he combineda strong background in English literatureand his studies in education history tocraft elegant, insightful research on theintersection between academia and popularculture. His dissertation, under thedirection of Associate Professor Sevan G.Terzian, looked at the role of Frank Baum’s“Oz” books in American education, goingbeyond the obvious connections to look atthe role the series played in the commercializationof children’s literature and theway politically-themed children’s bookswere attacked during the Cold War.In other work, he has looked at issuesas diverse as the depiction of scientists in1960s films and the rise of underground‘zines.Adriane McGheeOutstanding Graduate Leadership AwardThe best teachers are also leaders intheir community, and Adriane McGheehas played a leadership role within theCollege of Education, in local schools, andin the community. She served as a coordinator,organizer and promoter for theUnified Student Early Childhood Association,and chaired two USECA workshopswhich drew more than 100 attendees. Sheled USECA’s “Send Irby to Broadway”campaign, which raised money to helpsend students from W.W. Irby ElementarySchool to a performance of “Beauty andthe Beast.” She co-chaired the committeethat organized a Halloween celebrationfor Maguire Village, UF’s family housingcomplex, and she led the organizing committeefor the annual Winter Celebrationat Williams Elementary.McGhee managed these duties ontop of a full academic load as a master’sstudent in elementary education with anemphasis in educational technology andan internship in a second-grade classroom.Katie TricaricoOutstanding Graduate Research AwardKatie Tricarico has spent the last twoyears coaching a group of new teachersthrough their first years in urban schools.As a master’s student in curriculum andinstruction, Tricarico studied the teachingstrategies of alternatively-certified teachers.As a research assistant for UF’s Center forSchool Improvement, a teacher with sixyears’ experience, and a researcher for UF’sLastinger Center for Learning, she drewon her knowledge to develop a coachingmodel to help alternatively-certified teachersshape their curriculum to meet theneeds of every student. She regularly droveto Duval County to coach new teachersin the area’s most challenged schools, andevaluated the results of her work as partof her master’s thesis. Recognizing thatteachers often need advice beyond theirfirst year, Tricarico elected to continue hermentoring beyond the typical one-yearapprenticeship. Tricarico also maintained aperfect 4.0 grade point average, was activein the Student Alliance of Graduates inEducation, and presented her work at stateand national conferences.Sarah RyalsOutstanding Undergraduate Leadership AwardDespite a full academic load and apart-time job on the side, Sarah Ryalshas managed to hold several leadershippositions in the Education CollegeCouncil, an umbrella organization whichcombines the operations of the Collegeof Education’s five largest and most activestudent groups. As secretary, vice presidentand most recently president of ECC, Ryalshas been involved in a number of events tobenefit the community, including “HolidayCheer,” a project that raised funds fora holiday celebration for underprivilegedchildren in Gainesville, and a holidaycelebration for children in the after-schoolprogram at Williams Elementary. She ledthe creation of the ECC production labin Norman Hall, which any student canuse to prepare materials for their classes.During her term as president, ECC wasnamed Council of the Year by UF’s Boardof College Councils.Carolyn BellottiOutstanding UndergraduateProfessional Practice AwardHolding a perfect 4.0 grade point averagein one’s major is a significant accomplishment,but Carolyn Bellotti has donemore than that. For her High Honorsproject, Bellotti performed a comprehensivereview of the available researchon service learning in elementary schoolsand developed a set of guidelines teacherscan use to implement service learningin elementary classrooms. She has beeninvolved in Kappa Delta Pi InternationalHonor Society and Future Educators ofAmerica. Bellotti has also taught vacationBible school, volunteered at Baby GatorChild Development and Research Centerand the After School Gators program,and helped her fellow students organizea fundraiser for the Harvest of HopeFoundation.Jessica HarsterOutstanding UndergraduateProfessional Practice AwardTechnological skills are vital for anyteacher preparing to enter modern-dayschools, and elementary education studentJessica Harster has shown that she is wellpreparedto use information technologyin today’s classroom. In technology-relatedcourses, she has turned in exceptionalwork – including a “claymation”instructional video on fire safety and amicroteaching lesson on the use of digitalcameras. Harster has also been active inthe UF community, serving as professionaldevelopment executive chair forthe local chapter of the Florida EducationAssociation and serving on Kappa KappaGamma sorority’s committee for academicexcellence.24 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 25

facultyhonors2008 College of EducationLifetime Achievement Award: Larry LoeschCommunity college councilhonors CampbellThe world of counseling wouldbe very different today if not for theinfluence of Larry Loesch. WhenLoesch joined the UF faculty in 1973,the counseling profession was virtuallyunregulated. Anyone could hangout a shingle and declare themselvesa counselor – no matter their level ofpreparation – leading to a great dealof confusion for clients and embarrassmentfor the profession itself.Loesch played a crucial role in establishingcertification procedures thatLoeschwould change that.As one of the first members of the NationalBoard for Certified Counselors, first president of theFlorida Association for Measurement and Evaluationin Guidance and founding member and officerFerdig’s university-wide honor recognizes his distinguished researchachievements over the past five years.Associate Professor Rick Ferdig, a leading scholarin virtual schooling and a pioneer in the new movementto harness the power of video games in theclassroom, has been awarded a University of FloridaResearch Foundation Professorship.Ferdig was one of fewer than three dozen recipientsof the prestigious award, given annually to UFfaculty who are selected through a competitive process.The three-yearaward, which comeswith a $5,000salary supplementand a $3,000 onetimegrant, honorsresearchers whohave shown a distinguishedrecordof service over theprevious five years.A faculty memberin the educationaltechnologyprogram in theSchool of Teachingand Learning sincefor a number of other organizations,Loesch was one of the leaders indevelopment of the National CounselingExam, which is now the goldstandard for the licensing of professionalcounselors.Loesch, who recently retired, haspublished more than 100 articles,books or book chapters and engagedin many research projects in AlachuaCounty schools, taught in Slovakia asa Fulbright Scholar and served as anexternal examiner to the Universityof Botswana’s fledgling counselingprogram. His accomplishments have led the AmericanCounseling Association to name him a Fellowof their organization and give him their Arthur A.Hitchcock Distinguished Professional Service Award.Rising star in virtual schooling, educational videogames named UF Research Foundation ProfessorLARRY LANSFORD/Ed Times2001, Ferdig is principal investigator on an AT&TFoundation-funded study in which he is assessingthe outcomes of distance education programsin various K-12 systems in 22 states. The effort isone of the first comprehensive studies to determinewhich teaching techniques are most effective inonline education.Ferdig, who has a Ph.D. in educational psychologyfrom Michigan State University, is also a prominentfigure in the emerging field of educationalvideo games and virtual environments. He recentlyaccepted a position as editor of The InternationalJournal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations,one of the few regularly-published, peer-reviewedjournals in the field.In summer 2007, Ferdig traveled to Rwanda,where education officials are looking to 21 st centurycomputing to provide possible solutions forproblems in a chronically under-resourced schoolsystem. Ferdig assessed various schools and is studyingways to provide cost-effective and appropriatehardware and software for use in Rwandan schools.He expects to return to central Africa next summerto continue the project.Dale Campbell, professor of educational administrationand policy, has been honored by the Councilfor the Study of Community Colleges.Campbell, director of the UF-based CommunityCollege Research Consortium, received the organization’sDistinguished Service Award, which recognizespeople and organizations which have made outstandingcontributions to innovation and leadership incommunity colleges—with a focus on applicationrather than on scholarship alone.Campbell has been the driving force behind UF’sBellwether Awards, which are granted every year tohonor community college administrators for excellencein leadership. His research focuses on trendsof concern to community college administrators;Campbell and his colleagues were among the first tosound the warning about the looming shortage ofqualified community college administrators.The CSCC is an affiliate of the American Associationof Community Colleges.