Fall 2020 Penn State College of Education Alumni Magazine

Fall Two Thousand Twenty

Contents Dean

Kimberly A. Lawless

Editor

Annemarie Mountz

Writers

Jim Carlson, Stephanie Koons, Annemarie Mountz

Photographers

Jim Carlson, Stephanie Koons, Annemarie Mountz

Contact Us

247 Chambers Building University Park, PA 16802-3206 814-863-2216 www.ed.psu.edu • edrelations@psu.edu Published twice a year by the Penn State College of Education

College of Education Alumni Society Officers

President: Joe Clapper President-elect: Jonathan Klingeman Immediate past president: Pam Peter Secretary: Sherry Yontosh

Directors Nicole Birkbeck Tonnie DeVecchis-Kerr Kiley Foley Pamela Francis Kaela Fuentes-Packnick Shubha Kashyap Jonathan Lozano Allison Mackley

Amy Meisinger Ronald Musoleno John Rozzo Sharon Salter Cathy Tomon Jeannene Willow Douglas Womelsdorf

Student Members Allie Lukac Trang Pham Manar Salamah

Dean’s Message 1

Dean Kimberly A. Lawless provides a brief update

News & Notes 2

Five scholars join faculty ranks

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B1G education deans unite against racism

Features 4

What’s student life like during a pandemic?

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A semester like no other: Faculty, students adjust to pandemic-altered environment

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Pandemic altered Development team engagement, but mission remains intact

10 College of Education launches effort to do away with systemic inequities 11 Office reorganization enhances commitment to equity and inclusion 12 New program, and alumni, assist students unable to return to campuses

Research 14 Faculty studying role of funding in exacerbating educational inequality 15 Study demonstrates importance of government investment in education 16 Research news in brief

Impact 18 Alumni, students forge bonds, find camaraderie through mentoring program 19 Impact news in brief

Alumni 20 Creative virtual events engage alumni The University is committed to equal access to programs, facilities, admission and employment for all persons. It is the policy of the University to maintain an environment free of harassment and free of discrimination against any person because of age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, creed, service in the uniformed services (as defined in state and federal law), veteran status, sex, sexual orientation, marital or family status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, physical or mental disability, gender, perceived gender, gender identity, genetic information or political ideas. Discriminatory conduct and harassment, as well as sexual misconduct and relationship violence, violates the dignity of individuals, impedes the realization of the University’s educational mission, and will not be tolerated. Direct all inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policy to the Affirmative Action Office, The Pennsylvania State University, 328 Boucke Building, University Park, PA 16802-5901, Email: aao@psu.edu, Tel (814) 863-0471.

U.Ed EDU 21-21

Development 21 Message from the Dean’s Development Council co-chairs On the cover: First-year student Nya Cherry spent time this summer reading to her kindergarten neighbor, Sophia, to keep up with her reading, listening and comprehension skills. Cherry, who will be a secondary education, biology, major, hoped to be at University Park this fall, but instead is taking most classes remotely from her home to help keep her family safe from the pandemic. Read about her and her fellow first-year students on pages 4-5. (Photo provided)

Dean’s Message When I wrote to you in the spring Alumni Magazine about the abrupt switch to remote learning as the coronavirus pandemic hit, I never imagined we would still be working through a pandemic disruption this fall … but here we are.

In the midst of these disrupted, turbulent times, with the pandemic forcing changes to the way we teach and learn, combined with a new national focus on equity — particularly for persons of color — we as a college have made a commitment to actively dismantle persistent, systemic inequities while continuing to focus on providing the most exceptional educational experiences possible for students under the current circumstances, regardless of the mode of course delivery.

Dean Kimberly A. Lawless

With that charge, I am pleased to announce the hiring of five new faculty members into the college — all of whom will help drive the actions needed to make a meaningful difference toward societal change, while simultaneously helping to keep the Penn State College of Education at the forefront of teaching, research and service. Their presence will strengthen the professional preparation programs we offer as they move us toward our goals of changing education by educating for change, and making transformative improvements in the field of education. You can meet these new members of our faculty starting on page 2.

This summer we created a college action plan to conduct a critical review of our curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, with an eye toward identifying and addressing issues of inequity. That process is underway now, and is accompanied by a reorganization of the Office of Education and Social Equity. You can learn more about both of those initiatives inside these pages.

It has been great to see our students back on campus, even in this throttled, masked, socially distanced way. They bring life and energy to our buildings, and I didn’t realize just how much I missed them until they returned. I am co-teaching an in-person first-year seminar this fall, and it’s been wonderful to connect with our freshmen. Some of them shared with us how they’re adapting to this most unusual fall semester. Read what they have to say starting on page 4.

Elsewhere in this magazine, you can hear from some of our faculty what it’s been like to teach their courses in this semester like no other. Learn how our alumni and development teams pivoted to remote engagement with you, our alumni and friends. Find out about Penn State First programs, which are enabling some of our international students who have been unable to leave their home countries due to the pandemic to remain enrolled and learning at Penn State.

Starting with this edition, our Alumni Magazine features an expanded section on research, and we’ve added a section on impact to highlight the many ways our college, with help from our alumni and friends, is working to change lives.

Another change brought on by the pandemic is that, like the spring Alumni Magazine, this magazine is coming to you in digital form only. You can read our stories individually on Penn State News, or you can read the digital magazine in its entirety on issuu.com. For those of you who prefer a print publication, there is an option on issuu.com to download the magazine as a PDF file, which you then can print at home. While it’s not quite the same as having a magazine that looks good on your coffee table, I sincerely hope you will be able to enjoy reading the stories we have prepared for you, in whichever form you decide to read them.

As always, I appreciate your feedback, which you can send to edrelations@psu.edu. #WeAre,

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News & Notes

Five scholars join faculty ranks Following are brief introductions to new College of Education faculty members. For more information, click here.

Gilberto Q. Conchas Gilberto Q. Conchas is the inaugural Wayne Hoy and Anita Woolfolk Endowed Professor in Educational Policy Studies.

At a moment when the U.S. is grappling with systemic racism and inequality, Conchas plans to use his position as an instrument for advancing the Penn State College of Education’s vision for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I appreciate that the College of Education is deeply entrenched in the hard work to combat educational injustice and to promote educational excellence. I believe that the endowed professorship will allow me to contribute my unique qualifications to expand upon the college’s accomplishments and to further advance equity and social justice through research, teaching and community-engagement efforts,” he said.

Gilberto Conchas

Conchas’ interest in educational inequality is closely intertwined with his personal history and ethnoracial identity.

