2O16
IN REVIEW
ABOUT the COLLEGE
VISION STATEMENT “We need a valid vision. We need the will. With vision and will, everything is possible.” —Asa G. Hilliard III, former Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education, Georgia State University
The College of Education believes we must prepare our students for schools as they should be, not simply perpetuating schools as they currently exist. We must be willing to explore with our students the difficult issues of inequities that exist in our schools and society and to help them to become agents of change. This, of course, means that as faculty we must examine our own beliefs, be willing to keep our hearts and minds open to the ideas of others, live our lives with integrity, and model how great teachers take risks, challenge the status quo, and advocate for the rights of all students. Ours is a college that continually changes because learning is a transformational experience. Members of the College embrace what Parker Palmer described as a “capacity for connectedness.” Palmer stated: “Good teachers possess a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves.” (Courage to Teach, p. 11) The College of Education’s learning community presents transformational experiences that allow students to create their
own tapestries. As an intention of their preparation, students invest in school-communities that differ from theirs. They are challenged to examine their assumptions about other people and how children from diverse experiences learn, and to reflect on the responsibilities of innovative educators. Exemplary teachers mentor education students by modeling best practice, supporting leadership, and demanding courage. Participants in the learning community engage in scholarship that supports teaching as inquiry. As investigators, they become constructors of knowledge that seeks to connect theory with practice. As a function of scholarship, students use technology applications to discern strategies for learning, creating, modeling, and assessing. Faculty and students take advantage of opportunities to study abroad and have new experiences that help them become better global citizens. As faculty and students weave their unique tapestries, they gather regularly to discuss instructional strategies and the implications of new research. We celebrate the successes of the learning community’s participants and encourage them to reach new heights.
DEAN’S MESSAGE “When you come to the edge of all that you know, you must believe one of two things: There will be ground to stand on OR you will grow wings to fly.” —O.R. Melling The quote by Irish poet O.R. Melling has become one of my favorites, and it continues to guide my thinking in many ways. I believe his words apply to the challenges we are encountering in education, which are really opportunities in disguise. We either have solid ground to stand on with research and best practices, or we delve into the questions, work to find solutions, and, in the process, we grow our wings to fly to new heights. In this issue of the College of Education’s Year in Review, you will find excellent examples of how the College exemplifies Melling’s words by finding both solid ground on which to stand and developing our wings to fly. I am often asked how the College continues to flourish during these times of great controversy surrounding the recruitment and retention of teachers. It is not difficult for me to respond to such inquiries for several reasons. I truly have “the dream team” in the College of Education. I am surrounded by amazing colleagues who are dedicated to their work—constantly challenging themselves and their students to new heights of excellence and new depths of understanding of content, pedagogy, and putting theory into practice. The many stories in this issue will illuminate the positive energy surrounding me daily from this very special team of professionals. I am continually inspired by the great teachers I see doing extremely difficult and powerful work as I spend time in the schools. Each day I see the future of education in talented young people who have chosen teaching as their vocation. These young people could do anything, and they want to make a difference by becoming educators. I invite you to find some quiet time as you read the stories and would ask that you think about how you can support education in your own words and actions, and how you can show appreciation to those who are on your “dream team.” It will be up to each of us to see that our society invests in educators by valuing the teaching profession and remembering that our democracy was founded on providing a free public education to ALL citizens. We have a choice— we will either stand on solid ground or find our wings to fly. Sincerely,
Ena Shelley, Dean College of Education Butler University
ABOUT the COLLEGE
ASSOCIATE DEAN’S MESSAGE #BUCOEIMPACT Working in the College of Education (COE) is like waking up every day thinking it is your first day of kindergarten. Imagine working in a place that believes in people and intentionally creates a culture of learning, full of stories that impact our P-12 students and community. Daniel Goleman’s new book, A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World, DEBRA LECKLIDER includes an introduction by the Dalai Lama that says, “. . . as human beings, equipped with marvelous intelligence and the potential for developing a warm heart, each and every one of us can become a force for good.” As educators, the impact we make in the lives of our students, community, and, yes, the world is humbling and encouraging.
schools and communities. Primarily used on Twitter and Facebook, we share impact stories in a variety of ways. Here are a few examples:
The COE has been sharing our stories of faculty authoring books, staff winning Difference Maker awards, students earning Fulbright scholarships, and alumni becoming teachers of the year. This year our leader, Dean Ena Shelley, received the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) national Edward C. Pomeroy Award. Our stories have impact. We believe it is important to know why we focus on impact. Part of my role as Associate Dean is to provide leadership for our strategic plan and accreditation. Our national accreditor, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), guides us to continually self-assess and provide evidence-based analysis of how our program is doing. Butler 2020 states, “Butler University will be an innovative leader in the creation and delivery of transformative, student-centered learning experiences that prepare graduates to make a meaningful impact in the world.” The COE strategic plan aligns to this by stating, “Excellent Educators Impacting Our World.” They all connect and align by measuring impact. During our last accreditation visit, we developed a social media presence by using a specific hashtag—#BUCOEImpact—to communicate the evidence and impact our program makes in our
So what can you do to help us share our stories and provide evidence of impact? Use the #BUCOEImpact hashtag on your social media platforms. If you have a story on impact you want to share, go to the COE website (butler.edu/coe) and click on “Share Your Butler Story,” use #BUCOEImpact on social media, or send directly to me at dlecklid@butler.edu. Conduct your own search of #BUCOEImpact stories on the web. I hope you see what we see—courageous educators impacting and inspiring our world. We may not have the vast impact of the spiritual leader Dalai Lama, but we do have the opportunity to share College of Education impact stories one student, one school, and one community at a time.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT the COLLEGE 4 Board of Visitors 5 Shelley Honored 5 College of Education Students Provide Over $1 Million of Economic Impact for Indianapolis 6 2014–2015 Job Placement Report
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS 7 Health Through Their Eyes 8 Partnerships That Work 8 2016–2017 Endowed Undergraduate Scholarships 9 #BUCOEImpact 10 Oh, The Places We Go! 11 Well-Prepared 12 Formalized Curiosity 13 Global Visitors 13 Milken Award 14 Teaching Because of ‘The Impact I Can Have’ 15 Future Educators 16 Lessons in Service 17 Undergraduate Student Honors
GRADUATE PROGRAMS 18 Stress Relief 19 Remembering Susan Jordan 20 Wednesdays Without Michael 21 Teacher Leader Uses Movement-Based Program to Support Young Students 21 Graduate Initial Licensure Program Graduate Shines as ‘A Student of Students’ 22 IB Training Helps Teacher-Leader to Ask Big Questions and Make Meaningful Connections
GRADUATE PROGRAMS continued 22 METL Alumna Explores the Role of Universities Within a Community 23 Indiana Refugee Network 24 2016–2017 Graduate Endowed Scholarships 25 From Preschool to Graduation 25 National Finalist 26 Hinkle Academy 27 Remembering Genie Scott, Marilyn Strawbridge, and Betty Kessler 27 New Teachers of the Visually Impaired Licensure and Certificate Program
ALUMNI 28 30 32 33
Brown Girl Dreaming Commuting Bulldogs Unveiling My Passion Building Relationships
FACULTY and STAFF 34 A Community Collaboration 36 Listening Still 37 Disabilities and Health 38 Master Practitioner and Full-Circle Moments 39 Mark Your Calendars 40 Kudos and Credits
ABOUT the COLLEGE
BOARD OF VISITORS ROGER BOOP ’62 MS ’65
KEVIN MCDOWELL ’72 MS ’77
MARCIA CAPUANO
PHILIP METCALF
ELIZABETH CIERZNIAK
COLLEEN O’BRIEN
TERRY CORMAN ’70
MARSHA REYNOLDS
CATERINA CREGOR-BLITZER
FAYE SNODGRESS
SCOTT DEETZ ’96 MS ’01
CATHY SPRINGER-BROWN ’76
JACK HITTLE ’70
NICK SPROULL ’02
AMY KNERR
DENNY SOUTHERLAND
JEFF KUCER
MARK WEAVER ’81 MS ’83
CHRISTIE LOVE ’79
TRISH WHITCOMB ’75
DAVID MARCOTTE
JENNIFER WILLIAMS ’98 MS ’00
Retired, Professor Emeritus Butler University
Education Consultant
Partner Faegre Baker Daniels
Chief Executive Officer Firehouse Graphics
Vice President for Development and External Affairs International School of Indiana
Superintendent Madison-Grant United School Corporation
Lawyer/Partner Church, Church, Hittle, and Antrim
Teacher Development Specialist Hamilton Southeastern Schools
Senior Vice President Client and Community Relations Director PNC
Education Consultant Nonprofit
Superintendent Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation
EDNA MAY
Retired Principal Indianapolis Public Schools
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Deputy Attorney General Office of the Indiana Attorney General
Lead Evaluator for AdvanceED Education Consultant
Coordinator for Student Financial Aid Research Network (SFARN) Education Policy Consultant
Education Consultant Retired, Director of Elementary Education Metropolitan School District of Washington Township
Executive Director Kappa Delta Pi
Education Consultant Retired, Education Director Indiana Judicial Center
Director of High School Review and Policy NCAA
Senior Vice President, Partner Cripe Architects and Engineers
Teacher Clay Middle School, Carmel Clay Schools
Vice President, Indianapolis Public Finance Group George K Baum & Company
Counselor North Central High School
SHELLEY HONORED
AACTE RECOGNIZES DEAN’S CONTRIBUTIONS to TEACHER EDUCATION Marc Allan College of Education Dean Ena Shelley received the Edward C. Pomeroy Award for Outstanding Contributions to Teacher Education from the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) in February.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDENTS PROVIDE OVER A MILLION DOLLARS OF ECONOMIC IMPACT FOR INDIANAPOLIS Prepared by Karen Farrell During the 2015–2016 academic year, the hours that College of Education students spent working in professional settings (schools and internships) created a significant economic impact on the Indianapolis community. Based upon the average hourly rate of an instructional assistant ($12.79/hour), the total value to provided to the community was:
$1,353,787.9O
*
*College of Education student teachers x field hours x $12.79/hour instructional assistant rate = $1,353,787.90
The award is given to a person or persons who have made exceptional contributions to AACTE, to a national or state organization involved in teacher education, or to persons responsible for the development of exemplary teacher education initiatives. Shelley provided the leadership to create the first Butler University memo of understanding between the University and the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) to establish Shortridge Magnet High School for Law and Public Policy (now Shortridge International Baccalaureate High School). She led creation of the IPS/Butler University Laboratory School, focused on early childhood and elementary education. She also was instrumental in bringing Reggio-inspired educational practices to Indiana through the Indianapolis Reggio Collaborative. She was able to bring an international exhibit from Reggio Emilia, Italy, to the Indiana Statehouse for a six-month stay that provided many professional development experiences for hundreds of educators. “Each success in the College of Education is not from a solo experience in my role as a Dean, but rather it is a beautiful symphony created by colleagues in the College and in the schools,” Shelley said. “I truly have the dream team in my College.”
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ABOUT the COLLEGE
2O14–2O15 JOB PLACEMENT REPORT
Of those licensed and seeking employment we can report 100% placement or graduate school for our December 2014 and May 2015 graduates.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (48)
Indiana Teaching Position, 36 Out of State Teaching Position, 7 Graduate School, 1 Not Seeking Employment, 2 No response, not licensed, 2
MIDDLE SECONDARY (36)
Indiana Teaching Position, 23 Out of State Teaching Position, 3 Non-Educational Position, 3 Graduate School, 5 Not Seeking Employment, 2
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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
HEALTH THROUGH THEIR EYES
A PICTURE is WORTH a THOUSAND WORDS Kayla Pope ’16
Working with 13 sixth graders enrolled in the program, Farley and I used the Photovoice research method. In this research method, individuals take photographs to represent answers to our research questions and then have conversations around these photographs with their peers. Our two specific research questions were: “What does being healthy look like?” and “What are some barriers to being healthy?” The students created a list of many ideas about what was healthy or unhealthy. We saw photos of and had conversations around technology, corner stores, fruits, vegetables, sports, drugs, and mental health topics. As we became more comfortable together, the Academic Advisor Lisa Farley and Butler COE student Kayla Pope.
For some, just the thought of going to summer school creates anxiety. Not for me. I wanted to go. In fact, I crossed my fingers that my application would be accepted. College students spend their summers doing a variety of things. As a student, it is important to me to help pay for my education. Yet, being a part of the College of Education (COE), I always try to take opportunities that are unique and allow me to teach others what I love to learn about in the Human Movement Health Science Education Program (HMHSE). The Butler Summer Institute
students went more in depth about what they really thought, rather than the initial surface-level answers. Students stated that they wanted healthy lunches, need time to play outside and be physically active, and wanted to be sure that people were being kind to each other. Some of the outcomes from our research included Wordles (wordmaps), graphic organizers, and graphs to show how much these students had learned. We also gave them a chance to see all the photographs in a gallery at the end of the program so that all the students and parents could see their hard work. It was an amazing opportunity to work with students, look at health through their eyes, and experience the ability to carry out
program (BSI) allowed me to do both.
research with the help of Farley, the COE, an anonymous donor who
Throughout the summer of 2016, my academic advisor Lisa Farley
experience helped me think more deeply about how I can work with
and I were given the opportunity to work with students for five weeks on living a healthier lifestyle by being accepted into the BSI program. Our goal was to conduct research on what being healthy looks like through the eyes of sixth graders at Horizons at St.
funded the cameras and developed the pictures, and the BSI. This the community during my internship and after I graduate. Summer school can be fun. It was an amazing way to spend a summer and I appreciate the opportunity.
Richards School. Horizons is a national summer enrichment school serving low-income students with a range of academic abilities. In Indianapolis, Horizons at St. Richards School partners with IPS and Butler University to provide a multi-year enrichment program to prevent summer learning loss. Classes are offered at Butler, including a swimming enrichment course, and many of the teachers are Butler COE students with Butler faculty working closely with the Horizons at St. Richard’s staff on curriculum and instruction. We were really excited to have the chance to be a part of these young people’s summer.
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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
PARTNERSHIPS THAT WORK BUTLER STUDENT EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, KAPPA DELTA PI SUPPORT the LAB SCHOOL IPS celebrates all of our partners who contribute to school and student success in a variety of ways. IPS/Butler University Laboratory School 60 values the partners that encourage parent involvement. Butler’s Student Education Association (SEA) and Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) are instrumental in the success of the Lab School’s monthly parent and educational meetings. SEA and KDP members volunteer their time to provide free onsite childcare during the meetings. Without childcare, the parent meetings would likely have poor attendance. “We all know the importance of parent participation, parent input, and parent leadership at the school,” said Jessica McNiel, Parent Involvement Educator at the Lab School. “Because of SEA and KDP, parents can be involved without having to worry about finding childcare or paying for it.” KDP has been a vital partner for the last five years, while SEA joined the partnership this year. The organizations alternate each month, and two-to-five volunteers provide childcare at the 10 meetings held each year. SEA has donated $1,000 through Scholastic to provide books to new teachers. “Each SEA member appreciates the relationship we have with the school,” explained Meghan Martin, SEA President. “We also love the chance to support some first-year teachers by donating to their classroom libraries.” Reprinted from the Indianapolis Public Schools website (myips.org), with permission from IPS.
