University of Wyoming College of Education Spring 2018

EDUCATION
UWYO
UW COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SPRING 2018
INNOVATING EDUCATOR
PREP TO ELEVATE
THE PROFESSION
(PAGE 6)
POWELL TO PERTH:
Expanded Options for
Student Teacher Placements
(PAGE 3)

3 | A World of Student Teaching Placement
4 | In Memory of Debra Beck
7 | Upending Educator Preparation
11 | Writing Fellows Increase Academic
Publication
12 | Donor Spotlight: Passionate About
Education
13 | Modules Improve Abilities of Wyoming’s
Educators
14 | Empowering Wyoming’s Students
Through Literacy
15 | Becoming a Better Counselor from
Within
16 | Wyoming’s Connection To the World
18 | Real Experience Through Virtual Reality
20 | Police Officer to Ph.D.
22 | Play Leads to Counseling Certification
ON THE COVER: Amy Spiker, senior
lecturer, leads undergraduate education students,
Jonathon Cummings and Alli Barker, in a
Mursion virtual reality training simulation.
Education@UWYO
uwyo.edu/education
The Magazine for Alumni and Friends of the
University of Wyoming College of Education
College Dean D. Ray Reutzel
Associate Dean, Undergraduate Programs
Leslie Rush
Associate Dean, Graduate Programs
Suzanne Young
Editor Jason Harper
Design Michelle Eberle
Photography All photos by Ted Brummond
and Kyle Spradley unless otherwise noted.
©2018 by the University of Wyoming College of
Education. All rights reserved. Excerpts from this
magazine may be reprinted with permission, provided
appropriate credit is given to the University of Wyoming
and copies of reprinted materials are provided to the
editor.
Education@UWYO
Dept. 3374
1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82071
(307) 766-3145 | edmrktng@uwyo.edu
The University is committed to equal opportunity for all
persons in all facets of the University’s operations. All
qualified applicants for employment and educational
programs, benefits, and services will be considered
without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, disability, protected veteran status, sexual
orientation, gender identity, genetic information, creed,
ancestry, political belief or any other applicable category
protected by law and University policy.
Dean’s Update
Greetings from the College of Education
at the University of Wyoming! Building
on more than a century of effective
educator preparation, the College of
Education at the University of Wyoming
is well positioned to achieve its goal
of pre-eminence in the preparation of
educational professionals.
Our graduates elevate the human
condition by providing access to an
excellent, equitable, modern and practical
College Dean, D. Ray Reutzel
education for children, youth and adult
learners. Our faculty members innovate in designing and delivering digitally
mediated, personalized instruction and deliberately designed practice
opportunities in classroom and field experiences by leveraging the miracle
of modern technologies to traverse vast distances and conquer constraints
of learner time and finances. Our alumni, advocacy board members and
financial donors open doors of opportunity for students and faculty through
continuous engagement with, investment in, and promotion of the values
and mission of the College of Education.
The most recent ranking for the College of Education can be found on
the back cover of this magazine. These figures provide additional evidence
attesting to the high quality of the college’s programs. We are proud of the
achievements of our faculty and students, which only increase our desire
to improve the reach and quality of the college’s campus based in online
programming in order to serve its constituents in the state of Wyoming and
throughout the nation!
The UW Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) continues to make
significant progress in improving and implementing six pre-eminent practices
and innovations to improve the educator preparation programs in the College
of Education and throughout the university. Entangled Solutions, a strategy
and innovation consultancy for education, has been retained to help the TEI
with developing and staging an implementation plan for the six approved
innovations that have been approved by the UW Board of Trustees thus far.
Read more about these innovations on page seven.
UW’s College of Education has been a long-standing member of the
National Network for Educational Renewal, which builds, sustains, and
supports partnerships between P-12 school communities and university
educator preparation programs. We are proud to announce that UW’s
College of Education is expanding its student teaching program statewide
to 24 partner school districts this year, with the goal to continue to expand
statewide the following year. For more information, read the story on the
following page or visit the following link—uwyo.edu/wsup.
The college has also prepared and published a new strategic plan entitled,
Elevate and Innovate: A Strategic Plan for 2018-2023. This plan is available
at— uwyo.edu/education/_files/documents/coed-strategicplan.pdf.
Please take time to read about many of these initiatives that expand upon
and describe the innovative work of the College of Education in this spring
2018 issue of Education@UWYO magazine.
A WORLD OF STUDENT
TEACHING PLACEMENT
By: Jason Harper
Over the last year, the University
of Wyoming College of Education
has increased the number of
student teaching options for preservice
educators. An expansion of
the Wyoming School University
Partnership (WSUP) provides an
increased number of in-state placement
options for future educators to
gain their field experience. A new
affiliation has also been formed with
the Consortium for Overseas Student
Teaching (COST) to give students the
opportunity to complete their studentteaching
outside the United States.
WSUP is a statewide collaborative
group of school districts, community
colleges, the University of Wyoming
and state education organizations. The
partnership works together to improve
the collaboration among members in
order to deliver the highest quality
education to students as well as refining
teacher preparation in Wyoming.
Over the past year the partnership
has changed direction to include
student teaching placement
agreements. The number of member
school districts now includes 24 of the
48 districts in the state. This expansion
increases the likelihood that UW
pre-service teachers can find studentteaching
experiences that are desirable
and fit their needs.
“We encourage teacher candidates
to refrain from working during their
student-teaching experience so they
can devote their full attention to their
work in the classroom,” says Leslie
Rush, director of the School of Teacher
Education and associate dean of
Undergraduate Programs, “without this
income it can be difficult for some to
find affordable housing options.”
Rush adds, “We hope the expansion
of WSUP helps to reduce the cost
of housing for teacher candidates by
providing placement options that
would allow them to live at home or
with friends and family while they
student-teach.”
With UW’s acceptance as a
COST member institution, College
of Education students now have
options to expand their worldview and
experience student teaching abroad.
COST was established in 1972 and is
a collaboration among 15 colleges and
universities in the United States. The
number of members will increase to
17 when UW and Youngstown State
in Ohio are formally inducted into the
membership in May 2018.
Through COST, UW teacher
candidates will be placed in institutions
around the world where English is the
primary language of instruction. The
duration of the experience depends
on the requirements of the teacher
candidate’s home institutions, but
typically last between six – 15 weeks.
Currently, the program places students
into programs in six continents and 13
countries throughout the world. The
first students are expected to be placed
in student-teaching positions through
COST in spring 2019.
Rush, who has spent time teaching
abroad in Uganda, knows how
beneficial this experience can be for
a future teacher. “When teaching
abroad you gain a different perspective
on education,” she says, “you learn
firsthand how culture shapes both
education and everyday life outside of
the United States.”