“As the son of Mexican immigrant farmworkers, it is my utmost responsibility to conduct research that addresses systemic forms of racism and to find solutions to eradicate all forms of injustices. The aim of PreK-12 and higher education is to empower all students who, despite being affected by marginalization, unjust immigration policies, poverty and inadequate education policies, navigate successfully through inequality in U.S. society and culture,” he said.

Numerous peer-reviewed scholarly journals have published Conchas’ research on social inequality and education.

Conchas left the University of California Irvine as professor of educational policy and social context, and founding director of Community Engagement & Student Success. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Berkeley and both a master’s and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Michigan.

José Cossa

José Cossa 2

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José Cossa is associate professor in adult learning in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems. Cossa is a Mozambican scholar whose research focuses on justicecentered work toward de-colonializing, debordering, de-peripherizing/de-centering the world; power dynamics in international negotiation over educational policy; and, unveiling issues inherent in the promises of

Francesca López As newly named Waterbury Chair in Equity Pedagogy in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Francesca López wants to help make Penn State’s College of Education the place to consult for how equity work should be carried out.

López left the University of Arizona as the Ernest W. McFarland distinguished Francesca López professor in leadership for education policy and reform; founder and director of the Education Policy Center; and associate dean of the College of Education. At Penn State, she’ll succeed Richard Duschl, who retired in 2019, as the Waterbury-chaired professor.

López said that for equity work to take place, anti-racist work needs to be at the center. “I foresee my primary academic emphasis to reflect the work I have carried out that helps us understand the kind of knowledge educators need to transform educational spaces to equitable, anti-racist spaces — what I collectively refer to as assetbased pedagogy,” she said.

“My long-term goal in this position is to use it as a platform that leverages the deep expertise in the Penn State College of Education, as well as collaborators in the community. There are amazing things already happening in the college, and I am so very excited to get started by engaging in conversations with my colleagues about their vision, the needs in various contexts, and ways we can collaborate.”

López earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas; a master’s in educational psychology and special services (counseling) from the University of Texas-El Paso; and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Arizona. modernity and cosmopolitanism.

In addition, Cossa’s current theorizing, which he coined as Cosmo-uBuntu, offers a new exterior (to modernity) theorizing and practice to engage interdisciplinary questions pertinent to humanity and the cosmos, technology and artificial intelligence, educational theory and practice in face-to-face and in online and distance education contexts.

Most recently, Cossa was a visiting

News & Notes associate professor at the American University in Cairo and a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College. Cossa holds a Ph.D. in cultural and educational policy studies with a depth area in comparative and international education from Loyola University Chicago.

Danielle Lawson Danielle Lawson comes to Penn State with a joint appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management (tenure home) and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the science education emphasis area.

Image captured from video

To view the video featuring all 14 Big Ten education deans, click here.

Lawson’s research expertise focuses on how environmental and science education based intergenerational learning can Danielle Lawson elevate the voices of youth to bring members of multiple generations together to work toward solutions on complex environmental issues. Her interests include working with stakeholders, teachers and community members to find new ways to communicate scientific research.

B1G education deans unite against racism

She holds a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and biological oceanography and a master’s degree in environmental studies with a focus in environmental education from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and a Ph.D. in parks, recreation and tourism management from North Carolina State University, where she also served as a postdoctoral scholar.

The consensus among the deans is that one of the ways our colleges can effect change in our nation is to diversify the teaching force by increasing the diversity of our student populations.

Tiffany Nyachae Tiffany M. Nyachae is assistant professor of education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She also is a fellow in the STAR (Scholars of Color Transitioning into Academic Research Institutions) Mentoring Program through the Literacy Research Association (LRA).

Nyachae earned her Ph.D. in literacy education: curriculum, Tiffany Nyachae instruction, and the sciences of learning at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). At the heart of her research agenda is, has been, and will be improving the educational experiences of students of color. Overall, Nyachae is a community-engaged scholar whose research is situated at the intersections of race, literacy, curriculum and justice, while contributing directly to community resources in the form of literacy workshops for young people and professional development for teachers.

This summer, the deans of Big Ten Colleges of Education came together in solidarity to work toward ending the systemic racism that plagues our nation Together, they created a video, talking about the changes that are needed, and how to make those changes happen.

“We can work on curriculum, so that K-12 students as well as higher education students understand what we mean by systemic racism and have a good and solid knowledge of the history of race relations in the country, and what we need to do going forward,” said James Anderson, dean of the College of Education at the University of Illinois.

“We also have to take responsibility for the fact that our very own profession is complicit in the stronghold systemic racism has on society. And it is up to us to break down the structures within our school systems and develop new ways of teaching and learning that privilege all of the assets that our students bring into the classroom, and end policies and practices that negatively impact students of color disproportionately,” said Kimberly A. Lawless, dean of the College of Education at Penn State.

“This is the time that we must make a difference in our college for the next generation, and in our community,” said Don Pope-Davis, dean of the College of Education and Human Ecology at Ohio State.

“We stand strongly in alignment with our Big Ten peers to fight racial injustice through our outreach activities, our research and our teaching,” said Stacy Morrone, dean of the School of Education at Indiana University.

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Features

What’s student life like during a pandemic?

By Annemarie Mountz There is nothing “normal” or “routine” about this academic year. Because of the pandemic, this fall has been different from any other, with some classes being in-person or mixed mode and some remote; the need to wear masks and observe social distancing; and the restrictions on gatherings.

When “Back to State” plans were announced on June 14, some at the University wondered whether students – and first-year students in particular – would come to campus this fall to learn in such an altered environment, or opt to take a “gap semester.”

In the College of Education, the freshmen came.

Penn State’s official fall enrollment figures show College of Education undergraduate enrollments are up for the fifth straight year, and are almost 12 percent higher than in 2016.

“We are grateful to our students and are working hard to earn the trust they put in us to deliver an excellent education regardless of delivery mode during this pandemic,” said Dean Kimberly A. Lawless.

Some of our freshmen shared how they are navigating college during a pandemic, and ways they are finding to have fun. Here are snippets of their stories, in their own words:

Angie Busch It was my dream to come to Penn State after hearing all my dad’s stories about his time as a student.

It’s obviously hard for everyone to adjust, but I make sure to do my part because I don’t want to leave the happiest place on Earth.

With all the protocols in place, I have been able to explore a lot of campus with my roommate. We have found a good group of friends to hang out with in a socially distant manner. We aren’t going to let this virus ruin our time here.

Nya Cherry This fall is different just for the fact that I thought I would be living on the University Park campus. I keep in touch with friends on Zoom and join in on virtual activities including games and movies with other Penn State freshmen.

Physical activity is important for me so I work out to my favorite blogilates and YouTube videos outside of class. Also, this past summer, I read to my kindergarten neighbor, Sophia, to keep up with her reading, listening and comprehension skills.