2O16–2O17 UNDERGRADUATE ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS MARY ELLEN and ELTON RIDLEY SCHOLARSHIP Allison Overmyer EDITH CONLIN SCHOLARSHIP Abby Boyden LETTIE TREFZ AWARD Taylor Stogsdill Alana Waldrip Caroline Rico Marina Gibson Brooke Stevenson ZETZL MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Emily Amon Lindsey Gemmill Lauren Wilson JAMES H. OTTO SCHOLARSHIP Johanna Johnson Elizabeth Fecht KNAUFF SERVANT LEADERSHIP AWARD Alliyah Beeks MARGARET MANUZZI SCHOLARSHIP Samantha Driggers BARNES FAMILY SCHOLARSHIP Patrick Mosby RUSHTON GILFOY MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP Ashley Jones MARCIA RICHTER SCHOLARSHIP Kaylyn Adams Kelsey Jones Livingston COE FACULTY/EMERITI and STAFF SCHOLARSHIP Claire Goudie HITTLE SCHOLARSHIP for COE Michael Faust CLARE ROSE HOLMES SCHOLARSHIP Abby Udelhofen
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#BUCOEIMPACT
INDIANA’S TEACHER SHORTAGE Kathleen Glackin ’16 and Susan R. Adams
There has been much debate about the existence of an Indiana teacher shortage. Katherine Glackin ’16 was mentored by Professor Susan Adams (Middle/Secondary) to create a study focused on these questions: Does Indiana have a teacher shortage? And if yes, what caused it and what are its implications for K–12 schools? Katie launched her investigation by interrogating the work of Michael J. Hicks. Hicks, Director of Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Growth, released a recent report in which he examined Indiana’s K–12 enrollment rates in light of birth rates and teacher turnover. To the surprise of many educators, he concluded that while there is a shortage of STEM and special education teachers, on the whole there is actually an excess of teachers in Indiana since the hiring of new teachers and the loss of resigning/retiring teachers correlated highly with the change in enrollment in Indiana schools. Hicks offered some policy recommendations based upon his conclusions including marketbased pay; discouraging some prospective teachers from pursuing education; incentivizing STEM, technology and special education; loosening licensure demands, especially for high need areas; moving funds more quickly to growing districts; and incentivizing shrinking districts to consolidate. Next, Katie examined the 2015 work of Superintendent Glenda Ritz’s Blue Ribbon Teacher Commission for which our own Assistant Dean Angela Lupton was selected to represent teacher education. The Commission, contrary to Hicks, concluded that Indiana indeed has experienced a teacher shortage, noting the more than 30 percent drop in the number of initial teacher license applications over the past five years. The Commission reviewed existing teacher education policies, analyzed quantitative and qualitative data, identified best practices for teacher recruitment, and complied current research to establish recommendations for the Indiana General Assembly to systematically reduce Indiana’s teacher shortage. The Commission identified “root causes” for the shortage including working conditions, poor compensation, a lack of “stepping stones” for advancement, lack of teacher mentoring and support, nonexistent or nonresponsive professional development, inadequate teacher preparation, limited recruitment efforts, negative school climate, increased accountability, a lack of quality or consistent school leadership, and negative public and political perceptions of teachers. Lupton describes here the value of the Commission: “I found that having the opportunity to share ideas and strategies with other educators from across the P–16 spectrum was important.
Sometimes we work in our silos and don’t realize that it is not so much that new things need to be created as it is knowing about excellent ideas that should be replicated.” Recommendations for each root cause were embedded in House Bill 1339 in February 2016. While HB1339 did not advance and none of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Teacher Commission were approved, Lupton believes engaging with Indiana legislators “did raise the conversation which is the first step . . . and led to IDOE designating a position specifically for teacher recruitment and retention.” When asked about the future of the Blue Ribbon Commission, Lupton concludes, “The panel’s work is technically done, but many of us continue to view teacher recruitment/retention as part of a spectrum of work that is critical. Helping schools to “tap” high achieving students who may eventually return to that district to fill key teaching positions is just one area that is gaining momentum.” Katie next conducted a small, informal survey of local practicing educators’ perspectives on the teacher shortage. She explored the College of Education’s current recruitment practices and found many faculty are actively engaged in “tapping” classroom teachers to identify good teaching candidates early and to encourage these prospective students to arrange campus visits and explore the COE website (butler.edu/coe). The newly created Education minor, the expanded Graduate Initial Licensure Program (GILP), and a new array of licensing options soon to be available to Middle/Secondary majors who want to specialize in special education at the secondary level each have great potential to attract new prospective students. Katie concludes that there is a shortage of quality educators, particularly in STEM and special education. Her analysis of the data reveals there is a compelling need for: ›› New teacher mentoring ›› Positive media and politician treatment of the profession ›› Improved compensation ›› Increased time spent in clinical field placements during teacher education programs ›› Relevant and engaging professional development ›› A simpler path for out-of-state educators to apply for licensure in Indiana Katie excitedly shared her learning with an appreciative audience at the Butler Undergraduate Research Conference in April and is entering the profession with a much clearer understanding of the current state of the profession in Indiana.
undergraduate
research conference butler university
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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
OH, THE PLACES WE GO!
ELEMENTARY SCIENCE and SOCIAL STUDIES EXPERIENCES in INDY
Sarah Clary, Matt Mackowiack, Gwen Kozak, Kailey Halpurn, Abby Udelhofen, Richelle Menzie, and Catherine Pangan What do Mrs. Frizzle and her magic school bus have in common with the College of Education (COE)? Buckle your seatbelts and get ready to find out! One of the College of Education’s keystone characteristics includes meaningful time spent in the field with our community partners. In one elementary science and social studies semester, we taught and collaborated with over seven community sites. Below is a snapshot of a few of the experiences. The Microscope Extravaganza—Sycamore School Third-Graders The Microscope Extravaganza was a true celebration of the pure joy found through discovery and inquiry. Compound microscopes were the stars of this experience as we traveled with the thirdgraders through a variety of microscope stations. Students explored different fabrics, insects, lenses, and sands from around the world. We even learned how to magnify text with water droplets. With an eye on pedagogy, we experienced invaluable classroom management and guidance techniques from Butler graduate, Mary Jo Wright. She also explained how to scaffold the curriculum so the students understand how to work with the equipment in different stages. We can’t wait to create a Microscope Extravaganza in our own classrooms. Hoosier Association for Science Teachers, Inc. Conference We were very fortunate to have the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers, Inc. (HASTI) science conference occur during our class this semester. We were able to meet a wide variety of science leaders around Indiana. A highlight was supporting one of our classmates, Gwen Kozak, who presented one of the workshops on integrating computer science in elementary classrooms. Attending the HASTI Conference allowed us to explore the role and importance of science in education and to become aware of the vast possibilities available to us as science educators. We were able to meet so many amazing people from differing perspectives and stages in their career who came together to share knowledge at the HASTI Conference. It was inspiring and empowering as both a learner and a presenter to converse with so many other teachers. STEAM Day at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis During STEAM day, our class worked with Streamlines to create engineering activities focused around water. Preschool and elementary students traveled throughout the museum to our stations to learn about properties of water, water consumption, environmental solutions to water issues, and viscosity of water compared to other substances. STEAM Day gave us the perfect opportunity to authentically apply our ability to differentiate according to age groups and developmental levels. Digging into Dissections—Exploring Sharks and Worms In a serendipitous way, we had the opportunity to experience a shark dissection with third-graders, and a worm dissection 10
with kindergarteners. We learned that even at a very young age, dissections at the elementary level allow for deep thinking, real life connections, and meaningful learning. We honed our classroom management skills assisting the students when they used real scalpels and dissecting pins. Dissections are true hands-on opportunities for inquiry and discovery. The third-grade students in my group were so engaged that I sometimes had to ask them to lean back, as their noses were practically in the shark. I was hesitant towards the idea of a dissection, but their excitement and interest caused me to be 100 percent engaged along with them. That is the power of teaching. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site Later in the semester we visited the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site. The site is truly a hidden gem within this city. As you walk through the house, history comes alive and you can feel the presence of its past residents all around you. I can only hope my future students feel the same excitement I felt as I walked through this house. Here we explored the importance of primary documents, artifacts, and personal connections to make history come to life for learners. It is so important that students learn about the historical people and historic site located in their own city. The Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site does an excellent job of bringing history to life through meaningful and impactful learning experiences. Learning about an exceptional man who is rarely talked about in traditional textbooks, and who did extraordinary things as President, illuminates the power of a teacher. A teacher has the power to expose others to the unsung heroes of the past. When you are in an education course at Butler University, each day brings a new feeling of excitement and anticipation for the next adventure. I love history, and being in the Benjamin Harrison Home was an amazing, time machine-like experience. I am so thankful for the opportunities the COE provides and vow to use this insight to give back to all the students I teach. Indy 500 Education Day—Indianapolis Motor Speedway Imagine 27 Butler students and 1,200 fourth-graders examining history and science connections at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This was an exceptional day that helped further develop large group guidance—can you picture 1,200 kids eating lunch in the stands at the track? We can! We led the students through activities that included learning about engineering and technology in driver’s suits and helmets, timing and scoring, pit communication, and of course, the track’s long racing history. Our experience brought together hands-on, impactful, and meaningful learning—what more can you ask for? Students gained relevant knowledge during their day at the track and I gained useful experience in dealing with logistics when planning for field trips.
WELL-PREPARED
SKILL SET to TAKE ANY DIRECTION I CHOOSE Chelsea Conover
The moment you realize you want to change your career path can be frightening. When that realization comes in December after seven semesters of profession-specific preparation, it can be terrifying. That was me this past December. Being an English Education major but not wanting to become a classroom teacher presented me with a challenge. What am I prepared to do if I’m not going to teach? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the College of Education (COE) has taught me a skill set that I can take with me no matter what direction I take my career. And, if anything, it prepared me even more for the internship I have now. The COE taught me the art of backwards planning, how to work with others, the ability to self-reflect and adapt accordingly, and so much more. I am the master at backwards planning, all thanks to Butler’s College of Education. Now, when I have major tasks to complete at my internship in communications with the Indiana Apartment Association, I think about what I want the end result to look like. From there, I can map out how I’m going to accomplish that desired end result by setting smaller goals and objectives to help me work towards the ultimate goal. That’s exactly what a teacher does in his or her lesson plans, but instead of implementing that approach in the classroom, I’m implementing it in the business field. I would have never known the importance of starting a plan with the desired results in mind had it not been for COE. The College of Education also taught me how to work with others. In all my education courses, my classmates and I would constantly bounce ideas off each other, frequently working together on group presentations or research inquiries. Those skills I gained through my education classes were skills I was able to take with me into my current field. As most people know, you can’t work
in a communications office without being able to listen to and communicate with all stakeholders. I have to know what I’m trying to communicate, to whom I’m trying to communicate, and how I’m going to communicate it. The College of Education also developed my ability to self-reflect and then adapt accordingly. Some of my education classes required us to teach a lesson to a class, record ourselves, and then write a reflection on what went right, what went wrong, and what could be done differently next time. This reflective practice became a habit, and I now find myself continuing to be reflective. When I post something on social media that didn’t reach a very large audience, didn’t get a lot of retweets, or wasn’t liked by anyone on Facebook, I reflect on what may have led to this outcome. I think about what I could do differently next time instead. Maybe on the next post I should add a funny picture or a famous quote or a link to another page. I’m constantly thinking about how I can communicate more effectively the next time. Overall, the College of Education prepared me for meaningful work beyond the context of a traditional classroom setting. It instilled in me the confidence to know that my education to become a teacher hasn’t limited me to only teaching. Instead, my preparation as an educator opens up limitless possibilities for careers that require masterful planning, effective collaboration, and the ability to adapt to changing needs. I don’t think I would have the vital skills I have now had it not been for my experience as an Education major. Even though I’m not going to be in a classroom, I can still take what I learned and run with it. After all, well prepared educators are good at that, and I’ve been well prepared.
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UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
FORMALIZED CURIOSITY
Kalie Bennington ’16
to complete an Honors thesis in the next year, I turned to Professor Kelli Esteves for guidance. I shared my questions, my wonderings, my noticings, and my observations. Together we formed a question— how do I create an environment that fosters literacy and an interest in books?
Zora Neale Hurston, author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, states, “Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.” I have had the privilege of conducting formal research over the past year. My research was an inquiry into classroom libraries, a topic that I grew passionate about over the course of my undergraduate years at Butler University. At the beginning of my journey as an Elementary Education major, I did not think that I would have the opportunity to conduct formal research. It did not seem like it would fit into my field of study because I just wanted to be a teacher and work with children. However, from my very first education course, we were asked to question, wonder, notice, and observe. Research, while not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of an elementary teacher, is at the forefront of our job. My research began in a classroom. I had already developed a deep passion for literacy instruction and children’s literature. I was captivated by how books could connect different content areas and how a story could deeply impact a child’s life. So as I began my practicum experience at the Butler University Laboratory School in Sarah Clark’s second grade classroom, I was intrigued by the classroom library. It wasn’t a place where books were shoved in the corner. It wasn’t a space shoved in the corner. It was a space where children explored, wondered, and discussed books and ideas. It was an inviting and integral part of the classroom community. I watched the children for weeks in this space, and I found myself wandering into the library as well. I left every Wednesday thinking, “I want that! How do I do that in my own classroom?” Knowing that I had
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I had a question, and I wanted answers. I wanted to know more and I talked about my upcoming research to anyone who would listen. Esteves quickly encouraged me to apply for Butler Summer Institute for the summer of 2015. This undergraduate program asks students to submit a research proposal about a topic they are truly passionate about and are willing to spend nine weeks of their summer studying it and sharing it with others. I was nervous, because again, as an education major, I was not sure whether or not I was the right fit. But it turned out I was and I learned a lot about the research process from the perspectives of different disciplines. I learned what other students could not stop talking about and what drives them in their career. I was able to spend my summer interviewing professionals, seeing schools, reading diverse texts, and visiting bookstores. I spent a summer questioning, wondering, noticing, and observing with 35 other passionate Butler students. During this time, my research also lead to me another incredible opportunity, but this time it took me beyond the Butler campus and the Indianapolis community and across the sea to England and Scotland. Along with a handful of other undergraduate and graduate students, Esteves and Professor Catherine Pangan guided us through different cities, where we studied British authors and their works during the Children’s Literature Study Tour of Great Britain. I learned how I could incorporate international and multicultural books into a classroom library and the importance of exposing children to classic and modern literature. During my free time in different cities, I was able to visit libraries, museums, and bookstores. Not only were these findings added to the conclusions of my research, I was also able to question, wonder, notice, and observe with Butler students and faculty in a different country. This research became the foundation for my Honors thesis. Throughout this past year, I have written and rewritten and rewritten again. I finally found some of the answers that I sought, but I also saw questions growing out of my conclusions. That’s the thing—research never stops. There are always questions waiting for answers. So I invite you to question, to wonder, to notice, and to observe the world around you.
GLOBAL VISITORS
MILKEN AWARD
AT LAB SCHOOL, 22 CHINESE PRINCIPALS are STUDENTS for a DAY Marc Allan Principal Ron Smith welcomes Chinese educators to the Butler Lab School.
MEL CORYELL ’15 EARNS “OSCAR of TEACHING” Marc Allan
When 22 principals
Melody Coryell MFA ’15, an English teacher and the coordinator
from China’s Zhejiang
of Shortridge High School’s International Baccalaureate (IB)
Province wanted to see
program, was awarded a $25,000 Milken Family Foundation
how American elementary
Educator Award—“the Oscars of Teaching”—on November 23,
schools operate, they chose
2015, for her work promoting the rigorous IB curriculum at
to spend December 4 at the
Shortridge and around the state.
Indianapolis Public Schools/ Butler Laboratory School.