* * *Campbell and a recent UF doctoral graduate alsohave been invited to jointly edit the SACS-SACJTCJournal, the scholarly publication published by theSouthern Association of Community, Junior andTechnical Colleges. Campbell’s co-editor is MattBasham, now an assistant professor of educationalleadership at the University of Texas-Arlington.Basham received his Ph.D. last year in higher educationadministration from UF.ConwillConwill cops counselinggroup awardsThe Association for Multicultural Counselingand Development, or AMCD, has awardedWilliam Conwill, assistant professor in counseloreducation, its Meritorious Service Award and itsExemplary Diversity Leadership Award. A divisionof the American Counseling Association, theAMCD is focused on preparing global leadership,research, training and development for multiculturalcounseling professionals with a focus onracial and ethnic issues.Black psychologistsgroup fetes CounselorEd professorThe Association of Black Psychologists (AB-Psi) has presented UF Counselor Education AssistantProfessor Cirecie West-Olatunji with oneof its highest honors—the 2007 CommunityService Award. The award honors her post-HurricaneKatrina recovery efforts in New Orleansand her extensive work with Florida AlternativeBreak—a program allowing UF studentsto spend their spring break on public-serviceprojects. West-Olatunji recently led a group ofcounselor education students on a trip to southernAfrica, providing training to counselors andservices to AIDS survivors and donated $6000worth of books to the University of Botswana.LARRY LANSFORD/Ed TimesCampbell26 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 27

facultyKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF Photography20Teacher of the YearAWARDSTerzian garners college and campuswide honors.Mary Ann Clark• Graduate Teacher of the Year08honorsSevan Terzian• UF University Teacher of the Year• COE Undergraduate Teacher of the YearWhat do Native American boarding schools, 1950s mental hygienefilms and the Booker T. Washington/W.E.B. Du Bois debatehave in common? They’re all part of the history of American education—andthey’re all things Associate Professor Sevan Terzian usesto teach his undergraduate students how our schools became whatthey are today.Terzian, known for his innovative approaches to teaching educationhistory, has been named a UF University Teacher of the Year.The honor—given each year to only one or two professors amongthe UF’s entire faculty—came to Terzian just a few weeks after theCollege of Education named him its 2008 Undergraduate Teacherof the Year.Students often report that Terzian’s is the hardest course they’veever taken—and the most rewarding—and colleagues have expressedadmiration for Terzian’s ability to build well constructedclassroom experiences.Outside the classroom, Terzian has devoted much of his researchcareer to the study of the history of the American high school, witha focus on attitudes about science, gender and education in thepost-WWII era. Terzian has been at UF since 2000, and he holdsdoctorates in American studies and the history of education fromIndiana University.LARRY LANSFORD/Ed TimesSchool psychology group cites Joycefor gender learning gap researchDoboys really lag behind girls in reading achievement,and do girls really lag behind boys in math?Diana Joyce, an assistant scholar in UF’s Departmentof Educational Psychology, took another look at this bit ofconventional wisdom. The results earned her the PsychologicalCorporation/National Association of School Psychologists’ inauguralJunior Faculty of the Year Award.Joyce analyzed 8,000 test scores from the Woodcock-JohnsonTests of Achievement, widely used in school evaluations to measureacademic achievement. She wanted to use the large sample to takea closer look at widely accepted notions about race, gender andachievement in different academic subjects. With women now aheadof men in college enrollment, and major reforms going on in K-12education, were the old assumptions about boys and girls still valid?“Past studies had shown girls ahead in reading and there is alwaysthe contention that boys are generally ahead in math,” she said. “Iwanted to see if that was still happening, and I wanted to break theresults down by ethnicity.”She found that, in this sample at least, the old trends generallyheld true. Girls performed better in reading and writing, while boysmaintained a hold to their claim on better math scores in somenarrow skill areas such as applied math problems. National scoresindicate girls are actually gaining some ground in math, but boys stillgenerally performed better on some senior-level math aptitude tests.“Probably the most significant finding was that the gender differencesheld true across ethnic groups, which would indicate that thisis indeed a gendered issue,” Joyce said.Joyce said her study’s results don’t mean that boys are innatelybetter at math, or girls at reading. The preponderance of boys inremedial reading classes may mean that early interventions for boysneed to be improved, she said. Or boys may be turned off by a readingcurriculum that is more attuned to girls’ interests.The reasons for girls’ post-secondary math performance are a littleclearer. Studies clearly show that while girls, on average, get goodgrades in math classes, they sometimes don’t elect to take prerequisiteadvanced math courses and are underrepresented in STEM (sciencetechnology-engineering-mathematics)career program enrollment.The reasons why are murky, but they’re something Joyce would liketo study.“I know that in interviews, girls often say they want a career thathelps people,” said Joyce, who also works as a school psychologist atP.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, UF’s K-12 laboratoryschool.“One hypothesis is that girls stay away from math and scienceclasses because they don’t see them as disciplines that are people-oriented,”Joyce said. “We need to remind them that STEM (science,technology, engineering and mathematics) disciplines are about morethan building roads or bridges – these skills can be used in fields likemedicine to help people in a direct way.”Award-winning research by Diana Joyce (shown, right, helping one of herstudents) suggests the perceived gender learning gap is indeed valid.FAMU names buildingfor former professorFormer UF education professor Walter L. Smith has receivedone of the highest honors a university can bestow. Florida A & MUniversity has renamed its architecture building after Smith, whoserved as the university’s president from 1977 to 1985.At FAMU, Smith was best known for expanding the college’sprograms and establishing the university’s first doctoral program.Smith says his push for new campus facilities in the 1980s, at atime when the Board of Regents was reluctant to fund new facilitiesthere, was probably the reason FAMU’s architecture facultyrequested their building be named in his honor.Smith also is a FAMU alumnus, earning his bachelor’s degreethere along with a doctorate from Florida State.After leaving the presidency of FAMU, Smith traveled to postapartheidSouth Africa to help that nation establish a communitycollege system. That project was ongoing in 1995, when he joinedthe faculty of UF’s Educational Leadership and Policy department.At UF, Smith’s community college expertise provided a valuablecontribution the Institute of Higher Education. He retired fromUF in 2000 and now lives in Tampa, where he bought a buildingin his old neighborhood and turned it intoa library for neighborhood children.Her students describe her as genuine, candid and caring. Herresearch gets to the heart of one of most perplexing mysteries ineducation today.Small wonder that Mary Ann Clark, an associate professor inCounselor Education and B. O. Smith Research Professor, has beenselected as the UF College of Education Graduate Teacher of theYear for 2008.A lead investigator on international, national, and local researchon male underachievement, she has involved her students in actionresearch in local schools, encouraging them to present and publishtheir collaborative work. Clark makes sure her students acquire realworld knowledge of the profession and encourages them to takeresponsibility for contributing to interventions and solutions forissues in schools as they prepare to become professionals.Smith (left) with DavidHorton, the 2007Clark has authored or co-authored 34 publications, includingrecipient of a COEthree books, and has made numerous regional, national and internationalpresentations on four continents. As one student stated,scholarship createdby Smith.“She makes you feel like you are important. Consequently, Dr.Clark’s students strive to do their best for her.”Clark, center, with graduate students Heather Adams, left, and Erin Oakley.— Tim Lockette28 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 29KRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF Photography