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Tommy Doughty Since I have one class in person per week, things are a little different. But I’ve been able to adapt and so far at Penn State I have been having a great time.

Since this is my first college experience, it’s weird.

However, we have to make the most of it, and I am only here for four years so I have been trying to maximize the amount of people I meet. I have learned over the years that positivity is key, and that even though our classes aren’t in person, there is still tons of fun to be had at Penn State.

Alyssa Galban This pandemic is making college turn into something I never pictured it would be, but I understand that wearing masks and social distancing is my responsibility and the only way we can get back to a “normal” college experience.

My friends and I always wear masks and be sure to keep our activities outside. We often play cards on the HUB lawn, go hiking at the Arboretum or just picnic.

Anna Greatti Even during a pandemic, I think we are still getting the basics of a college experience. We are still experiencing that new sense of freedom and new responsibilities that are experienced by freshmen every year.

It is disappointing that we cannot meet with some clubs in-person, because that was something I was looking forward to. It is also disappointing that I have not met as many people as I would have in another year, but I still think I have made some good connections given the circumstances.

The RAs of my dorm planned a socially distant tiedye event, which was really fun. Overall, I think there are still a lot of fun things to do on campus.

Valarie Hibbard Building relationships on Zoom is certainly manageable, albeit more challenging, but being in person provides me with the opportunity to make face-

Features to-face connections with my peers.

The University has taken strides to ensure that in class we are safe and socially distant which has helped ease a lot of my unrest about inperson activities.

In Blue Band specifically we are separated from each other in a radius about eight feet away to ensure that we can perform without fear of the virus.

Being in person allows me to get a taste of what Penn State would be without the pandemic, and makes the University feel just a bit more like home.

Emma Leister Honestly, I’m really just enjoying being at college.

I have never been a part of a “normal” college experience before, so any little aspect of being at college and away from home excites me.

I’ve been taking plenty of walks and hikes. My first week here I think I went on at least two long walks a day, which in the end, really helped me become acclimated to campus and the downtown area. The hiking trails around here are amazing and I’ve had a lot of fun discovering them with friends.

Huiyi (Lilly) Li Because I am an introvert, taking classes online has made it harder to make friends. Fortunately, I ran into a kind girl in the dormitory corridor and got my first friendship at Penn State. I applied for the College of Education Student Council, and participate in the activities held by the college, such as the mentorship activity and the “ice cream Grab and Go.” It is very touching that even under such special

circumstances, everyone on campus is working hard to create an interesting college life. We are a warm family.

Although we are not able to interact face to face better, and it is uncomfortable to stare at a screen every day, I am really enjoying my freshman year at Penn State.

Paige Ochoa We all knew this fall would be different as was the end to our senior year in high school, so honestly at this point, it just kind of seems normal because nothing these days is “normal.”

My roommate and I have tried to make some friends but living in West Halls makes it a little more difficult, so we usually have to trek over to East Halls to meet people. However, we always wear our masks and try to remain as socially distanced from people as possible.

That is really hard to do when you’re trying to get to know people you’ve never met before.

Michael Parrish I have been dealing with circumstances very well.

I have just accepted the fact of the situation we are in today and the guidelines we must follow. Although we must wear masks, social distance and have online classes for the most part, my experience has been good. I am also grateful that I am on campus right now.

Outside of class, I am part of the Newman Catholic Club and we have been doing activities where we are still having fun but also following the guidelines. It’s been one of the best decisions I made so far on campus. I also have been watching The Office on Netflix and playing video games with my friends outside of class.

Sarah Strent It is definitely very challenging to enter freshman year of college with many restrictions and limitations.

However, I am trying to make the best out of what we have and am extremely grateful to even be on campus in the first place.

My friends and I spend a lot of time outside, either walking around, playing sports or sitting in a socially distant circle. As hard as it is, we make it work and have a great time.

Kailee Warner Even though it is hard to meet people and get the full Penn State experience, I am just glad to have the opportunity to be on campus since other universities and colleges haven’t had that luxury. I have been going to dinner with people on my floor, and we often play cards, with masks on, of course.

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Features

A semester like no other Faculty, students adjust to pandemic-altered environment

By Annemarie Mountz

“Well look, we have the Nittany Lion with us today.

Wearing a mask, good for you! And I just keep teaching, with the Lion standing next to me? OK, this is a perfectly normal semester, right?”

For Peggy Van Meter, associate professor of education (educational psychology), the unexpected has become the norm this semester.

Van Meter is teaching her EDPSY 11 course in the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC), which was the only venue with enough seating to accommodate her large section of students in the socially distanced manner necessary for safety due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because of the novelty of having a class in the BJC, Van Meter has found herself the subject of news stories including on Penn State News and in the Pittsburgh PostGazette. She has presented on her experiences to the Penn State Board of Trustees. She’s become used to having photographers and videographers in her class.

“When [the photographer] emailed me about taking pictures, I thought it would be just another day that we would have a photographer running around in the background while I ignored the distraction and kept teaching,” said Van Meter. “But, when you realize that the Nittany Lion is doing a pantomime of your lecture …”

While Van Meter’s class and experiences may have been more unusual than others, the semester definitely has been different for everyone, due to the pandemic. The College of Education has operated 6

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Photo: Annemarie Mountz

with the understanding that students need – and crave – the in-person experience, so the college made a concerted effort to offer more than half of its classes with at least some in-person component.

“We as a college have always been committed to meeting students where they are, and this semester our faculty are taking that commitment to an entirely new level,” said Dean Kimberly A. Lawless.

“Using the flexibility of instructional modes available and the knowledge of the most effective educational practices to teach the whole student are keys to making this semester work for everyone, and I am in awe of the creative ways our faculty have done that in this most difficult time.”

This creativity has come into play as instructors have had to adapt their plans mid-stream to changing conditions in the environment. Ashley Patterson is teaching CI 185, principles of social justice in education. The course,

which meets once a week for three hours, was set up as mixed mode instruction (CM), with some weeks in person and others online.

The first meeting – which was the first time that students and faculty members were back in a classroom since before spring break last March – was an emotional one.

“The first day of teaching in person was rewarding, but extremely tough,” Patterson said.

She said she had not been outside of her home or the homes of family members for months, “and the thought of sharing a room with 22 strangers was anxiety-producing.”

Patterson said she didn’t realize how fast her heart was beating and how heavily she was breathing until she started talking and her mask sucked in sharply.

“I tried to push through, but as I was introducing myself and the class, I had to take a moment to pause and let the tears I couldn’t hold back anymore release. The students were gracious about it and we moved on and got the rest of the

Features day done,” she said.