Coryell has taught for 11 years. She joined the Shortridge faculty after a decade at Lawrence North High School as an IB
The visitors observed
coordinator and English teacher, and a few years in university
how the school manages
faculty development.
to educate the students without concentrating on standardized testing. “In China, they have one curriculum for the entire province,” said
“I believe the IB philosophy can work for all kids,” Coryell said. “Decisions I make as an educator are geared toward that. I also believe that a relationship with students and teaching them to reflect on who they are as learners, and listening to them and
Grace Kontur, Program Director for the Indianapolis-based Chinese
seeking to understand and move them forward in their own goals,
Education Connection, which coordinated the visit. “Every school
can lead them to succeed.”
teaches the same thing on the same day. Differentiated teaching (like the Lab School does) is a hard topic for them to understand.” With Kontur translating, College of Education (COE) Dean
Jane Foley, Milken Educator Awards Senior Vice President, praised Coryell’s leadership at Shortridge and her work as Vice President of the state association for IB, in which Coryell has
Ena Shelley explained how Lab School learning works. Shelley
helped colleagues and worked with universities to determine
described a teacher who showed her student Van Gogh’s painting
college credits for IB courses.
Sunflowers and asked them to draw their own version. That was supplemented by a lesson on Van Gogh, which got the students interested in his painting Starry Night, which segued into a discussion of the constellations, which turned into a math lesson about how many stars are in specific constellations, which resulted in a visit to Butler’s Holcomb Observatory to see the stars. One of the English as a Second Language students started speaking more because he was so excited. All well and good, the visitors said. But how is student progress evaluated? Lab School Principal Ron Smith ’88 MS ’96 said student evaluations combine quantitative data—gathered through testing—with qualitative data that measures whether the children have learned. Qualitative measures include examining student work and recorded discussions with individual students to see what they have learned.
Coryell earned her bachelor’s degree at Ball State University and did her teacher training at Indiana Wesleyan University. When she started her Master of Fine Arts at Butler, friends wondered what she would do with the degree. “But it’s made me a much better teacher,” she said. She received the Milken in a ceremony at Shortridge that included the school’s drum line and cheerleaders, introductions by Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz, and recognition of former Indiana Milken winners, including COE Professor Dr. Theresa Knipstein Meyer. Milken recipients represent the top 1 percent of the profession across the United States, Foley said. “We want them to know that their work has been noticed. We want them to stay in education forever.”
Teachers are evaluated based on formal observations by the principal and how the teacher did on annual goals established. This was difficult for the Chinese to understand because they’re accustomed to everything being measured, Kontur said. “They really want to keep improving their system, so they want to learn what’s over here that they can bring back to China.” 13
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
TEACHING BECAUSE OF ‘THE IMPACT I CAN HAVE’ Matthew Tully The Indianapolis Star Published March 8, 2016
words are helpful, because they are a reminder of why so many people choose to make a career in education, whether it is in the field of policy or in the classroom. “It’s going to be hard at times,” Vetter said of her future career. “But you have to remember the kids and the families and the lives that you can impact. That has to be what you think about. Every student, regardless of where they come from, deserves a great education. That is the bottom line.” That truly is the bottom line. And it seems to me that if we always identified that as the nonnegotiable, bottom-line priority—not one of several so-called priorities, and not a priority in name only—then so many tough decisions and discussions would get somewhat easier.
As she prepares for a career in education, Nicole Vetter explains the allure of the teaching profession: “I want to make an impact on someone’s life,” she said. It’s that simple, and that important. Nicole Vetter is a 21-year-old Butler University junior with a 4.0 grade-point average and the type of driving personality that makes clear she intends to accomplish big things. With one more year of school to go, she is eager—maybe even desperate—to get her diploma and begin putting to use, in “the real world,” the things she’s learned in classrooms and student-teaching programs. Her real world is going to be an elementary school classroom. She hopes it’s a kindergarten classroom in an Indianapolis school district, but such details are secondary to what she really wants, and what she believes will most help her and her students succeed. “I’ll be fine,” she told me, “if I can be in a school that will support me in doing everything I can do for each individual student. They are not just a number, and it is not just a class—it is a group of individuals. In the end, teaching has to be about the individual success of each student.” Vetter’s words are helpful at a time of increasing tensions over test scores and data, and as various factions in the education arena continue to spend far too much time talking past each other. Her 14
Vetter and I talked at lunchtime last Thursday at a crowded north side restaurant, just before she headed off for training in a classroom at IPS School 60 (IPS/Butler Laboratory School), which in recent years has become a collaboration between Butler University and the school district. I asked her to meet, so I could hear, in detail, from a student who has decided to go into teaching during these tumultuous times in education. Fortunately, and as has been the case for generations, ambitious students such as Vetter continue to see the classroom as a great place to launch a career and leave a mark on the world. Where some might see a time of uncertainty and division, she sees an opportunity to help young students reach their potential. For Vetter, the decision to teach came after helping out in a preschool while attending an affluent high school in suburban Chicago, and after becoming a volunteer for Special Olympics and other mentoring programs. Though intrigued in high school by the idea of majoring in business, she chose education because of the opportunity to “instill that love for learning” in students, and “to provide them with experiences that will help expand how they see the world.” She knows her job will come with long days in the classroom and long nights spent preparing the type of environment that encourages learning. She’ll do that at a time when the outside challenges facing so many students continue to grow, and when the spotlight on teacher
“It’s going to be hard at times,” Vetter said of her future career. “But you have to remember the kids and the families and the lives that you can impact. That has to be what you think about. Every student, regardless of where they come from, deserves a great education. That is the bottom line.”
FUTURE EDUCATORS CADETS GET a CLOSER LOOK at TEACHING, BUTLER Marc Allan High school student Lauren Wallace had attended performances at Clowes Memorial Hall, but she’d never seen
quality and accountability adds to the pressures of an already demanding profession. Vetter told me students talk about the political and policy debates that attract so much attention. It’s frustrating, she acknowledged, to see policymakers who don’t spend much time in the classroom still make critical decisions affecting schools. Nonetheless, it is her future students, and not such concerns, that she is focused on. “One thing about education is that it is always changing,” she said. “What is a hot topic today might not be the big issue tomorrow. We just don’t know. But how much of an impact I can have on a student and how much of an impact they can have on me won’t change because of these debates.” That said, many argue the focus on testing and data has robbed teachers of the ability to fully connect with their students, of the opportunity to veer from lesson plans and of the freedom to head down paths aimed at strengthening the social and emotional health of children. Like many experienced educators I’ve known, Vetter said such concerns underscore the need for teachers to adapt and to be engaged in a positive way in policy debates. “I’m going to be in charge of a classroom, so I will have to deal with anything that comes with the job,” she said. “But teachers can be a voice of reason.” If all goes as planned, Vetter will begin her career in little more than a year. She will be one of the guiding forces in the lives of around two dozen or so students. Although she hopes to eventually move into administration, perhaps running her own school or helping to direct policy statewide, she said her time in the classroom will shape so much of what follows—for her and her students. “I want to make an impact on someone’s life,” she said. “Teaching seems like the best way to do that.” I certainly can’t think of a better way. You can reach me at matthew.tully@indystar.com and on Twitter: @matthewltully. Photo courtesy of Nicole Vetter
most of the Butler campus. When her school’s Cadet Teaching class came to Butler on October 1, 2015, for Future Educators’ Day, she was happy to make the trip. “I want to be a child therapist,” she said. “I figured that learning about the teaching program and being in Cadet Teaching could really aid me in that. But I also want to go to Butler, because I find that small classes and individualized instruction are really important to me.” Wallace was one of 96 students from six school districts who participated in the day of learning about the teaching profession, sponsored by the College of Education (COE). Participants from the Crawfordsville, Hamilton Southeastern, Rossville, Charlestown, Twin Lakes, and Western Boone school districts met an Admission representative, toured campus, talked with professors and students, and heard a bit about both the teaching shortage in Indiana and the joys and meaningful nature of teaching. They asked about job-placement rates (100 percent for COE), class size (typically 20 or less), and how much time Butler elementary education students spend student teaching before they graduate (1,500 hours). Professors Arthur Hochman and Cathy Hartman led a discussion on issues such as merit pay for teachers and whether American education has been dumbed down. “It’s been a great experience for the kids,” said Hamilton Southeastern teacher Liz Trinkle, who brought 29 students. “I’ve always had Angela (Lupton, COE Assistant Dean) come to my cadet class, but this has been a great opportunity for the kids to see the school and people so passionate about the field.” Happy with this first Future Educators’ Day, COE representatives expect next year’s Future Educators’ Day to double in size. “Nothing makes me happier than to be in a room full of people interested in teaching or working with young people in some capacity,” Lupton told the group. “You are our future.” 15
UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
LESSONS IN SERVICE
LEARNING ABOUT HELPING OTHERS, THE BUTLER WAY Evie Schultz ’16
At first, the concept seems difficult. How do you help third-graders
work, as opposed to ‘You need to learn multiplication so you can
understand what service means?
learn division so you can learn algebra.’ When you’re little, that
But for Early and Middle Childhood Education Professor Arthur Hochman and his Early Elementary Education class, the challenge is often the most important part of the lesson. In fall 2015, Butler students paired with Crooked Creek Elementary School third-graders to create their own magazine called Helping Hands. It was published within another local kids magazine, Inspired. Hochman’s students Kat Welch ’17 and Allison Behling ’18 developed lesson plans guided by Crooked Creek teachers Megan Shuck Rubey ’12 and Kristen Vannatta. They also helped the
something at the end that’s meaningful for you,’ as a third-grader, there’s power in that.” Behling and Welch came away with teaching experiences they will never forget. “I loved seeing the progress made,” Welch said. “The first or second day, we asked them what service was. They all said out of order signs or they drew pictures of stores. By the end of the project, they talked about how it was important to do things anonymously for others.”
younger students create artwork, conduct interviews, and come up
Behling noticed even more changes in herself. “I went in expecting
with ways to serve their teachers.
everything to go my way, and obviously that doesn’t always happen,
Welch’s group created an autograph book for one teacher and wrote a poem for another. “We made a point to teach them that it was anonymous,” Welch said. “At first they struggled with that, but then came to realize it’s more about the act of doing than getting recognition.” Children work on a deeper and higher level when they can achieve something important, Hochman said. “Getting kids to do work that’s in context, that’s real, gives them an impetus to do great
16
feels hollow. But if it’s ‘You want to do a good job because there’s
especially with kids,” she said. “My biggest takeaway was not everything has to go right the first time. Sometimes, you just have to try again.” “Every semester I like to work with a local public school in coming up with something special that’s going to have a feeling of culmination and importance, so that these third-graders will have an experience they will never forget,” Hochman said.
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT HONORS
INDIANA ASSOCIATION of COLLEGES of TEACHER EDUCATION—OUTSTANDING FUTURE EDUCATORS Mary Kate Daniels Jennifer DiVincenzo Sara Midura Jack Schaub
M.L. BLAUVELT WINGENROTH AWARD for ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE in SPANISH** Kathryn Welch
OUTSTANDING ELEMENTARY STUDENT TEACHER Sam Cusick
JEAN T. WHITCRAFT SCHOLARSHIP for ENGLISH EDUCATORS** Natalie Bloom Lindsey Gemmill Jessica Martorano
OUTSTANDING MIDDLE SECONDARY STUDENT TEACHER Carly Allen
GRACE FARRELL AWARD for POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT and SOCIAL ACTIVISM** Marina Gibson
OUTSTANDING HUMAN MOVEMENT and HEALTH SCIENCE EDUCATION STUDENT Kayla Pope
BERNICE COPE SCHOLARSHIP for EXCELLENCE in the STUDY of HISTORY** Tiffany Kula
BUTLER UNIVERSITY UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS
ROBERT O. WHITESELL HONOR AWARD for EXCELLENCE in MATHEMATICS** Ellie Demuth
STUDENT
FACULTY MENTOR
Josh Villaferte Vince Marshall Deborah Arehart Rachel Patterson Jessica Martorano Katie Glackin Kimbra Shaner Nicole Vetter Kayla Pope Kalie Bennington Elizabeth Gormley
Susan Adams Shelly Furuness Shelly Furuness Shelly Furuness Richard McGowen (LSB) Susan Adams Vivian Deno (LAS) Susan Adamson Lisa Farley Kelli Esteves Theresa Knipstein Meyer
INDIANA COUNCIL for EXCEPTIONAL CHILDREN OUTSTANDING STUDENT MEMBER Dessirae Turner
JEREMIAH P. FARRELL AWARD for DEDICATION to a PROFESSIONAL CAREER in MATHEMATICS** Carly Allen EDGAR LEE YEAGER MEMORIAL AWARD for SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT and COMMITMENT to HUMANITARIAN PURPOSE** Katie Kincaid PHI BETA KAPPA** Anna Durham ** Indicates recognition to College of Education students through the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
BUTLER TOP 100 STUDENTS Carly Allen* Isabelle Obert Sarah Clary Dessirae Turner Sara Midura * Student also named on Butler’s Top 10 List
17
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
STRESS RELIEF
LESSENING STUDENT STRESS THROUGH LEARNING MINDSIGHT Emily Ehrman MS ’16 Mindsight, according to Siegel, is a “. . . focused attention that allows [individuals] to see the internal workings of [their] own mind.” The three main components of mindsight are insight into the how the brain works and understanding him or herself better, the importance of being able to empathize with other individuals, and how to use the knowledge of how the brain works, and relationships with other people to overcome the barriers in daily life (Siegel, 2010). In order to make them more relevant to focus on stress relief for juniors, I tailored the principles of mindsight for this particular group. We discussed the development of the brain and how that impacted their decision-making skills, emotions and the High school is a stressful time for any student—from figuring out who he or she is as an individual and how to fit in with peers to overcoming that awkward phase everyone loves—puberty. Couple this with the decision to take rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) classes in pursuit of either an Academic Honors Diploma or a full IB Diploma, and it is no wonder that many high school students experience a high level of stress. With all that is going on in high school students’ lives, they may not think about or have the time to dedicate to developing healthy and effective coping skills for
importance of trying to increase their emotional vocabulary, mindfulness and active listening, and reflective communication skills. Each session, we would learn a little about the importance of the topic for that day, relate it back to stress, and have a discussion of the students’ experiences and thoughts. Our final group session was a summary of the previous sessions and a discussion of what the students had learned during their time in the group. Considering I wasn’t entirely sure they were buying what we talked about, or that they even tried to use what we practiced
handling their stress.
during their daily lives, it was humbling to hear their responses.
During my school counseling internship at a high-achieving high
mindfulness discussions when they were feeling overwhelmed in a
school in Hamilton County, I sat in on individual meetings with students and I noticed that these young men and women seemed to be more overwhelmed than students from other schools I had visited. In particular, I noticed some of the juniors who had just started taking IB classes seemed especially stressed. As an individual who loves helping people and a school counselor in training, I felt a responsibility to do something to help these students help themselves. After consulting with Professor Brandie Oliver, I developed a group based off of Dr. Dan Siegel’s concept of mindsight to try with about 10 juniors who were referred to me by other counselors in the school.
Students talked about using deep breathing techniques from our class or right before an exam. Some said they were able to connect a topic from group to something their baseball coach said. Finally, multiple students talked about attempting to explain some of the concepts from group to friends whom they noticed were stressed. Hearing their responses was one of the most rewarding experiences I have had because I saw how these students were putting forth the effort to try implementing the techniques we practiced and make a difference in not only their lives, but their friends’ lives as well. References: Siegel, D. (2010). Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation. New York: Bantam Books. Siegel, D. (2010). What’s Mindsight? Retrieved from drdansiegel.com/about/mindsight
2016
BEST VALUE
18
College of Education’s Master’s in School Counseling program ranked No. 2 as top value for counseling master’s degrees in Indiana by www.topcounselingschools.org.
