Faculty accolades

faculty accolades 2019

Dr. Taheera Blount, of the Counselor Education Program, co-authored “Life History Theory and Recovery from Substance Use Disorder” in the Review of General Psychology Journal.

In May 2019, she presented “I Know I’ve Been Changed: An Examination of How African-American Women Use Spirituality, Religion, and Family to Achieve Sustained Recovery from Substance Use Disorders” at the NBCC Bridging the Gap Symposium in Atlanta, Ga.

Her publication, “African-American Women Substance Use Recovery Experiences: A Phenomenological Inquiry,” was accepted for publication in the Counseling Values Journal.

“This study examined how eight African-American women were able to recover from substance misuse naturally without the aid of formalized treatment,” Blount said. “Participants were between the ages Taheera Blount of 52 and 64 years old. I utilized the Recovery Capital Framework developed by Granfield and Cloud in 1999, which explored how individuals use internal and external resources to achieve recovery. My study examined how the women used physical, human, cultural and social capital to achieve sustained recovery.”

Blount’s is the first documented study to utilize this particular framework with African-Americans. The article discussed the War on Drugs and its detrimental effects on the African-American community, particularly on African-American women. “The paramount component that aided in the participants’ recovery was related to their spirituality, religion and the Black church,” she noted.

Blount was also appointed to serve on the editorial board for the Journal of Mental Health Counseling. “The journal requires that editorial board members become members of the American Mental Health Counseling Association and have experience with the publication process as an author,” she explained. “We typically receive manuscripts every two months. We critique papers and provide feedback to ensure suitability for publication. We must have clinical knowledge regarding the respective discipline. Based on my clinical experience in mental health, I receive manuscripts based on children’s counseling, addictions, adolescent counseling, counseling supervision, creativity, mental illness, trauma, mindfulness/spirituality, multiculturalism, and women’s issues.”

Dr. Yolanda Dunston has been busy with inter-institutional collaborations. She served as an advisory board member for Wolfpack WORKS, which is housed in the N.C. State University College of Education and comprised of literacy experts from across the UNC System. Dunston (a literacy expert if we’ve ever seen one) cooperated on modifications of the Essential Instructional Practices to meet the needs of first-year teachers in highneed North Carolina schools and provided input on a series of literacy learning modules for new teachers. After representing NCCU at the UNC System Office’s Literacy Symposium at SAS Institute, Dunston convened with faculty from across the system to discuss the ways Pre-K-12 literacy is supported by educator preparation programs. She organized the second meeting of the UNC System Literacy Faculty, held in the NCCU SOE, where faculty continued discussions of their respective programs and began planning an upcoming symposium at NCCU.

“I also served as NCCU Team Lead for an inter-institutional research grant with Duke University,” she said. “The one-year, renewable funding supports research related to Durham’s Yolanda Dunston University Assisted Community Schools. The team, comprised of faculty and staff from Duke, NCCU and UNC-Chapel Hill, recruited 15 student researchers from NCCU and Duke to participate in a two-semester research course, which alternates sessions at both institutions.”

In October and November, the teams conducted site visits of current community schools in Las Cruces, N.M.; Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Milwaukee, Wis., and New York City. Information gleaned from the site visits, along with the results from the Bull City Community Schools Asset and Needs Assessment and an environmental scan of the assets and resources at both NCCU and Duke, guided the development and implementation of a student-led TEDx Talk and a research symposium.

In March of 2019, Dunston traveled to Savannah, Ga., to present at the Critical Questions in Education Conference with education major Patience Jones, public policy major Aniyah Hairston, and the Cheatham-White Scholars Director Christina Garrett. “Our panel discussion, ‘The Gen Z College Experience: Aligning Efforts for Success,’ was met with great appreciation, as Jones and Hairston were the only genuine voices of Gen Z heard at the entire national conference,” Dunston said. She was also invited to be a panel discussant at the conference’s feature presentation, where she discussed the topic of “What Gets Lost, and What is Gained, When Teachers Accommodate the Needs and Preferences of Gen Z Students.”

Dunston published a chapter in IGI Global’s Handbook of Research on Assessment Practices and Pedagogical Models for Immigrant Students. Her piece, “Using an Interactive Notebook Strategy to Foster Success for English Language Learners,” was co-authored by Durham Public Schools teacher Justine Daniel and Susan Stock, who completed the SOE’s Reading Add-On Licensure Program.