Patterson’s class spent the second week online as planned, but before they could meet in person for week three, there were two confirmed COVID-19 positive tests and one student who was exhibiting symptoms, so the class stayed remote.

“We discussed the possibility of moving back into the classroom space before the Thanksgiving break if possible, but so far have not yet had two consecutive weeks without any new positive cases so we have not been back to the inperson space,” she said.

Dana Mitra, professor of education (educational theory and policy), opted to hold her class in a highly unusual location.

Dana Mitra, professor of education (educational theory and policy), right, is teaching her class in a picnic pavilion on the University Park campus this fall.

“I teach outside in a picnic pavilion,” Mitra said. “I purchased a microphone and have an amp speaker to make sure they can hear me. I appreciate that there’s actually no Wi-Fi out there, so students show up with no technology. It has led to a greater focusing in on topics and a tighter community.”

a supportive and safe space. Lots of students have come up after class with tears, with mental struggles, with physically struggling with quarantine and with the loss of spaces and opportunities. So, my tone needs to be much more of a safe space to learn about how to find resources they need and to take care of themselves.”

Mitra uses handouts when written content is needed, but the class focus has shifted to dialogue.

Melissa Luse, assistant professor of education in the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Special Education, agrees.

“Some of my students have been sick, or have had family members or friends who are sick, so it’s just a really hard time for them,” she said.

“I also usually have lots of guest speakers in this class but people haven’t wanted to come to talk to students in person, so we are again focusing differently on our own conversations,” she said.

Regardless of whether faculty are teaching in person or online, there is a common theme: students are having a more difficult time than usual this semester.

“Students are struggling and I have switched my tone. I have always been a very tough instructor, using this course to strengthen their habits around discipline, turning in assignments on time, juggling multiple deadlines and preparing them for the workforce,” Mitra said.

“But this year, my role is more of

Photo: Stephanie Koons

“More than half of my students have had to be quarantined or in isolation already. I’ve just been trying to give as much support as I can, and trying to be really lenient in terms of grades and homework.

That’s not what’s at the top of a lot of students’ minds right now, and I have to be aware of that.”

Luse said most of her students are feeling anxious and depressed from having to deal with everything going on with the pandemic.

“One of my classes started as a CM course, but none of my students felt comfortable enough to come to class in person, so we ended up

shifting things to accommodate them. Two of my other CM classes only meet once a week on Wednesdays now, for anyone who wants to come and have some inperson interaction,” Luse said.

“I sit down with at least two to three students a week just talking them through their own mental health struggles during this time, and while they all crave interaction, my students at least don’t want the extra risk involved with attending class in person,” Luse said.

Whether they are attending classes in person or online, students all seem to be taking their studies very seriously this semester.

“They value and appreciate the opportunity to have classes in ways they may not have before,” said Mitra.

“Students have expressed fairly balanced views about in-person teaching,” said Patterson.”They see pros and cons to each of the modes, but overall I think they are most committed to continuing their areas of study as unimpeded as possible, whatever delivery mode that means. Just like it’s impacted every aspect of our lives — even those that we may not readily realize — the pandemic is very much affecting us here.”

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Features

Pandemic altered Development team engagement, but mission remains intact

By Annemarie Mountz

For the Penn State College of Education, philanthropic support is not about the size of the gifts given to the college. Rather, it’s about the relationships formed, and the collective impact those gifts have on the success of the college community.

“The professionals that comprise the College of Education’s Development Office are committed to the idea of transformation,” said Steve Wilson, director of Development for the college.

“By enabling our alumni and friends to connect their passions to the needs of our students and faculty, we are helping them to ease financial burdens and transform students into scholars. We are helping them to support innovative research and transform faculty into thought leaders. And we are helping them to transform themselves from donors into benefactors, who come to know the people who are directly benefiting from their philanthropy.”

Wilson said that gift conversations are driven by donors, so that the gifts they make reflect their passions and the kind of impact they wish to create.

Those conversations typically occur in person, over coffee, in their offices or even in their homes, so the life of a development officer typically includes a lot of time on the road. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, that changed.

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College of Education Development Director Steve Wilson, inset in bottom right, meets with some of his development colleagues via Teams. The group has adapted to using technology to accomplish much of what used to be done in person.

Features “The biggest shift in office priorities is to our collective safety.

As a development staff, we miss engaging with our alumni, our donors, our students and faculty. As human beings, we miss interacting with our teammates,” Wilson said.

“Until COVID-19 is under control, however, we will not endanger ourselves or others by gathering or meeting in person. No gift is worth that risk.” Instead, development officers and office staff are using technology to keep connected.

allows them the opportunity to communicate with their donors in real time, and even face-to-face.

“We may not be in the same room, but we can ask the same questions, listen with the same interest and share the same mutual excitement,” he said.

“The methods may have changed, but our objectives and our commitment remain the same.”

the University’s history.”

Penn State’s total commitments from donors in 2019-2020 broke a record, with more than $381 million raised.

The College of Education development team also has seen some positives come out of the current situation.

“I feel the pandemic has proven that even though we are not in an office setting, we are able to continue to successfully accomplish our jobs,” said WitheriteZellers.

“Both virtual events and virtual visits could become more popular or become a preference for some alumni and donors, who do not have the ability to travel to campus or accept inperson visits.”

“Our office has been using Zoom, phone calls, emails and mail to stay connected with our alumni and friends,” said Development Assistant Lori Witherite-Zellers.

“We have changed some of our stewardship processes to emails in place of hard-copy letters. I am working from home, except for briefly going into our office as needed to check the mail and process any needed paperwork. We utilize Microsoft Office Teams for chats and our team meetings.”

Director of Major Gifts Jerry Regan said he has been using a variety of methods to stay in touch during the pandemic.

“Most of us chose this field because we are energized by meeting with people and helping them make connections with the University and create some lasting legacies. Not being able to meet in person has taken away what comes most natural in developing relationships, so using technology and the telephone have been our new option to stay connected,” he said.

Wilson said that although they currently are prohibited from meeting in person, they have found that meeting by telephone or Zoom

“Our team has successfully engaged our alumni and — Lori Witherite-Zellers friends through virtual events and have had impactful gift discussions with donors Across the nation, some through virtual visits.

Both virtual universities stopped their events and virtual visits could development work altogether when become more popular or become the pandemic hit, but Penn State a preference for some alumni and chose not to pause. donors, who do not have the ability “Our students’ need for to travel to campus or accept infinancial assistance did not pause person visits.” for COVID-19. In fact, for many, Regan agrees. “I still believe that need increased. Our faculty that there is no substitute for facestill need programmatic support,” to-face interactions, but I have Wilson said. learned that I don’t have to sit in Wilson said that while those an office in Chambers Building to priorities remain, Penn State’s be able to effectively do my work.