REMEMBERING SUSAN JORDAN Lindsay Wey, EPPSP Group 34 Susan Jordan MS ’92 was the Principal of Amy Beverland Elementary in Lawrence Township, a position she held for the past 22 years. She has two daughters, Lisa Jankowski and Amy Dinwiddie, and four grandchildren, three of whom attend Amy Beverland Elementary. Susan, an alumna of Group 10 in Butler’s Experiential Program for Preparing School Principals (EPPSP) graduate program, was tragically taken from the world on Tuesday, January 26, 2016 in an unfortunate accident—but not before she could save the lives of two students at her school by pushing them out of the way when a school bus jumped the curb that was heading in their direction. This instinctual act, made in a matter of seconds, sums up the type of leader and person Susan was throughout her entire career—a principal that focused on relationships and never hesitated to put children first. This heroic act did not surprise those that knew her well. With close to 1,000 mourners showing their respects at a vigil, it was evident that others shared those same memories of their legendary leader and friend. One colleague shared that Jordan showed her compassion when she ended most conversations with four simple words: “I love you, honey.” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett spoke of the life Susan led, and said that the decision to push kids out of danger did not make her a hero, because she had been a hero long before that moment through the way she lived
her life. “Her dedication, the way she lived her life, is what makes this city, our city, a place worth calling home.” Superintendent Shawn Smith called her a “legend” and added, “. . . that staff was modeled in her image—an image of kids first.” One of those staff members, Laurie Sellers, had just joined Butler’s EPPSP Group 35 in January when the tragedy struck. Laurie remembers Susan as an inspirational leader and one who consistently motivated her teachers by uplifting them as educators. She recalls her having a personal connection and relationship with everyone she encountered. She remembered everyone’s names, and genuinely wanted to know details about the lives of her staff and students. Laurie remembers a quote Susan would often times say, “You, as educators, are the ones on the front lines, and it is my job to make sure you have whatever you need to be successful.” Butler University, the College of Education, and the EPPSP family send our deepest condolences to Susan’s family, school, and the myriad of people she touched in her short 69 years of life. Laurie Sellers reflected on her time with Susan by saying, “She made me a better educator, and I hope I can take a piece of her leadership with me as I start my journey as an administrator.”
19
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
WEDNESDAYS WITHOUT MICHAEL
BUTLER BLUE III’S PERSPECTIVE on METL Butler Blue III (“Trip”)
As the Butler Bulldog mascot, I’m often in the limelight. Whether making rounds on campus, popping in on events, appearing on television, or maintaining a prolific social media portfolio, I am very public pooch. And wherever I am, my “Pops”—Butler’s Director of External Relations, Michael Kaltenmark ’02—is usually close behind. As a result, Pops and I have been likened to some other well known human-animal relationships, including characters such as Curious George and the Man with the Yellow Hat, Charlie Brown and Snoopy, or even Shaggy and Scooby. Yes, all of our inseparable time together has given us a common identity. However, throughout the majority of my young life, there has been one consistent time spent apart: Wednesday evenings. On most Wednesday nights over the course of the last couple of years, Pops has left me either at home or in the care of others in order to attend class. You see, those Wednesdays are adding up to a master’s in Effective Teaching and Leadership (METL) from Butler’s College of Education. 20
I’m never thrilled about our time apart on Wednesdays, but the tradeoff has worked in my favor, including subsequent evenings spent on the couch together—me snoring across Pops’ lap while he reads course materials or completes assignments. Obviously, Pops isn’t a classroom teacher like the traditional METL student, but that hasn’t stopped him from finding application to his professional career. In fact, I’m actually the subject of his thesis research, which I think makes us both a pretty good example of the flexibility and personalization that the METL program can provide. Pops says he’d like to teach strategic communications courses at the college level some day, so the METL program is serving him well in that regard. That may be, but from my perspective, I think the METL program has done well to effectively teach him that I’m the true leader in our notorious relationship. And that’s more than worth a few Wednesday evenings apart.
GO DAWGS! TRIP (BUTLER BLUE III)
TEACHER LEADER USES MOVEMENT-BASED PROGRAM to SUPPORT YOUNG STUDENTS
GRADUATE INITIAL LICENSURE PROGRAM GRADUATE SHINES as ‘A STUDENT of STUDENTS’
Megan Curts ’14 and Brooke Kandel-Cisco
Megan Curts MS ’14 and Brooke Kandel-Cisco
Janice Gray MS ’14,
Sola Akinbo GILP ’15, is new to New Augusta Public Academy
encourages her students
North in Pike Township, and she is already earning some high
to get moving. The special
praise. An eighth-grade math student said, “Mrs. Akinbo knows
education teacher at
my classmates and me. She really knows how we learn and how we
Lakeside Elementary in
think. She makes sure that we are thinking like mathematicians and
Warren Township has
not just solving the problems in our book.”
implemented a daily “workout” for a small group of young students. At the beginning of each school day, the students walk across balance beams, step over obstacles, push against walls, and more. The exercises—adopted and adapted from Minds in Motion—meet students’ sensory needs and provide opportunities for the students to improve their handeye coordination, gross motor skills, and impulse control. “These sensory activities mix fun and structure, so they are a great way for students to begin the day,” said Gray. Gray was first introduced to this movement-based learning during her Butler College of Education undergraduate studentteaching experience. After student teaching and earning a position at Lakeside, Gray, with the help of the school’s occupational therapist, established a daily Minds-in-Motion time for a group of her students. During the past six years, the group has grown to include students with and without individualized education plans. Teachers at Lakeside see the positive results of this morning movement routine and periodically recommend new students for the group based on student needs.
Akinbo, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics, says she was initially “leery” about teaching. She realized she enjoyed, and was skilled at teaching, while helping with math instruction in her children’s elementary school classrooms. “Positive experiences in those classrooms helped to expose my passion for teaching,”Akinbo explained. She went on to work with Project SEED, a national nonprofit organization that creates and encourages opportunities for learning mathematics. With Project SEED, she led math enrichment for students and professional development sessions for teachers. Eventually Akinbo decided to earn her teaching license through Butler’s Graduate Initial Licensure Program (GILP). During the program, she was able to build upon her prior teaching experiences as she learned about educational psychology and pedagogy. “Because I already knew the content, my courses at Butler
As part of her coursework in the METL program, Gray researched
helped me to become a student of my
the effects of the daily exercises. The process of this teacher-
students.” Now, as she leads her math
research—collecting data, analyzing that data, and presenting
classes, she is able to apply instructional strategies learned during
her findings—reinforced Gray’s enthusiasm for the movement
the program. “I’m turning the lessons I learned at Butler into reality.
program. She said, “After completing the research for my thesis, I
In my class, students are often all doing different things. I’m able to
was more validated in having students participate in the exercises.
differentiate so they can learn in a way that works for them.”
Purposefully tracking the results of the program made me an even stronger advocate for this Minds-in-Motion time.” Gray noted that, after weeks of participating in the morning exercises, her students were noticeably more coordinated and more likely to self-advocate for their sensory needs.
Akinbo credits her present success to her supportive cohort and professors at Butler. “My plate was very full during my time in the program. The reading and writing for the classes were challenging, but everyone was so encouraging,” she explained. With her professor’s continual encouragement, she completed the program
Gray’s research has helped her to become a teacher-leader in her
and applied for her current teaching position. Now, after one year
school community. Gray explained, “My experience in the METL
of classroom teaching, she is looking forward to continuing her
program helped me to gain more knowledge about the Minds-in-
studies at Butler by enrolling in the Master’s in Effective Teaching
Motion program and more confidence in myself. I am now even
and Leadership (METL) program.
more confident in the program.” Fellow teachers now seek her out to ask for guidance about including sensory breaks for students. Because of her trust in the sensory exercises and herself, Gray is able to confidently advise fellow teachers and make a difference in her school community.
21
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IB TRAINING HELPS TEACHERLEADER to ASK BIG QUESTIONS and MAKE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS Megan Curts MS ’14 and Brooke Kandel-Cisco
Megan Curts MS ’14 and Brooke Kandel-Cisco Lauren Wendling MS ’15 is drawn
Amy Gaisser ’15, Master’s in Effective Teaching and Leadership
to the intersection of university and
(METL) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Education alumna,
community. During her studies at
enrolled in the IB program even before her first day as a teacher. As
Butler, Wendling worked for Best
a pre-service teacher of English learners, Gaisser was interested
Buddies International, organizing
in studying IB education because she saw the applicability
programming at Indiana high schools
of IB strategies for her students. She explained, “While I was
and universities. Wendling mentored,
interviewing at various Indianapolis schools, I began to research
instructed, and coordinated
IB and its philosophy. I appreciated how IB instruction values
volunteers so that those volunteers
students’ experiences and cultures.” Gaisser began to study the
could better work with and advocate
student-centered and inquiry-based methods as part of her METL
for people with disabilities. In part,
coursework.
her interest in the interactions between school and community
During her four IB education electives, Gaisser appreciated the small class sizes and her supportive, accessible professors, Susan Adams and Brooke Kandel-Cisco. Within her Butler cohort, she found mentors who helped her navigate her first years of teaching seventh-grade English learners at Southport Middle School. Gaisser said her IB training strongly influences her unit planning. She explained, “The key concepts of IB help to unify my units of study. The big ideas help students make connections to other lessons, other content areas, and their lives.” Her lessons frequently incorporate opportunities for students to explore and reflect on those big ideas. Gaisser explained that during these times, “Students are able to make connections, hear others’ perspectives,
led to her enrolling in the Master’s in Effective Teaching and Leadership (METL) program. Initially, Wendling felt like she did not have much to contribute during class discussions because she wasn’t a traditional educator. Quickly, though, she came to view herself as an educator. “During summer cohort classes, I started to see myself and my work differently. I am an educator even though I don’t hold a teaching license,” she said. For her capstone thesis, Wendling created an opportunity to engage her community. She invited people with intellectual or developmental disabilities to serve as her co-researchers by taking pictures to document how they related to their community and then meeting to discuss those photos. “In researching how people with disabilities interact with their community, I found there was no research actually done by people with disabilities. There was no research conducted from an insider perspective,” she said. By collecting and workshopping photos, these researchers worked to provide that previously missing insider perspective.
and ponder the relevance of what we are learning.” Partly because
This past fall, Wendling began her doctoral studies at Indiana
of those regular times of reflection, Gaisser’s units are cohesive and
University, pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education and Student
clear.
Affairs. Wendling also works as a graduate assistant at Indiana
Gaisser’s daily work with students often utilizes IB strategies. She draws on her IB education to help create provocations to draw her students into lessons. “Posing a broad question and asking students to answer helps them to make those meaningful connections.” Gaisser noted that using IB strategies has helped her to foster a classroom culture that encourages students to share their thoughts and to think beyond themselves. In this way, she embraces and honors the diversity of the English learners. Gaisser said, “Although my school isn’t an IB school, IB philosophy definitely shapes my teaching philosophy and benefits my students.”
22
METL ALUMNA EXPLORES the ROLE of UNIVERSITIES WITHIN a COMMUNITY
University-Purdue University at Indianapolis’ (IUPUI) Office of Community Engagement where she tracks the many ways the university interacts with the Indianapolis community. Wendling found that her experiences in Butler’s METL program have been useful as she began her doctoral studies. She explained, “I often find myself talking about what I learned during METL, especially things I learned from the K–12 educators in my cohort.” After earning her doctorate degree, Wendling hopes to work in higher education, continuing to encourage and investigate how universities can and should work within their greater community.
INDIANA REFUGEE NETWORK
TEACHER LEADERS TAKE ACTION in THEIR COMMUNITY Megan Curts ’14 and Brooke Kandel-Cisco
The Vermilions began the Indiana Refugee Network (IRN) with the goal of helping refugee families in smaller, immediate, and often tangible ways. Chris Vermillion said, “We [IRN] are a connection point between refugees who need help and the greater community who want to offer assistance. A small nonprofit like ours can step into the gap after the refugees’ initial resettlement.” IRN seeks to connect volunteers with efforts to meet the needs of refugee families.
Traci Vermillion GILP ’16 recently completed the Graduate Initial Licensure Program (GILP) and earned an English as a New Language (ENL) license through the College of Education. As a teacher of English language learners at Northview Middle School, Vermillion is uniquely situated to see the many challenges faced by her refugee students and their families. “While working with these students, I get to see their needs firsthand. Over and over, I see that they need shoes or coats or a means of washing their clothes,” she said. Large relief organizations often sponsor these refugee families and help them immigrate to the United States. Additional immediate needs, however, still remain once the resettlement work of the large relief organization is complete. Vermillion noticed that the first months after immigrating were the toughest for refugee families as they went about the hard and expensive work of building their lives in a new country. Adjusting to new cultural expectations and a new language adds to the challenges these refugees face. Many evenings after school, Vermillion told her husband Chris Vermilion ’00, Social Studies Department Chair at North Central High School, how these refugee students lacked what they needed to succeed at school and how the refugee families she met— despite their best efforts—were struggling. Together the couple worked to provide for the needs Vermillion saw, but the needs were too many for just one family to meet. She explained, “I began to feel weighed down. The amount of need was continually bothering me.” It was then that Chris proposed starting a nonprofit to help refugees that settle in Indiana.
In January, the Vermilions set up a Facebook page for the nonprofit. On the page, they shared a story about a newly immigrated high school student happily waiting at the bus stop in the snow, smiling broadly while shivering beneath his thin jacket. IRN asked for donations of winter gear to help refugees like this student better acclimate to Indiana’s cold temperatures. The response from the Indianapolis community was immediate and overwhelming. The story of the smiling and shivering boy was shared again and again on Facebook. Coats, hats, gloves, and scarves began arriving en masse. Chris Vermillion said, “Our community is amazing. So many people stepped up to meet this need, to show refugees what Hoosier hospitality is all about.” In its first few months of existence, the Indiana Refugee Network has provided needed clothes and household items to Indianapolis’s refugees. The nonprofit organization also offers transportation and connects refugee families with other local organizations that provide job training and English classes. The Vermilions hope the Indiana Refugee Network will someday be able to cover the summer school expenses (less than $50 per student) for refugee students who may need the opportunity to take extra courses to graduate on time. Perhaps most importantly, the Indiana Refugee Network is working to educate the greater public about the existence and needs of the refugee population. Vermillion explained, “Many people I talk to are surprised to learn that there are refugees living in Indianapolis. “We view our outreach as a chance to educate them on the fact that refugees are here, and that we as a community can offer them friendship and help them make a home here.” Through their work for the Indiana Refugee Network, the Vermilions have seen that once people are made aware of a need they eagerly help.