COST participants will gain the
experience of working with professional
peers, students and families, in
addition to gaining confidence and
self-sufficiency from completing the
experience in a foreign country. Preservice
teachers who spend time abroad
will be better prepared to incorporate an
international perspective and expanded
worldview into their teaching, which
will greatly benefit their future students.
Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 3

Deb Beck enjoying hiking and taking photos.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK
By: Jason Harper
When describing the perfect UW
Cowboy or Cowgirl, words such as
intelligent, hard-worker, compassionate
and innovator are often used. Debra
Beck fit this mold through and
through as a Wyoming native, UW
alumnae four times over and dedicated
university employee.
Sadly, Deb passed away from lung
cancer in March 2017. Her passing was
unexpected as she was diagnosed with
the disease just four months prior. Her
memory will forever be in the hearts
and minds of her friends and colleagues
at the university and beyond.
Deb started her journey at UW
as a student studying journalism and
serving as editor of the Branding Iron.
After graduating in 1981, she moved to
Sheridan to become a reporter with the
Sheridan Press. It was in Sheridan that
she met the man who would become
her husband, Bob Beck.
IN MEMORY OF
Debra Beck
Bob was offered a job in Laramie
in the late 80s, and Deb followed.
Shortly after, she began her nearly
30 years of service to the university.
Deb served in various roles at UW
including: publications editor and
special assignments editor for UW
News Service, assistant director of the
Alumni Association, adjunct lecturer
in the Master of Public Administration
Program, and most recently as the PR
coordinator for the UW College of
Education.
Deb was a lifelong learner. Upon
her return to the university, she began
her masters in sociology, which she
While folks might assume that I know Deb’s husband, Bob (Beck), as the voice of politics
and the legislature at Wyoming Public Radio, few might know that I knew Deb far
longer. I started at UW in 1992 and quickly became associated with the Women’s Studies
Program (now Gender and Women’s Studies). One of the people who taught in the
program was Deb. Long before the advent of online classes, Deb taught our introductory
class via correspondence so that site-bound students could have access to women’s studies!
Over the years, Deb and I chatted regularly, and I watched with admiration as she
continued teaching, completed a doctorate, and then filled a well-needed niche for our
community and state by offering classes in nonprofit management. She often made me
laugh with her pithy (and political) posts on Facebook and the love of her “boys” ( furry
as well as Bob). I miss her and all she had to offer.
— Cathy Connolly – Wyoming state representative for District 13, associate director of the School
of Culture, Gender and Social Justice, and professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UW
completed in 1993. Deb’s quest for
knowledge was yet unfulfilled, and she
immediately started working toward
her masters in communication from
UW, which she earned in 1998. She
would later go on to earn her doctorate
in adult and postsecondary education
from UW in 2009.
Another quality that comprised
Deb’s personality was an innate drive
to help others. Unable to just sit back
and watch others struggle, she was an
active member of many local nonprofit
organizations and served on several of
the organizations’ boards. She worked
to provide support to victims of abuse
and sexual assault as well as to those who
cannot afford medical assistance. She
co-founded the Snowy Range Non-
Profit institute to share her knowledge
with others and provide guidance and
training to nonprofits across Wyoming.
The research she conducted
while earning her sociology degree
and her experience working with
nonprofit organizations led her to
become respected expert in the area of
nonprofit governance and leadership.
She was highly published in the field
and was invited to speak on the subject
throughout the country and in Canada.
Deb was passionate about
technology and was always searching
for the most innovative ways to connect
with others. She was an advocate
for online learning and utilized
podcasts, videos and social media to
share her knowledge with others. She
was extremely active on Twitter and
accumulated over 5,000 followers. Her
nearly 28,000 tweets centered on her
two passions: non-profit governance
and adult learning.
Dogs were a part of Deb’s life
since she was a young girl when she
participated dog shows. She never
missed watching the Westminster
Kennel Club Dog Show on TV and
she regularly sponsored the obedience
award at the local 4-H fair. Deb and
Bob always had a Labrador Retriever
during their time together.
Baseball was a passion of Bob’s. Early
on, Deb realized she would have to
study up on stats, teams and players so
she would be able to communicate with
her husband during baseball season.
Originally a Dodgers fan, she changed
her allegiance to the Rockies when the
team started in the early 90s. One thing
she could never understand was Bob’s
love for the Chicago Cubs.
A highly involved and intelligent
woman, such as Deb, deserved to
have a few guilty pleasures in life. She
would unwind from her busy days by
watching reality television. Some of her
favorite shows included Dance Moms,
Keeping up with the Kardashians and
MTV’s Real World. She also had an
obsession with pens. She had hundreds
of high quality pens some with special
inks stored all over the house. She was
excited to find out that were others like
her and that there was even a podcast
centered on the topic that she would
Deb Beck and
Dewey, her
Labrador Retriever.
PHOTO COURTESY
OF BOB BECK
Deb Beck and Dewey, her Labrador Retriever.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB BECK
make Bob listen to while they were
driving.
Deb’s passionate attitude and talents
are certainly missed by her friends
and colleagues at the university and
throughout Wyoming. Her legacy will
always live on through the wealth of
knowledge she left behind as well as all
the many lives she touched.
I had the pleasure of taking a course taught by Deb in nonprofit leadership during my
undergraduate career, and in that course, she modeled what active learning could look
like online. She challenged myself and my classmates to engage in group-work, at a
distance, to plan and execute complex projects.
My experience as Deb’s student shaped how I came to understand and appreciate the
power of online learning. Sometime after I joined the UW Outreach School, Deb asked
me to collaborate with her on a presentation about her course at an online learning
conference at the UW campus (e-Volution). Again, she modeled for me how instructors
can perform action research in their classrooms. She impressed upon me her willingness
to experiment, modify and adapt when needed, and sharing those results with the
campus community. Better than anybody I know, Deb knew how to leverage technology
to connect with others —in the online classroom, social media, email, etc.
Even after I left the UW for Purdue, Deb stayed connected —often organizing web
chats and conferences with colleagues across the country. She was continually sharing
exciting technologies and finding ways to use them in education. I learned so much
from Deb, but perhaps most striking was her curiosity, and willingness to share and
foster virtual communities.
— Cody Connor, previous student at UW and current
manager of course design and development at Purdue University
4 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 5

Upending Educator
Preparation
An Update on the Trustees Education Initiative
By: Jason Harper
In Wyoming and across the nation, too few people are choosing to pursue
careers in education, which is resulting in a shortage of qualified teachers,
especially in high-need areas like special education, science, mathematics and
technology. Additionally, many new teachers do not have enough practice in
classroom experiences as they enter the career, causing them and their students
to struggle.
The Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) and the University of Wyoming
College of Education seek to solve this problem by changing the way educators
are prepared at UW. TEI was formed to elevate the College of Education to
the status of a preeminent college in professional educator preparation.