facultyA fond farewell (but not really goodbye) to 8 retiring facultyThe great thing about the academic world is that you never really have to say goodbye. The College of Educationbid an official farewell to a number of retiring faculty over the past year, but many of these scholars will remainactive in research in their roles as emeritus professors—and all of them have produced scholarship that will deepenour understanding of education for years to come. Among the retirees are:Jeri BensonAssociate DeanBefore joining the College ofEducation as associate dean foracademic affairs in 2004, JeriBenson was associate dean offinance and administration andassociate dean for academic affairsat the University of Georgia’s Collegeof Education. She also was a member of the facultyat UGA for 10 years prior to her move into administration.During her professional career of 31 years, she alsohas been on the faculty at the University of SouthernCalifornia and the University of Maryland-College Park.She taught graduate level courses in measurement, statistics,and structural modeling. She has published nearly50 journal articles and book chapters. Her researchinterests include the measurement of test anxiety andstatistical approaches to construct validation. At UF, shehas worked with faculty development including hiring,promotion and tenure, and other UF reviews; she hashelped to lead the college’s state and national accreditationefforts; worked to develop the fiscal side of thecollege’s distance education operation; and numerousprojects related to the college budget and operations. Analumna of UF, Benson earned her Ph.D. in foundationsof education at the College of Education.Phil ClarkEducational Administrationand PolicySince 1972, Professor PhilClark has been director of theStewart Mott Davis Center forCommunity Education, whichhelps communities developeducational programs to meetthe changing needs of citizens. A leader in the fields ofleadership and community education, Clark has representedthe United States, Canada and Bermuda on theInternational Community Education Executive Board,and has received distinguished service awards from PhiDelta Kappa, the National Community EducationAssociation, the Florida Association for CommunityEducation, and the Adult and Community Educators ofFlorida, Inc.Jim DoudEducational Administrationand PolicyProfessor Jim Doud becameone of the nation’s youngest highschool principals at the age of 21,and went on to a 26-year career inK-8 administration before joiningthe professoriate. Doud taught atthe University of Northern Iowa before coming to UF,where he served from 1994 to 2005 as the chair of theEducational Administration and Policy department.Among other honors, Doud has been named HonoraryNational Distinguished Principal by the NationalAssociation of Elementary School Principals and is arecipient of the John M. David Distinguished EducationalLeadership Award from the Southern Associationof Colleges and Schools.Mary Kay DykesSpecial EducationSpecial Education ProfessorMary Kay Dykes has builther career on finding solutionsfor students who don’t fit thetraditional mold provided by theK-12 school system. Much ofher research has centered on theneeds of gifted students, particularly “nontraditional”gifted students—those who are disabled, economicallydisadvantaged or from cultural groups that are underrepresentedin gifted education. Long before multidisciplinaryprojects came to the fore in academia, Dykessaw the potential benefit in working with specialists inother fields, and developed cross-disciplinary projectsthat looked at the role therapy, nutrition and otherhealth issues play in student outcomes. Popular withher students, Dykes received the college’s GraduateTeacher of the Year Award multiple times. She chairedthree divisions of the Council for Exceptional Children.Dykes served as executive director of curriculum servicesfor the School Board of Alachua County from 2002-2004, where she coordinated a number of innovativenew federally-funded programs in the county schools.John GregoryTeaching and LearningProfessor John Gregory isperhaps best known for his researchon the way mathematics teachersask questions of their students, andin particular, his studies of howteachers’ silences can encouragestudents to participate. But over his35-year career as a teacher educator, he also wrote a numberof books intended to make mathematics fun for K-12students—including a book of number puzzles in limerickform. Gregory has served as a writer of the Sunshine StateStandards and a consultant on the Florida Teacher CertificationExamination.Larry LoeschCounselor EducationProfessor Larry Loesch cameto UF at a time when the counselingprofession was almost entirelyunregulated, and played a crucialrole in the movement to establishcertification procedures thatwould boost the reputation of theprofession nationwide. A leader in the development of theNational Counseling Exam, he was also the first presidentof Florida Association for Measurement and Evaluationin Guidance. His accomplishments led the AmericanCounseling Association to name him a Fellow of theirorganization and to give him their Arthur A. HitchcockDistinguished Professional Service Award.Rodman WebbEducational PsychologyAs associate dean for academicaffairs at the turn of the 21st Century,Rodman Webb played a key rolein the College’s shift to a facultygovernanceleadership model, andhelped lead a number of efforts totransform the built environment atNorman Hall—including the conversion of the NormanGym into the Digital Worlds Institute and the plannedconstruction of a super-high-tech Experiential LearningComplex. As a professor in the educational psychology,Webb taught qualitative research methodologies to ageneration of young researchers. His own research interestsinclude the philosophy of social science, pragmatism,school improvement, teacher careers and the education ofstudents at risk of school failure.Paul GeorgeTeaching and LearningDistinguished Professor PaulGeorge was one of the leading voicesin the middle school movement thatchanged the structure of K-12 educationin the 1970s. A K-12 teacher for10 years before he became a professor,George spent one week per semester inthe K-12 classroom during his tenureat UF—drawing insights that kepthis work fresh. Since arriving here in1972, he has written more than 150articles, books, textbook chapters orother publications, and many of hisworks are considered to be classics intheir field. Middle School Journal hasdescribed him as the nation’s “No.1 ranking scholar” in middle gradeseducation, and George has worked as aconsultant in nearly all of the 50 statesand 15 countries. Though enteringretirement, George has been workingon a number of projects, including acomprehensive review of the state ofmiddle-grades education, funded bythe Helios Foundation.30 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 31