Office of University Development As long as I have my computer, remains committed to addressing telephone and good connections, I them. can work anywhere,” he said.

“Some organizations feared it might not be appropriate to discuss philanthropic commitments at a time when the world seemed so unstable. Rather than make assumptions, however, we decided simply to ask our donors whether and how they preferred to continue their philanthropic conversations with us,” he said.

“Some, understandably, requested a pause. Many, however, were more inspired than ever to support Penn State, and their commitment resulted in the most philanthropically impactful year in

Wilson sees another positive. “’How are you?’ used to be somewhat of a polite, throwaway question. These days, however, my staff and I are making a point of truly considering our collective wellbeing,” he said.

“We’re inviting our alumni and friends to share how they’re doing, feeling and coping, and we’re making a point of asking each other the same questions. Life has not gone on hold during the pandemic, and it’s more important than ever that we take care of ourselves, and of each other.”

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College of Education launches effort to do away with systemic inequities

By Jim Carlson

Penn State’s College of Education is affirming its commitment to combat and actively dismantle persistent systemic inequities.

“As researchers and educators, we have a moral imperative to act against systems that perpetuate bias, discrimination and racism,” said Kimberly A. Lawless, dean of the college. “As a community we recognize that these systems impact, disenfranchise and oppress on the basis of many ‘othernesses.’

“While we abhor and seek to combat all forms of discrimination, these turbulent times in society present a call to action to specifically address the centuries of discrimination and racism endured

by Black Americans in this country.”

The college is urging people to stand with it in endorsement of its resolution, and Lawless said words will ring hollow if they are not accompanied by action. She and the college’s leadership team have resolved to conduct a critical review of the college curriculum regarding attention to race and issues of equity in undergraduate and graduate courses.

“We will make revisions to the curriculum as needed, and we will provide support for instructors’ use of, and teaching about, equity-minded and asset-based pedagogies,” Lawless said.

A condensed version of the college’s action plan begins here: • Develop an adaptive equityminded/equity praxis leadership team through engagement in professional 10

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Dean Kimberly A. Lawless

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development experiences and dialogue.

Support the development of a college-wide council, composed of faculty, staff and students of color and equity allies and accomplices, that will serve as an advisory body to college leadership to support justice-oriented impact.

Review all policies and standards of the college with the specific goal of identifying processes that impact the success of faculty and students of color.

Conduct a critical review of the college curriculum regarding attention to race and issues of equity in undergraduate and graduate courses and make revisions as needed.

Establish a required, creditbearing course for all incoming undergraduate students focused on social justice and equity with an explicit exploration of race.

• Strengthen existing and developing new and innovative partnerships with diverse schools and districts and communities of color where we enact the professional preparation of educators as well as our research and outreach.

• Communicate with Commonwealth campuses and other institutions of higher education across the Commonwealth to learn from their efforts.

“We are beginning to work on revising our processes related to curriculum development and review in the college so that diversity, equity, inclusion and belongingness are explicit components of programs and courses,” Lawless said.

Lawless noted that initial steps outlined in the plan were identified through work with a core group of faculty of color and are informed by the voices of the college’s students and alumni of color.

“This will be a collaborative effort across the departments and college,” Lawless said. “College Curricular Affairs (CCA) and department curriculum committees will partner with the equity team during the fall semester to develop new processes for review and approval of curricula. Based on our experiences this fall, CCA will make recommendations to the college for curriculum proposal requirements with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion and belongingness.”

The College of Education plan mirrors the University’s mission of incorporating inclusion, equity and diversity assertively into teaching, learning, assessment, research, outreach, operations and decisionmaking at all levels.

Features

Office reorganization enhances commitment to equity and inclusion

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By Jim Carlson

he newly named Office of Education and Social Equity (OESE) has the same mission of being committed to providing historically underserved/minoritized students the support, opportunities and resources that enhance their educational experience and facilitate their academic well-being.

Assistant Dean María Schmidt said the new name (formerly the Office of Multicultural Programs) reflects more accurately current operations as well as the evolution and growth of the office and the Penn State College of Education regarding its equity and inclusion work.

“The reorganization presents a multidimensional approach with greater operational coordination and collaboration across groups, units and leadership team that will strengthen our service to all students and the college community,” Schmidt said. “Our intention is to take a more holistic, strategic and systematic approach around initiatives, collaborations and services while increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our human and financial resources.”

Schmidt’s office will support and advise justiceoriented, equity-based initiatives in the college. It also will oversee the development, maintenance and oversight for the Leadership in Equity Fund, which will support both faculty- and staff-initiated projects with the goal of expanding and deepening equity-minded practices in teaching and research within the college.

Schmidt works directly with Brenda Martinez, student advocacy specialist, and David Borges, administrative support coordinator. But there also is a “team of people,” she said, that develop and implement the initiatives, partnerships and collaborations under the office umbrella.

The program and initiatives team consists of assistant professors Efraín Marimón and Ashley Patterson and postdoctoral scholar Gabby Medina Falzone. Graduate assistants who work with varying initiatives are Carlos Medina, Kaela Fuentes-Packnick, Hassani Jack, Trinity Middlebrooks, Diana Gallardo and Rhea Banerjee.

Schmidt said that throughout her career, she has had the privilege of working with extraordinary young people determined to overcome obstacles created by systemic inequities, engaging in their education and cultivating their own potential. “This privilege is also an ethical and moral responsibility to, at least, attempt

Assistant Dean María Schmidt, right, oversees the Office of Education and Social Equity and says the work is performed by “a team of exceptional individuals.”

Photo: Annemarie Mountz

to be an agent of change for them,” she said.

“Disrupting systemic barriers and translating change into reality is a slow, never-ending process requiring continuous and sustained work. Throughout my career, those same students have provided me the inspiration and the source of energy to continue and to sustain the work. The most meaningful part of my work is to see them grow through their education journey.”

OESE’s goals range from increasing the number of minoritized students who earn bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees as well as certification in continuing education programs in the College of Education, to assisting students in procuring resources to finance their education, to creating a supportive climate for marginalized students, among others.

Some of its collaborative partners within the college include the Center for the Study of Higher Education, the Center for Education and Civil Rights and the Restorative Justice Initiative.

Schmidt stressed that the work carried out by the OESE is a collective achievement. “The work is accomplished thanks to a team of exceptional individuals, past and present, with unmatched commitment to our students and to the work,” she said.