Proposed innovations are sent to the TEI Coordinating Council, TEI
Governing Board and UW Board of Trustees for approval. Once approved,
TEI then begins to implement and analyze the innovation. The College of
Education will implement the novel programs and strategies that are proven
to be successful through the TEI pilots into the curriculum.
Phase one of the TEI plan, steered the initiative from its inception in 2016
through the end of the 2017 calendar year. This phase focused on establishing
a governing board, strategic planning committees and an executive director to
get the initiative up and running.
Rebecca Watts was selected to guide the initiative in September 2016. Her
first challenge was to seek input from stakeholders throughout the state and
to plan for the long-term financial support of the initiative. As phase one goals
were achieved under Watts’ direction, the first proposed innovations started
to roll in.
TEI is currently in phase two from 2018–20. During this time the focus
will be on implementing the innovative programs and strategies that come
through TEI as well as developing continued financial support for the
initiative.
The first TEI innovation to be approved occurred ahead of plan in
July 2017. Since then, five additional proposals have been approved. Some
initiatives are already being implemented in candidate experiences in the
College of Education, others are multi-year efforts whose full implementation
A well-prepared educator leads a class utilizing
innovative technology and teaching practices
Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 7

is a couple of years away. Learn more below about each
approved initiative and the intended effects it will have
on teacher preparation and outreach in Wyoming.
Improving Teacher Preparation Using Virtual Reality
TEI Proposal 2017-01: Avatar Augmented Reality
Simulations was the first TEI proposal to be approved. It was
implemented in College of Education classrooms for the first
time during the spring 2018 semester.
The initiative aims to improve the teaching and classroom
management of new teachers, as well as the collegial
interaction and collaboration between educators through
Mursion mixed reality simulations. Future educators practice
leading a classroom of digital avatars that are being controlled
by a “digital puppeteer” that allows the avatars to behave and
react to the educator candidate and each other in unique ways
during the training sessions. No two sessions are ever the same.
This experience allows pre-service teachers to practice
new techniques, hone their skills and receive feedback from
College of Education faculty in a controlled environment.
The avatars provide a realistic teaching experience while not
affecting the learning outcomes of real students.
Qualified Candidates and Mentorship Promote
Educator Success in UW-E4 Program
The UW-E4 program was initiated with the approval of
TEI Proposal 2017-05: Enterprise for Elevating Educational
Excellence - UW-E4. This innovative program seeks to
cultivate promising high school students into well-prepared
teachers. This innovation came about from the need to attract
Wyoming Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy
Education and Professor, Cynthia Brock, mentors Ph.D. student Adeline Borti.
promising students who may pursue other careers instead
of education, the need to provide candidates a practice-rich
preparation experience, as well as the need to provide a
network to support new teachers entering the profession.
Wyoming Educators Rising chapters will be created in
high schools across the state to engage promising students
in experiences and learning modules that provide them
meaningful experiences on what it feels like to be an educator.
Top high school students would be selected to be UW-E4
Fellows and would be exposed to education professions
through the extensive online modules and resources provided
by Educators Rising and during E4 Summer Institutes held
on the UW campus in Laramie. Program Fellows would also
be required to take courses during high school that count for
college credit so they can enter UW as rising sophomores.
Once enrolling at UW, educator candidates would not be
allowed to declare a specialization until they have completed
clinical observations in all grade levels and content areas.
This aspect of the E4 model provides candidates with guided
observation experiences in all fields so they can make an
informed decision when declaring a specialization, including
knowledge of the greatest supply and demand needs in
Wyoming schools. Traditional courses at UW would be
replaced by modules that candidates can complete at their
own pace.
E4 Fellows will gain student-teaching experience through a
residency for the entire duration of their final academic year at
UW, in contrast to UW’s typical student teaching experiences
that occur only in the spring semester. After graduation, if
hired by a Wyoming school, E4 Fellows will take part in a
four-year professional induction and mentorship program to
ensure they continue to receive support and guidance as they
begin their careers.
Watts has been working to start Educators Rising chapters
in schools across the state during the spring 2018 semester.
The first high school students from the chapters are expected
to attend the inaugural E4 Summer Institute in 2019. The first
group of students to complete the entire fellowship will not
finish the induction and mentorship portion of the program
until 2028.
Instilling Ethical Behavior into our Graduates
Ethics are an important part of any functioning society or
professional field. Instilling ethical behavior into educator
candidates helps to ensure children can learn in a safe and
morally conscious environment. TEI Proposal 2017-09:
Ethical Educator Program, approved in November 2017,
aims to embed professional ethics development throughout
the teacher preparation curriculum at UW.
Professor of Elementary & Early Childhood Education, Michelle Buchanan,
works with a young student
This approach will ingrain candidates with a sense of how
to best mitigate risk when they are confronted with an ethical
dilemma. Candidates gain a deeper understanding with this
method in contrast to a model that includes only a single
course in professional ethics.
The ethics strand in the curriculum will incorporate
elements of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators,
developed by the National Association of State Directors
of Teacher Education and Certification.
Pre-service teachers will be immersed with ethics through
case studies embedded into coursework and by completing
the ProEthica® program. This modular online training
program presents real-life ethical challenges a teacher
candidate must solve through videos, simulations and
activities. Access to this program has been funded by TEI.
Ethics will also be embedded into the student-teaching
assessment pre-service teachers must undergo. Teacher
candidates will be asked to reflect on the ethical dilemmas
they experienced while student teaching and how they
navigated those situations based on their training.
Outcomes Data to Guide Innovation at UW College
of Education
Innovation should always be informed by valid, reliable,
meaningful data. A recent national analysis showed that
educator preparation programs lack sufficient data to inform
improvements and innovation.
The approval of TEI Proposal 2017-12: Common
Indicator Set, put the wheels in motion for UW to help solve
this problem by joining the Deans for Impact Common
Indicators System, a national consortium of educator
preparation programs which will collect and analyze data
elements in order to drive innovation in the field.
This innovation will allow the College of Education to
guide its decisions on program improvement based on data
that has been systematically gathered, analyzed and can be
compared to other member institutions.
The college will launch a search for a data scientist as part
of a UW data science cluster hire. This new full-time position
will oversee the implementation of the Common Indicators
System and other assessments related to continuous program
improvement and the implementation of approved TEI
innovations. TEI will provide funding to support the work
of the newly hired data scientist, including necessary any parttime
personnel.
Equipped with good data and the new data scientist, the
college will be poised to make necessary improvements to
programs in a timely manner in order to better serve the state
of Wyoming. It will also allow for the continuous assessment
of the value TEI innovations provide as they are implemented
and integrated into the current programs.
Professional Development Options Improve Skills
of Early Childhood Educators
In Wyoming, it can be geographically difficult for pre-service
early childhood educators to gain professional experiences.