To connect with the Indiana Refugee Network, like their page on Facebook and visit them on the web at IndianaRefugeeNetwork.org. 23
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
2O16–2O17 GRADUATE ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIPS VIVAN & DAISY JONES SCHOLARSHIP April Wolcott Deanna Schmidt
Camille Richie Cassie Brainard
JERRY L. BURRIS EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP Carrie Dilley Tyler Roell Sarah Roberts Amber Moore
Trae Heeter Emmaline Perrin Brooke Walden Emily Alaimo
Micah Nelson Ryan King Jennifer Scott
ARTHUR KRUEGER SCHOLARSHIP Anthony Boberschmidt Molly Cordes Katie Evans Kimberly Handy
Jacqueline Juett Brittany Logan Erin Moll Brandon Placher
Kelsee Spells-Thompson Nicole Sullivan Madelyn Zirzow
EVA YOUNG WILES SCHOLARSHIP Molly Cordes Katie Evans Kimberly Handy Jacqueline Juett Brittany Logan Erin Moll
Kelsee Spells-Thompson Nicole Sullivan Madelyn Zirzow Robi Simms Addison Ulmer Anna Sutter
Rayven Dearth Heather Bullock Courti Tex Audra Barbauld Margaret DePoy Melissa Cooper
DR. DAISY (MARVEL) JONES SCHOLARSHIP Anthony Boberschmidt Molly Cordes Katie Evans Kimberly Handy Jacqueline Juett Brittany Logan Erin Moll Brandon Placher Kelsee Spells-Thompson Nicole Sullivan Madelyn Zirzow Robi Simms Addison Ulmer Andrew Smeathers Anna Sutter Rayven Dearth Heather Bullock Courtni Tex
24
Audra Barbauld Margaret DePoy Melissa Cooper Kelle Laura Rogers Carrie Reiberg Sarah Roberts Martin Bruner Michelle Trainor Haley Armstrong Amber Moore April Wolcott Elizabeth Osland Chloe Richardson Trae Heeter Abigail Soltis Emmaline Perrin Brooke Walden Amanda Fitting
Deanna Schmidt John Dimmick Emily Alaimo Camille Richie Micah Nelson Ryan King Emily Curnow Jennifer Scott Kelsey Cosier Samantha Paff Barbara Shertzer Rhonda Hinkle Todd Shumaker Mary Garner Heather Gant Craig Fugate Randi Perry Traci Vermilion
FROM PRESCHOOL TO GRADUATION NATIONAL FINALIST EPPSP ALUMNA and EPPSP STUDENT WORK TOGETHER Jill Jay Kathryn Raasch MS ’83 EPPSP ’87, a member of EPPSP Group
SAMANTHA VIDAL MS ’08 CHOSEN as a FINALIST for the 2016 SCHOOL COUNSELOR of the YEAR AWARD Tom Keller Samantha Vidal
5, and Flora Jones, a current EPPSP student in Group 34, are making things happen for some of the youngest and most senior
MS ’08 in School
students in Wayne Township. Raasch is the Principal of the Wayne
Counseling
Township Preschool, housing 350 three to five-year-olds, while
was honored in
Jones is the Counselor at Ben Davis University High School, an
Washington, DC, the
early college high school that serves students in grades 10 through
week of January 25
12. Because of their close proximity to one another—their buildings
for being one of six
are connected—this unique and intentional design allows for the
national finalists
youngest and oldest students to work together in many ways that
for the 2016 School
other schools are not able to accomplish. Jones said, “The power
Counselor of the Year
of place is critical.” and reiterated that the shared space makes
Award.
building relationships easier. In Raasch’s words, “It is a two-way
The ceremonies,
street, and I don’t know who benefits more.” Some activities that
which included
Ben Davis University (BDU) students assist preschoolers with include Spanish, a celebration sock-hop every nine weeks, holiday activities, and an ecology club and garden. These two stellar programs have been recognized by the Indiana Department of Education as Promising Practices, which is an initiative to celebrate and showcase schools for their implementation of innovative and/or inclusive educational practices. BDU boasts a 100 percent graduation rate, the highest in the state of Indiana, while focusing on 367 students with diverse backgrounds. Seventy percent of BDU students qualify for free or reduced meals, while 54 percent of the preschoolers are served as special education students. Project-based learning and internships with business partners are key, shored up by a solid foundation and philosophy of relationshipbuilding. Some BDU students return after graduation to work in the preschool, with 50 percent of the support staff coming from BDU. While formal sports programs are not a part of BDU, there are over 30 clubs represented among the more than 300 students. The gym is shared with the preschool, and the school houses a cardio room for all to use.
recognition from First Lady Michelle Obama, were timed to coincide with National School Counseling Week. “Being selected as a finalist has been an unbelievable and surprising honor,” Vidal said. “I know so many amazing school counselors who go above and beyond for their students every day and do not get the recognition they deserve. It is an amazing feeling to be honored by my peers, the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), and the First Lady.” Vidal has worked at Creekside Elementary School for seven years. Prior to working at Creekside, she worked at the high school level in an urban, parochial school and also briefly as a part-time elementary school counselor in an urban setting in Indianapolis. She was previously recognized as the 2014 Indiana Elementary School Counselor of the Year by the Indiana School Counselor Association (ISCA) and served as ISCA’s President for 2013–2014. “I would not be in this position without the guidance and support of the professors at Butler University,” she said. “Their program and preparation for professional school counselors is unmatched. Not only that, the professors’ involvement in Indiana School Counselor
Raasch and Jones continue to give back to Butler, and are readily
Association, American School Counselor Association, and advocacy
available to assist Butler students. Although a graduate student
efforts have opened so many doors for me. I am forever grateful!”
herself, Jones assists her fellow students with workshops on cultural competency, and Raasch is one of many advisors to faculty members exploring early childhood leadership initiatives. These two educators may serve very different students, but their mission is one and the same. Fueled by passion and dedication, they exemplify everything for which the College of Education stands. 25
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
HINKLE ACADEMY
NEW GRADUATE PROGRAM FILLS SPORT, WELLNESS NICHE Marc Allan Graduate students looking to become leaders in wellness, sport, and
Hinkle Academy also includes a three-day residential workshop at
allied fields have a new option: the Hinkle Academy, a joint online
Butler University and in Indianapolis, during which students meet
venture of Butler University’s Department of Athletics, College of
the people—and tour the organizations and facilities—that drive
Education (COE), and Health and Recreation Complex.
Indianapolis’s reputation as a sports capital. A capstone, eight-week
The program began in fall 2016, offering 12 credits of graduate coursework spread out over 11 months. Classes expose students to a variety of sport and wellness careers and lead to a 12-hour
“The Hinkle Academy provides a unique portal for candidates with
certificate that can be used toward a Master’s in Effective Teaching
shared interests in education, sport, and wellness and diverse
and Leadership at Butler or a graduate degree elsewhere. “In my
backgrounds, careers, and goals to study leadership through the lens
world of rec sports, the competition is such that if you don’t have
of the Butler Way,” said Mindy Welsh, College of Education Associate
a master’s, you’re really behind the eight-ball,” said Scott Peden,
Professor and Program Coordinator for the Hinkle Academy.
Butler’s Director of Recreation.
The certificate work is appropriate for current and future Butler
Hinkle Academy coursework begins with an investigation of the
alumni; licensed teachers and coaches in all sports at all levels;
Butler Way ethos for effective leadership, establishing culture, and
volunteer coaches affiliated with schools, churches, community
building community. Other classes cover marketing, special events,
centers, and fitness centers; professionals employed in sport and
program planning, and facilities management. “Regardless of what
wellness; and individuals seeking career change or entrepreneurial
wellness branch you go into, you’re going to have to know budgeting,
opportunities in education, sports, athlete development, fitness,
finance, sponsorships, legal aspects, and a boatload of specific
recreation, and wellness.
topics,” Peden said. “Those are good foundational competencies to have.” 26
summer apprenticeship can be completed in a student’s home organization or community.
For more information, contact Mindy Welch at 317-940-9550 or mwelch@butler.edu.
REMEMBERING GENIE SCOTT, MARILYN STRAWBRIDGE, AND BETTY KESSLER
NEW TEACHERS OF THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
The College of Education is mourning the loss of two longtime faculty
One of the greatest areas of teacher shortage is teachers of the
members—Eugenia “Genie” Scott, who died June 14, and Marilyn
visually impaired (TVI). One of the Butler College of Education’s
Strawbridge, who died July 6—and alumna Betty Kessler ’37.
core beliefs is that every child deserves an excellent teacher. Yet
Scott taught and coached at Butler from 1970 until her retirement in 2008. She was one of the creators of the Core Curriculum course Lifetime Fitness, which was the predecessor to the current core course, Physical Well Being. She also taught the skills series courses, coaching, and teaching methods in Physical Education. In addition, she created the Adaptive Physical Education course and coached girls’ volleyball. “Genie was a passionate educator who modeled inclusivity and equity, whether it was in her work with athletes with special needs or efforts on behalf of children in need in Haiti,” COE Dean Ena Shelley said. Strawbridge was a Professor of Education in the Human Movement and Health Science Education (HMHSE) program for 19 years, retiring in 2014. She was an academic advisor and taught many courses in the HMHSE program and the University CORE Physical Well Being curriculum. Marilyn was particularly passionate about the science of movement—exercise physiology, kinesiology, and sports conditioning and resistance training. “As long as I had the pleasure of knowing Marilyn, to me she embodied this quote by Maya Angelou: ‘People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,’” Shelley said. “Her gentle kindness and caring will always be remembered.” Kessler died July 11. She earned her teaching certificate from Butler’s Teacher’s College and taught in her hometown of Morocco, Indiana for over 30 years. She received an honorary degree from Butler University at the 2014 winter Commencement. Kessler founded the Morocco Projects Club, a citizens action group
children with visual impairments are often underserved because of the teacher shortage. The problem is so great that many teachers enter the field on an emergency permit or temporary license before enrolling in a course of study that allows them to get a permanent license. To help with this problem, Butler’s College of Education created a new licensure and certificate program for teachers of the visually impaired. Led by Professor Matt Maurer, the program is taught by him and other experts in the field. A cohort of courageous students who started in the spring semester of 2015 have now completed the program. This first cohort is a strong group of dedicated teachers—each representing a powerful contribution to the field of educating children who are visually impaired. One student said, “The Butler program has far exceed my expectations. Not only have my classmates and I been given opportunities to experience our environment as our students do, we have also forged connections that have strengthened our ability to provide services and opportunities to further our students’ education.” Consisting of 19 credit hours that are taught over the course of four semesters, with some courses taught at the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, students begin with a challenging Braille course, and finish with a hands-on practicum. The curriculum is designed and focused on the candidate’s learning needs. The licensure program is available at both the graduate and the undergraduate levels. Teachers who are interested in improving the lives of people who are visually impaired should consider finding out more about this program by visiting butler.edu/teachers-visually-impaired.
that led beautification projects, including the construction of a town swimming pool and park, which were named in her honor. In 1986, she received the Lafayette Journal & Courier “George” award, recognizing innovation and leadership in community service. Her niece Barb Greenburg ’64 MS ’67 was a faculty member in the College of Education’s Physical Education program for 43 years. Greenburg’s daughters, Mandy Quiroz ’92 and Wendy Doudt-Gammon ’95, currently teach in the Indianapolis Public Schools. 27
ALUMNI
BROWN GIRL DREAMING*
Susan Adamson, with Brandi Sharp and Trae Heeter ’14
is considerable and supporting the development of culturally responsive teachers is crucial. “The conference in Chicago opened my eyes to other issues in education, too, and it let me know that there are educators doing great things all over the country. The great conversations about education and how we can make an impact has been huge for me,” stated Heeter. Teachers of color in the YLUE group collaborate to identify, develop, and implement opportunities to make school meaningful for all students. Relevancy is a critical component of effective education reform. High dropout rates in urban schools stem from poor early academic preparation and students feeling as though school is irrelevant to their lives (UWCI, 2008).
On March 15, 2014, author/illustrator Christopher Myers contributed an essay to the New York Times revealing that of the 3,200 children’s books published in 2013, only 93 were about black people. Participating teachers in Young Leaders in Urban Education (YLUE) were startled by this statistic, realizing their teaching practices and use of children’s literature in their own classrooms also suffered from “this apartheid of literature—in which characters of color are limited to the townships of occasional historical books that concern themselves with the legacies of civil rights and slavery, but are never given a pass card to traverse the lands of adventure, curiosity, imagination, or personal growth” (Myers, 2014). So, these nine teachers of color took up the challenge of increasing the number of multicultural texts in their classrooms, making these books the mainstay of their workshop teaching in reading and writing. Then they hit the road sharing their teaching and learning at conferences hosted locally by the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers (indianayoungwriters.org), regionally by the Indiana State Teachers Association and Indiana Teachers of Writing, and nationally at the Association of Teacher Educators conference in Chicago. Brandi Sharp (Grade K/1) and Trae Heeter (Grade 5), teachers at the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS)/Butler University Laboratory School, are among the early career educators being mentored and supported by the YLUE group. “Presenting is such a great opportunity for me to grow as a professional, and I’m very passionate about increasing awareness of the need for multicultural literature in our classrooms,” said Sharp. Based on data from the Indiana Department of Education, 85 percent of IPS teachers are white compared to 23 percent of its students, the cultural divide between students and teachers 28
It is not enough, though, to simply recruit people of color to careers in education, as 40–50 percent of new teachers leave the industry within the first five years of service. Heeter shared that, “As a firstyear teacher, it has been an honor learning from people from similar backgrounds and situations.” The YLUE group is a testament to the power of mentoring entry-level teachers in their first few years of teaching (Education Commission of the United States, 2004), helping to sustain teachers like Heeter and Sharp in their classrooms. “YLUE has provided much-needed support for me not only in ways that impact my teaching through best practices, but also by providing a sense of comfort and understanding about my thoughts and feelings as a teacher of color. There are times when as a teacher of color, I feel isolated, singled out, or misunderstood. It’s been important for me to have a chance to gather with teachers who not only share my goals to educate and impact children, but who also look like me and can relate to me as a teacher of color,” said Sharp. And while the community of learners in the classrooms of YLUE teachers grows stronger, more relevant, and engaging—students’ performance on high-stakes tests improves, too. In 2012, 78 percent of the students in a YLUE mentor’s classroom passed the English/ Language Arts portion of the test, compared to a 73 percent average pass-rate at this school and 69 percent pass rate in the district (Indiana Department of Education). This included five of seven learners new to English who passed all parts of ISTEP, in spite of having failed all parts of the test in 2011. The Indiana Partnership for Young Writers and its Young Leaders in Urban Education are committed to supporting and developing effective and culturally relevant practices in high-quality workshop teaching. “Being in YLUE is a tremendous honor, and I am looking forward to what we choose to take on in the future,” said Heeter.