“Charleon Jeffries … Gary Abdullah … Brenda Martinez and the many doctoral and master’s students who I had/have the fortune to work with and have in my life. We have a common thread — we will never be fully satisfied; there is still much to do, the work is not completed.”

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Features

New program, and alumni, assist students unable to return to campuses

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hrough no fault of their own, more than 450 Penn State students residing in China and South Korea — including at least seven from the College of Education — were unable to travel to any of the University’s campuses this fall.

Instead, Penn State took a campus to them.

The global coronavirus pandemic forced the closure of many U.S. consulates abroad and new visa appointments would have been issued far too late for students without existing student visas to travel to Pennsylvania in time for the late-August start of classes.

Constructing a customized education abroad program is nothing new, according to Brian Brubaker, director of Education Abroad, Penn State Global Programs.

But typically it takes nine to 15 months to do so, he said, and it was April. “Many details needed to be considered, among them course structure, load, what courses to offer, price-point, housing, development of co-curricular programming, and alignment of academic policies between the partner and Penn State,” Brubaker said.

That inspired the creation of Penn State First: Shanghai and Penn State First: Seoul, a collaboration between the University and the Council on International Educational Exchange. Students were able to register for two courses delivered remotely and three in residence at East China Normal University in Shanghai.

“The courses being taught on-site are led by local hires from the Shanghai academic community, hired by our partners

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By Jim Carlson

on the ground,” Brubaker said.

“Courses in Seoul are being taught by faculty at Yonsei University, the No. 2-ranked university in that country.”

In addition to the coursework, Brian Brubaker Penn State alumni in China volunteered to support activities ranging from onsite orientation to movie nights to sports days to even hosting students to visit various companies and businesses.

“I’m grateful about the activity that Penn State and its alumni provide us, like the movie night and the lecture about it,” said prospective secondary education major Jiayu Zhang. “It provides a more specific detail about how our cultures are different and how we could cope with that.”

Brubaker said 415 students are enrolled in Penn State First: Shanghai and 38 in Penn State First: Seoul. More than 10,000 international students from 140 countries and six continents attend Penn State each year.

“For this first iteration of Penn State First (PSF), we worked with the Eberly College of Science to offer several courses very popular with first-year international students (BIOL 110, CHEM 110, MATH 110, etc.) and that meant that we had to recruit and confirm Penn State faculty who would teach sections of these courses especially for PSF students (during ‘daylight’ hours in China and Korea),” he said. “Naturally, too, the students also had to go through course registration as well as pre-arrival

and on-site orientations.”

The College of Education has been in contact with its students enrolled in the Penn State First programs, according to Greg Mason, director of the Advising and Certification Center. “These international students typically are highly motivated, academically speaking,” Mason said. “They have been well-prepared in Chinese secondary schools for our academic content.

“Of course, what they are missing out on is the social integration to university life, which is true for many of our students right now. The interaction with other students from other backgrounds and beliefs ... that’s a hallmark of university life, and it’s certainly a bit more stunted than usual right now.”

Mason said that some degree of anxiety is to be expected. “It’s not just the students feeling it, we all are, given the ambiguity of how this pandemic will unfold in the coming weeks and months,” he said.

“Acknowledging it to students is important, but also keeping an eye on them to ensure that they are not disengaging from their academics; that would be a red flag for us.”

The social integration situation is a concern for students who aspired to be living in State College, Pennsylvania, instead of their Far East homeland.

“To be in my home country to begin my semester, it is hard for me to contact and meet with foreign students. It will also be harder for me to have new international friends under this special circumstance,” said future early childhood education major Ziyi Lin. Both Lin and Zhang have two

Features on-site,” he said. “Some Shanghai chapter members (including the president) attended the orientation; we are also working with alumni in Shanghai and Seoul to have them speak with our Penn State First students about their academic and career trajectories.”

Photo: Penn State First

International students involved in Penn State First and taking classes both in-residence and remotely gather at a function in Shanghai.

in-person classes and three that are online.

Zhang said she’d rather have face-to-face in-class discussions.

“Sometimes, meeting classmates face-to-face is very important for both the relationship between students and the enthusiasm of study,” she said.

Another challenge, according to Anna Marshall, program manager of the Penn State First program, is the 13hour time difference in terms of scheduling classes.

“Some of our Penn State remote classes are late at night which is hard for students who are taking day-time residential classes and have to remain vigilant for their night Penn State classes,” Marshall said.

“And the uncertainty of Sino-US relationship (relating to diplomatic relations between China and the United States) is a big concern to our students as they aspire to return to a Penn State campus soon.”

Brubaker and Marshall said the program is supported by Penn State alumni in China.

“Eight Penn State alumni in Shanghai recently attended the PSF’s Mid-Autumn Festival celebration on Sept. 27. I also

programmed the alumni connect event for Penn State First freshmen to visit firms run by our Penn State alumni in Shanghai,” Marshall said.

“Just this week (late October), Penn State First students visited

Lin wants to learn more about Penn State, the College of Education and State College. “In China, the information is limited for me to get to know them although I can search online,” she said. “I need to concentrate on my studies in order to keep up. I hope I will be able to get to the campus next September, but I have applied to stay in the Shanghai program for spring 2021.”

Mason noted that 11 students have applied for the program for the spring semester. He stressed that when these students do arrive on the Penn State campus that inperson meetings with his staff will be critically important, once it is safe to meet in person.

“To be in my home country to begin my semester, it is hard for me to contact and meet with foreign students.”

— Ziyi Lin

Penn State alumni’s firms in Shanghai such as Alipay, GW Laser, Canvas and Anpac. These trips provide our students with an insight into the internal working of companies while building connections between our PSF students and Penn State alumni in Shanghai. All these cocurricular programs are to promote Penn State’s goals for academic excellence, diversity and global citizenship.”

Brubaker praised the cooperation of the Penn State alumni involved in Penn State First. “The more critical piece of alumni involvement has been their engagement with the PSF students

“I’d like to have them participate in some form of New Student Orientation, since they will be new to their respective campuses,” he said.

Zhang looks forward to that possibility. “I’d love to go to Penn State and enjoy my college life in U.S. if the situation gets better,” she said.

Sarah Moryken, the college’s recruitment and retention coordinator, also is in contact with students who are learning remotely to establish connections between them and the college even though they are not on campus.

She has been promoting virtually the Student Opportunities, Advocacy and Resources (S.O.A.R.) program as well as the Restore program, which is a focus on activities to engage and connect students while promoting stress relief and relaxation.

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Research

Faculty studying role of funding in exacerbating educational inequality

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By Stephanie Koons

ersonal experiences inspired College of Education faculty members to study racial and economic inequality in education.