facultyBehar-HorensteinDixonGarrettDental journal appointsCOE professorLinda Behar-Horenstein, professor in educationaladministration and policy, has beenappointed to the editorial board of the Journalof Dental Education. One of the nation’s mostinfluential publications on academic dentistry,the JDE publishes dental research and articles onthe instruction of student dentists. As an affiliateprofessor at UF’s College of Dentistry, Behar-Horensteinhas helped that college improve its teachingmethods. Last year, she was appointed to UF’sAcademy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars, atask force dedicated to improving teaching acrossthe UF campus.Honor societyelects DixonAndrea Dixon, associate professor of counseloreducation, has been elected to a three-year termas secretary of Chi Sigma Iota, the internationalhonor society for professional counselors. Dixonalso serves as co-faculty advisor to the UF BetaChapter of CSI.Garrett namedASGW FellowMichael T. Garrett, professor in counseloreducation, was named a Fellow of the Associationfor Specialists in Group Work, or ASGW, at theAmerican Counseling Association’s 2007 annualconvention in Detroit. The ASGW representsaround 900 group work specialists and teachereducators nationwide.Fu joins advisory bodyon teaching of writingThe National Council of Teachers of English hasappointed UF Education Professor Danling Fu to itsCommission on Composition, the deliberative andadvisory body that helpsset policy for NCTEand its 60,000 memberteachers and institutions.The commissionidentifies and reports onkey issues in the teachingof writing for theNCTE, recommendsnew projects for the organization,and suggestsFu (right) with a writing studentat a local elementary school.appointmentsDean heads nationalgroup promoting higheredaccess for minoritiesDean Catherine Emihovich has been electedpresident of the Holmes Partnership, a consortiumof local and national education interests dedicatedto equitable education and reform in teaching andlearning.The consortium unites educators from universities,public school districts, teachers’ associationsand other organizations working together to createa powerful, unified voice in educational reform.The group tackles issues such as equal access andsocial justice in education and—through the HolmesScholars program—provides scholarship andleadership placement opportunities for underrepresenteddoctoral students seeking academic careersin higher education.Emihovich has been a Holmes Partnershipmember since 1994. Her scholarly pursuits matchup well with the humanistic mission and activitiesof the Holmes Partnership. Her major research interestsinclude race, class and gender equity issues;literacy education and school-university partnerships.She is a past president of the Council onAnthropology and Education within the AmericanAnthropological Association, and a past editor ofAnthropology and Education Quarterly.new topics for booksproduced by NCTE.Experts in high-poverty schools, special educationawarded prestigious Fien professorshipsBrownell, left, and Ross32 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 33Anexpert in preparing teachers for high-povertyschools and a nationally-known authorityon special education have each been awardedthe prestigious Irving and Rose Fien Professorship inEducation at UF’s College of Education.Professors Dorene Ross in Teaching and Learningand Mary Brownell in Special Education are the newrecipients of the endowed professorship, which forthe past decade has supported researchers dedicatedto helping “at risk” learners in K-12 schools.A co-creator of UF’s renowned ProTeach teacherpreparationprogram, Ross is well-known for herefforts to prepare quality teachers for high-povertyschools. She has helped to design a school-reformstrategy that helps schools change their cultures anddevelop self-evaluation methods that allow teachersto improve their teaching practice. She also is partof the leadership team implementing and evaluatingsystemic reform in elementary schools in Miami,funded by the Kellogg Foundation.As a Fien Professor, Ross plans to work withother faculty and partnering school districts to createblended professional development opportunitiesthat couple online access to expert knowledge withschool-based coaches who help teachers developinquiries around their new learning. This approachbypasses the one-size-fits-all approach to teacherprofessional development and makes it more likelyteachers will implement what they learn.“By drawing on the vast resources available atUF we can create a library where groups of teacherscan come to find exactly the material they needto meet the demands of their classrooms,” she said,“rather than asking all the teachers in a single schoolto study the same material.”Mary Brownell is a leading international scholaron issues related to understanding the motivationsand traits of the best special education teachers—withan eye toward helping school systems fillthe dire shortages of teachers who are truly qualifiedto teach special-needs students. She is currentlyworking on a U.S. Department of Education-fundedeffort to create a new model of professional developmentfor special education teachers.“My goal is to develop the literacy practice ofspecial and general education teachers working withhigh-risk students,” Brownell said. She is interestedparticularly in finding ways to incorporate technologyinto the work she and her colleagues are doing.Brownell says teachers of students with disabilitiesand other high-risk learners need to be the strongestin the system, which is why the latest in technologymust be brought to bear in their field. “At the Universityof Florida, we have researchers in educationand other fields, such as computer science, that couldmake such a dream a reality,” she said.The Fien Professorship was created in by the lateIrving Fien, founder of Fine Distributing, a Miamibasedfood distribution company. In 1998, Fienmade a gift establishing the endowed professorshipin honor of his late wife Rose. With matching fundsfrom the state and additional gifts from the GreaterMiami Jewish Federation, the professorship is nowworth $1.17 million.“Irving Fien’s gift has a greater impact than heprobably anticipated,” said Catherine Emihovich,dean of the College of Education. “In an era ofshrinking government funding, gifts like his aremuch more vital to education than they were justfive to 10 years ago.”TIM LOCKETTE/Ed Times

passagesAlumniAlumni Association executiveJohn P. “Phil” Griffin Jr., 55, (MED ’77, EDS’77), Sept. 6, 2007, Gainesville. He worked at UFfor 27 years, first in admissions and, since 1986, atthe UF Alumni Association. Board members of theassociation, in his memory, have renamed one of theprograms he created: the Phil Griffin DistinguishedLecture Series at Emerson Hall.Former association presidentLester Milton Sponholtz, 94, (BSE ’40, MAE ’51),Jan. 17, 2007, Tallahassee. He was a lifelong educatorand served as president of the Bradford CountyTeacher’s Association in 1942.Retired USF education deanDr. Jean Allen Battle (EDD ’54 in educationpsychology), first dean of the College of Educationat the University of South Florida, died July 7, 2007.He was 93. During his 12 years as USF educationdean in Tampa, starting in 1959, Battle saw hisfaculty balloon from five to 200 members, as theschool’s academic programs blossomed into 39undergraduate and graduate teacher programs. Afterresigning as dean, he returned to teaching in USF’ssocial foundations of education program until hisretirement in 1989.COE fellowship donorThomas L. Harrow (BSE ’58,MED ’60), of Treasure Island,Fla., who with his wife, Anita,created a fellowship for UFgraduate students in K-12administration and communitycollege leadership, diedMarch 29, 2007. He workedin several Pinellas Countymiddle and high schools as ateacher, assistant principal andHarrowFirst UF married-couple graduateDorothy LockhartMorrison, (MAE ’44), ofJacksonville and formerlyof St. Petersburg, diedNov. 21, 2006. She andher late husband, MathewMorrison, reportedly werethe first married coupleto graduate togetherMorrisonfrom UF. They bothearned master’s degrees ineducation in 1944. She was a longtime teacher inPinellas County schools.Former FacultyEmeritus professor, access advocateMargaret Early, a UFemeritus professor whoquietly set up scholarshipsfor inner city kids, diedJune 28 at her home inGainesville. She was 84.Early served as chair of thecollege’s department ofinstruction and curriculumfrom 1985-1990 and was aEarlypast president of the NationalCouncil of Teachers of English (NCTE). After herretirement, Early used her own money, withoutfanfare, to begin a college scholarship program foran entire class of sixth-grade students at an innercityschool in Syracuse, N.Y.FriendsMajor supporter ofmiddle school reformin memoriamChristine Akers Shewey, of Kermit, W.Va.,and Gainesville, Fla., who with her husband,Fred, contributed $600,000 last year to create anendowment at UF’s College of Education, diedOct. 