Dunston also participated in an Association of College and University Educators course, which required active engagement in 25 online modules for facilitating effective instruction in face-to-face and online learning environments. This earned her national certification as “an effective college educator.” (Hmmm. And all this time we considered her pretty darn effective.)

Dr. Kelly King and fellow counselor educator Dr. DiAnne Borders published “An Experimental Investigation of White Counselors Broaching Race and Racism” in the October 2019 issue of the Journal of Counseling and Development. “This original research is reaching a wide audience of practicing counselors and educators across the country,” King said.

“Broaching is a counseling skill that involves having direct discussions about race, ethnicity and other cultural factors, along with associated experiences of privilege and oppression,” King explained. “By evaluating specific approaches to broaching, we Kelly King want to help counselors feel more motivated and equipped to initiate effective racial dialogues with clients and students.”

As Dr. Wynetta Lee leads The RISE Project in its fourth year of operation, she is pleased to report “we are starting to see the intended effects of the program.”

RISE, a training program that prepares undergraduate students for graduate study, has two cohorts that have finished their undergraduate degrees, and most of them are in the workforce. “Three fellows are at various stages of the master’s degree in various social science programs,” Lee said. “One is in law school, and one is in a doctoral program in political science. Four fellows are applying for graduate study.”

In summer 2019, Lee welcomed the third RISE cohort to Wynetta Lee NCCU’s campus. The group represents the University of New Mexico, UNC-Wilmington, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of South Carolina and NCCU. “This spring, in addition to completing their research, 50 percent of the cohort prepared for graduate admissions,” Lee noted.

Dr. Dionne V. McLaughlin published a book chapter, “Exemplary Leadership in Diverse Cultural Contexts,” in the Handbook on Promoting Social Justice in Education.

McLaughlin also developed a faculty-led, study-abroad class for Master of School Administration students. She took students to Punta Cana and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. The students visited two schools, Colegio Dominico-Americano, a large K-12 Spanish-language school, and Colegio Los Arboles. The students met with Dominican principals and teachers, toured the Zona Colonial and the Isla Saona National Park, and took Spanish classes at Instituto Intercultural del Caribe to enhance their conversational skills. Dionne McLaughlin

“The trip was an opportunity for aspiring principals to learn about the leadership experiences of Dominican principals and engage in discussions with teachers about issues related to race, class, and educational differences between countries,” McLaughlin said.

We can always count on Dr. James E. Osler II to publish a variety of papers and e-books, and 2019 was another productive year. He published numerous articles, including “The Measurement of Connectivist and Constructivist Learning Modalities Using Triostatistical Analytical Methods”; “Application of the Tri-Square Method in Measuring Changes in Learner Perfor

mance”; “Trioengineering Interapplication and Comprehensive Cohesive Cogitation”; “Trioengineering: The Procedures that Use Trioinformatics Neuroengineering Neuromathematics Notation”; and “An Explicative Encyclopedia of Innovative Triostatistical Methods, Models, Metrics, and Statistical Procedures.” He also published The Global Comm–Uni–Versity Model © for the 21st Century and Beyond as an E-book.

“These publications continue my

The banner reads: The 2018 Rainbow Rehabilitation Summer Camp (Shenzhen). Back row (from left): Jiaying Wang, Brandi Montgomery, Huihui Ling, Qi Shu, Cuicui Kong, Zhaoyang Li, Qingqing Xie, and Yanan Li. Front row (from left): Deja Whitaker, Limin Yu, Zhiyuan Xiong, Linjun Huang, and Jalisha Legette.

Graduate students from the NCCU Communication Disorders Program, decked out in maroon T-shirts, pose with speech-language pathologist students from Beijing Linguistic and Cultural University (BLCU), attired in pink and black. This study abroad trip (May 12-July 24, 2018) partnered the students with the Shenzhen Management Group (speech therapy providers) to offer group and individual speech therapy services to children diagnosed with commuYolanda nication disorders. Keller-Bell

At BLCU, Dr.

Yolanda Keller-Bell

and Dr. Diane Scott taught courses.

The trip was coordinated by Dr. Grace Hao, the chair of Allied Professions, and Dr. Katrina Miller. Diane Scott Grace Hao Katrina Miller

overall goal of providing research methods and measures designed to further education as a measurable and viable science,” Osler said. “Validating instructional outcomes through innovative inquiry is an ever-present goal in my work.”