It can also be equally as hard for seasoned professionals in
early childhood to participate in professional development
opportunities to expand their knowledge and skills. TEI
Proposal 2017-08: Wyoming Early Childhood Outreach
Network aims to expand the field placement options and
professional development opportunities for early childhood
educators, in addition to providing an early childhood
education undergraduate degree at UW.
This innovation will create the Wyoming Early Childhood
Outreach Network (WyECON) to act as an organizing
body to provide high-quality field experience options for
pre-service teachers and to make existing professional
development opportunities available to all early childhood
educators, regardless of their geographic location. These
opportunities will be conducted through a statewide network
of community hubs where early childhood education
professionals will feel free to gain new techniques and openly
discuss their needs and challenges with peers.
The development of an early childhood undergraduate
degree will be explored to provide a pathway for educators
to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wyoming.
If this degree program is developed, WyECON participants
would be able to complete professional development modules
to earn credit toward their degrees at UW.
8 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 9

Coaching Laboratory Supports New and
Seasoned Educators in Wyoming
The unpredictable nature of a classroom can
present instances that would challenge even the
most experienced educators. So, it is important
for novice educators who are just starting their
career to have a mentorship and coaching
network to support them as they continue
to grow as professional educators. Seasoned educators benefit
by sharing their advice with inexperience professionals and
improving their own methods through exposure to the novel
techniques used by the novice educators. Proposal 2017-11:
Wyoming Coaching Laboratory (WYCOLA) aims to build
this network.
The WYCOLA intensive professional development
experience will start with a two-week summer institute.
During the institute experienced, novice and pre-service
educators will have the chance to observe and coach an
Message from TEI Executive Director
Rebecca Watts, UW Trustees Education Initiative Executive Director
After its creation by the University of Wyoming Board of
Trustees in November 2014, TEI gained significant initial
funding support in the form of a five-year grant from the
Denver-based Daniels Fund. In addition, TEI has garnered
gifts from private donors to support the fulfillment of its
vision and mission.
Fueled by these resources, in early 2017
TEI hosted a series of ten town hall Meetings
throughout Wyoming to gain feedback from
stakeholders, including Wyoming school
leaders, parents, community representatives
and state elected officials. These insights have
informed the development of innovations
in educator preparation to ensure they align
with the needs of Wyoming schools and most
importantly, the needs of Wyoming students.
After gathering and analyzing this feedback, TEI launched
its innovation design stage, working with University of
Wyoming faculty members and key statewide stakeholders
to design innovative models for the initial preparation and
ongoing professional growth of Wyoming educators. TEI
innovation design was informed by consultations with national
experts and visits to innovative educator preparation programs.
The design process yielded 12 proposals which were
To stay current on
TEI progress, we invite you
to bookmark the “Progress
and Milestones” page of TEI’s
website: uwyo.edu/
trust_edu_init/news.html
instructor during a mathematics lesson during
a summer school session.
This intensive coaching institute will
benefit educators in Wyoming by providing
an avenue for new and pre-service teachers
to further develop their practice through
interaction with experienced in-service
teachers. After two years in the program,
mentor teachers would have the opportunity to become
affiliate coaches. WYCOLA would supplement salary support
for these educators in order to give the coaches release time to
provide continuing support and training to mentor teachers,
pre-service teachers, and early career teachers in their local
school districts.
The first WYCOLA Summer Institute will be held in the
summer of 2018. This experience will be offered in varying
locations throughout the state, rotating each year, with the
first session being offered in Laramie, Wyo.
reviewed by: 1) a group of national experts, 2) a TEI
Stakeholder Feedback Group of more than 80 Wyomingites,
3) the TEI Coordinating Council and 4) the TEI Governing
Board. Six proposals successfully progressed through the review
process and were recommended to the University of Wyoming
Board of Trustees for final determination.
Each of the six proposals moving forward to
the Board of Trustees gained approval for pilot
implementation supported by TEI’s private
funding sources.
The work to design and refine innovative
models that address Wyoming’s unique needs
has been an arduous task that has tapped the
imagination, expertise and energy of more than
100 individuals. TEI is grateful to each person
who has engaged in this thoughtful, challenging process.
In 2018 TEI is moving its focus to the implementation
and outcomes measurement of the six approved innovations.
Our gratitude to all our partners in this work deepens as we
carry out the plans developed in the design phase. Supported
through our private funding sources, execution of the TEI
innovation designs will leverage the time, talents and expertise
of UW faculty members, Wyoming educators, state leaders
and national experts.
Writing Fellows Increase
Academic Publications
Written by: Alli Barker
The University of Wyoming’s College of Education Academic
Writing Fellows Initiative was created with intention to
foster an environment that promotes academic writing and
to encourage faculty to write for high-quality publications.
The program was conceptualized by Interim Writing Center
Director Rick Fisher and Endowed Chairs of Literacy
Education Cynthia Brock and Victoria Gillis, during the
spring of 2017. The program was run by Brock and Wyoming
Excellence in Higher Education Endowed Chair in Literacy
Education, Leigh Hall, during the 2017-18 academic year.
“Even though writing often feels like solitary and isolating
work, the notion of writing fellows seemed like a good way
to recognize the value of a social community to help support
and advance writing,” says Fisher.
The Academic Writing Fellows Program focuses on the
promotion of academic writing and furthers collegiality
within the College of Education. The goal of the initiative is
to provide support to fellows who wish to establish a regular
habit of producing high-quality academic writing.
“Academic writing is one of the cornerstones of our work as
professors,” says Brock. “Developing a culture of high-quality
academic writing is of crucial importance for any college or
university.”
To promote high-quality academic writing, nine fellowship
members, both doctoral students and College of Education
faculty, receive mentorship from expert writers across the
country. The mentorship allows participants to improve
research work and the presentation of writing.
Along with mentorship from writing experts throughout
the nation, fellowship members meet with their colleagues to
develop a plan for writing journal articles that are submitted
to a top-tier scholarly journals. Writing fellows meet weekly in
small writing groups to support one another in their writing
by debriefing works-in-progress or providing guidance when
needed.
“Through participation in the program I have redefined
who I am as a scholarly writer,” School of Teacher Education
Associate Professor Alan Buss says. “Interactions with
phenomenal colleagues have fueled this change, as I’ve
seen how they wrestle with and overcome the same issues
I privately thought were my own, unique hang-ups.”
Pictured left to right: Gabe Swarts, assistant professor; Karen Cloud,
assistant lecturer; Dana Robertson, LRCC executive director and assistant
professor; Ana Houseal, associate professor; Kate Muir Welsh, associate
professor; Tao Han, associate professor; Toby Holmes, assistant professor;
and Alan Buss, associate professor. PHOTO COURTESY OF CYNTHIA BROCK
Another fellow, Executive Director of the Literacy
Research Center and Clinic Dana Robertson, shares the many
successes he has had within the program, “With the support
of this process over the last year, I have secured one top-tier
publication, a second under review and two more in progress
towards submission.”