MULTICULTURAL BOOKS FOR CHILDREN *Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson We March, Shane Evans Ron’s Big Mission, Rose Blue and Corinne Naden Hope’s Gift, Kelly Starling Lyons Wind Flyers, Angela Johnson My Name is Truth, Ann Turner Harvesting Hope, Kathleen Krull The Bat Boy & His Violin, Gavin Curtis Alec’s Primer, Mildred Pitts Walter New Shoes, Susan Lynn Meyer Touch the Sky, Ann Malaspina Ruth and the Green Book, Calvin Ramsey Henry’s Freedom Box, Ellen Levine A Taste of Colored Water, Matt Faulkner Rosa’s Bus, Jo S. Kittinger Sit-In, Andrea Davis Pinkney A Sweet Smell of Roses, Angela Johnson Jamaica’s Find, Juanita Havill Drum Dream Girl, Margarita Engle Not Norman, Kelly Bennett My Cold Plum Lemon Pie Bluesy Mood, Tameka Fryer Cupcake Jones and the Missing Tutu, Ylleya Field My Navajo Sister, Eleanor Schick Welcome Precious, Nikki Grimes Jake’s 100th Day of School, Lester Laminack Night on Neighborhood Street, Eloise Greenfield Waiting for Biblioburro, Monica Brown Monster Trouble, Lane Fredrickson Metal Man, Aaron Reynolds Lola at the Library, Anna McQuinn Daddy Calls Me Man, Angela Johnson Violet’s Music, Angela Johnson Lottie Paris Lives Here, Angela Johnson Three’s a Crowd, Gwendolyn Hooks A Day With Daddy, Nikki Grimes My Pop and Me, Irene Smalls Summer Sun Risin’, W. Nikola-Lisa Lizard from the Park, Mark Pett Max and the Tag-Along Moon, Floyd Cooper Kitchen Dance, Maurie Manning Penny Butter Fudge, Toni Morrison The Chicken Chasing: Queen of Lamar County, Janice Harrington My Family Plays Music, Judy Cox Thunder Rose, Jerdine Nolen Thanks a Million, Nikki Grimes Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel, Nikki Grimes Rich, Nikki Grimes Keena Ford Series, Melissa Thomson EllRay Jakes is Not a Chicken, Sally Warner Sweet and Sunny, Coleen Murtagh Paratore Ling & Ting Series, Grace Lin Sofia Martinez Series, Jaqueline Jules Katie Woo Series, Fran Manushkin Skateboard Party, Karen English Don’t Turn Back, Poems by Langston Hughes, Reflected by Lee Bennett Hopkins The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou The Black Poets: A New Anthology, edited by Dudley Randall Cool Salsa, edited by Lori M. Carlson Visit blogs.butler.edu/coe/2016/07/15/multicultural-books for the full list. 29
ALUMNI
COMMUTING BULLDOGS
BUTLER ALUMNI “INVADE” WALLACE ELEMENTARY Shara Zaia ’13 What kind of school has carpools full of Butler Bulldogs driving all the way to Kokomo, Indiana, day after day? Wallace Elementary School of Integrated Arts is not just any public school. With 88 percent of the teaching staff consisting of Butler graduates, there is no denying that there is something special happening in Kokomo. Kokomo Schools Superintendent Jeff Hauswald, Wallace Principal Charley Hinkle, and Butler University Integrated Arts Professors Arthur Hochman and Tim Hubbard partnered to create the first and only arts-integrated school in Indiana. Pairing classroom instruction through the arts with the opportunity to learn violin, keyboard, movement, visual art, and Spanish from grades K–5, Wallace provides a unique learning environment where students can make meaningful connections to the curriculum. Since opening in 2008, the school has received worldwide attention—attracting visitors from countries around the globe—and will be hosting its own arts-integration conference this summer. The halls of Wallace are lined with student documentation in which meaning is constructed through various art forms. Walk by the fourth graders in Laura Hoffman ’14 and Stephanie Brunette’s classes and you’ll see them frozen in tableau to depict the “Humans of Wallace” inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York. In kindergarten, Allison Keller ’12 pairs math and literacy with visual arts by reading Antoinette Portis’ Not a Box while her class explores what images they can create from various 2D and 3D shapes. Shelby Heath ’12 leads a chorus of first graders chiming in on one of the Kennedy Center-inspired “tiny toy tales,” an interactive, integrated storytelling strategy where students use motions and repetition to experience and retell story elements. Check out Veronica Orech ’15 using songwriting and choreography to help her fifth graders grasp challenging vocabulary. Pop in to see Amy Coffman ’13 adapt Ed Emberly’s Go Away Big Green Monster to teach her first graders about adjectives. Listen in on a discussion about Alexander Calder as Holly Whiteman ’14 and her second grade students create their own mobiles. Down the hall in first grade, Jordan Miller ’13 and her students are learning about measurement by creating cityscapes inspired by New York City street artists. This kind of creative thinking and planning doesn’t just happen on its own. Not only can you catch this dedicated group of
30
teachers heading to Washington, DC, and New York City to attend professional integrated-arts conferences during the summer, but you also will see them heading to the bowling lanes to spend time together on their snow days. It is a community built by a synergy of teachers and students that strengthens its members when it would be easier to fall apart. With new methods gained from in-services with Butler College of Education professors Arthur Hochman and Tim Hubbard, as well as connections with the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and never-ending support from principal Charley Hinkle, these teachers are constantly seeing education through a new perspective. Currently, Wallace third graders are being inspired by an Israeli mixed-media artist named Hanoch Piven. Students in Julia Cassel ’13, Molly Craig ’15, and Lou Ann Keeling’s classes are gearing up for a much anticipated Hanoch Piven-inspired biography project. This unit focuses on how to interpret a fictional story’s sequence of events, as well as studying how to follow, interpret, and retell a sequence of events in nonfiction texts. As a final project, the students are asked to choose a biography and read it at home for their reading log. Next, they are asked to find the five main events from their historical figure’s life that could not be left out in the retelling of the biography. With their families, they choose five objects to symbolize each main event in preparation for creating each portrait. After the portraits are completed, the students will share their portraits in a gallery setting, also presenting speeches of why they chose each object.* Just ask any of the 14 Bulldogs currently commuting from the Indy area to Kokomo—the Wallace experience is worth the drive. Wallace fifth grade teacher LaShaya Williams shares, “Wallace School has created a safe and accepting environment that allows teachers to implement unique approaches to meet the needs and learning styles of all of our students. Teachers collaborate and share meaningful feedback, not only with fellow teachers, but also with students and parents. As a result, our students feel safe to explore and take on new challenges. When our students are able to dig deeper, make mistakes, ask questions, and give as well as accept feedback, they take their learning to the next level. Our staff’s passions shine through, guiding our students daily.”
*INDIANA ACADEMIC STANDARDS COVERED:
1
2
3
Reading ›› 3.RN.1-Read and comprehend a variety of nonfiction within a range of complexity appropriate for grades 2–3. ›› 3.RN.2.3-Describe the relationship between a series of historical events. ›› 3.RN.3.2-Identify how a nonfiction text can be structured to put chronological events in order. ›› 3.RV.3.3-Distinguish one’s own personal perspective from that of the author of the text. Writing ›› 3.W.3.2- Write informative compositions on a variety of topics. ›› 3.W.4- Apply the writing process to generate a draft by developing, selecting and organizing ideas relevant to the topic, purpose, and genre using appropriate reference materials. Speaking and Listening ›› 3.SL.4:1- Report on a topic that presents ideas chronologically or around major points of information, with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking at an understandable pace, in a clear, concise manner. Visual Arts ›› VA.2.6.3 2008- Create and use symbols in personal artwork to communicate meaning. ›› VA.2.6.4 2008- Identify and apply criteria for self-assessment of studio work such as craftsmanship, control of media, and communication of ideas.
1. Shelby Heath and Butler student teacher Josie Wallfred ’15 are helping students practice their lines for their upcoming readers’ theater performance of How the Grinch Stole Christmas! 2. Chris Henderson ’13 is helping his kindergarten students master foundational patterning concepts by exploring natural mandalas.
4
3. Can’t remember which witch is which? Shara Zaia and her second graders are using their acting skills to understand the difference between those tricky homophone pairs. Gracie Becker sees a sad whale wailing while Aurelina Rojas wonders what would happen if a toad towed another toad! 4. After learning about the different parts of speech, Julia Cassel’s third graders practiced identifying them in Impressionist paintings. Then after identifying the elements of the Impressionist art, they created their own Impressionist landscape and wrote about their landscape using descriptive parts of speech. 5. ZaVion Merriweather, A’nya Beets, Olivia Harris, and Chloe Moss proudly share their Hanoch Piven-inspired creations of Betty Ross, LeBron James, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Albert Einstein.
5
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ALUMNI
UNVEILING MY PASSION
FULL-CIRCLE with the HUMAN MOVEMENT and HEALTH SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM Amy Bultinck ’99 When I graduated from the Physical and Health Education program at Butler University in 1999, now Human Movement and Health Science Education (HMHSE), little did I know how it would continue to be such an integral part of my life 15 years later. I walked across that stage, degree in hand, with a world of possibilities ahead of me. My first full-time job was at New Palestine High School where I served as the Head Athletic Trainer for three years, as well as a health and physical education teacher for nine years. In 2010, several educational budgets were cut across the state, leaving school districts having to make difficult decisions about how to adjust spending. Unfortunately, my school corporation chose to eliminate five certified health and physical education teachers from their elementary and middle school programs. My employment was terminated due to my lesser number of years of experience. To say I was heartbroken would be an understatement. I still get choked up when I think back to that day. It was difficult to realize that a subject I felt so passionate about was deemed “least important” by those making the tough decisions. Although my colleagues awarded me Educator of the Year that year, I was still faced with discovering the next phase of my life. As life would have it, my husband and I were expecting our third child at this same time. We decided it would be best for our family for me to stay home with our girls during the next few years. I will always cherish the twist of fate in losing my job that allowed me to have this opportunity. I will never regret the time I had with them during those precious years, but my love of teaching was always pulling on my heartstrings. Over the years, I kept in touch with Professor Lisa Farley, a former professor of mine. She was aware of my stay-at-home status, but decided to reach out to see if I would be interested in a part-time teaching opportunity at Butler. Our youngest had just turned one, so I was starting to feel like myself again and was very interested in the opportunity. That spring, I served as a co-instructor for the elementary methods course in the HMHSE program. I was thrilled to be teaching again, but had a lot to learn about the updated HMHSE program. Since then, I have been fortunate enough to be called back for various teaching roles for four years now, including being part of state presentations at Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance with professors and students. I love sharing my passion with future colleagues in this field.
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This unveiling of my passion inspired me to begin a longtime goal of mine—seeking a master’s degree. Before I knew it, I was walking back into Jordan Hall as a student for the first time in more than 15 years. I was scared, nervous, and excited all at once. Those emotions ebb and flow as I have continued on this journey. Through this adventure, I was fortunate to be a part of the first class in the Hinkle Academy Graduate Certificate program. This program has taught me so much about what it is I have to offer. In studying The Butler Way, my pride for my school grew larger than I knew possible. Suddenly, I was beginning to feel the confidence I’d lacked for so long. It was so enlightening to study The Butler Way through my own lens and in my own context. While I don’t have that degree in my hand just yet, I find myself with a renewed sense of opportunities ahead of me. I will send my youngest daughter off to kindergarten in the fall, and I am excited to dive head first into whatever those exciting possibilities may be.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
COLLEGE of EDUCATION CORE VALUES LIVE in REAL CLASSROOMS Amanda Huffman ’12 MS ’16 The Excitement of Teaching, Learning, and Mentoring The Challenge of Integrated Practice and Collaboration The Strength of Integrity and Responsibility The profession of teaching brings with it challenges, excitement, changes, frustrations, exhaustion, and opportunities for continued learning. Unfortunately, nearly half of the people who enter the profession leave within the first five years. One of the overarching reasons cited by researchers is a lack of mentoring and collaboration amongst colleagues. As a 2012 graduate entering my fifth year of teaching in August, I am not—nor do I plan to be—one of those statistics. I credit the mentor relationships I established as a pre-service teacher and as a firstyear teacher, as well as relationships I have continued to develop in my subsequent years of teaching as the reason I have chosen to stay in a profession so many are leaving or choosing not to enter today. The relationships I have developed are not limited to my colleagues at Pike High School. Relationships with Butler University’s College of Education graduate and undergraduate students and professors have been significant in my professional teaching career, particularly as I have worked toward my Master’s in Effective Teaching and Leadership (METL) for the past two years. As a member of Butler’s 2016 METL cohort, I have continued to be challenged and supported as a teacher and leader by my professors and classmates through our studies and research. As a result of the partnership between the College of Education (COE) and Pike High School, I have had the opportunity (and see it as a responsibility) to mentor undergraduate students in my classroom. Through my METL teacher action research project, I explored teacher attrition, retention, and preparation. I completed a case study of six Butler University pre-service mathematics teachers, whom I led in weekly math methods professional development, while they were completing their high school practicum placement. While connecting theory with previously learned practices, we explored our role as mathematics teachers, foundational strategies for the first day and week of school, and strategies for teaching and
reinforcing mathematics concepts. I continued to mentor, support, and study four of the pre-service teachers as they carried out their first phase of student teaching at Pike High School. Through analysis of the data collected, a theme of relationships emerged. Specifically, the teacher-to-teacher relationships formed through the experiences helped the pre-service teachers thrive and brought theory into practice through mentoring and collaboration. It also introduced them to some of the challenges in the profession. These relationships fostered the growth of the pre-service teachers through the added development of teacher-to-content relationships in planning and implementing instructional strategies, as well as the emphasis on teacher-to-student relationships and student-tocontent relationships to build students’ conceptual knowledge—the role of mathematics teachers.
I have continued to be challenged and supported as a teacher and leader by my professors and classmates through our studies and research. These findings centered on building and developing relationships. Excitement for teaching, learning, and mentoring collaboration represents what is needed to keep teachers from leaving the profession and reinforces the significance of fostering meaningful relationships early on in the profession. As a result of the relationships I developed with the COE pre-service teachers and the opportunities I have had to interact with them and help prepare them for the profession, I have seen them evolve as teachers and I have seen myself grow as a teacher and leader.
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FACULTY and STAFF
A COMMUNITY COLLABORATION A PEACEFUL APPROACH to BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT Erin Garriott MS ’01 When thinking about behavior management in a classroom full of kids, maybe your mind wanders to your own days of sticker charts and stoplights, meant to encourage quiet work and compliance to classroom rules. Or maybe you think of an even more recent strategy of collecting data, data, and more data so that you have graphs of when specific behaviors are occurring. The Multilingual and Exceptional Learners program wondered if those strategies really got to the heart of what our College of Education (COE) students needed so they could fully support their future students. We decided to add something different. It’s no secret that our world needs more peacemakers, so we decided our students could play a big part in creating more peacemakers by rethinking behavior management. Our program work shifted to an even more student-centered approach in fall 2015, when our Behavior Management course began to focus solely on proactive, social/emotional supportive strategies like creating a positive classroom climate through community circles, conflict resolution, and team-building. We sought out Peace Learning Center, a local nonprofit, to collaborate and challenge us to think about our own perceptions of community and how that helps us create safe and inclusive classrooms for our future students. Peace Learning Center’s mission is to “educate, inspire, and empower people to live peacefully.” The next step in this transformation was to find some kids with which to work. We know the importance of helping our teachers know how to teach math or how to teach reading or how to teach other content areas like science and social studies. But, we sometimes forget to teach them how to facilitate a community circle or how to help lead their students to solve disagreements peacefully. It’s an art to build a peaceful classroom community; just like it’s an art to teach children how to decode words or understand what it means to multiply numbers. Our COE students needed direct instruction, and that’s what they got. More than 10 hours of Peace Learning Center’s Peacemakers Curriculum with James (JT) Taylor and friends, five hours of collaborative planning and practicing Peacemaker activities with classmates, five hours of co-teaching those same activities in fourth and fifth grade classrooms at Indianapolis Public Schools’ Center for Inquiry #27, followed by four more hours of debriefing and reflecting on each day’s in-class activities. Whew! It was a
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whirlwind of peaceful activities, but well worth the adventure. Our 17 COE students, made up of eight co-teaching teams, helped around 80 students experience what it feels like to collaboratively solve social problems every week. Talk about supporting peacemakers! Butler alumna, Kate (Robison) Sorrell ’12 jumped at the chance to give our COE students time to practice their new art of building community with her fourth graders at IPS Center for Inquiry #27. Katey Kelleher, an undergrad studying Communication and Speech Disorders, also worked with Sorrell’s students. In reflecting about one specific time together, Kelleher was proud that she and her co-teacher, Catie Burke, were able to “lead a really great discussion about peace and conflict.” Burke added that “...they were able to ask meaningful questions to get the students thinking.” Ben Weaver, Sorrell’s colleague, also helped support our COE students in his classroom. Undergrad Gwen Kozak got to experience the benefit of a safe space in Weaver’s classroom. She wrote, “...a safe space is somewhere students are comfortable to learn, to voice their opinions, and to ask for help without judgment or fear. While a safe space will never mean that students are always collaborating without conflict, it does mean that they will have a place where they can be honest and emotional.” Kozak’s co-teacher, Rebecca Linn, was able to connect to Lev Vygotsky’s cognitive theory and put it into practice. She wrote, “...positive social interactions are key to building up a child’s social skill. This leads to cognitive development. The range of skill that can be achieved with adult guidance or peer collaboration exceeds what can be attained alone. These healthy social interactions are key to reaching a higher level of thinking.” We want to give thanks to the students and teachers of Center for Inquiry #27 for allowing us space to learn. We want to give a great big, peaceful hug to JT and friends of Peace Learning Center for leading us in experiences that showed us the impact we have to support peacemakers. For more information about Center for Inquiry #27 and the amazing students, families, and teachers that learn there, visit myips.org/cfi27. To learn more about the work of Peace Learning Center, visit peacelearningcenter.org or stop by their center in Eagle Creek Park.
