March 2020 Newsletter
Michal Kurlaender Elected to National Academy of Education
Prof. Michal
Kurlaender, department chair at the School of Education,
has been elected into the National
Academy of Education. The Academy consists of leading US
and international education researchers who are chosen for
membership on the basis of their outstanding scholarship in the
field of education. Fifteen new scholars were invited to join
the Academy this year.
Kurlaender, whose research mainly examines K-12 and postsecondary alignment, is a leading researcher for Policy Analysis for California Education, the California Education Lab, and Wheelhouse: The Center for Community College Leadership and Research. Congratulations, Prof. Kurlaender!
School of Education Faculty to Lead New Community-Focused Quarter at Aggie Square Experiences
Aggie Square—the new UC Davis
innovation center in Sacramento—has announced its first year of
curriculum for undergraduates in fall–winter 2020–21, and
School of Education Prof.
Margarita Jiménez-Silva, Prof.
Maisha Winn and Prof.
Lawrence (Torry) Winn will all be leading
new Quarter
at Aggie Square Experiences. These new “Experiences” will
be a cohort model in which undergraduate participants’ entire
course of study for the quarter will be within the
program. Each Experience incorporates 13 to 18 units,
including internships or research, as well as community
outreach opportunities.
“Transformative Justice Studies in Sacramento,” an Experience co-led by Winn, Winn, Dr. Vajra Watson and Prof. Orly Clerge, builds on long-standing relationships with community educational organizations in Sacramento to address issues of social justice. “Multilingual Education for California”—an Experience co-led by Jiménez-Silva and Prof. Agustina Carando—addresses the urgent need for bilingual educators by training a cohort of Spanish–English bilingual teachers through courses in education and Latinx language and culture, and internship hours at the Language Academy of Sacramento (which is adjacent to Aggie Square). Learn more about these new programs of study on the UC Davis News website.
Dean Lauren Lindstrom Honored with AERA Distinguished Researcher Award
Dean Lauren
Lindstrom recently received a Distinguished
Researcher Award from the American Educational Research
Association (AERA) Special and Inclusive
Education Special Interest Group. Lindstrom has made
significant, international-reaching contributions to the field
of special education, particularly in the area of career
development and post-school outcomes for youth with
disabilities. Her research mainly focuses on improving outcomes
for young women with disabilities, underserved youth, and
the role of families in career development. According to one
colleague in her field, Lindstrom has a “strong and enduring
commitment to finding ways of ensuring youth with disabilities
have the very best chance of flourishing in their schools, in
their communities and in their daily lives. She is doing the
work that matters most in the lives of diverse students and
their families.” Congratulations, Dean Lindstrom!
Inaugural Expanding Equity in Education Research Speaker Series Event
On February 26, 2020, the School
of Education’s new Expanding Equity in Education Research
Speaker Series welcomed Nolan Cabrera and Gina Garcia to
discuss “Challenging Dominant Narratives in Higher Education
Research.” This speaker series brings multidisciplinary experts
to UC Davis to explore how faculty and students can use their
research to shift practices and create more equitable outcomes
across the educational field.
Cabrera, an award-winning scholar
and nationally recognized expert in the areas of
racism/anti-racism on college campuses, whiteness and
ethnic studies, and Garcia, a leading scholar on Hispanic
Serving Institutions (HSIs), presented their research and
insights around the myth of “post-racial” higher education, the
racialization of postsecondary institutions and more. Their
presentations were also followed by a panel discussion
moderated by Prof. Marcela Cuellar. Watch a full video of
the event on
our YouTube channel.
REEd Center Receives Wallace Foundation Grant to Support School Improvement Nationwide
Resourcing
Excellence in Education (REEd), a research center in
the School of Education, has received a grant to support the
ESSA Leadership Learning Community, a national partnership of
the Council of Great City Schools, Council of Chief State
School Officers, and the National Urban League, funded by
the Wallace
Foundation.
The ESSA Leadership Learning Community is designed to assist states and districts as they figure out how to best use Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funds with the goal of implementing supports and interventions to turn around schools most in need of improvement. Working directly with states and districts, the group is focused on building the capacity of education leaders to work in low-performing schools, creating models and sharing best practices. “We’re excited about this partnership because it creates a community of states and districts all trying to improve school systems on behalf of underrepresented school populations,” said Carlas McCauley, the School of Education’s director of research and partnerships and executive director of REEd. Learn more about REEd on our website.