At the end of the spring 2018 semester, the fellows have
experienced many successes thus far, including: two books
accepted or published, five book chapters accepted or
published, 12 grants submitted or funded, 17 Q1 journal
manuscripts submitted, published or under review and eight
practitioner articles submitted, published or under review.
The Academic Writing Fellows will continue their
program for another year further developing a college ethos
that promotes high-quality academic writing and publishing.
“The opportunity to collaborate with committed faculty
and a supportive dean was a really exciting part of this
project,” Fisher states. “I hope that it is possible to make this
opportunity a sustainable experience for others in the College
of Ed.”
The Academic Writing Fellows Initiative serves to promote
and increase in high-quality academic writing. The fellows
are determined, as Brock explains, “to continue to grow
and expand the culture of producing high-quality academic
writing in the College of Education.”
10 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 11

DONOR
SPOTLIGHT
Passionate About Education
By: Jason Harper
If you ask Diana Clapp, superintendent
at Fremont County School District #6,
what she is passionate about, she will
answer you with one word, education.
She cares about education because
she knows the power it has to change
people’s lives.
“Education in its multiple forms
is foundational to the health of our
democracy,” says Clapp, “Education
can also be a bridge out of generational
poverty.” She has demonstrated this
passion through her unwavering
support of students in her district, at
the UW College of Education and
throughout Wyoming.
Clapp has served on several state
level committees and held positions that
guide education policy and assessment
in Wyoming. She was named Wyoming
Superintendent of the Year in 2011
and received the Myron Basom School
Leadership Award in 2012.
Her education and career have been
tied to the UW College of Education.
Currently a member of the college’s
Advocacy Board, she first became
connected with UW when she pursued
her bachelors in elementary education.
After teaching third grade for a number
of years, an opportunity in her district
lead to her completing her master’s in
educational leadership at UW.
Her career path eventually led her to
her current position as superintendent,
a position she has held for 15 years.
She works to ensure that the 490 P-12
students in her district, that covers over
1,300 square miles and includes the
Pictured left to right: Nicole Tatro, day care
coordinator; Brandy Mickelson, science teacher
at Fremont County School District #6, UW
alumna, and mother of six-month-old Tarak;
and Diana Clapp, superintendent at Fremont
County School District #6. COURTESY PHOTO
Wind River Indian Reservation, have
access to a high-quality education. The
district’s large area and remote location
in addition to the low number of
students often forces her to be creative
when finding solutions to provide her
students and community with the
services they need.
Ten years ago, Clapp and the school
board initiated efforts to establish a
preschool in the district. Since then
they have been able to found preschools
in Pavillion and Crowheart. Through
the hard work of staff, they have
also built an award-winning mobile
preschool, repurposing an out of
service school bus. They have expanded
the services on the bus to include a
registered nurse to provide health
education, immunizations, and to help
bridge the gap between families and the
health services providers in the area.
The district has also recently received
support to open an on-site daycare
to serve both district staff and the
community. A vision to include a schoolbased
medical clinic in the district was
also moved into its final stages and is
anticipated to open later this year.
Fremont County School District
#6 can also boast some major
accomplishments among their Native
American students. Attendance rates
for these students have stayed above
91 percent for three years. The district
has also graduated 100 percent of their
native students three of the last five
years. These numbers are outstanding in
a small district with limited resources
and can be attributed, at least in part,
to the environment Clapp strives to
create in order to promote learning and
success.
She would not have been able to
accomplish all of this without her indepth
knowledge and strong values she
gained while attending UW. She says,
“The university changed the trajectory
of my life and career. It provided me
the education to work in my capacity
as a school superintendent. It helped
me establish a network of resources and
professionals to continue to learn from,
partner with, and enjoy the friendship
and connections with great people in
Wyoming.”
Clapp has some advice to share
with future and current educators.
“Educating is a process, and you will
have a vantage point to make a positive
difference every time you help a student
grow and gain confidence in his/her
own future and every time you engage
in making your students community a
stronger and healthier place to live.”
By: Cody Perry, Sanford Inspire at UW
Coordinator
The University of Wyoming College of Education
recently implemented the Sanford Inspire
Program as a resource for pre-service and current
teachers in the state to improve their abilities.
The program was developed at Arizona State
University through a $28 million grant from T.
Denny Sanford. The program employs a multitier
approach that focuses on connecting research,
development and practice through a consortium
of higher education institutions in alignment
with P-12 school districts.
There are currently 20 universities
participating in the program, and it has impacted
MODULES IMPROVE
ABILITIES OF
the education of more than 175,000 students
nationwide. UW is the most recent collaborative
partner to implement the program. The exciting
new resource will help to improve education
in the state by providing educators with free
resources to extend their knowledge and update
their skills.
Sanford Inspire was designed to create and
disseminate strategies and resources developed
through research and the sharing of evidencebased
teaching. The program consists of over 80
on-demand, online video modules that further
develop an educator’s capabilities.
Sanford Inspire serves as a leading creator
of professional development resources for
pre-service and in-service P-12 teachers. The
program’s online nature is especially beneficial for
teachers in remote rural areas who may not have
access to professional development tools. Current
College of Education pre-service teachers, alumni
and all educators in Wyoming can benefit from
the Sanford Inspire Program at no cost to parents,
teachers, or their local districts.
The modules consist of 30 - 60-minute micro
courses and cover topics such as culturally diverse
learners, differentiated instruction, classroom
management and promoting parent involvement.
Educators complete these modules to help them
become inspirational leaders of dynamic and
stimulating classrooms that welcome diversity.
Faculty at UW are encouraged to utilize
the modules in their courses to help teacher
candidates address areas where they need to
gain exposure to new concepts or improve their
abilities. Students will complete the online
WYOMING’S EDUCATORS
modules at their own pace, allowing them to take
a break or review previous sections.
Each module starts with a lesson that is split
up into chapters. New ideas and background
information are presented through interactive
videos. An assessment of each lesson must be
completed, where five to six questions must be
answered correctly in order to move forward
in the program. Upon the conclusion of each
module, the educators will receive a certificate
of completion and gain access to additional
resources that they can take into the classroom to
further their learning.
The Sanford Inspire Program will help
students across the state to realize their full
potential, regardless of background, race or
financial standing by providing their educators
with tools to ensure their techniques are novel
and follow current best practices.
College of Education
graduate students gain
insight through
Sanford Inspire videos.
For more
information
concerning the
Sanford Inspire
Program visit
uwyo.edu/
education/
Sanford-inspire.