Osler submitted two new grant proposals with Dr.

Philliph Ma

sila Mutisya, the coordinator of the Graduate Program James Osler in Educational Technology, and completed two previously funded research grant initiatives started in 2017. “I conducted face-toface and online conferences on research methods, designs and measurement to share with the greater academMasila Mutisya ic community,” he said. “I included over 15 years of extensive research as a new set of E-learning standards, which are currently being used and tested in a variety of educational settings.”

Osler continues aiding the SOE’s effort of “research capacity building” via collaborative scholarly projects by using a model he created with Mutisya. “We are working with university faculty to develop a new mentoring process for junior faculty members,” Osler noted. “This model encourages collaboration, sharing, and ongoing dialogue coupled with interdisciplinary teamwork.”

Osler continues to work with the K-12 community. “I visited a number of schools to discuss their needs and the future of learning,” he said. “We are at the nexus of building and creating new tools and resources to transform education.”

Dr. William Wiener is co-principal traveler’s cell phone,” Wiener said. main author and chief editor of the investigator on two grants. The first “Also, audio beacons received on the fourth edition of the two-volume is a $1.25-million training grant to cell phone will describe intersectextbook Foundations of Orientation fund the tuition and provide stitions prior to the traveler making and Mobility. pends for students enrolled in the the crossings.” He continues serving as associSOE Visual Impairment Program. Wiener published “Strengthenate editor for the Journal of Visual The second is a research ing the Role of Directors Impairment and Blindness, board grant from the N.C. Deof Graduate Study” in the member for the North Carolina partment of TransportaJournal of Innovation in Association of Education and Retion that will gather data Higher Education. The arhabilitation for the Blind and Visuon innovative methods of ticle was the culmination ally Impaired (AER), board memproviding information to of an extensive survey of ber of Governors of the American individuals with visual imgraduate administrators Printing House for the Blind Hall pairments about their enacross North Carolina, of Fame, chairperson of the Highvironment. William Wiener Virginia and Alabama. er Education Accreditation Com

“As part of this project, the call Wiener has also been awarded a mission for the AER, and board button for traffic light control will contract from the American Printmember of the AER Accreditation be placed within an app on the ing House for the Blind to serve as a Council. International Education Week The SOE held a celebration for International Education Week on Nov. 12, 2019, with a poster session showcasing international research and educational activities involving SOE faculty, staff and students, replete with cultural attire and a sampling of international cuisine.

Pictured below are staff and faculty dressed in cultural garb. Back row (from left): Dr. Jeanette Beckwith, Dr. Timothy Seigler, Dr. Robert Horne (clearly ready for battle), Dr. Ontario Wooden, Dr. Nancy Mamlin, Mr. Elisha Blankson, Dr. Sheila Bridges-Bond, Dr. Grace Hao, Dr. April Henderson, Dr. William Wiener, Dr. Masila Mutisya, Dr. Jamila Minga, Dr. Levette Scott, and Ms. Vonda Belle. Front row (from left): Dr. Katrina Miller, Dr. Maureen Short, Dean Audrey Beard, Dr. Nancy Reese-Durham, and Dr. Dorothy Singleton.

CDP Career Fair 2019 The February 2019 Career Fair hosted by the Communication Disorders Program (CDP) gave students the opportunity to meet with prospective employers. “The companies use the event to conduct short interviews with students,” said Beghetta Liles, the CDP’s administrative support associate. “Some students are anxious they’ll get lost in the crowd, but the companies make them feel wanted. Year after year the companies remind us how much they admire our students. Our graduates are in great demand.”

When the prospective employers left, the group found time to relax, have lunch, laugh a little, and participate in a raffle for educational goodies.

teaching matters summer 2020 NCCU SOE • 700 Cecil Street • Durham, NC 27707 • www.nccu.edu/soe

A grove of cypress trees in North Carolina’s Lake Mattamuskeet on a sunny January 2020 day. It was shot by master photographer Dr. William Wiener, the SOE’s Brenda Brodie Endowed Chair. “The clouds were beautiful, so I decided to use a wide-angle lens so that I could include both the trees and the sky,” Weiner said in April 2020. “Together they make a peaceful scene that contrasts dramatically with this turbulent time in America and throughout the world.”