MCE Fall Quarterly Newsletter

15 DECEMBER, 2023

MORGRIDGE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

ISSUE 2

FALL QUARTERLY

NEWSLETTER 2023 Greetings from Dean Knight-Manuel On behalf of the Dean’s Team, I send our warmest wishes for your wellbeing during this holiday season.

I am grateful for the many ways that the MCE community continues to have a positive impact in MCE and across the world. I hope that in reading this newsletter, you are inspired, filled with joy, and curious to know how you might become more involved in the new year. I am looking forward to a year of hope and action and how we can better support one another in contributing to making the world one that is more just and caring.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IN THIS EDITION: Message from the Dean: p.1

Ricks Center for Gifted Children: p.10

Teacher Scholar Highlight: p.3

Fisher Early Learning Center: p.10

Service Highlight: p.4

Recent MCE Events: p.11

Grant Initiatives: p.5

Summer Hooding: p.12

DU Initiatives: p.6

New Team Members: p.13

Departmental Highlights: p.7-9

New Staff Spotlight: p.14

Scholar-Educator-Clinician-Activist: Dr. Lisa Brownstone Dr. Lisa Brownstone identifies as a scholar-educator-clinician-activist (and a Teacher-Scholar), and all of their work across these domains is mutually informative. She is passionate about clinician education, particularly training emerging psychotherapists to provide social justice-oriented and inclusive services. Her scholarship focuses on understanding disordered eating and body distress as contextual difficulties, which are fueled by all types of oppression, including, but not limited to, racism, anti-fat bias, sexism, cissexism, ableism, classism, and healthism. Dr. Brownstone uses qualitative and mixed methods approaches to center the voices of those too often not heard regarding their experiences of disordered eating and body distress.

She is proud to lead the Bodies Eating and Emotions (BEE) lab, which is a group of graduate students, collaborators, and community members who come together to examine disordered eating, body distress, and weight stigma using a holistic and social justice lens. Much of Dr. Brownstone’s motivation to engage in scholarship derives from their work mentoring doctoral and MA students in the BEE lab and in the classes she teaches on topics such as multicultural counseling, trauma, ethics, and weight stigma.

As such, the Teacher-Scholar model aligns with Dr. Brownstone’s professional identity. Recent work has included giving an Invited Plenary at the United States Professional Association of Transgender Health conference where Dr. Brownstone spoke to an audience of 400-500 medical and mental health professionals about the harms of body mass index requirements for gender affirming surgery, and publishing in high impact journals such as Body Image, Transgender Health, Psychotherapy, Qualitative Psychology, and International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Transforming Higher Education through Service Dr. Michele Tyson, faculty member in Higher Education, has worked in the field of higher education for over 20 years, and her experience encompasses student affairs, enrollment management, and student services. Faculty across MCE fulfill many roles as educators, and Dr. Tyson serves as a wonderful role model of how to combine her scholarship with service to MCE and beyond.

This past July, Dr. Tyson started as the Director of Faculty Advising. In this role, she facilitates training and communication to faculty who serve as advisors across the university, primarily focusing on faculty who work with first-year students. Dr. Tyson began her career in higher education as an academic advisor, which lead to her research focusing on the undergraduate experience. Combining her research and professional experience, this opportunity gives her the ability to strategically create and improve systems for effective advising for undergraduate students. While this role currently focuses on advising best practices for undergraduate students, Dr. Tyson sees a lot of opportunities and potential in the future to better train graduate-level faculty advisors.

In addition to her work in faculty advising, Dr. Tyson also teaches a First-Year Seminar (FSEM) course for undergraduate students. This quarter she is working with 19 students from across the United States as they embark on their higher education journey. The course, titled “Exploring College Environments,” examines social, historical, political, and economic environments in which higher education exists in the United States. Once students gain an understanding of the larger high education system, they zoom in to focus on their experience at DU to better understand the campus environment and college experience. Dr. Tyson ensures special attention is given to student engagement and belonging, safety, and student success—all with the intention of setting the students on a successful path in their higher education journey. The topics of this FSEM course are rooted in the Higher Education coursework she teaches at MCE. To top it off, Dr. Tyson also serves on the Faculty Workload Equity Committee—a group that has been examining issues of faculty equity in teaching and service expectations across campus for several years. During this past year, the committee worked with the provost’s office to identify the largest pain points and determined that woman and faculty of color carry more of the service for their units and campus. Dr. Tyson continues to work with the committee to determine inequities and identify strategies toward change in improvement.

Dr. Tyson’s abundance of service showcases the impact our faculty have both inside and beyond the classroom. Her breadth of work serves as a wonderful example of a faculty member who bridges her scholarship, service and experience to teach and train the next generation of higher education professionals.

