April 2021 Newsletter
Give Day Supporters Set New Record
The School of Education community rallied behind our programs and students on UC Davis Give Day this year, raising $264,238 from 191 gifts! This is an incredible increase from Give Day 2020, when we raised $21,316 from 55 gifts.
“The credit goes to our committed and enthusiastic supporters, including our Board of Advisors,” said Jennifer Martinez, the School’s Senior Director of Development. “We had generous individuals whose early donations helped us create 11 challenges totaling $231,000, inspiring past and new donors to meet them. Our community members who shared the Give Day message with their friends and families also made a big difference. We were overwhelmed by the level of support directed to our students and faculty, and are so grateful for everyone’s participation. Every gift will help change lives for years to come.”
Funds raised will support student scholarships in our teacher education, PhD and CANDEL programs, our classroom improvement project, community programs such as the Young Scholars Program and Words Take Wing, and research centers such as the Transformative Justice in Education Center and the Center for Community and Citizen Science.
Across the UC Davis and UC Davis Health campuses, Give Day raised a total of $3,467,783 from 5,663 gifts, up from $2.6 million from 4,825 gifts last year. Donations came in from 46 states and 16 countries. Thank you to everyone who participated!
School of Education Ranks 37th in the Nation
The School of Education remains one of the top 40 graduate schools of education in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. This year, the School ranked 37th out of 277 public and private programs nationally. “We are very proud of the caliber of our academic programs, our research, our faculty and our alumni,” said Dean Lindstrom, “so it’s gratifying to see the hard work of our community be recognized in our ranking, especially as a young school.”
FACULTY RESEARCH
Danny C. Martinez Receives Spencer Foundation Grant
Prof. Danny C. Martinez will be a co-principal
investigator with colleagues P. Zitlali Morales of University of
Illinois at Chicago and Ramón A. Martínez of Stanford University
on a $443,000 Spencer Foundation grant. Titled “Centering
racialized pre-service teachers: A proleptic re-design of teacher
education for leveraging linguistic diversity,” the project will
center the experiences and perspectives of pre-service teachers
(PSTs) of color in order to yield insights that can inform the
redesign of teacher education programs and provide PSTs with
tools to teach linguistically minoritized students of color.
Torry Winn and Michal Kurlaender Honored by Academic Senate
Two School of Education faculty were among 16 scholars recognized this year by the Academic Senate and Academic Federation for their excellent work.
Prof. Michal Kurlaender received a Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award, which acknowledges impactful service that goes above and beyond normal job expectations, for her research guiding state education policy toward equity for all students.
Prof. Torry Winn received a Distinguished Teaching Award, which is given to undergraduate and graduate educators who display excellence in teaching through exceptional class organization, advising and teaching innovations, and was awarded for creating inclusive and valuable learning experiences to help develop students into critically conscious educators.
Cassandra Hart Recognized by AERA
Prof. Cassandra Hart has been named an Outstanding Reviewer for 2020 for Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She was recognized at the 2021 AERA Annual Meeting, held virtually this year from April 8–12. Hart evaluates the effects of school, state and national education programs, policies and practices on overall student achievement, and on the equity of student outcomes.
Nicole Sparapani Receives Faculty Development Award
Prof. Nicole Sparapani has received the 2021-22 Faculty Development Award from the UC Davis Office of the Provost. The Faculty Development Program is designed to encourage further scholarly attainment by faculty members with heavy involvement in service, allowing them to give undivided attention to their research. Sparapani’s research focuses on the learning needs of students with autism spectrum disorder.
STUDENT AND ALUMNI NEWS
Lizette Navarette a Finalist in UC Davis Grad Slam
EdD candidate Lizette Navarette was selected as one of just 10 finalists in the 2021 UC Davis Grad Slam, in which master’s and doctoral students in disciplines ranging from hard sciences to humanities present for three minutes on their research in a way that is clear, direct and understandable for a general audience. On April 8, she presented “Time to Begin Adulting,” on the need for California community colleges to adapt to and better support adult learners. Navarette is the Vice Chancellor of College Finance and Facilities Planning for the California Community Colleges. Watch the video here.
Alumnus Honored by Texas House of Representatives
Xavier De La Torre, EdD ’03, was recently honored by the Texas House of Representatives for his work as a public school superintendent in El Paso, Texas. In addition to leading the district through the COVID-19 pandemic, De La Torre has overseen the launch of a Young Women’s Leadership Academy, expansion of international schools and business-community partnerships, a new technology initiative and two multimillion-dollar facilities bonds. Read more.
WEBINARS
UC Davis LIVE Features Board of Advisors Member John Bowes
Davis Joint Unified School District superintendent and School of Education Board of Advisors member John Bowes participated in the recent UC Davis LIVE panel on “Safer School Reopening.” Bowes, David Coil of the UC Davis Genome Center and host Soterios Johnson discussed safety preparations made in anticipation of the district resuming in-person instruction, including air filtration, free weekly testing and modified classrooms. Watch here.
Recent Research Publications
- Prof. Heidi Ballard and Emily M. Harris co-authored “Examining student environmental science agency across school science contexts” in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching.
- Prof. Nancy Erbstein and other University of California colleagues co-authored “Overview of Guiding Principles for Engaging Latinx Youth” and four companion practitioner briefs for 4-H and youth development professionals to use when designing a program to increase participation by Latinx youth.
- Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, Dr. Nadeen Ruiz and Samantha Smith co-authored “Lessons learned from exploring the potential of California’s mini-corps tutors as future bilingual teachers,” published in the International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism.
- Prof. Francisco Martorell co-authored “Heterogeneity in the Effects of College Course Placement,” published in Research in Higher Education.