May 2022 Newsletter

Give Day Success: $340,000 Raised for Education

Go, Aggies! We’re proud and excited to announce that we raised $339,982 through 205 gifts for School of Education research centers, scholarship funds and education equity initiatives on Give Day 2022. The leadership of the 17 donors who gave to create our challenge gifts was crucial. Thank you to every donor, and to everyone who helped spread the word!

This campus-wide fundraising drive raised a total of $4.1 million, from over 5,000 gifts.

Thank you, again, for your support. If you weren’t able to participate on Give Day, you can still make a contribution to the fund of your choice.

Maisha Winn Awarded Stanford University Fellowship

Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs Maisha Winn, co-director of the Transformative Justice in Education Center, will serve as a Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences 2022-23 residential fellow in the field of education.

The Center announced a class of 34 scholars from 16 universities and across disciplines, who will work together to address pressing societal challenges. Learn more.

Marcela Cuellar Earns AERA Award

At the 2022 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in San Diego last month, Prof. Marcela Cuellar was awarded the AERA Latina/o/x Research Issues (LRI) Special Interest Group (SIG) Award for significant contributions in elementary, secondary, or postsecondary education research.

“The LRI Awards committee was highly impressed with her dedication to using her own experiences and positionality as a first-generation college student to help students navigate through the educational pipeline,” said SIG Chair Amber Gonzalez.

Faculty News

Faculty Promotions Announced

We are pleased to announce the faculty promotions of Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva to full professor, and the promotions with tenure of Prof. Nicole Sparapani to associate professor and Prof. Lawrence (Torry) Winn to associate professor of teaching, effective July 1, 2022. Congratulations to Profs. Jimenez-Silva, Sparapani and Winn!

Alexis Patterson Williams Receives Start-Up Award

Prof. Alexis Patterson Williams has received the Post-Tenure Start-Up Award from the UC Davis Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’s Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on the Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities.

The award will help initiate her new science education research project, “Unlocking the Key to Socially Just and Transformative Science Teaching.” Read more.

Lee Martin Inspires Area Children To Be Makers

Prof. Lee Martin is working with community partners, national agencies, and area high schools to inspire youth to build, engineer, tinker and adapt so they can learn more about STEM. 

Through his work, Martin has been able to innovate with projects like The Beta Lab van, a mobile workshop with tools, woodworking supplies, electronic equipment, Post-It notes, glue sticks, pipe cleaners, a laser cutter, sewing machines and even a 3D printer, so that visiting students can tinker and create.  

Read more in a profile by the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement.

Staff News

Rosaisela Rodriguez Recognized for Academic Advising

Graduate Program Coordinator Rosaisela Rodriguez is a recipient of the 2021-2022 Outstanding Graduate Program Coordinator and Innovation Award. Recently, she was awarded further honors by NACADA: The Global Community for Academic Advising, which named her a recipient of NACADA’s Certificate of Merit of Region 9 Excellence in Advising - Advising Administrator. She will be formally recognized at upcoming NACADA conferences.

Events

Expanding Equity in Educational Research Series with Erica Halverson

Join us at Putah Creek Lodge on Wednesday, May 11, 1 pm for “How the Arts Can Save Education: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Instruction.” This presentation by Prof. Erica Halverson is part of our Expanding Equity in Educational Research Speaker Series. Halverson is professor and chair in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This event is open to the public. Register here.

UC Davis Plugged In: COVID-19 and Education

As part of the ongoing UC Davis Plugged In virtual series, Prof Margarita Jimenez-Silva and Director of Research and Partnerships/Executive Director of REEd Carlas McCauley will present at the event “How COVID-19 Changed Education.” Dean Lauren Lindstrom will moderate the discussion, which starts at 4 pm on May 25. Register for this Zoom event.

CANDEL Networking Event

Join faculty, CANDEL alumni, and CANDEL students for an afternoon of networking on May 21, 2022, starting at 11 am.

This in-person event will be held at AGR Hall, Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center, and will include refreshments as well as remarks and discussion from Prof. Marcela Cuellar and Dr. Cynthia Sommer.

Registration is required.

Inspiring Retention in Education PowerSchool Webinar

On April 26, Prof. Margarita Jimenez-Silva, chair of teacher education, joined national teacher and educational leader experts for a panel discussion on best practices to support K-12 teachers and staff in their profession, to increase retention, and ultimately to improve student outcomes. This online event was hosted by PowerSchool.

Register for free to view the recording.

Graduate Group in Education Monday Seminar Series 

Join us for our next two Graduate Group in Education Monday seminars:

• May 9: Prof. Tony Albano presents “Equity and Standardized Assessment: An Arch Rivalry or Promising Partnership?”
• May 16: Prof. Jenni Higgs presents “A Conceptual Framework at the Intersection of Equity and Scale”

Watch previous seminars online:

• Prof. Elizabeth Montaño and PhD student Izamar Ortíz-González, “‘It’s for the Kids!’: The Illusion of School Justice in a Charter School Unionized Environment”
• PhD student Ambar Hernandez Negrete, “‘They Don’t Value Us as Human Beings’: Centering Students in Policy Research and Processes” 

All Graduate Group in Education seminars begin at 12:10 pm. Get the Zoom link.

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 article “Online Community and Citizen Science Supports Environmental Science Learning by Young People” in the journal Computers & Education.

Prof. Marcela Cuellar co-authored the chapter “Latin* College Students’ Diversity and Intersectionality: Future Directions for Research and Practice” in the book Bridging Marginality through Inclusive Higher Education.

Prof. Danny C. Martinez and alumnus Dr. Adam D. Musser co-authored “ELA as English Language Abolition: Toward a Pedagogy of Communicative Belonging,” in the journal Reading Research Quarterly.

PhD candidate Jennifer Burke Reifman and PhD student Jill Huynh co-authored “Othering in the Academy: Discourse around Non-Tenure-Track Faculty,” published in FORUM: Issues about Part-Time and Contingent Faculty.