11, 2007. The couple’s donation supportsnew research and programs aimed at middle schoolreform and enhancement. (See gift story, page 44.)Memorial reception helps boostJames L. Wattenbarger fellowshipA memorial reception last spring at NormanHall honored the memory of James L. Wattenbarger(inset), a UF alumnus, longtime COEprofessor and architect of Florida’s communitycollege system. Wattenbarger(BAE ’43, MAE’47, EDD ’50) died in2006 at age 84. Thereception also servedas a springboard toboost the Dr. James L.Wattenbarger EndowedFellowship at the Collegeof Education. WithWattenbargerinterest earned on giftsfrom 132 donors since the fund’s creation in2004, the endowment today is worth $64,000.The yearly fellowship goes to a deserving doctoralstudent in pursuit of an Ed.D. or Ph.D. inhigher education administration. From 1957-67, Wattenbarger, as a UF education professor,was called on to lead the restructuring ofFlorida’s junior colleges. He used his doctoraldissertation as a model for developing the stateplan for community colleges. He remaineda major presence in the nation’s communitycollege movement until his retirement in 1992.He advised some 180 doctoral students and wasnamed Distinguished Service Professor for hisservice to the college and university.Contributions to the James L.Wattenbarger Fellowship Fund can bemade by mailing a check to: Universityof Florida Foundation, PO Box 14425,Gainesville, FL 32604. On the memoline, write “Wattenbarger EndowedFellowship (Fund #11967).” Call COEDevelopment for more information at(352) 392-0728, ext. 600.Marion Wattenbarger (right) and her sister Margaret Goodrum.Among the reception guests were former UF students of Wattenbarger’s, from left: CarolCopenhaver (PHD ‘86), Pam Maston (MED ‘75), Patricia Rowell (BAE ‘75, PHD ‘86),COE Assistant Dean Theresa Vernetson (MED ‘75, EDS ‘76, EDD ‘81), Donna Miller(PHD ‘86), and Joyce Taylor Gibson (PHD ‘83).principal, and served on the faculty of the Universityof Central Florida as a professor of education from1970-1993. The couple’s donation of $204,000 in2006 established the Thomas L. and Anita J. HarrowFellowship Fund, which covers expenses for selecteddoctoral students to attend a national conference topresent research related to their dissertations.* Notification of all death notices received since last issue published)Photos by Larry Lansford, Ed TimesFormer students of Wattenbarger’s, from left, are Susan Somers, (unidentified guest), Bud Harmsand George Corrick.34 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 35

alumniclass notes1947Faith Scripture Smith (MED. ’47) and herhusband, the Rev. Frank D. Smith, celebratedtheir 61st anniversary on May 31.1968Bob Crowley (BAE ’68) is president of CreativeBenefits for Educators, a marketer of insuranceand retirement programs to members of theFlorida Education Association and The FloridaAssociation of School Administrators. He comesto the job after a full career teaching Englishand history in Jacksonville, and subsequent jobsas executive director of Duval Teachers Unitedand later of the Orleans Educators Association(OEA). He engineered the merger of OEA intothe United Teachers of New Orleans, created theLouisiana Federation of Teachers, and worked asits executive director until retirement.1969Howard Rosenblatt (BAE ‘69) was reappointedchair of the Prepaid Legal Services Committeeof The Florida Bar and was recently profiledin the Work Life section of The GainesvilleSun. He recently was reelected president of theGainesville-Ocala Society of Financial ServiceProfessionals.1971EDUGATOR NEWSEunice (Martin) Baros (MED ‘71) of NorthPalm Beach was recently honored as theoutstanding alum from the numerous U.S.alumni chapters of Nova Southeastern University.Baros is a 1980 graduate of the NSU Law Schooland has been an assistant public defender inPalm Beach County for the last seven years. Hermentor at UF was Dr. Hal Lewis, who guidedher in the first UF Women’s Studies degree,recognized through the College of Education in1970-71. She is the founder and first president ofSavant-UF.1972Jon M. Saulson (BAE ’72, MED ’74, PHD’81 in special education) has worked as directorof disability services for Oglethorpe Universitysince January 2007. He retired as coordinator ofspecial education for Gwinnett County, Ga. in2001, after more than 30 years in teaching andadministration. Since retirement, he has servedas an adjunct professor of education at MercerUniversity and Oglethorpe University.1974Jan Irwin Klein (EDS ‘74) left the classroom—after more than two decades teaching English,speech, drama and theater history in Gainesville,Jacksonville and Fort Myers—to become theprevention specialist for Safe and Drug-FreeSchools of Lee County. She is also an adjunctprofessor of public speaking at Florida GulfCoast University.‘Double EduGator’ runningfor North Carolina governorBeverly Eaves Perdue (MED ‘74, PHD‘76) in education leadership), is thecurrent, twotermlieutenantgovernor ofNorth Carolina.On May 6,she won theDemocraticnominationfor governor.If elected in Perduethe Novembergeneral election, she will be the state’s firstfemale governor. Perdue has lived mostof her adult life in New Bern, N.C. Shewas the first woman ever elected to thestate House from her part of the state, andis the first woman elected as lieutenantgovernor. Prior to running for office,Perdue worked as a public school teacherand was the director of geriatric servicesat a community hospital. She earned aPh.D. in education administration at UF.She and her husband, Bob Eaves, have twosons. Perdue’s campaign Web site is: www.BevPerdue.com.1975Bernice Bass de Martinez (PHD, ‘75), chairsthe special education, rehabilitation, schoolpsychology and deaf studies department atCalifornia State University-Sacramento. Sherecently was a finalist for the president’s post atMartin University in Indiana.John Sessums (EDS ’75, EDD ’81) recentlyretired after a career in the HillsboroughCounty School District. He is a memberof the Hillsborough Association of SchoolAdministrators, has been inducted into theHillsborough High School Hall of Fame, and is aGrand Knight in the Knights of Columbus.1978Laurie Luongo (BAE ‘78) is vice-president ofhuman resources for Trump International HotelsManagement. She has been living and workingfor nearly 15 years in Las Vegas, where Trump isopening a new hotel on the Las Vegas strip.1984Diane (Sheagren) Schuman (BAE ‘84) recentlyearned her National Board Certification.1986Nile Stanley (PHD ‘86) is associate professor andchair of childhood education at the Universityof North Florida in Jacksonville. Stanley isaffectionately known as Nile Crocodile, theReading Reptile—author, performance poetand storyteller. Visit his website at www.unf.edu/~nstanley/home.htm.1987Carol Logan Patitu (MED ’87, EDS ‘87) is nowa professor and associate dean in the College ofEducation at Northern Illinois University.Kermit Combs (BAE ‘64) was recently electedpresident of the Heartland Christian Conferenceof Christian Schools of Southern Illinois. Hehas also been elected to the board of trustees ofMidwest University of Wentzville, Mo., wherehe has been associate professor of Christianeducation and leadership for the past 15 years. Heis currently principal/administrator of AgapeChristian High School in Marion, Ill.1996Gigi Morales David (EDS ’96) recentlycompleted her third children’s book, JustMollie and Me. The book is part of a seriescommissioned by the United Way’s “Life: Act2” initiative, which brings senior citizens andschoolchildren together for literary experiences.When she is not touring schools with herbooks, David teaches as a visiting instructor forthe College of Education at the University ofNorthern Florida, and works as a consultant.Holly Werner Lewis (MED ’06) has beenteaching kindergarten in Escambia County sinceJanuary of 2008.Jose Villalba (EDS ‘96) received the 2007University of North Carolina-GreensboroTeaching Excellence Award for UntenuredFaculty. He previously received that school’s2005-2006 School of Education TeachingExcellence Award.1998Steve Malter (MED ‘98) recently completedhis Ph.D. in educational leadership and policystudies with a concentration in higher educationadministration from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Malter is the associate director forundergraduate advising and student servicesat the Olin Business School at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis. Malter and his wifeFelicia have