Morgridge College of Education #1 for 2023 Research Awards at DU

The Morgridge College of Education exceeded $13 million in external research awards in the 2023 year. The funding enables MCE to work on STEM learning opportunities for young children, equity and inclusion in early childhood, increasing the educator and school mental health workforce, and informing public policy for queer and trans people of color.

Here are some recent award highlights: Shane Trujillo, Counseling Psychology Student (research advisor Jesse Owen) Robert Wood Johnson Foundation “Health Policy Research Scholars 2023 Fellowship,” $124,000

$13M

Michelle Knight-Manuel Colorado Department of Higher Education “HB22-1220 Educator Stipend Program,” $1,422,415 Robyn Thomas Pitts, Amy McDiarmid, Elaine Belansky, and Cynthia Hazel Department of Education-Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) “Supporting Students Mental Health Needs in High-Need Rural Schools: School Psychology Inclusive, Rural, and Innovative Training (SPIRIT),” $3,823,968 Jesse Owen John Templeton Grant “Intellectual Humility to Promote Therapists Multicultural Orientation: Addressing Mental Health Disparities in Therapy,” $500,000

Marsico Institute featured at the R1 celebration Congratulations Doug Clements, Julie Sarama, and the entire Marsico team for being among six existing DU research entities to receive the inaugural DU Research Institutes status! “These new Research Institutes possess national and international reputations of significant stature, creating the peer reputation needed for their departments or divisions to become highly respected,” says Corinne Lengsfeld, Senior Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Education.

Departmental Highlights Counseling Psychology Presentations Strong CS showing at ACES: 8 presentations Rocky Mountain Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (RMACES) Multiculturalism and Social Justice Advocate Award: Dr. Stacy Pinto Lisa Brownstone invited to give a Plenary talk at the upcoming United States Professional Association of Transgender Health (USPATH) conference Preparing rollout of new practicum/internship sequence for MA students

Education Leadership and Policy Studies Publications Erin Anderson (ELPS), with co-authors Katie Cunningham and David EddySpicer, recently published a book titled Leading Continuous Improvement in Schools, Enacting Leadership Standards to Advance Educational Quality and Equity released in October 2023.

Higher Education Publications Dr. Chris Nelson (Diné, Kawaika) is a co-author on a new publication: Reyes, N.A.S., Nelson, C.A., Lee, S., Reyes, A., Shelly, L.R., Chang, E. (2023).

(Re)Wiring Settler Colonial Practices in Higher Education: Creating Indigenous Centered Futures Through Considerations of Power, the Social, Place, and Space. In: Perna, L.W. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 39.

Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32186-3_5-1

Dr. Sarah Hurtado co-published an article with HED alum Dr. Ally Garcia: Hurtado, S. S., & Garcia, A. (2023). The dissertation process as one of healing and unmasking for sexual assault survivors. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 1-16. https://doi-org.du.idm.oclc.org/10.1080/09518398.2023.2264235

Presentations Dr. Laura Sponsler is participating and presenting in the ISSOTL23 Conference (International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Utrecht, The Netherlands, November 8-11.

HED Faculty Dr. Chris Nelson, Dr. Sarah Hurtado, Dr. Cecilia Orphan as well as current students and alumni are presenting at this year's annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education in Minneapolis, MN, November 15-18.

Library & Information Science Conferences/ Presentations International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES 2023) Rouhua Han presented a poster titled “Metadata That Excludes: A Case Study of the Rock Springs Massacre in Digital Collections” with her colleagues Yingying Han and Karen Wickett Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Krystyna Matusiak presented her international research as part of the panel at the ALISE conference, “Teaching research methods in LIS programs in Latin America and the United States: A comparison of professional preparation models.”

Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIST)

Awards Keren Dali received an award, ALISE/ProQuest Methodology Paper Competition for her paper Using Hermeneutic Phenomenology and the Single Question Aimed at Inducing Narrative (SQUIN) in Disability Research, co-authored with Deborah Charbonneau, Wayne State University.

Shimelis Assefa is an ALISE Board member and has been serving as Secretary/Treasurer.

Ruohua Han received a Best Reviewer Award from the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) for her efforts in reviewing submissions for the 86th ASIS&T Annual Meeting

Publications LIS faculty have also two books forthcoming: Krystyna Matusiak is the co-editor and author of one of the chapters in the edited volume, Bridging Research and Library Practice: Global Perspectives on Education and Training (co-edited with K. Bright and D. Schachter).

Spencer Acadia is completing the work on the edited volume, Library and Information Sciences in Arctic and Northern Studies, which will be published in 2024.

Research Methods and Statistics Presentations RMS faculty attended the American Association for Teaching and Curriculum conference in Louisville, KY, Oct 4-7. Robyn Thomas Pitts gave two presentations.

LIS is planning the LIS Advisory Board meeting on Nov. 16.

Ricks Center for Gifted Children highlights Ricks hit the jackpot with an outstanding Casino Night Gala in October. Organized

by Amy Jacobs, Associate Director of Admissions, the event included silent and live auctions, casino games, and a slide show. With over 125 supporters in attendance, Ricks raised over $40,000 to benefit the Enhancement Fund.

Ricks participated in the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented (CAGT) annual conference. Heather Vaughn, Associate Director, led two informative sessions at the event covering communication and classroom strategies.

Representing Ricks among students from across Colorado, two students (Leigh in 2nd and Luisa in 7th) submitted their artwork for display during the event.

The Ricks Run Club ran circles around the competition at DU’s 11th Annual Crimson Classic 5K Run/1.5 Mile Walk.

A "sweet" Halloween tradition, Ricks Center students partnered with their class buddies and explored DU campus to trick or treat on a crisp fall day.

Fisher Early Learning Center More of Fisher’s newsletter can be found at this link: https://shorturl.at/iFP49 The Fall Gala was certainly the headlining event for Fisher this past November.

The Get Sleepy Podcast, Our very own Holly Penta (HH AT), writes for a podcast with stories for adults and kids. You can find her work here: https://getsleepy.com/ She also writes for an app called Slumber (https://slumber.fm/) with stories for children (2-5 years old).

Fisher also celebrated trick or street and had a blast.

Moving MCE’s Mission Forward: Recent Events

Colorado Commissioner Susana Cordova visits MCE

Governor Polis visits Fisher Early Learning Center

MCE Celebrates Día De Los Muertos

MCE Dean’s Grant Community Initiative highlights inclusive education

A Special Ceremony for Summer Hooding This August, students, faculty, family, and friends came together to celebrate one of the largest accomplishments in the graduate student journey: the conferring of a doctoral degree. Over 30 Morgridge students walked in Anderson Academic Commons to receive this honor, and their achievement is remarkable. Only 2% of the population of the United States earns a doctoral degree in their lifetime. We’re proud to have students not only from Colorado, but also from national and international locations. Though their origins are varied, our students share the experience of learning from our faculty. Our students do not just learn from their professors, instead, they often find a lifelong mentor whose teachings will reach beyond the classroom. As our students take the next step in their career, we hope they remember that a doctorate from Morgridge is a marker of an unwavering dedication to excellence, transformation, and equity. We can’t wait to see how our graduates change and grow their communities.

Welcoming New MCE Faculty and Staff Please welcome our new faculty and staff that have joined our team and community this quarter!

Faculty Micael Barla- Research Associate Professor, PELE David Furjanic-School of Psychology RuoHua Han–Research Methods and Information Science Geneva Polser-Crabtree-Counseling Psychology Apoorvee Sawhney - Counseling Psychology Staff Carlos Lopez- Associate Director of Admissions Christina Henningsen- Associate Director of Financial Aid Daniela Alvarez-Vargas- Postdoctoral Research Fellow Emily Thumann- Research Assistant II Gabby Batista- Business Coordinator Louie Trevino - Manager of Budget and Operations for Ricks and Fisher

New Staff Spotlight: Carlos Lopez Brings a DEIJ Lens to Admissions

Carlos M. Lopez joined the MCE admissions team in October of 2023 as the Associate Director of Admissions. They have over a decade of experience as an associate dean, instructor, program coordinator, DEI change agent, and academic advisor at secondary and postsecondary institutions focused on historically marginalized learners. He recently finished a term at the Colorado Department of Education focusing on concurrent enrollment programs and increasing the state's FAFSA completion rates. Lopez was selected as an inaugural cohort of the Postsecondary State Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders fellowship sponsored by ECMC Foundation. This national fellowship is focused on advancing the diversity of state postsecondary leaders and improving opportunities for educators and students. He prides himself on learning new aspects of education in the effort to help as many as he can find success.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Metropolitan State University of Denver and master’s degrees in Liberal Arts and Education Leadership and Policy Studies, Higher Education from St. John’s College – Santa Fe and University of Texas – San Antonio, respectively. He is currently a doctoral student planning research in success for first-generation college students, marginalized learners and/or LGBTQIA+ communities.

Carlos is most excited to join DU because of our reputation of ingraining social justice into the curriculum and practice, the tightknit community of educators at MCE, and the quality of the staff, faculty, and students. “I’ve learned a lot through my time in education. I love this city and state. When this opportunity came to join MCE at DU, I jumped at the chance. I’m very appreciative to be able to serve the students at MCE and excited to tell compelling stories to attract those that are a great match to our programs.”

Celebrating MCE December 23rd - January 2nd: Building Closed for Winter Break Happy Holidays!

February 14th: Faculty/ Staff Winter Retreat Thank you all for your contributions to MCE! If you would like something featured next quarter, please reach out to mce.marketing@du.edu with your ideas and content!

2023 Fall Orientation

2023 MCE Winter Celebration