PhD Student Yared Portillo Named 2020 Mellon Public Scholar
School of Education PhD student
Yared Portillo has been chosen as a 2020 Mellon Public Scholar.
She is the first student from the School of Education to be
awarded this community engagement-based fellowship. Every
year, the Mellon
Public Scholars Program invites 12 UC Davis graduate
students in the arts, humanities and humanistic social sciences
to participate in a quarter-long spring seminar that introduces
them to the intellectual and practical aspects of public
humanities scholarship. Each student is paired with a faculty
mentor to develop a community-based research project and spends
the summer following the seminar working with a community
partner.
Portillo’s project, “The Fandango as Multimodal Cultural Literacy Practice for Transnational Mexican Youth,” will develop community-based workshops on the fandango, which is the communal celebration of Son Jarocho, a participatory music from Veracruz, Mexico, where Indigenous, African and Spanish roots intersect. “This is a collaborative inquiry into how we shape and reshape our community’s political, cultural, social and transnational literacy practices through learning, teaching and making music together,” said Portillo. “With this project, we aim to open up a space of conversation around the lives of our Mexican and immigrant communities in Sacramento.”
EVENTS
Save the Date: UC Davis Give Day, April 17-18, 2020
UC
Davis Give Day—the annual 29-hour giving event celebrating
the areas on campus most important to you—is happening next
month! The UC Davis community collectively raised more than $2
million during last year’s Give Day, and the School of
Education had a record-breaking year with over $23,000 raised
from more than 70 gifts. We’re now gearing up for the
fourth annual Give Day, which takes place in conjunction with
Picnic Day on April 17-18, 2020. Keep an eye on our Facebook,
Twitter and April e-newsletter for more information soon about
how you can help support School of Education students, research
and community outreach programs.
POSTPONED: CANDEL Networking and Luncheon Event
This event has been postponed. It will not take place on March 14. Follow-up information on rescheduling the event will be shared at a later date.
CANDEL alumni are invited to a CANDEL Networking and Luncheon Event, Saturday, March 14, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., at the Alpha Gamma Rho Hall in the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, UC Davis. Join School of Education Dean Lauren Lindstrom, CANDEL faculty speakers, current CANDEL students and fellow alumni for updates about the future of CANDEL and the opportunity to network with the CANDEL community.
ALUMNI NEWS
Last week, CANDEL alumni came
together for the second annual American River College Symposium
on Research to Practice: Addressing Inequities in Higher
Education. Cynthia Sommer (EdD ’18), Thoeung Mim Montgomery
(EdD ’17), Tina Jordan (EdD ’14) and Torence Powell (EdD ’17)
all presented at this interactive professional development
opportunity for students and higher education leaders.
In other news, School of Education alumnus Nathan Kwan (’17, Cred. ’18, MA ’19)—a chemistry and physics teacher at Da Vinci Charter Academy, and a marathon runner—is going to the Olympic Trials. And alumna Maria Martinez (MA ’09), principal at Science and Technology Academy at Knights Landing, recently sat down with the Daily Democrat to discuss her career.
Have your own news to share with us? Email us at ed-alumni@ucdavis.edu.
Recent Research Publications
- Prof. Steven Athanases and PhD candidate Sergio L. Sanchez co-wrote the article “‘A Caesar for our Time’: Toward Empathy and Perspective-Taking in New Teachers’ Drama Practices in Diverse Classrooms,” published in the journal Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance
- REEd research program analyst Leslie Banes (PhD ’17) and Prof. Rebecca Ambrose co-authored the article “‘Present Your Start’: Mathematics Discussions to Benefit All Students” in Multilingual Educator, a publication of the California Association for Bilingual Education (CABE).
- Prof. Cassandra Hart published her research article, “An Honors Teacher Like Me: Effects of Access to Same-Race Teachers on Black Students’ Advanced-Track Enrollment and Performance,” in the journal Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. She also co-authored the working paper, “Effects of Scaling Up Private School Choice Programs on Public School Students,” published by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
- Dean Lauren Lindstrom, Prof. Kevin Gee and alumna Carolynne Beno (’03, EdD ’17) all contributed to a recent Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) series on special education. They authored or co-wrote the following policy briefs:
