e-Newsletter July 18, 2022

July 2022 Newsletter

REEd Center Awarded Five New Grants

The School of Education’s REEd Center has received five federal Upward Bound grants totaling more than $8.7 million over the next five years to continue serving 348 high school students in Sacramento, Solano, Shasta and Siskiyou counties.

Upward Bound serves high school students and recent high school graduates from low-income families and families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree, providing services to help them successfully complete high school and enter college. The program offers support in academics, course selection, study skills, personal development, college admissions, financial aid and college scholarship applications.

Cynthia Carter Ching Named New Associate Dean

Prof. Cynthia Carter Ching will return to the School of Education as associate dean of academic programs effective September 1, 2022.

Prof. Ching has been serving as the interim vice provost and dean for undergraduate education at UC Davis since July 2020, and holds a faculty appointment as a professor of learning and mind sciences in the School of Education.

Rebecca Ambrose to Serve as Interim Department Chair

Prof. Rebecca Ambrose began serving as interim department chair for the School of Education effective July 1, 2022, succeeding Prof. Michal Kurlaender in the position.

Prof. Ambrose has held many key academic leadership roles since joining the School as an Assistant Professor in 2002. She most recently served as director of the teacher education program.

New Guide to Research on COVID-19 and Education

In order to share the extensive scholarship produced by School of Education experts who have studied the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on education, we’ve put together an online resource with expert analysis from faculty and staff on a range of related topics.

View papers, articles and videos that include research and insights from UC Davis education experts.

Recently, researchers from the School’s California Education Lab authored a new brief on the first year of learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Donate to the Al Mendle Scholarship Fund

Thanks to a generous gift from an anonymous donor, the School of Education has established a teaching credential scholarship in recognition of Al Mendle, who recently retired from his long-time lecturer/supervisor role in our teacher education program.

This scholarship will provide crucial support to first-generation multiple subject teaching credential candidates with a demonstrated financial need. You can help celebrate Al’s contributions to the field of teaching and support a future teacher by making a gift to this new scholarship.

Faculty News

Michal Kurlaender Named Chancellor’s Leadership Professor

Prof. Michal Kurlaender has been named a Chancellor’s Leadership Professor, effective from July 1, 2022 through 2025. This honorary designation reflects her outstanding scholarship and many academic contributions to our campus.

Prof. Kurlaender investigates students’ educational pathways, in particular K-12 and postsecondary alignment, and access to and success in higher education.

Alumni and Student News

Genevieve Siwabessy Appointed at Hancock College

Genevieve Siwabessy, EdD ’15, has been named the new associate superintendent and vice president of student services at Allan Hancock College, where she will oversee programs including financial aid and admissions.

Dr. Siwabessy has more than 18 years of experience across multiple levels of higher education throughout California, and most recently served as dean of student success and support programs for Cuesta College.

Read the announcement of Dr. Siwabessy’s appointment.

Kaozong Mouavangsou Named UCOP Postdoctoral Fellow

Kaozong Mouavangsou, MA ’16, PhD ’22, has been named a University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow. The fellowship program encourages outstanding women and minority PhD recipients to pursue academic careers at the University of California.

Dr. Mouavangsou designed and taught the first UC Davis course on the Hmong American experience.

Alumna and Student Receive Writing Research Awards

The 2022 Council of Writing Program Administrators Graduate Research Award Committee awarded Honorable Mention to Stacy Wittstock, PhD ’22, for her forthcoming journal article and PhD student Jennifer Burke Reifman for her qualifying exam project.

Learn more about their work.

Events

Central Valley Interdisciplinary Symposium

Prof. Alexis Patterson Williams will be keynote speaker at the upcoming Central Valley Region Interdisciplinary Symposium on Education Research, hosted by UC Merced on July 22-24.

The symposium will bring together researchers, educators, students and leaders to discuss recent education research efforts and scientific evidence, propose pathways to addressing voids in education research, and facilitate interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations.

Learn more about and register for the symposium.

Supervisors of Teacher Education Annual Conference

Join the Supervisors of Teacher Education Network Team for their annual conference on July 25 -26.

This year’s conference, Building a Community of Supervisors for Equity and Justice, will be a virtual event led by Dr. Lisa Sullivan. Highlights will include workshops on authentic university-school partnerships, universal design for learning, and connecting teacher education programs to DEI and justice.

Show Off with School of Education Gear

Looking for a way to show off your School of Education pride? You’ll find shirts of all styles, as well as mugs, hats and more with the School of Education logo at the online UC Davis Store. Proceeds from all store sales benefit UC Davis Athletics.

Publications

Prof. Heidi Ballard co-authored the research papers “The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Associated Restrictions on Participation in Community and Citizen Science,” published in Citizen Science Theory and Practice and “Examining Youth Participation in Ongoing Community and Citizen Science Programs in Three Different Out-of-School Settings,” published in Environmental Education Research.

Prof. Darnel Degand published the article “Un-silenced Pasts Present in Afrofutures: The Potential of Arts-based Inquiry and Critical Race Theory” in Journal of Futures Studies.

Prof. Lee Martin and PhD student Ciara Thomas Murphy co-authored “Tinkering In the Time of COVID: Lessons From Educators’ Efforts to Facilitate Playful Tinkering Through Online Learning,” published in International Journal of Play.

Prof. Yuuko Uchikoshi co-authored “Child Second Language Development of English Tense and Aspect: The Role of Narrative Organization,” published in Applied Psycholinguistics.

Prof. Lawrence T. Winn published the film review “Wakanda Forever: The (Virtual) Reality of Teaching in Color” in Journal of Futures Studies.

Prof. Maisha T. Winn published the article “‘Eyes in the Back of My Head’: Forecasting for Black Education” in Journal of Futures Studies.