two young daughters.1999Nancy Gimbel (MAE ’99) is director ofundergraduate programs for the College ofManagement at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.Amy Turner Bonds (BAE ’99) earned herNational Board Certification as a middle childgeneralist in 2005.2003Mechelle De Craene (MED ’03, EDS ’08),a teacher in special and gifted education atJames Buchanan Middle School in Tampa, haswon a national award for teaching leadershipfor the second year in a row. She is one of fourteachers nationwide to receive a 2007 Cable’sLeaders in Learning Award for creativity andexcellence in teaching. The award is presentedannually by Bright House Networks and Cablein the Classroom, the cable industry’s educationfoundation. De Craene was recognized forJeanna Mastrodicasa (PHD ‘04) hasbeen appointed as UF’s assistant vicepresident for student affairs. In the position,Mastrodicasa oversees student judicialappeals, diversityprograms,critical incidentresponses and anumber of otherstudent affairsfunctions for theuniversity. Shealso currentlyserves as aGainesville city Mastrodicasacommissioner.developing Very Special Techies, a project thatencourages students with special needs to applyand showcase their creative uses of digital media.In 2006, she received Technology and Learningmagazine’s Leader of the Year Award for herinventive use of technology in her teaching.2004Anne Manalo (EDS ’04) is teaching in theMacon County school system in Georgia.2005Bob Philpot (PhD ’05) was recently namedexecutive director of the Team-Based LearningCollaborative, a group of educators in the healthprofessions who are dedicated to using teambasedlearning to further health education.2006Ronald C. Thomas, Jr. (EDD ’06) is associatedean for academic affairs for Embry-RiddleAeronautical University Worldwide-Online inDaytona Beach. He has just completed a summerfellowship in higher education administration atVanderbilt University’s Peabody College.Stay connected with coE-News for alumniSign up now to receive the alumni editionof coE-News, the College’s monthly e-newsletter—with up-to-date reports on thelatest news and activities of our faculty,students and alumni. Just send us an emailat news@coe.ufl.edu and include yourname and email address.Alum-author writes:‘My mother wearscombat boots’Tired of parenting advice thatseems to squish every mom and dadinto the same suburban mold? So wasCOE alumna Jessica J. Mills (MED’94, English education) of Albuquerque,NM. Deeply involved in herart (playing saxophone in the bandCitizen Fish, making jewelry by hand)and her politics (feminist), Millsdidn’t want to give up either whenshe became amother. Hernew book“My MotherWears CombatBoots: aParentingGuide for theRest of Us,”offers tips onparenting witha punk (but political) sensibility—includingadvice on how to take kidsto a demonstration, bringing a babyon tour with a band, and organizingcooperative childcare. For moreinformation or to buy the book, go towww.akpress.org.Mills hangs out with her daughter Emma-Joy.36 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 37

alumniHanesHolcombe2008 DistinguishedAlumna Award:Madlyn HanesUF’s College of Education has been called a “deanmachine” for its ability to groom future higher-educationadministrators. The nickname might have to berewritten for Madlyn Hanes (BAE ‘69, PHD ‘76),who, for the past eight years, has been at the helm ofnot only a college but an entire university campus. Aschancellor of Pennsylvania State University-Harrisburg,Hanes is responsible for a campus of more than7,000 students in five separate schools.A professor of education in the Penn State systemsince 1988, Hanes has served in a number of highleveladministrative positions, including three yearsas chief executive officer of Penn State Great Valley,School of Graduate Professional Studies and almosta decade as chief academic officer on the university’sDelaware County campus. Along the way she served asconsultant on higher education issues to the governmentsof Ecuador, Israel and Korea, and spent twoyears as the prime minister’s appointee to the UniversityCouncil of Jamaica.A “triple Gator,” she holds a B.A. in education, aM.A. in speech-language pathology and a Ph.D. witha major in curriculum and instruction from UF.She has published widely on topics ranging fromresearch and clinical practice in speech and languagedisorders to teacher preparation and the teaching ofreading. Hanes currently chairs the executive boardof the Office of Women in Higher Education of theAmerican Council on Education.achievements2008 AlumnusAchievement Award:Fred SpoonerDuring his 27-year career at the Universityof North Carolina-Charlotte, UF alumnus FredSpooner (PHD ’80) has become known as oneof the nation’s leading authorities on teachingstudents with significant disabilities. He has publishedsix books andmore than 90 refereedarticles on this topicand others relatedto special education,and his work has appearedin influentialpublications such asThe Journal of SpecialEducation, Researchand Practice for Personswith Severe Disabilities Spoonerand Exceptional Children.His academic success led him to editorshipsat three of the nation’s leading special educationjournals: Teaching Exceptional Children, The Journalof Special Education and Teacher Education andSpecial Education.He has also been a pioneer in the use of onlineinstruction to prepare special education teachers—work that has gained Spooner national attentionand convinced various state agencies and universitiesto seek out his advice on online education.COE alum named community college chancellorWill Holcombe (MED ’72, PHD ’74), a longtimeadvocate of a “seamless” educational system whostudied college administration at UF, has been chosento lead Florida’s community college system.Education Commissioner Eric Smith (EDD ‘84)appointed Holcombe as Florida’s community collegechancellor in January 2008.Holcombe, a former Marine Corps captain, comesto the job with more than 30 years of experience ineducation. After beginning his teaching career at FordJunior High School in Brook Park, Ohio, Holcombecame to Gainesville to serve as an English professorat Santa Fe Community College and BrowardCommunity College. As a graduate student inUF’s Department of Educational Administration,he studied under UF community college pioneerJames Wattenbarger. From 1987 to 2004, he servedas president of Broward Community College, oneof the nation’s largest community colleges. He alsoserved as interim president in 2006 and 2007, asthe college sought a new president.Alumna who integrated COE turns 102It’samazing enough to see that Daphne Duval-Williams is still going strong at age 102.You might also be impressed to learn that half alifetime ago—in her 50s—Duval-Williams enrolledin graduate school at UF while teaching full-time atLincoln High School in Gainesville.But Duval-Williams wasn’t just any UF student.As the first African-American to enroll in UF’sCollege of Education, she brought a half-century ofstate-mandated segregation at the college to an end.“I had a mental attitude about letting Negroesknow what they could do if they put their mindsto it,” Duval-Williams told Stephanie Evans, a UFprofessor of women’s studies, in a recent interview.Born in Orlando, Duval-Williams credits hergrandmother, a former slave, with inspiring her tobecome a teacher. Largely self-educated, Duval-Williams’ grandmother had an uncanny knack forpassing her knowledge on.“When my grandmother went shopping, I hadto go because I had to help grandmother know howmuch change she was going to get,” Duval-Williamssaid. “It took me a long time to figure outthat she knew how to do this all along. She wasteaching me.”Duval-Williams’ parents pushed her to get asmuch formal education as she could.“It took me a long time to see myself as otherpeople saw me,” she said. “Sometimes, when youcome to the head of the class, people think it’s youtrying to show them up, when really you’re just tryingto get all the information you can.”After earning a bachelor’s degree at Florida A&M University, Duval-Williams went to work in1928 at Lincoln High School, Alachua County’sfirst African-American high school. With briefpauses to raise preschool children and obtain amaster’s degree from FAMU, Duval-Williamswould teach in Alachua County Schools for thenext four decades.When her cousin George Starke enrolled in UF’slaw school in 1958—the first black student to successfullyenroll after Virgil Hawkins’ decade-longbattle to integrate UF—Duval-Williams decided itwas a good time to take her own education a stepfurther. In 1959, she enrolled as a Ph. D. studentin the College of Education, becoming the college’sfirst black student.