12 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 13

EMPOWERING
WYOMING’S STUDENTS
THROUGH LITERACY
Becoming a
Better Counselor
from Within
By: Dan Robertson, LRCC executive director and
assistant professor
With a vision of empowering literacy through evidence-based
practices, the Literacy Research Center and Clinic (LRCC)
engages in teaching and researching how Wyoming students
think and engage with, acquire knowledge from, and produce a
variety of texts, as well as how teachers facilitate these processes.
“When students can more effectively process and produce
texts, and teachers can support the students’ abilities, the
potential for those students to achieve personal, economic,
and social fulfillment greatly increases,” says Dana Robertson,
LRCC executive director and assistant professor of
elementary and early childhood education. “This will in turn
improve quality of life for students, their families and their
communities.”
Since opening its doors in March 2014, the LRCC
has worked in 17 Wyoming counties, and 28 schools and
centers. Professional development and research partnerships
have helped more than 2,000 teachers in the state hone
their instructional methods to advance countless students’
literacy learning. The LRCC also organizes an annual literacy
conference to ensure Wyoming educators are exposed to the
latest research and best practices in literacy education.
The center has supported literacy development for more
than 420 Wyoming families through in-home literacy
practices and coached 56 master’s and undergraduate students
as they worked with more than 80 school-age students in
literacy tutoring experiences.
“There is tremendous pride in knowing the successes
the LRCC has enjoyed promoting literacy learning and
instruction in Wyoming’s schools and centers, and with
families across the state.” says Robertson.
On the UW campus, the LRCC also has provided
numerous graduate assistantships for doctoral work in
literacy, and the literacy Ph.D. program continues to grow
in number, international reputation and competitiveness.
The program has brought international literacy graduate
students to Wyoming from as far away as Ghana, Russia and
Uzbekistan.
The release of the 2017-18 strategic plan outlines the
direction of the LRCC in the coming years. At the core of the
LRCC’s work are beliefs that literacy is supported through
the connection of rigorous research to teaching practice,
collaborating and sharing responsibility among partners,
empowering students and teachers, and ensuring equitable
opportunities for all students to engage in active, informed
citizenship and to succeed in a sustainable global economy.
Through impactful research and scholarship, empowering
professional learning opportunities and access the clinical
literacy services, the LRCC is committed to the land-grant
mission of the University of Wyoming, and to supporting
the College of Education’s rise to a pre-eminent institution
of higher education.
View the LRCC strategic plan for 2017-22: uwyo.edu/
education/lrcc/_files/documents/lrcc-strategic-plan.pdf
By: Jason Harper
A University of Wyoming College
of Education master’s student in
counseling, Jessica Ryan of Grove City,
Pa, was recently named a co-grand prize
winner of the American Counseling
Association’s (ACA) graduate student
essay contest. Ryan’s submission was
selected from over 200 ACA student
member submissions. Lynne Shayko
of Kent State University was the grand
prize co-winner.
Ryan’s submission competed
under the Tomorrow’s Counselor
Competition. The essay responded
to the question, “As a professional
counselor, how would you promote
openness and inclusion in your work?
Furthermore, how would you reach
out and support under-served and
underrepresented clients?”
In Ryan’s answer she expressed the
need for counselors to become aware of
their own biases that have been created
by their lenses and life experiences. She
explains that these perspectives are not
wrong or bad, but that those in the
profession must recognize and confront
these biases so as to not let them
influence their treatment of colleagues
and clients.
She goes on to share that the
first step she will make to promote
openness and inclusion is to create
a compassionate and safe space
within herself to confront the
difficult experiences from her life
that could influence her actions. She
will also foster difficult and honest
conversations with people who have
experiences different from her own in
order become a better counselor.
“I am pursuing a degree in counseling
to support people through the process
of becoming themselves, Ryan says, “I
eventually want to combine counseling
with my previous work in personal
growth, mindfulness and yoga. I hope
to use all of those modalities to address
intergenerational and systemic trauma,
how our bodies hold individual and
cultural life experiences, and advocate
for mental, emotional, physical and
spiritual health for all beings.”
Ryan cites President Laurie Nichols’
commitment to first generation college
students and other underrepresented
groups as something she admired at
UW. “As a female, first-generation
college student, I know that student
loans, unshared experiences from
families, classmates and instructors,
and a perceived lack the of support can
make going to college daunting,” says
Jessica Ryan,
master’s student
in counseling.
PHOTO BY
AMANDA
CLOWER
Ryan. “It’s nice to know that there are
UW administrators who are in these
students’ corners.”
Ryan and the other awardees
traveled to the ACA 2018 Conference
and Expo in Atlanta, Ga from April
25-26, 2018, to be honored at an
awards ceremony. Their essays will
be published in a mid-year edition of
Counseling Today.
The ACA has supported graduate
students through scholarship awards
for attendance at the ACA Annual
Conference and Expo, by supporting
the Graduate Student/New Professional
Center and including special education
events at the annual conference. The
association hopes this support will
help more counseling students become
involved in the profession.
“I have seen a lot of despair, yet
I have so much faith and belief
in resiliency, healing, and love,” Ryan
says. “If we can find those things within
ourselves, we are better equipped to
find ways of offering them to others.”
14 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 15

Wyoming’s
Connection
To the World
Dilnoza Khasilova,
Ph.D. student in literacy
education, showcases a dress
from Uzbekistan during the
2017 International Student
Association Talent and
Fashion Show.
By: Alli Barker
How can I help UW students and
community members in Laramie
learn more about world cultures
and languages? That is the question
University of Wyoming literacy
education doctoral student Dilnoza
Khasilova, asked herself as she began
her master’s project at UW in 2012.
This question drove the development of
the UW World Language and Culture
(WLC) Program and transformed the
lives of many students and volunteers
who participated in the program.
Although she was born in Russia,
Khasilova is from Uzbekistan, the
heart of Central Asia. Her inspiration
to promote cross-cultural learning
and volunteerism comes from her
own multicultural experiences and
impressive ability to speak Uzbek,
Russian, English, German and French.
Before her time at UW, she attended
Smolensk University of Humanities
in Russia, where she gained a degree
in linguistics in 2009. Shortly after,
she was accepted to UW and earned
a master’s degree in curriculum and
instruction in 2012. She spent a couple
of years working in various education
roles in Laramie before starting her
Ph.D. in literacy studies at UW in
2016.
The WLC Program was launched
in 2014 with support from Associate
Professor of Elementary and Early
Childhood Education Amy Roberts;
ASUW’s Special Project; and the UW
Global Engagement Office. “I feel
Wyoming became my second home,”
Khasilova says. “I always wanted to
share and show others what they can
learn about the world.”
Khasilova’s goal for the program is
to help those involved become globally
minded citizens by promoting diversity
and volunteerism on campus, helping
participants build better relationships,
Map of Khasilova’s home country, Uzbekistan
spreading awareness of cultural
differences and providing opportunities
to learn a new language.