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3 1. Our class visiting the Peace Park, the spot where Robert Kennedy shared the news that Martin Luther King Jr. had been shot. Center for Inquiry #27 is next to the Peace Park. 2. Taylor and Alicia including a read aloud in their lesson. 3. Gwen helping her students reflect on being a leader.
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4. Thanks to JT, we celebrated our time together with a hike through Eagle Creek Park and lunch at Peace Learning Center. 5. Katey, Sarah, Catie, and Taylor surrounded by peacemaking greatness at the Peace Learning Center. 6. Stephanie learned about the power of mindfulness by making one Mind Bottle to keep for herself and one to share with a friend.
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LISTENING STILL BOOK SHOWCASES REGGIO-INSPIRED PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING Julie Patterson In the classroom, the directive to “listen” is what most people think of giving students, but Butler University professor Susan Adamson says it is the teachers who must listen in order for students to learn. Adamson, Assistant Professor of Early/Middle Childhood in Butler’s College of Education, is the editor of listening still, this year’s anthology, featuring stories, poems, essays, and articles by 175 students in preschool through grade eight from 29 schools in Indiana. The book is the sixth of its kind published by the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers (IPYW), a Butler program that provides ongoing professional development to teachers. “The title listening still reflects a fundamental belief I have about young learners and how adults ought to position themselves in relationship to them. We can’t impose our thinking on children, but instead must listen carefully to hear what they already know and understand,” says Adamson. Adamson explains that this mindset is reflective of Reggio-inspired teaching like that at the Indianapolis Public Schools/Butler Lab School, grounded in the understanding that all children are “capable and competent,” each with gifts that should be recognized, celebrated, and learned from both in and out of school. But Adamson believes the philosophy is relevant to all teachers, not just those in a Reggio school. As Director for IPYW, and with the help of Program Manager Libby Duggan, Adamson also provides ongoing professional development for practicing teachers throughout Indiana and beyond. The program has provided ongoing support to more than 1,700 teachers in 177 schools in 16 years. The listening still anthology is a nod back to IPYW’s founding purpose—to support teachers and students in classrooms where
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writing workshop is a critical component of the curriculum. This means that class time is dedicated to writing as a stand-alone content area instead of being wrapped into a larger “language arts” umbrella. Teachers guide students in examining texts published in their “real world” formats—magazines, newspapers, books, blogs, and other web content—identifying authors’ craft strategies and thinking about why those specific strategies were chosen. Students then apply that thinking to texts they author themselves. “We now support teachers in developing curriculum in reading, math, and early childhood, too, but it is done with the same fundamentals in mind—respect for each student and for the authenticity of the work students do to learn the subject matter,” says Adamson. As the student writing was compiled for this anthology, Adamson saw four themes emerging—students finding beauty in the world, discovering the power of observation, wrestling with complex thinking and social issues, and experimenting with humor and joyful word play. These themes provide the frames for the four distinct chapters of listening still. The anthology’s impact is heightened by four original paintings created specifically for the book by highly acclaimed artist Michele Wood. Recipient of a prestigious American Book Award and a Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award, Wood crafted the paintings in response to the student-authored texts. Inspired by the students’ words and her trademark connections to both the natural world and her cultural history, Wood responded with images from her childhood—an interpretive farm scene, sunrise over the ocean, and a resilient single flower gilded with gold leaf. More than 475 students, families, and teachers attended a book release party at Christian Theological Seminary in December.
DISABILITIES AND HEALTH EDUCATION BEYOND the CLASSROOM Suneeta Kercood Trained as an interdisciplinary practitioner and researcher in the area of disabilities, my educational background includes special education, psychology, neurobiology, speech therapy, and physical therapy. This vast range of experiences has led me to have proficiency in behavior analysis, teaching, designing ecologically based educational programs, and working with special populations with special needs in urban, rural, clinical, and non-clinical environments. I am a nationally certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) trained in wilderness rescue, and I regularly volunteer to provide medical/health services during national and local disasters. The interdisciplinary nature of my education and experiences has always provided me with a unique perspective toward education and health areas, and fueled my passion for areas of scholarship. My primary scholarship interests focus on studies designed to improve academic and behavioral performance of students with intellectual/developmental disabilities (ID/D) within the school and college environment through physical-activity-based interventions that are embedded within the academic learning activity. It was evident through my research projects and literature reviews that adding physical/motor activity positively influenced individuals with special needs. However, to continue examining other contingencies that prevented schools and families from incorporating physical activity and healthy practices into the daily life of individuals with disabilities, I interviewed parents and practitioners of children with special needs and conducted other research. The results of these projects led to the identification of larger issues within the health behaviors of individuals with disabilities that not only affect their education, but also influence their quality of life and that of their caregivers. School systems typically provide individuals with ID/D services that primarily focus on their education. Health promotion programs, especially those programs that address issues with diet, physical activity, and preventive health care, are usually overlooked. The following statistics reported by World Health Organization, and various reviews of literature, emphasize the gravity of this public health issue. Individuals with disabilities (a) have greater health challenges due to their physical and intellectual limitations, as well as other genetic predispositions, often resulting in preventable secondary conditions such as obesity, fatigue, injuries,
digestive problems, etc.; (b) have higher rates of obesity, smoking, and poor diet compared to other children and adults without disabilities; (c) engage in physical activities on a regular basis approximately half as often as those without disabilities (12 percent vs. 22 percent); and (d) report seeking more health care and have greater unmet needs than individuals without disabilities. All of the above conditions can lead to subsequent social limitations, such as reduced interactions with others in the community and frequent absences from educational and other learning activities, coupled with additional challenges such as increased healthcare costs and reduced quality of life for them and their family/caregivers. To address this enormous health disparity, I recently developed a line of research that would allow me to pursue projects merging principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) with health promotion, public health, and special populations (including those with disabilities). This research agenda includes identifying correlates of exercise/physically active behaviors, barriers, preventive healthcare practices, and principles of health promotion that could be applied to various special population groups through parent and practitioner training. In the last three years, I received multiple internal grants from Butler University (Holcomb Awards Committee, Staff Training and Apprenticeship in Research Application, Butler Awards Committee), a CIEE International Faculty Development Seminar fellowship, a Fulbright Senior Researcher scholarship, selection by National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) for training health disparities research, and a very competitive grant from the Dental Trade Alliance Foundation. These grant-funded projects are designed to train student researchers, define health challenges and related programs for those with visual impairments, develop and pilot a video modeling parent training program to improve oral health of children with disabilities, ascertain health communication practices of those from minority communities (ex. disabilities, refugees, Native Americans, and others) with community pharmacists, and identify health/public health practices and challenges for those with disabilities from international locations, including India and Thailand. My long-term goal is to identify and create global models of education and health programs that would empower parents/ caregivers and practitioners with resources and training to improve the quality of life for individuals with disabilities and their families.
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FACULTY and STAFF
MASTER PRACTITIONER AND FULL-CIRCLE MOMENTS
Lindsay Williams MS ’10
When students are engaged in a laboratory setting in science class, they move from theoretical understanding of their content area to experiential learning that allows them to look at—and exam—their knowledge in a hands-on way. In a language lab, students begin to produce and play with new words and sounds, exploring their own interaction with the content. The idea of the laboratory is to put theory into practice so that we discover new things about the world around us and ourselves. For the Middle/Secondary program in the College of Education (COE), the laboratory is inside one of the city’s oldest high schools. In August 2015, Shortridge High School: An IB World School opened as the College of Education’s Middle/Secondary Lab School. As Master Practitioner, I’ve had a front-row seat. As with any kind of laboratory, the learning is never-ending and the experience of working alongside teachers and students stretches us to create a new sense of identity.
My own story seems to mimic that same idea of stretching as I redevelop my teacher identity. I began my career teaching in Indianapolis Public Schools and developed a passion for the city’s largest district. When I chose to continue my own education, Butler’s Master’s in Effective Teaching and Leadership (METL) seemed like the perfect fit and was a transformational experience for me as I developed my own sense of teacher identity and voice. I spent several years as an instructor in the Middle/Secondary program at Butler and came to more deeply appreciate the College of Education for its commitment to developing thoughtful practitioners. In a full-circle moment, I find myself back at the intersection of the two most influential parts of my teaching journey as Master Practitioner at a Butler Lab School within IPS. Most of my days are spent working with Butler undergraduate students who come to take classes in a Butler classroom housed within Shortridge. Their laboratory experiences are embedded as they observe and support in classrooms across the building. Whether it’s doing teacher research or supporting students one-onone, these pre-service teachers are working alongside classroom teachers as they learn the profession. Many Butler students spend as much as three days a week at Shortridge during the semester and leave with a deep understanding of the developmental needs of their future students. As we continue to develop the partnership between Butler and Shortridge, I also spend much of my time working across the University to support collaboration among faculty at both institutions. The Vision Steering Committee, with representatives from all six colleges and Butler Libraries, helps to further those relationships as well. This year we’ve partnered with all of the colleges to offer guest speakers at Shortridge, provided clientmarketing experience for Butler’s College of Communication seniors, hosted Shortridge students in Admission and at Butler Libraries, attended lectures and symposiums, and participated in productions with the Butler Opera and choirs. Shortridge is, and continues to be, a laboratory not only for the College of Education, but also for the entire Butler community as we continue to think about what partnerships between K–12 education and universities can look like. For more information on our Shortridge partnership, visit: butler.edu/coe/partnerships.
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MARK YOUR CALENDARS
ONE BUTLER: THE BRAIN PROJECT—AN EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE COLLABORATIVE Susan Kleinman and Catherine Pangan
Mark your calendars for a year of the brain! One Butler: The Brain Project is a campus-wide initiative focusing on brain health, with the goal of raising awareness about the impact neuroscience has on all dimensions of our lives. Hosted by the College of Education (COE), this yearlong initiative will transcend academic disciplines to educate students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the broader community about the brain. It will create the lasting legacy of a healthy and dynamic campus and community culture, informed by the basic tenants of neuroscience. The Brain Project seeks to distinguish Butler University as an environment where academics, student life, interpersonal relationships, and physical and mental health are informed by knowledge of the human brain and how it works. It also aims to create a model for a comprehensive, collaborative, and transdisciplinary exploration of a relevant topic that can be replicated and scaled to other campus environments. A central highlight of the Brain Project is the installation of the Big Brains! exhibit—10 enormous brain sculptures, each depicting themes such as mental health, concussion, food, etc. The exhibit will be displayed on campus in spring 2017. The Big Brains! were commissioned by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Harvard neuroanatomist, bestselling author, and 2016 Butler Commencement speaker.
Community members will be able to interact with the brains with an app created by Butler Computer Science students. Programming associated with the Brain Project includes a speaker series, guided readings, films, and student-created, co-curricular activities. Topics to be explored throughout the year include: ›› How we learn: Education and neuroscience ›› Mental health: Depression, bipolar, suicide, wellness, and meditation ›› Creativity: Music, art, and innovation ›› Behavior: Cognitive control of emotions and actions ›› Addiction: Opioids, alcohol, and cannabis ›› Sports and Nutrition Wellness: Prevention of trauma and concussions ›› Aging: Memory, dementia, and Alzheimer’s Two neuroscience conferences, one for educators and one for elementary students, will also take place during the year. Serving as a convener for neuroscience educators and clinicians from Central Indiana, Butler will showcase the work of these stakeholders throughout the year. We expect that 40,000-50,000 students, faculty, staff, and community members will experience the Brain Project. We hope you can join us for this brain-boosting experience.
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KUDOS AND CREDITS
Nick Abel, School Counseling program, presented at
Susan Adamson, Elementary program, finished a
multiple conferences, including the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision, Indiana School Counselor Association, and Innovations in School Counselor Education. Along with Professors Oliver and Keller, Abel co-authored a manuscript recently accepted for publication in Professional School Counseling, the flagship journal for their field. Abel also collaborated with Oliver on a book chapter, as well as two columns for IndianaGram, a publication of the Indiana Association of School Principals. Nick also continued serving as a manuscript reviewer for Professional School Counseling and represented the COE on the BU Faculty Senate and the committee to review and revise the University’s Faculty Handbook.
very busy year as Director of the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers (www.indianayoungwriters.org) with the publication of Listening Still, a book showcasing the writing of 175 writers in grades preK–8 and four original paintings by the highly acclaimed artist, Michele Wood. Close to 500 children, families, and teachers attended the book publication event at the Christian Theological Center in December. Adamson continued to engage in research, teaching, and programming related to early childhood education, including a family literacies project involving Butler students and families from St. Mary’s Child Center. She presented at national and regional conferences of the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and Indiana Teachers of Writing, and through the Indiana Partnership for Young Writers hosted workshops with national scholars—Kathy Collins, Matt Glover, Frank Serafini, Isoke Nia, and our very own Ryan Flessner.
Susan Adams, Middle/Secondary program, was selected as a 2016 Association of Teacher Education (ATE) Clinical Fellow, and to participate in Margaret Wheatley’s Warrior of the Human Spirit April 2016 cohort. Along with Brooke Kandel-Cisco, Adams was selected as a 2015–2016 Desmond Tutu Center Fellow with the Desmond Tutu Center for Peace, Reconciliation, and Global Justice. Her professional and scholarly presentations at state and national conferences included presentations and papers at the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, the Association of Teacher Education, 2016 Innovations in Teaching and Learning, and the American Educational Research (AERA) conferences. Her 2015 publications appeared in Critical Literacy: Theories and Practices, Teachers College Record, and The New Educator. Adams, along with Co-Author, Jamie BuffingtonAdams, is celebrating the publication of new books, Race and Pedagogy: Creating Collaboration for Teacher Transformations for K. J. Fasching-Varner, and R. W. Mitchell’s Race and Education series with Lexington Books, an imprint of Rowman and Littlefield Publishing. She is also currently the Co-Editor of the INTESOL Journal.
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Stephen Bloom, Elementary program, engaged in a learning–filled year with two groups of Block B students accompanied by Professors Corpus and Pangan, a class of freshman in the COE Core I experience, several exceptional student teachers, and an outstanding group of Butler Honors Program students exploring a variety of works inspired by Lewis Carroll.
Katie Brooks, Multilingual and Exceptional Learner program, enjoyed collaborating with colleagues and students to make schools and communities more supportive for all students. She is serving on the Mayor of Indianapolis’ Welcoming Cities Task Force to make Indianapolis a more welcoming city for people who are immigrants and refugees. She has also been volunteering for the conference committee for the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE). She presented at state and national conferences including ATE. She published an article with Susan Adams on teacher agency in school change in The New Educator. She is currently writing an article with Lauren Wendling ’15 on the social circles of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Deborah Corpus ’74, Elementary program, co-
Lisa Farley, Human Movement and Health Science
taught ED408 with Professor Knipstein-Meyer who provided a special education lens in the fall. Their class tutored 24 children for one hour each week throughout the semester in the area of reading. In the spring, Corpus taught the class who tutored 14 children each week. The ED408 students analyzed videos of their teaching as part of the experience in order to hone their teacher language and use of specific instructional methods. As part of Block B, Corpus taught the ED308 class both semesters with the assistance of the teachers and students at Central Elementary in Pike Township. Over 40 children in the after-school program received enrichment lessons and all the fourth-grade students worked in weekly guided reading groups during the school day led by the Butler students in ED308. Corpus continued her reading research through small group settings at the IPS/Butler University Lab School and in individual tutoring. Corpus presented some of her preliminary research at the Indiana Teachers of Writing conference in the fall and the Reading Recovery conference in the spring. Her co-presenters at that national conference were Nicole Cegielski, Butler graduate and teacher at the IPS/Butler Lab School, and Ann Giddings, Co-Author with Corpus of Scholastic’s Planning and Managing Effective Reading Instruction.