“I guess one or two of us had an opinion aboutthis feeling that some people had, that Negroes didnot have the ability to do this sort of thing,” she saidof her decision to enroll. “I wanted to show peoplewhat was possible.”Duval-Williams took courses the way practicingteachers often do—taking what was useful to her,and not worrying much about finishing the degree.“I didn’t take the courses theteachers wanted,” she said. “I guessI was ornery. I took what DaphneI wanted to show peoplewanted.”Her enrollment at UF would gowhat was possible.down in history as a barrier-breaker,but Duval-Williams remained— Daphne Duval-Williamsfocused primarily on her job at LincolnHigh, where she would retire”in 1971 at age 65.“If I have any regret it is that I may have retiredtoo early,” she said.Duval-Williams remained active in communityfor years after her retirement and played a key role inthe integration of local day care centers and preschools.You can learn more about Daphne Duval-Williams,and other integration pioneers at UF, byreading Stephanie Evans’ recent article in the journalFlorida Historical Quarterly. The article is available atwww.professorevans.com/FHQ%20intro.asp.Duval-Williams”profile38 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 39

alumniachievementsSmithNew education commissioner receivesAlumnus Achievement AwardBook offers 411 on the “Net Generation”Is the current generation of college students—variouslycalled “millennials,” “Generation Y” and the“baby boom echo”—really different from those whocame before?In their new book, “Connecting to the Net.Generation,”UF education graduate Jeanna Mastrodicasa(PHD ’04) and co-author Rey Junco go beyond theBlackberry-addicted stereotype to give college administratorsa well-researched picture of today’s collegestudents.“One thing that truly sets this generation apart isthe level of parental involvement,” Mastrodicasa said.As associate director of UF’s Honors Program, Mastrodicasaworks with undergraduates on a daily basis.Over the years, she has seen moms and dads hoveringcloser and closer, eager to micromanage the lives andcareers of their academic child stars.The book paints a troubling picture for the future ofthe teaching profession. “Net generation” students areSomehow, it seems natural that the FloridaDepartment of Education would be run by a Gator.It also seems natural to recognize that “EduGator”with one of the UF College of Education’shighest honors.That’s just what happened in May, when newlyappointed Florida Commissioner of Education EricJ. Smith (EDD ’84) came to campus to deliver theSpring 2008 commencement address—and acceptthe college’s 2008 Alumnus Achievement Award.Smith was selected as commissioner—the chiefexecutive officer for the entire state educationalsystem—in October 2007, after a long career as aninnovative educator and administrator.He got his start as a teacher and later an administratorin Florida, but Smith is probably bestknown for his work as superintendent of NorthCarolina’s Charlotte-Mecklenburg County schoolsystem. When he came on board in 1996, Smithre-envisioned the entire system from the groundup, looking for the reasons behind educationalinequities and resolving to do whatever it took tosolve them. The result was a restructured system inwhich all school children—black or white, rich orpoor—were held to the same high standard of academicexcellence, and given the specialized instructionthey need to meet that standard.By the end of his term, nearly half of all Charlottestudents took at least one advanced placement course,two-thirds completed 10th-grade geometry (traditionallyconsidered a college-prep course) and 86 percentwere reading at grade level.Smith later moved on to head the school systemin Anne Arundel County, Md. In 2006, he was appointedsenior vice president for college readiness bythe College Board, a non-profit group dedicated toimproving college access for every student in America.Smith holds an Ed.D. in curriculum and instructionfrom UF, and has been honored as North CarolinaSuperintendent of the Year, winner of the HaroldW. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education (established bythe McGraw-Hill Companies), and recipient ofBusinessWeek’s “Break the Mold Award” for innovativeeducators.In his remarks at commencement, Smith urgedgraduates to stick with their career choice, even whenthings get tough.“You are the best of the best, and these 2.7 millionchildren need you badly,” he said. “Persevere, staywith your career choice, don’t give up (and) don’tfalter.”self-confident, work well with groups, and are highlyambitious, the authors say. But their ambitious lifeplans usually involve high-income career fields.“Everybody is planning to be a doctor or a lawyer,”Mastrodicasa said. “I rarely hear anyone saying theywant to be a teacher.”Mastrodicasa and Junco offer guidelines onteaching, advising and employing members of ahyperlinked generation. It’s true, Mastrodicasa said,that today’s college students are quick to tune out intraditional, hour-long academic lectures. Professors,she added, shouldn’t overestimate the multitaskingabilities of Gen Y students.“When I see the laptops coming open in theclassroom, I worry a little,” she said. “Sometimes thestudents are really taking notes. Sometimes they’redoing other classwork. And sometimes, they’re justfarting around on the computer.”UF selects 2 COE graduatesas Outstanding Young AlumniThe University of Florida has tapped two Collegeof Education graduates as 2008 Outstanding YoungAlumni.UF’s Alumni Association chose Kelly Fykes (MED’98 in foreign languages education) and Lunetta Williams(PHD ’05 in curriculum instruction) for thehonor, which was given to 31 young alumni from collegescampuswide chosen for the honor. The UF AlumniAssociation established the Outstanding Young AlumniAward to recognize alumni who are 40 or younger andhave distinguished themselves in their profession andcommunity.Fykes is an ESOL resource teacher at DodgertownElementary in Vero Beach, where she conducts ESOLtesting, provides teachers with support for ELL studentsand helps modify the curriculum. She is certified K-12in Spanish and is ESOL and reading endorsed. Fykesrepresented Indian River County and Florida at the NationalAssociation of Bilingual Educators Conference inSan Jose in 2007 and helped recruit bilingual teachers tocome to Florida. She has trained more than 100 teachers,assistants and parents.Williams is an assistant professor in literacyeducation at the University of North Floridain Jacksonville. She is currently on theBoard of the Florida Reading Associationand serves as co-editor of Florida Reading,a journal which reaches 5,000 teachersin the state. Williams regularly presentspapers at national, state, and local conferencesand has published 10 articles innational and state refereed journals.Last year’s Outstanding YoungAlum for the College of Educationwas Andrea (Wheeler) Smith(BAE ’99, MED ’00) of Mac-Clenny, Fla. She teaches intensivereading at Baker CountyHigh. Beginning her career as ateacher for students with readingand language disabilities atEinstein Montessori School inGainesville, she was soon promotedto lead teacher and, later, toprincipal of the school. Smith is teachercertifiedin a number of areas, includingendorsements in reading and ESOL.Humphries winsGeorge WashingtonPrize for TeachingCOE alumna Emma Humphries (MED’05) was awarded the 2007 George WashingtonPrize for Teaching America’s Foundingfrom the Bill of Rights Institute. The contestwas held during last year’s Landmarks inAmerican History Summer Workshop forTeachers at Mount Vernon.Humphries won first place, a prizeof $2,500, for her essay and lesson plan:“Interpreting Historic Letters: the Impact ofShays’ Rebellion on George Washington.”She has since implemented the use of originaldocuments in her classes at Middleburg (Fla.)High School.Humphries says she plans return to theCollege of Education this fall as a doctoralstudent in social studies education.Williams, left, and Fykes40 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 41

