February 2021 Newsletter

Kevin Gee Named 2020-21 Chancellor’s Fellow

Prof. Kevin Gee has been awarded the prestigious title of Chancellor’s Fellow, a recognition given to early career faculty who have performed exceptional work in research, teaching and service. “His research on the impact of educational policies and school practices is extremely relevant and timely,” Dean Lauren Lindstrom said, “and has advanced our understanding of education, health and social outcomes for underserved youth.” Gee is the seventh School of Education faculty member to be named a Chancellor’s Fellow. Read the full story.

Welcoming New Board of Advisors Members

David Chai is a consultant who has served as a strategic advisor to leaders in the public and private sectors for over 25 years. He currently serves as a Strategic Advisor for the Alice Waters Edible Schoolyard Project and is a Global Advisory Council Member of the Governance Lab at New York University. He has previously held senior positions with the mayors of Oakland, San Francisco and New York City, and the governors of California and Washington. He served in the Clinton Administration, the office of the UC Berkeley Chancellor, and with Cisco Systems. He earned his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley.

We also welcome Linda C. Luna, who served in public education for 37 years, including five years as the superintendent of Millbrae School District and most recently for five years as the superintendent of Washington Unified School District. She received her master’s degree from Sacramento State University in Educational Leadership and her bachelor of science degree in Music Education from the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific. She has been honored as the 2020 Regional Superintendent of the Year by the California Latino School Administrators, received the 2019 Women’s Leadership Award from the Central Valley Asian American Chamber of Commerce, and named the 2018 Regional Innovative Leader by the Association of California School Administrators.

Support Words Take Wing Through Crowdfund in February

Crowdfund UC Davis is featuring Words Take Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children’s Literature for the month of February, and generous supporters have donated over $7,500 to ensure that this much-loved program for Sacramento-area schoolchildren will continue. “We’re thankful for every gift made to support schoolchildren being able to experience diverse children’s literature through Words Take Wing,” said Dean Lauren Lindstrom. “This opportunity would not be possible without the dedicated commitments of our community supporters.”

There’s still time for you to donate and be part of the story! Visit Crowdfund UC Davis by February 28, or contact Quentin Graeber.

FACULTY RESEARCH

Transformative Justice in Education Center Publishes Evaluation of Sacramento’s Black Child Legacy Campaign

The Transformative Justice in Education Center has released an evaluation of Sacramento’s Black Child Legacy Campaign, a movement working toward reducing the deaths of African American children. The report, “Transformative Justice Community,” is the result of two years of research performed in collaboration with Sacramento State University and the UC Davis Office of Research and Policy for Equity. Prof. Maisha Winn, Prof. Lawrence “Torry” Winn and colleagues highlight the success and effectiveness of BCLC’s strategies and identify areas of improvement. Read more and find the full report.

Michal Kurlaender to Participate in Multi-Campus Research Project

Prof. Michal Kurlaender will be collaborating with researchers from other UC campuses on California Policy Lab: Data-Driven Solutions to California’s Most Complex Issues, a research program funded by the UC Office of the President as part of Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives. The program will focus on expanding the California Policy Lab, which facilitates research that can be used to address social and economic problems, to three new campuses and adding three new data sources. 

Wheelhouse Publishes Research on Incarcerated Persons Taking Community College Courses

The School of Education’s Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research has published research in collaboration with UC Berkeley showing significant yet inequitable growth in college course enrollment among incarcerated persons. Higher Learning Inside explores demographics as well as the course selection, load and performance of incarcerated students, using statewide data. Wheelhouse reports more students taking more units, more diverse courses and performing well, but also that Latinx and Black incarcerated students are slightly underrepresented. Read the research brief here.

WEBINARS

UC Davis LIVE Highlights Impact of COVID-19 on Education

The February edition of UC Davis LIVE  featured professors Michal Kurlaender and Kevin Gee, who discussed their research on the impact COVID-19 has had on learning from kindergarten to college, the educational challenges for teachers and students going back to the classroom, and how parents can help students manage the transition. Watch the recording here.

Expanding Equity in Educational Research Available Online

The webinar recording of our latest Expanding Equity in Educational Research speaker series presentation featuring Dr. Antero Garcia of Stanford Graduate School of Education and Dr. Nicole Mirra of Rutgers Graduate School of Education is now available. Watch or re-watch “I Hesitate But I Do Have Hope: Speculative Civic Literacies for Troubled Times.”

Enjoy Recent and Upcoming Brown Bag Speaker Series

The winter 2021 Graduate Group Brown Bag Speaker Series is well underway. Catch up with recent conversations on our YouTube playlist. The next discussion, “Money, Equity, & Schools: A CRT/Racial Realist Analysis of Educational Leadership,” will be presented by Prof. Gloria Rodriguez and Enrique Aleman on March 1st at 12:10 pm.

Recent Research Publications

• Prof. Steven Athanases and PhD Candidate Sergio Sanchez co-authored “Embodiment, Emotion, and Reflection: Resources for Learning Through Drama,” published in the English Journal.
• Prof. Heidi Ballard co-authored “Exploring the Participation of Young Citizen Scientists in Scientific Research: The Case of iNaturalist,” published in PLOS One.
• Prof. Darnel Degand authored “Golden Legacy Versus Trivializing Tropes: An Examination of ‘The Saga of Toussaint L’ouverture and the Birth of Haiti,’” published in the Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics.
• Prof. Yuuko Uchikoshi co-authored “A Longitudinal Study on Bidirectional Relations Between Executive Functions and English Word-Level Reading in Chinese American Children in Immigrant Families,” published in Learning and Individual Differences.
• Prof. Megan Welsh co-authored “So Similar, But So Different From My Real-Life Classroom,” a chapter in Virtual and Augmented Reality in English Language Arts Education.