Today, the program offers classes in
14 languages as well as opportunities
to explore cultural learning in a nonformal
setting. Depending on the
semester and availability of language
instructors, the program offers up to
18 language and culture classes.
“These courses give the students
the opportunity to be immersed
in a language without the pressure
of taking tests,” says Irina Weese, a
German instructor for the program.
“Students learn about the different
ways of thinking, promoting and
understanding cultures which, leads
to more respect for each other.”
The courses give students an
opportunity to be immersed in a
language or culture without being
graded. Students’ participation in the
program can provide them with an
understanding of different cultures and
can lead them to be more respectful of
each other.
The program functions on a
volunteer basis, and many WLC
Program students became instructors.
In addition, UW’s exchange and
Fulbright scholars teach in this
program, providing learners with and
even larger picture of the world. Each
volunteer brings a unique perspective
to the program, and students benefit
by having instructors from different
parts of the world who have different
educational backgrounds.
Many UW students have used
the program since its inception.
One student was able to accept a job
in Russia after taking the Russian
program. Another student, Chance
Shemin, was able to learn more about
his heritage. He explains, “I was born
in Uzbekistan but was adopted at 16
months old and raised in America. I
never had the opportunity to learn the
Uzbek language or about the culture.
Because of this program, I was given
that opportunity.”
Through word of mouth and an
article from the Laramie Boomerang,
people outside of UW started
participating in the program, and it
transformed into a major learning
service for anyone in the community.
Many attend the program because
they want to build a stronger more
connected community. Others want
to prepare for trips abroad and some
people just want to get a better
understanding of other cultures and
places without having to travel.
The program has become a great
success on campus and off. The alwaysevolving
content ensures interested
students will be able to find something
fresh and new to learn.
As the Uzbek proverb says,
“Beshikdan qabrgacha ilm izla,”
meaning “Seek knowledge from the
day you were born until the day you
die.” Khasilova adds. “Learning occurs
every day and everywhere. By exploring
it, and the world, you can gain crucial
knowledge you didn’t know you were
missing.”
The WLC Program is free, and
classes meet once a week. If you are
interested in expanding your cultural
horizons, learning a new language, or
teaching about a culture or language,
please contact Dilnoza Khasilova at
dkhasilo@uwyo.edu. Follow the WLC
Program on Facebook to stay up-todate
on its activities, facebook.com/
culturelanguageprogram.
Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 17

By: Jason Harper
REAL EXPERIENCE
THROUGH
VIRTUAL REALITY
Newly minted teachers can often be challenged by situations
that occur in their classrooms due to their inexperience.
Candidates in typical teacher preparation programs take part
in student teaching during the final semester of their senior
year. Many education stakeholders wonder if this experience
is enough to prepare a future teachers to lead classrooms on
their own.
Teacher candidates in the University of Wyoming College
of Education will benefit from the additional teaching
experience gained while utilizing the Mursion Virtual Reality
Simulation platform. Using this technology, candidates will
teach to a class of five digital avatars whose voice and actions
Pictured left to right: Jonathon Cummings, elementary education major;
Jessica Ryan, Mursion faculty coordinator and mental health counseling
graduate student; Alli Barker, secondary english education/business major; and
Amy Spiker, senior lecturer participate in a Mursion classroom simulation.
are controlled by a person acting as a “digital puppeteer.” This
immersive learning experience is used to replicate the complex
social environment of an elementary or secondary classroom.
Faculty members from the School of Teacher Education
were trained using the platform in January, and many have
started incorporating Mursion® into the curriculum. During
the spring semester Assistant Professor Joan James integrated
the experience into one of the courses she instructs, EDST
3000. The course is typically taken by juniors and includes
future educators from all education majors at both the
elementary and secondary levels.
“It is often difficult to provide students with actual
classroom experience outside of their scheduled practicum
and student teaching experiences,” says James. “Mursion is an
effective way of providing our preservice teachers with muchneeded
teaching experience.”
Four to five pre-service teachers in the course spend about
10 minutes each leading a lesson in the Mursion Lab while the
others observe. “The lesson was on classroom management,”
James says. “They would introduce themselves, have their
students introduce themselves, set up expectations for the
students during the lesson, teach an attention signal and
introduce a lesson.”
A typical session begins when the future educator says,
“Start simulation.” They then commence leading the class of
avatars as if they were real students. The simulation can even
be paused and restarted if the candidate needs a moment to
collect himself or herself. To conclude the experience, the
candidate says, “End simulation.” Candidates then reflect
on the experience and get feedback and coaching from
the faculty instructor and other pre-service educators who
observed in the training.
Although it can be challenging for some, the majority of
pre-service teachers who have experienced Mursion believe
in its potential. “Most have said that they would be open to
doing this more often, and many feel that it would be a good
venue for practicing a lesson they are going to teach before
they actually step in front of a real class,” James says.
The powerful Mursion virtual reality software, paired with
the human actor providing the vocals and actions for each
avatar, provides for a realistic classroom experience. Audio
and video feeds allow the “digital puppeteer” behind the
avatars to react to the actions of the teacher candidate leading
the simulation in real-time. The human actor can see and hear
everything happening in the Mursion Lab, including things
written on the board and any teaching aids presented.
Just as in a real classroom, the digital students can be
unpredictable and exhibit behaviors that impede the
learning of the class. The avatars do things like fall asleep,
doodle, text on their cell phones, speak out of turn and have
side conversations. The teacher candidates get experience
correcting these behaviors on the fly while continuing to
lead the class in the lesson. The simulation can be set to mild,
medium or difficult, and the students’ bad behavior amplifies
at each level.
The innovation proposal for the use of Mursion at UW was
developed by a Trustees Education Initiative (TEI) Research
Work Group. Once developed and submitted to TEI for
consideration, the proposal was reviewed and approved by
the TEI coordinating council, TEI Governing Board and
the UW Board of Trustees. The funding to implement the
Mursion pilot program was provided by TEI.
Watch Mursion in action at the following link: www.
youtube.com/watch?v=76uffedFAnE
Accomplishments of
College of Education Faculty
120
# of presentations Faculty
made at national and
international conferences
50
# of Professional
Decvelopment activities Faculty
participated in
31
# of Awards presented to
College of Education Faculty
2017
232
# of manuscripts, book
chapters, books, or creative
works in progress or submitted
68
# of grants submitted or active
45
# of grants recieving
funding or were active
18 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 19

Police
Officer
to
Jon Anderle (Ph.D. ’18)
Ph.D.
By: Jason Harper
Jon Anderle is not your typical College of Education student.
Recently earning his Ph.D in education with a concentration
in learning, design, and technology, his journey did not start
in a classroom like most traditional educators. His career
started in a police cruiser.
