January 2019 Newsletter

College Opportunity Programs Move to School of Education

We are pleased to announce that as of January 2, 2019, the UC Davis College Opportunity Programs have been transferred from Student Affairs to the School of Education and will be administered by Renee Newton of our Resourcing Excellence in Education (REEd) center. The College Opportunity Programs, including Educational Talent Search, GEAR UP and Upward Bound, provide academic preparation services to over 8,000 junior and senior high and college students and families each year, financed primarily by funding from the US Department of Education. Services span grades 7-16 and are offered both on the UC Davis campus and at middle and high school sites throughout Sacramento, Solano, Yolo, Shasta, Siskiyou, Modoc, Trinity and Tehama counties. 

“The services of the College Opportunity Programs are a perfect match for the School of Education’s mission of educational equity and our goal to break down barriers to student success,” said Dean Lauren Lindstrom. “And we’re thrilled to welcome the 35 College Opportunity Programs staff members to the School’s team.”

Words Take Wing Welcomes Newbery-Winning Author Erin Entrada Kelly

Words Take Wing: Honoring Diversity in Children’s Literature, an annual celebration that gives students the opportunity to hear from acclaimed authors and illustrators of diverse children’s literature, is excited to announce this year’s Celebrated Children’s Author is Filipina-American author Erin Entrada Kelly. Kelly is a professor of children’s literature at Rosemont College and the 2018 Newbery Medal winner for her novel Hello, Universe. She also recently worked with School of Education teaching credential candidates and resident teachers as part of the Children’s Writer/Illustrator In Residence Program.

On February 26, 2019, Words Take Wing will host Kelly at two public events. She will present at 11 am to students at the UC Davis Mondavi Center as part of the School Matinee event series. This event is recommended for classes grades 4–8 and is also open to individuals. Kelly will also give a public presentation from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm, followed by a book sale and author book signing, at the McKinley Library, 601 Alhambra Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95816. Admission to this public presentation is free.

Since 2005, more than 14,000 Sacramento-area school children have benefited from Words Take Wing, a program housed in the School of Education and made possible by philanthropy. Learn how you can support this important community programhere.

Alumni Opportunity: Mock Interviewers Needed for Teaching Credential Students

Our Teacher Education program prides itself on producing highly sought-after candidates in the field of education and providing students with the guidance they need to jumpstart their careers. Each year, alumni and other experienced educators conduct mock interviews on the UC Davis campus for our teaching students to help prepare them for their teacher hiring interviews.

We receive wonderful feedback from our students about how helpful these mock interviews are, and perhaps you benefitted from one yourself in the past! If you’d like to serve on our Saturday, February 9, 2019 mock panel this year, please contact Shaima Shafii at sashafii@ucdavis.edu to sign up for a half-day or whole-day time block. Lunch will be provided. Our students thank you!

Kurlaender Awarded $1.25 Million Grant from UC Office of the President

Professor Michal Kurlaender, alongside colleagues from UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UCLA and UCSF, has been awarded a $1.25 million grant from the University of California’s Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives. Their project, “California Policy Lab: Studying Inequality and Homelessness,” will combine faculty research expertise with data from state and local agencies to address two of California’s pressing problems: homelessness and workforce education. The team will also develop a UC-wide infrastructure to support research on these and other pressing problems. Learn more about the grant project here. 

New Wheelhouse Research Finds Texting Can Increase Student Awareness and Access to Financial Aid

In a single semester, $130 million in potential financial aid goes unclaimed by California community college students. According to new research published through the School of Education’s Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research, helping students claim that aid is now just a text away. Communicating with students using a familiar platform like texting can be an effective way to “nudge” them through a complex process. Learn more about how community college students who participated in a text-messaging pilot project during the 2017-18 academic year had higher financial aid awards in Wheelhouse’s new research brief. 

Help Center for Community and Citizen Science Put Sacramento on the Map for City Nature Challenge 2019

The School of Education’s Center for Community and Citizen Science is teaming up with the California Naturalist program, the UC Davis Evolution and Ecology Department and other partners to include the Sacramento region in the upcoming 2019 City Nature Challenge. The City Nature Challenge (CNC) began in 2016 as a nature-observation competition between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County, organized around one question: “Which city can find the most nature?” Since then, the competition has expanded rapidly, and this year more than 120 cities will participate worldwide. This will be the first year that Sacramento participates in the event.

The Center for Community and Citizen Science invites teachers, students, citizen scientists, nonprofits and government partners to contact CNC Sacramento in order to collaborate on ways to get people in the Sacramento region involved. To find out how you can support paid internships with the Center for Community and Citizen Science for undergraduate and graduate students working on the City Nature Challenge, please contact Ryan Meyer.

Alumni Spotlight: Sheri Atkinson (EdD ‘14)

Sheri Atkinson (EdD ’14) realized early in her career that working in higher education was the best way to make a meaningful contribution to the world. “I have a passion for social justice, and that type of work can take place in a number of different contexts,” she said. “The college environment is a special place for doing this type of work because you’re impacting the lives of students who are full of energy and the potential for growth. For me, it’s about making space to give back to the field of education that helped support me in my own growth.”

In her current position as Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Life, Campus Community and Retention Services at UC Davis, she supervises students and staff committed to student success. From community-specific academic retention initiatives and resource centers to systemwide campus climate reporting to student governance, Atkinson’s colleagues at the Division of Student Affairs play an important role in the lives of every UC Davis student. Learn more about her in this alumni spotlight. 

RECENT RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

• Professor Heidi Ballard, Founder and Faculty Director of the Center for Community and Citizen Science, recently co-authored a chapter entitled ”Conservation Outcomes of Citizen Science” in the new book Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy. 
• Professor Marcela Cuellar has authored an article entitled ”Creating Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Emerging HSIs: Latina/o College Choice at 4-Year Institutions,” in the American Journal of Education.
• Professor Kevin Gee and PhD candidate Minahil Asim have published “Parenting Aggravation Associated with Food Insecurity Impacts Children’s Behavior and Development” through the UC Davis Center for Poverty Research.
• Susan O’Hara, Joanne Bookmyer, Robin Martin and Renee Newton of the School of Education’s Resourcing Excellence in Education (REEd) have published their article, “Theory of Action for Resourcing Professional Growth” in the Journal of Professional Capital and Community.