For Matthew Kelly, assistant professor of education (educational leadership) in the Department of Education Policy Studies, teaching in underfunded schools helped shape his career trajectory as an educational researcher. He said he was angered by the lack of resources in the New York public schools where he taught and the fact that students of color were already “being marginalized by so many different policies.”

“Being a middle school teacher in New York City, nothing compares to how hard that job was,” Kelly said. “It was much easier to get a Ph.D. from Stanford than to continue to do that work. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and ever will do.”

Ericka Weathers, assistant professor of education (educational theory and policy) in the same department, also witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of systemic inequities in a community.

She grew up in Hartford, Connecticut, a city, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, where 30% of its residents live in poverty and 82% are Black and/or Hispanic.

“Coming from an area that is predominantly Black and poor, I often think about how educational inequality showed up there, how educational policy, generally designed to improve education, fell short,” Weathers said.

Both Kelly and Weathers have devoted a significant portion of their academic careers to studying the role of government funding

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Matthew Kelly

in reducing or exacerbating educational inequality. The colleagues recently published separate research papers that document trends in school funding in the richest districts in the United States in recent years (Kelly), and how racial segregation and racial socioeconomic disparities are related to racial disparities in school district revenue and spending (Weathers).

Kelly’s current research examines long-term trends in how state governments distribute educational resources opportunities, as well as the intersections between school funding and inequities of race, ethnicity, income and residence.

Kelly’s paper, “The Curious Case of the Missing Tail: Trends Among the Top 1% of School Districts in the United States, 2000–2015,” investigates trends in the relative wealth of the richest school districts in the United States between 2000 and 2015. He reports that districts in the top 1% of national school funding distribution are disproportionately suburban, affluent and white. In addition, the relative wealth of these districts increased sharply (31.59%) between 2000 and 2015.

In his paper, Kelly argues that researchers of educational

Ericka Weathers

inequality often do not pay enough attention to “what’s happening with the wealthiest school districts and the implications it can have for all school districts.”

Weathers’ research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of racial and socioeconomic inequality in education, with particular focus on two overarching questions: What are the contexts and associations that allow educational inequality to exist; and what are the impacts of educational policies on student outcomes?

In the paper, “Separate Remains Unequal: Contemporary Segregation and Racial Disparities in School District Revenue,” Weathers and coauthor Victoria Sosina, an education researcher with SRI International, reported that increases in racial segregation, net of racial socioeconomic segregation and other racial differences between districts are associated with racial disparities in revenue.

“If revenue is changing in the context of racial segregation, what does that mean for how school districts spend money?” Weathers said. “If districts have less money in the context of increasing segregation, what do they do?”

Research

Study demonstrates importance of government investment in education

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By Stephanie Koons

project led by a College of Education faculty member sheds light on the unique traits of national education systems that contribute to achievement gaps.

Education often is thought to be the “great equalizer” that closes the opportunity gaps between different segments of society, but the reality is that education is not fully capable of leveling the playing field. According to Katerina Bodovski, associate professor of education (educational theory and policy), in order to understand the factors that mitigate or exacerbate educational inequality, researchers need to understand the broader social dynamics of individual countries.

Those economic disparities are even more striking in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she added, when the home becomes a primary learning space. Low-income students may not have the physical space, appropriate technology or internet access their more advantaged peers enjoy at home.

“Our research shows the importance of government investment in education,” she said. “The push of the current administration to privatization is 180 degrees to what is needed.”

“The educational system does not exist in a vacuum.

It exists within a particular historical, political, economic and cultural context.”

“The educational system does not exist in a vacuum,” she said. “It exists within a particular historical, political, economic and cultural context. Rather than going after a magic solution, we need to look more at what is going on inside.”

According to Bodovski, income inequality in the U.S. is the main culprit behind its achievement gaps, and higher levels of government spending on education can lessen the obstacles students from disadvantaged backgrounds encounter in math and science.

Due to a lack of resources, many teachers in low-performing schools are forced to deal with non-academic issues among their students such as food insecurity, lack of health care and mentalhealth issues.

— Katerina Bodovski

Bodovski and colleagues recently undertook a comparative international study, funded by the National Science Foundation, that sheds light on the unique characteristics of national education systems that contribute to the gaps in math and science achievement related to socioeconomic, gender and immigrant status.

One part of the project is a paper, “Do Education System Characteristics Moderate the Socioeconomic, Gender and Immigrant Gaps in Math and Science Achievement,” by Bodovski, Ismael G. Munoz, a doctoral candidate in the College of Education; Soo-yong Byun, associate professor of education (educational theory and policy) in the College of Education; and Volha Chykina, a graduate of the educational theory and policy

program and currently assistant professor at the University of Richmond. The researchers report that family higher socioeconomic status is positively associated with higher math and science achievement; immigrant students lag behind their native peers in both math and science, with firstgeneration students faring worse than second generation; and girls show lower math performance than boys. They found that a higher degree of differentiation (the separation of students into different tracks or ability groups) makes socioeconomic gaps larger in both math and science achievement, whereas higher governmental spending reduces socioeconomic achievement gaps.

While the U.S. does not have a rigidly tracked system, and so is seemingly low on differentiation, Bodovski emphasized that students from disadvantaged areas (rural and urban) do not always have access to educational opportunities such as Advanced Placement (AP) classes.

“Unless you teach those classes in different (types of) schools, it’s not equal opportunity,” she said.

One of the researchers’ most significant findings, Bodovski said, was that across the board, immigrant students in many countries lag behind natives in math and science. Given that many immigrants come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, educational policy should be tailored to their unique needs.

“We really need to have both culturally sensitive and socially appropriate policies,” she said.

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Research 2 doctoral candidates receive Prevention Research Center anti-racism research grants Two doctoral candidates in the College of Education are among those awarded funding by the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center (PRC) for research projects focusing on reducing racism or promoting antiracist practices and culture.

Andrea Layton, doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership Program, is doing research on “The Link Between Institutional Racism, Mental Health and Academic Efficacy.”

She will conduct an online survey of Black Penn State undergraduates between the ages of 18-25 who have received mental health services while attending Penn State. Based upon her findings, she will propose ways to create a student-centered environment based upon the survey respondents’ descriptions of their college experiences.

Her faculty adviser is Deborah Schussler, associate professor of education.

Sarah Zipf, doctoral candidate in higher education, is doing research on “Experiences of Racialization in Online Undergraduate Education.”

She is studying color-evasiveness in online education, in hopes of informing policies and practices that will reduce racism experienced by online students.

She is surveying online students in one college at Penn State about their perceptions of race and of the online classroom climate. She also will analyze written communications such as syllabi and websites that students may encounter.