Education program, spent the summer of 2015 supervising a BSI project and co-conducting research with Kayla Pope on Health and Barriers to Health Through the Eyes of Participants: A Photovoice Research Project in conjunction with Horizons at St. Richards, a summer bridge program for IPS youth. In the fall, Farley presented at the SHAPE International Sedentary Behavior Conference Post-Secondary Students’ Report on Physical Literacy and Living a Health-Enhancing, Physically Active Lifestyle with Mindy Welch. She also presented at the state Indiana AHPERD conference in Indianapolis. Presentations included Skills Series Roundtable with Mindy Welch, Art Furman, Brandon Cole, and Matt Nicholson, and What Does Being ‘Healthy’ Look Like? with Butler undergraduate Kayla Pope. In her fourth year as a Faculty Fellow for the Indianapolis Community Requirement, Farley presented at a fall Faculty Development Blast: ICR and CORE Classes: Expanding Learning to Reach CORE SLOs. She also taught Teaching in the Core in the spring. In the fall, she was invited to be on the Career Services Advisory Board at Butler. She also is serving as the advisor for undergraduate David Goldsmith’s honors thesis: To What Degree are Sports Performance Monitoring Systems utilized in NCAA men’s and Women’s Soccer Programs and What Influences a Program’s Use or Non- Use of These Systems.
Kelli Esteves, Multilingual and Exceptional Learners program, worked with Professor Hochman and a team of current and former Butler students to create Spirare: A Journal for Educators by Educators (spirarejournal.org). It is a digital, peerreviewed publication that focuses on issues of heart and mind that educators face throughout their careers. Professors Esteves, Furuness, Maurer, and Erin Garriott presented at the Butler Celebration for Innovation in Teaching about their work with the Integrated Core II Block and a book sharing project called Empathy and Inclusivity: Pass it On. Esteves had the opportunity to teach classes and support interns in a variety of educational settings beyond Butler’s campus including: School on Wheels, ArtMix, Young Life, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, and Kids Ink. She also taught a course on the topic of British children’s literature while traveling with students throughout England and Scotland.
Karen Farrell MS ’91, Accreditation Coordinator and Data Manager, works with CAEP on accreditation matters and program review in addition to preparing state, regional, and national data reports. She continues as Business Manager and book review contributor to Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. She attended the October 2015 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis presented by the Office of Planning and Institutional Improvement at IUPUI. Karen was named a Butler University Staff Difference Maker in September 2015 in recognition for making a difference in job performance and attitude.
Ryan Flessner ’97, Elementary program, cochaired two national conferences for the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE), finished two years on ATE’s Board of Directors, and was awarded ATE’s Presidential Award for Service. Flessner also finished his first year as an Associate Academic Editor of The Educational Forum, and as Co-Editor of a special issue of The New Educator on Agency in Teacher Education, which published in October. Flessner continued to offer professional development for teachers across the state of Indiana and also traveled to Wisconsin to lead workshops on elementary mathematics. A final highlight of his year was co-teaching with his daughter, Adelyn, in Sarah Clark’s ’10 classroom at the IPS/Butler University Laboratory School.
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Shelly Furuness MS ’05, Middle/Secondary
Catherine Hagerman Pangan ’99,
program, spent the fall semester teaching two courses in the COE’s newly opened second lab school at Shortidge High School—an IB World School—and developing curriculum with graduate students, Bridgit Goss ’13 and Michelle Trainor ’14 for the Horizon’s at St. Richard’s Summer Program which will be housed at Butler beginning this summer. The curriculum was well received and the trio was asked to present at the National Horizon’s Conference in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2016. Additionally, Furness helped to implement a full pilot of edTPA with every Middle-Secondary and Graduate Initial Licensure Program candidate this spring, and she continues her work with the five SPAs which will submit new accreditation reports in the fall. Other highlights include her sabbatical work preparation and her work with the Butler Lab School #60 developing curricula for the middle grades set to open next fall.
Elementary program, experienced her first sabbatical in the fall. She trekked through the Smoky Mountains with fifth graders, went to Florida with Professor Lupton to share insights from their book chapter in The Power of Teacher Leaders, stopped by Washington, DC to help create an internship experience for COE students, and traveled to England with Professor Esteves to teach British children’s literature. She also had the privilege of working with COE’s Susan Kleinman and Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, Harvard neuroanatomist and author of My Stroke of Insight. This spring the Brain Project was launched in collaboration with Dr. Taylor. The goal of this University-wide initiative is to promote brain wellness within the University and beyond. In April, the leadership class hosted the first annual Brain Campaign, a neuroscience conference for kids. Tune in next spring when Butler will host 10, five foot tall fiberglass brains all around campus.
Erin Garriott ’01, Multilingual and Exceptional
Cathy Hargrove-Hartman ’97, Elementary
Learners program, co-launched a book sharing project with the spring Core II Integrated Block students and professors, where they passed along books that had an impact on their own acceptance of diverse learners. She also collaborated with the Peace Learning Center to train the fall ED491: Behavior Management students in their Peacemakers Curriculum. Students in that training continued their work by leading community-building activities at IPS/Center for Inquiry #27. For the first time, she taught the Mild Intervention Student Teaching Lab and continues to be amazed and empowered at the difference our teachers are making out in the field. Garriott and her family finished up their second year as a Faculty-inResidence living in Schwitzer Hall. What an amazing experience to learn about Butler students’ lives!
program. Hargrove-Hartman presented alongside IPS/Butler University Laboratory School K–1 teacher, Marielle Slagel ’14, at the Global Educational Community Conference held in Beijing and Hangzhou, China on the topic of Authentic Learning and Project Based Learning for two weeks in July 2015. She also had the opportunity to co-host a delegation of Chinese educators who were visiting Indianapolis to explore the topic of Early Childhood Education with the IPS/Butler University Laboratory School. Another highlight for Hargrove-Hartman included co-teaching in the CORE I integrated block with Professor Arthur Hochman.
Arthur Hochman, Elementary program. Hochman’s
Tom Keller, School Counseling program, continued his
highlights from the previous year include: taking the amazing faculty of Wallace Elementary School in Kokomo on a professional development trip to New York City; working with Megan Shuck Ruby’s ’12 and Kristin Vannatta’s third graders to help publish an issue of Inspired Kids magazine; piloting a Core I integrated block with Cathy Hartman, which included so many inspirational Butler graduates near and far, some of whom flew in to be with our students; officiating Lindsay Waymouth DeWilde’s ’06 wedding; and being honored with a Distinguished Teaching Award from the University.
leadership in the national counseling profession by chairing a site team visit to universities seeking national accreditation (CACREP). He presented at the American Counselors Educators and Supervision conference, and the Indiana School Counseling Association annual conference. In collaboration with Professors Oliver and Abel, they have submitted three book chapters and recently had an article accepted in Professional School Counseling on a research project measuring the impact of the Student Success Skills program on the new ASCA student behaviors at the K–3 level. In summer 2015, Keller took a group of graduate students on a short-term study abroad trip to Italy, Greece, and multiple Greek Islands.
Jill Jay, EPPSP, continued in her second year as Director of the Graduate program for preparing school principals with a new cohort of 26 passionate educators. Jay is currently working with amazing future leaders in cohorts 34 and 35 to study the educational differences in the United Kingdom this summer. Looking through a political and social contextual lens, students will experience first-hand how the two countries differ philosophically. She is also collaborating with alumni of EPPSP to plan a reunion celebration of 35 EPPSP cohorts of school leaders this summer.
Brooke Kandel-Cisco, METL, enjoyed continued collaboration with students, alumni, and colleagues during the 2015–2016 year. Along with Susan Adams, Kandel-Cisco was selected as a 2015–2016 Desmond Tutu Center Fellow with the Desmond Tutu Center for Peace, Reconciliation, and Global Justice. Kandel-Cisco also joined Susan and educators from IPS and IUPUI in developing a curriculum framework for the upcoming WFYI Crispus Attucks High School documentary. Her professional and scholarly presentations included presentations and papers at the American Educational Research Association, the Association of Middle Level Education, and INTESOL. She also published an article with Meg Troxel (METL ’12) in the INTESOL Journal. Finally, she was awarded a Global Initiative Grant to develop a study abroad experience focused on race, privilege, and equity in the Dominican Republic.
Theresa Knipstein Meyer, Multilingual and Exceptional Learners program, assisted Butler’s Alternative Accelerated Program in Special Education with the program completion of cohort five and welcomed cohort six. She became Director of the Graduate Initial Licensing Program and supported the new cohort four at Butler. Meyer served as a liaison for the COE with Student Disabilities Services. Experiences with visiting Riley Hospital and Crooked Creek Elementary for both semesters with her students added a huge learning opportunity for all involved. She served on the state Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Executive Committee and was the state advisor for the student chapters. She also served as the local advisor for the CEC chapter at Butler. She will attend the national CEC conference with students and faculty in April 2016. Meyer served on Zionsville Foundation Grant and Gala committee to assist teachers in their teaching, and volunteers with children whenever she is in a school.
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FACULTY and STAFF Debra Lecklider ’89, Associate Dean and Professor,
Rick Mitchell, Middle Secondary program, is continuing
continues to lead the COE 2020 strategic planning process with a focus on transparency, accountability, and analysis. COE champions have been selected to collect data and implement the 13 initiatives. As a member of the Incubate Innovative Solutions Strategic Planning initiative, Lecklider provides leadership to seven graduate certificate programs with two additional certificates launching in 2017. Deb is working on a graduate, credit-bearing Leadership Certificate Program in collaboration with all six colleges. Deb also provides the leadership to the COE accreditation team including accreditation coordinator, Specialized Professional Associate (SPA) chairs, and the CAEP Standard chairs. Thirteen SPAs will be reviewed in the fall of 2016. One of the greatest rewards in working at Butler is spending time with creative, innovative, and collaborative faculty, staff, and students.
his work as the Butler COE Master Practitioner. Mitchell works to help maintain the partnership between COE and Metropolitan School District of Pike Township, Indianapolis. The Middle/ Secondary student teachers worked with Pike teachers in the fall, then continued after the semester break student teaching full-time with those teachers. Both schools benefit from this interaction in a true win-win situation. Mitchell also worked with the Graduate Initial Licensure Program students in both the fall and spring. In addition to the Butler work, Mitchell worked with 35 new Pike High School teachers, facilitated several professional development sessions, and sent out a weekly newsletter to over 600 Pike employees this year.
Angela Lupton ’92 MS ’01, Assistant Dean, was honored to co-author an article—Publishing Children’s Books with Interdisciplinary Teams: Reflection on Student Innovation through the Lens of Tony Wanger—in the Journal of Entrepreneurship Education with Professors Stephanie Fernhaber (LSB) and Erin Albert (COPHS). The article was a result of collaborations to create multiple children’s books on health-related issues including two this year—one on antibiotic stewardship and the other on Type 1 Diabetes. Angela was also excited to connect the College to other community and state initiatives as she sat on the Blue Ribbon Commission for Teacher Recruitment and Retention for the Indiana Department of Education, co-chaired the Revolution Ball for the YMCA of Greater Indianapolis, and joined the Board of the Indianapolis Library Foundation. Angela continues to be proudest, though, of the COE alumni who continue to be agents of change in our schools!
Chasadee Minton, Web Development and Marketing Coordinator, worked with Butler’s Web Marketing department to restructure and migrate the College of Education website to the new University branding. She continues to work closely with Butler Marketing to promote Graduate and New Certificate programs. Chasadee co-manages the social media presence for COE with Angela Lupton and supports Lupton with coordinating recruitment events for the College. Minton also supports academic staff Karen Farrell and Cindy Smith with the accreditation management system project. She enjoys helping everyone in the College with marketing and writing projects.
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Brandie Oliver ’96 MS ’07, School Counseling program, enjoyed another outstanding year at Butler. Over the course of the year, she partnered with several organizations in the Indianapolis area to embed service learning into her courses and the program. Partnerships include the Dream Alive program, Julian Center, and the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. She took on a new leadership position within the national Association of Counselor Education and Supervision organization by becoming the Chair of the National School Counselor Interest Network. In this role, she helps facilitate conversations and works to help strengthen the work of school counselor educators across the nation. Oliver has served as a team member on two Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Program (CACREP) accreditation site visits, providing a service to her profession. During the 2015 summer, she was honored to receive the Crime Fighter of the Year Award presented by the Marion County Prosecutor. In addition, she was humbled to be one of 20 counselor educators to be invited to a School Counselor Educator Summit hosted by the American School Counselor Association held in April 2016. She has presented at five national conferences, two state conferences, and has provided numerous professional development trainings across the state focusing on topics including Restorative Practices, Growth Mindset, Teaching the Teen Brain, and Innovations in School Counseling. Oliver continues to partner with Community Health Network working on the Zero Youth Suicide Project and collaborate with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indiana Association of School Principals, and Indiana Association of Public School Superintendents on seeking innovative strategies to increase access to quality school counseling programs. She also continues to act as one of the leaders of Indiana’s team on College and Career Readiness that collaboratively aims to seek support and resources to improve outcomes for school counseling programming in our state.
Chris Price, Office Administrator, assisted the Dean
Mindy Welch ’79, continued her role as Program
throughout the year with numerous responsibilities including the College’s budgets and grants, as well as handling the details of the summer short-term study abroad program. She is also a member of the Academic Affairs Leadership Group. Price also participated in the Butler 2020 Leadership Foundation Training workshop for supervisors and was a member of the design team. Price was elected to serve a three-year term on the Executive Committee of Staff Assembly as an at-large member. In this role, she is acting convener of the Networking and Resources committee and also serves as the staff assembly representative to the Board of Trustees Marketing and Communications committee.
Coordinator for Human Movement and Health Science Education (HMHSE) and the Physical Well Being Area of Inquiry in the University core curriculum. Welch co-presented Post-Secondary Students’ Report on Physical Literacy and Living a HealthEnhancing, Physically Active Lifestyle with Professors Lisa Farley and Philip Villani at the 2015 SHAPE International Sedentary Behavior Conference. She also co-presented Twelve Sport-Related Movement Forms and Six Curriculum Model with Professors Lisa Farley, Art Furman, Brandon Cole, and graduate Matthew Nicholson ’13 at the 2015 Indiana Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (IAHPERD) conference to showcase the Innovative Skills Series. Also at IAHPERD, Welch co-presented with alumni Sydnee Willoughby ’14 and Matthew Nicholson ’13 with the Council for Future Professionals, and with juniors Alliyah Beeks, David Goldsmith, and Vince Marshall who taught two multicultural dances, the Drongo and the Morris Dance. Welch worked closely with Deb Lecklider, Scott Peden, Art Furman, and a team of collaborators to launch the Hinkle Academy for Wellness and Sport Leadership program in August 2015. The inaugural cohort will graduate in August 2016. We are accepting applications for the 2016–2017 academic year. For more information, visit butler.edu/hinkle-academy.
Katie Russo ’83 MS ’90, Director of Student Personnel for the COE, is thrilled to be back home at Butler and is enjoying her position working alongside some of the most gifted and inspirational faculty and staff. Russo is placing Butler student teachers throughout the Indianapolis and surrounding areas, processing licensure applications, keeping updated on the everchanging Indiana licensure rules and content exams, overseeing the Early College program at Shortridge High School and working directly with the COE partners such as Washington Township, Pike Township, and Shortridge High School in addition to establishing new relationships with our educator colleagues throughout the state.
Cindy Smith, Administrative Staff, organizes conferences such as the COE’s annual TEACH Butler conference and our Student Leadership: The Butler Way conference held in the summer for high school students. She supports the College in other event and meeting planning. Cindy is the coordinator of our professional development workshop program. She also assists in the COE course schedule. She attended the October 2015 Assessment Institute in Indianapolis presented by the Office of Planning and Institutional Improvement at IUPUI.
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