alumni& friendsin actionHomecoming Parade Party1.2.Kellogg Gift Celebration7.8.1.7. Allen and Delores (BSE ’65) Lastinger8. Gregory Taylor, Kellogg Foundation VP1. COE Development officer Nekita Robinson, Helen (BAE ’65, MED ‘67) andDon (BAE ’52, MED ’63) Gilbart.2. COE friends Bonnie and Walter Pike3. Mary (BAE ’75, MED ’81) and Jim (BAE ’71, MED ’72, EDS ’91) BrandenburgCapital Campaign kickoff4.5.6.3.Women in Philanthropy Luncheon9.10.9. COE friend Dolly Grunthal10. Betty Lewis (BSE ’54), no relation to Mary Lewis in adjacent photo11. Susan Cheney (BAE ’73, MED ’78), Dean Catherine Emihovich andBarbara Anderson (BAE ’69), who is COE capital campaign chair.11.CorrectionIn previous edition of EducationTimes, Emily4. COE friend Chris Dietrich, wife of alum Frederick Dietrich (BAE ’68)Bryan (BAE’56), left, was misidentified in a5. Tommy (PKY ’54) and Connie Bronsongroup photo of 50-year COE alumni, from6. Dianne Reed (MED ’78)the Class of 1956, on the weekend of theirinduction into UF’s Grand Guard.42 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008 Fall / Winter • 2008 EducationTimes 43

philanthropyKRISTEN BARTLETT GRACE/UF PhotographyKathy Shewey embraces her father-in-law Fred Shewey, who, with his wife Christine (now deceased),made a $600,000 donation to the UF’s College of Education as a tribute to Kathy’s long career as amiddle school education teacher and leader.College welcomes newdevelopment officerIf Nekita Robinson hada million dollars to giveaway, she says, she’d give itto the College of Education.She doesn’t have thatmillion, but her job is thenext best thing.“I guess I’m a goodSamaritan at heart,” saidRobinsonRobinson, the college’s newassociate director of development. “It makes mehappy to give people a chance to do somethinggood with their money.”Robinson assumed her new title in November2007, but she is no stranger to Norman Hall.When COE launched its $20 million FloridaTomorrow Capital Campaign, Robinson—thenan up-and-coming trainee at the University ofFlorida Foundation—was asked to come to helplaunch the campaign.A North Carolina native, Robinson earnedher bachelor’s degree in English from East CarolinaUniversity. She came to Gainesville in 2003to work at UF’s Levin College of Law.Couple makes donationas tribute to daughter-in-lawMiddle-school reformefforts at UF receive$600,000 boostInthe 1960s, UF education researchershelped pioneer the middle school movement,recommending that educators handle achild’s critical formative years in a transitionalsetting, rather than in the regimented, departmentalizedjunior-senior high school system.Now, thanks to a $600,000 donation by Fredand Christine Shewey of Gainesville, the Collegeof Education is creating an endowment to supportnew research and programs aimed at middleschool reform and enhancement. The gift iseligible to receive matching state funds that couldraise its total value to $1 million.Fred Shewey said their donation was made as a tribute to their daughterin-law,Kathy Shewey, a longtime Alachua County educator who is married totheir son, Robert. Christine Shewey, the family matriarch, died in October atage 88, while the couple’s gift was being finalized, but the endowment creatingthe Shewey Excellence in Middle School Education Fund has been establishedin both of their names.“Christine and I wanted to do something special for middle school teachersand students,” said Fred Shewey, 91, who owned several construction and coalcompanies in his West Virginia home state before retiring to Gainesville. “Wewatched Kathy work hard for so many years with middle school teachers andthis age group. We wanted to do something to support her efforts.”“Middle school teachers must work with young adolescents at a very precarioustime in the students’ lives,” said Nancy Dana, director of the college’sCenter for School Improvement, who will steer the activities supported by theShewey fund. “Research and professional development programs generated bythis endowment will support middle-grades teachers in their quest to continuallyimprove their instruction and understand the unique issues facing youngadolescents.” Dana heads an advisory group that will plan and oversee theShewey Fund programs. The group also includes: Kathy Shewey, who is supervisorof staff development for Alachua County public schools; and Paul George,a UF distinguished professor emeritus in education who has been identified byMiddle School Journal as the nation’s “No. 1 ranking scholar” in middle gradeseducation.George recently headed a panel of Florida educators that produced an assessmentof critical issues for middle school reform in Florida. “Many middleschools are no longer serving their original function,” said George. “Manyschools are too large and too focused on standardized testing to meet the specialdevelopmental needs of adolescents. We will look at ways to improve instructionthat is appropriate for students in their early teens.”— Larry Lansford44 EducationTimes Fall / Winter • 2008

Honor Roll of Giving for Fiscal Year 2007-08The College of Education is pleased to acknowledge its many benefactors who supported the College during the 2007-08 fiscal year,which ran from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. To you, our donors, your generous giving has supported scholarships, research,teaching, supplies, special programs and activities, and much more as we strive to transform education in today’s complex society. Acomplete Honor Roll of Giving is available online at www.coe.ufl.edu/HonorRoll.*Special recognition goes to the Dean’s Leadership Circle of donors, which includes alumni, parents, friends and corporate benefactorswho made gifts totaling $1,000 or more to the College during fiscal 2007-08. The College sincerely thanks the following Dean’s LeadershipCircle donors whose giving has assisted students and promoted our major strategic initiatives, especially in these difficult economic times.*The Honor Roll of Giving was compiled as accurately as possible from university records, but occasionally errors can occur. If there are any discrepancies, please contactthe College of Education Development Office at 352.392.0728, ext. 600, or toll-free at 866.773.4504, ext. 600; or via email at development@coe.ufl.edu.Dean’s Leadership Circle$1,000,000 or moreHelios Education FoundationW. K. Kellogg Foundation$100,000 - $999,999William & Gail BolserThomas** & Connie BronsonBeverly & Walter BrownThe Education Foundation of Collier CountyAllen** & Delores* LastingerThe Lastinger Family FoundationBetty Jean S. Lewis*James (d) & Janice MoranThe Jim Moran Foundation, Inc.John** & Anne ShermyenWachovia Foundation$50,000 - $99,999Henry** & Diane GrahamNaples Children & Education FoundationNorma Olsen* (d)Alan & Barbara Pareira$10,000 - $49,999Donald* & Helen* GilbartLincoln & Lillian HallJames** HornerCarlos & Maite MartinezMorgan, Keegan & Co., Inc.Norman* & Margaret NelsonThe Phelps Foundation TrustSchool Board of Miami-Dade CountyFrances C. & William P. Smallwood Foundation$1,000 - $9,999Harvey* & Gerness AlpertBarbara* & Richard Anderson IVJohnny*** & Betty ArnetteGilles Blais*Christopher Brkich*Joseph & Phyllis BryantA. H. Burnett FoundationCommunity Foundation of Tampa Bay, Inc.ConocoPhillips, Inc.Nancy & Thomas DanaDelta Air Lines FoundationDaniel** & Janet DennisonPeter & Carole* DeSotoBillye* & Joe DowdyDr. Phillips, Inc.Cathy* Durrett-Filusch & Edward FiluschCatherine & Ronald EmihovichDeborah Gaw & Robert** WallaceJeffrey Gorrell*Harris FoundationMary Henderson*Impact IISharon* & Edward JonesKenneth & Janet KeeneJ. David & Kathleen* LeanderDonna Lutz*John & Elizabeth* MalloneeMallonee Family Foundation, Inc.Carol Meyer**Lindsay** Mickler & John ElbareRobert & Joy MogyorosyJohn** & Nancy MullettBernard OliverW. M. Palmer Co., Inc.Leslye Pennypacker**Louetta** & Pete PetermanWalter & Bonnie PikePaco RabellLouise* & Robert Roberts IISanibel Leadership Assn.Karen* & Richard** ScarboroughCatherine SolichTarget Copy of Gainesville, Inc.Theresa* & William VernetsonJim WhiteJo Ann* & Joseph WhiteWilla* & Edward WolcottRoger* Yoerges & Denise Esposito*College of Education alum ** P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School graduate ***CoE & PKY alum Thank you for your support!Make a Lasting Impression.Announcing the launch of theNorman Hall Plaza Brick programHonor a loved one, friend or favorite professor. Commemorate a birthday or graduation.Support the future of the COLLEGE OF EDUCATION while becoming a part of its history.To order or for more information, call (352) 392-0728, x-600 or visit online:www.education.ufl.edu/brick4ULeave your legacy,Buy your brick today.

PO Box 117044Gainesville, FL 32611-7044Nonprofit OrgPrsrt StdPAIDJacksonville, FLPermit No. 43902008 University Teacher of the Year: Sevan Terzian,Associate Professor, UF College of EducationCollege ofEducationwww.education.ufl.edu • 352.392.0728