For 20 years Anderle served the community of Laramie
in various roles, including patrol officer and canine handler,
investigations unit sergeant, professional standards unit
sergeant and operations lieutenant.
Early in his career Anderle attended extra training to learn
more about impaired driving enforcement, an area that he
was passionate about. The skills and knowledge he acquired
during these training sessions led him to become a training
instructor for a variety of disciplines at the department.
Providing training to officers at a local level led Anderle
to want to help improve the skills of officers on a larger scale.
In 2006, Anderle submitted a proposal that would initiate
Wyoming as a Drug Evaluation and Classification Program
state through the International Association of Chiefs of Police
(IACP). The proposal was accepted, and he was appointed as
the first statewide coordinator for the program.
As the statewide coordinator, Anderle was trained and
certified as a drug recognition expert as well as a drug
recognition expert instructor. In this role, he delivered drug
recognition training to police officers and public safety
officials throughout Wyoming. He was later appointed to the
IACP Highway Safety Committee Technical Advisory Panel
and was assigned to the curriculum committee.
Near the end of his career in law enforcement, Anderle
began to think about what was next. He enrolled in Laramie
County Community College (LCCC) and started working
on a degree to position himself to become a police chief, his
plan at the time.
Over the next few years he earned associate of arts degrees
in general studies and psychology and an associate of science
in business administration at LCCC. He was then accepted
to the University of Wyoming College of Business where
he would receive both his Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration and his MBA.
Anderle obtained these degrees while working full-time
and had to take a majority of courses online. Although he
applauds the accessibility and flexibility of LCCC and UW’s
distance educations programs, he noted how different aspects
the programs’ design affected learning outcomes.
For several years leading up to his retirement from the
police force, Anderle taught law enforcement instructor
classes as adjunct faculty at the University of North Florida’s
Institute of Police Technology and Management. There, he
led courses for civilian law enforcement officers as well as the
97th Military Police Battalion from Fort Riley, Kan. While
instructing these students, he began to notice the differences
in how civilian and military personnel learn.
His experiences with teaching and instructional design,
in addition to his experience with learning in an online
environment, led Anderle to realize his passion was for the
field of instructional technology. This realization caused him
to pursue a Ph.D. from UW’s College of Education.
“Delivering impaired driving enforcement training was
definitely the catalyst for my interest in the field,” Anderle
shares, “additionally, having the opportunity to experience
both online and face-to-face classes gave me an appreciation
for the various aspects of instructional design.”
Anderle’s position on the IACP Highway Safety Committee
Technical Advisory Panel Curriculum Committee gave him
the opportunity to provide input on the design and delivery
of various impaired driving training programs throughout the
country.
$4.8M
7
$600,000
165
“Working with a team of national experts on the curriculum
committee provided me an opportunity to incorporate a lot
of the strategies I learned in the PhD program,” Anderle says.
“While I had developed smaller-scale curricula for local and
state topics, it was an honor to help with the mission to save
lives and reduce injuries on a national level.”
Anderle’s experience and knowledge put him in a unique
position to connect the needs of law enforcement training
to the capabilities and resources offered through the field
of instructional technology. “I am committed to helping
build the bridge between best practices in our field and the
increasing needs of public safety officials for efficient and
effective learning design,” he says.
Anderle has accepted a position to work for the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as the
regional administrator for NHTSA Region 5. “I will be
working with the state highway safety offices in the region as
well as other partners to deliver safety programming designed
to save lives, reduce injuries, and reduce the economic impact
of crashes on our highways,” he shares.
Private Donor Investments
Private Donor Investments
Private Donor Investments
Over $4.8 million in private support raised for the College of
Education in the last 18 months.
Seven new funds were established to support innovation and
excellence in: Special Education, STEM education, Secondary
Education, Counselor Education, and Agriculture Education.
Over $600,00 in new monies raised for the Literacy Research
Center and Clinic to support literacy across the state.
165 College of Education students received nearly $300,000 from
62 different scholarships to support education.
20 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018 Education@UWYO Spring 2018 • 21

Leads to
Counseling
PlayCertification
By: Alli Barker
Play therapy is a form of therapeutic counseling that
encourages children from ages 3 to 10 to develop an
ability to express and communicate their feelings through
play. It was designed to encourage development, create
an emotional balance, resolve possible trauma issues and
improve social communication skills in young children.
During a typical session, children are observed to help
locate and identify their emotions or possible issues that
may be agitating them psychosocially.
The School of Counseling, Leadership, Advocacy,
and Design at the University of Wyoming College
of Education is one of only a handful of counselor
preparation programs that offer a play therapy course.
It is even more rare to find a program, like the one at
UW, that requires all counseling students to take the
3-credit course.
Associate Professor Kara Holt, who is coordinator
of the play therapy program, explains the reasons UW
requires the course. “As a counseling program, we work
hard to prepare our students to be generalist and also
recognize that living in a rural state, we need to offer
comprehensive training so that our students are equipped
to provide counseling across the lifespan.” Holt was
awarded the certification so she could support the training
of others at the UW College of Education.
In order to provide a greater benefit to students, the
Counseling Program has sought and received approval
from the Center for Play Therapy to count the UW
play therapy course as credit towards achieving Child-
Centered Play Therapist (CCPT) and Certified Child-
Parent Relationship Therapist (CPRT) certifications.
These certifications will allow counseling graduates to
expand their services and provide high-quality researchedbased
therapeutic services to children and their families
across Wyoming.
Graduates who complete CCPT Certification are
able to provide developmentally responsive, play-based
mental health intervention for children ages 3 to 10.
CCPT uses play as a safe environment that children will
feel comfortable in while experiencing acceptance and
empathy from the counselor.
Counseling students who seek CPRT certification can
provide a play-based treatment program for children with
behavioral, emotional, social and attachment disorders.
The certification allows counseling graduates to teach
parents vital skills that encourage attachment bonds with
their children.
Many students who have taken the play therapy course
have aspirations to become certified. “Being able
to take the play therapy class gave me a great foundation.
I am planning on becoming a certified play therapist in the
course of my work as a counselor. This class gave me a head
start on that,” says Ronda Cauffman a master’s student in
counseling.
Current counseling students who have been exposed
to play therapy through the course believe in its ability to
positively affect young children. “Play therapy is incredibly
powerful, and I have already seen how it can help children
work through issues at a young age,” says Cauffman. Jessica
Ryan, who’s pursuing her master’s degree in counseling
and has also taken the course, shares this opinion, “If we
can foster healing spaces, healthy attachments, and more
empathy when the brain is forming—the world is bound
to be a better place.”
Kirk Thiemann (top image), Ph.D. student
in counselor education, and Lay-nah Blue
Morris-Howe (bottom image), assistant
professor in counseling, interact with children
during play therapy sessions in the UW
Counselor Education Training Clinic.
22 • Education@UWYO Spring 2018

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