Her faculty adviser is Alicia Dowd, professor of education and director and senior scientist for the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Penn State.

The grant recipients will share the outcomes of their research projects at public seminars hosted by the PRC. Registration for email notification of upcoming PRC seminars is available by sending an email to prevention@psu.edu.

Read more here.

Researchers study trends in Pennsylvania school reopening plans The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous challenges to school districts across the nation as they have debated options for educating students safely.

According to researchers in Penn State’s College of Education, the decision by Pennsylvania school districts to reopen schools in-person, remotely or through a hybrid system is closely tied to the racial demographics of the region, and they recommend a series of steps to support equitable responses to the COVID-19 pandemic by school districts.

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“Our hope is to try to help school district leaders in Pennsylvania understand the different ways people are responding (to the pandemic),” said Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership) in the Department of Education Policy Studies. “Hopefully, this sharing of knowledge will help inform the work they do.”

Frankenberg, co-founder and director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights, conducted the study with Katharine Dulaney, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Education Policy Studies. They shared key findings and policy recommendations in a research brief, “Inequity in Pennsylvania School District Reopening Decisions: How Districts’ Mode of Delivery Varies by Region and Student/Community.”

Read more here.

Intervention improves sense of belonging for minoritized students Broad-access institutions — colleges and universities that are relatively affordable and less selective than elite institutions — open doors for many students from disadvantaged social backgrounds who might not otherwise pursue higher education. Yet these institutions struggle with persistence and graduation rates among this population.

Maithreyi Gopalan, assistant professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies, is part of a research team that is seeking to help firstgeneration and racial-ethnic minoritized college students succeed by enhancing their sense of belonging through a social-psychological intervention.

“While this study was a field experiment that enables us to make causal inferences, my earlier work using descriptive research on larger, nationally representative datasets also lends support for the main hypothesis: that a strong sense of social belonging might be a protective factor that enables students to persist and thrive in college,” said Gopalan.

Gopalan’s research team, led by Mary Murphy, the Herman B Wells Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University, recently published a paper, “A customized belonging intervention improves retention of socially disadvantaged students at a broadaccess university” in Science Advances.

Read more here.

New $4.6 million research award to make sure that every voice is heard A new, five-year, $4.6 million award from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research will fund research, technology development, training and dissemination to assist people who cannot communicate through speech or writing.

Research David McNaughton, professor of education (special education) in the Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and Special Education, who serves as the director of Training and Dissemination for the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Augmentative and Alternative Communication (RERC on AAC), is part of the interdisciplinary research team led by Janice Light, Hintz Family Endowed Chair in Children’s Communicative Competence and professor of communication sciences and disorders at Penn State.

Individuals with complex communication needs participate in every step of the RERC on AAC’s work.

In this way, the center is able to truly understand and respond to the real-world needs of the people they serve. When new technology is designed, people with complex needs are evaluating its usability and effectiveness. When researchers from the RERC on AAC present their innovations at academic or professional conferences, individuals with complex communication needs participate in the presentations.

“Our partnerships with the people who use AAC technology is essential to the work that we do,” explained McNaughton. “They are the ones who know what needs are being met with current technology, and what needs must be addressed with a new generation of AAC technology supports.”

Read more here.

Researchers examine ‘race unknown’ enrollment data in higher education When a college student self-identifies as “race unknown,” what does that mean in the context of higher education research? According to researchers at Penn State and Michigan State University, the “race unknown” category does not represent random “noise” in data collection but rather can be attributed to some combination of student responses and data collection practices. Additionally, they discovered high concentrations of “race unknown” enrollments in certain institutional types (the most and least selective).

Therefore, the research team suggests that researchers refrain from dropping “race unknown” from their studies and also from interpreting the results for the “race unknown” category because “it is not a conceptually meaningful ethnoracial group.”

“We’re hoping that we change the way (higher education) researchers think about racial groups,” said Karly Ford, assistant professor of education (higher education) in the Department of Education Policy Studies in Penn State’s College of Education.

According to Ford, higher education researchers often drop the “race unknown” category when examining college enrollments and doing so changes the racial compositions of student bodies. A problem with that approach, she added, is that if “you drop this

group it makes the percentages of other groups look larger because you’ve taken a slice out of the pie, so the other pieces of the pie all get bigger.”

“We just can’t ignore the fact that we don’t have great race data on students,” said Kelly Rosinger, also assistant professor of education in the Department of Education Policy Studies.

“If we really want to understand enrollment, persistence, completion, borrowing or other outcomes by race (in higher education), we need to understand the limitations that exist in data collection.”

Ford and Rosinger, along with Qiong Zhu, a postdoctoral research associate in the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative at Michigan State University, present their findings in their paper, “What Do We Know About ‘Race Unknown,’” which was published recently in Educational Researcher.

Read more here.

Researchers use Convergence Accelerator grant to shorten drug discovery timeline Amy Voss Farris, assistant professor of education, is part of a team of researchers awarded a $960,000, nine-month National Science Foundation Convergence Accelerator grant to explore faster and more costefficient methods of discovering pharmaceuticals using quantum artificial intelligence.

“This research will converge researchers from multiple disciplines such as engineering, science, medicine and education in quantum-enabled drug discovery to make a tangible impact on our society,” said Swaroop Ghosh, principal investigator and Joseph R. and Janice M. Monkowski Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Engineering.

“Computational approaches to accelerate drug discovery is of tremendous economic and societal relevance. If successful, this project will address two of the Grand Challenges in Engineering listed

by National Academy of Engineering, namely, engineering better medicine and engineering the tools for scientific discovery. The importance of these two challenges is amplified under the current global crisis due to COVID-19. We are excited about the prospects of quantum artificial intelligence in resolving these important challenges,” Ghosh said.

In addition to Voss Farris, the co-PIs and senior personnel, all of Penn State, are: Nikolay Dokholyan, College of Medicine; Sean Hallgren, computer science and engineering; Mahmut Kandemir, computer science and engineering; Morteza Kayyalha, electrical engineering; Mehrdad Mahdavi, engineering; Nitin Samarth, physics; and Bhuvan Urgaonkar, computer science and engineering.

Read more here.

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Impact

Alumni, students forge bonds, find camaraderie through mentoring program

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By Stephanie Koons

he College of Education Alumni-Student Mentoring Program gives students an opportunity to connect with alumni working in their chosen fields.

Being paired with a professional mentor is a somewhat uncertain endeavor — you never really know if you’re going to click with the other person.

But for Madisyn Aman and Kim Kiehl, both College of Education alumnae, their partnership has been a resounding success.

“Across time, I think we’ve developed a friendship which I value very much,” said Kiehl, who received her doctorate from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 1990. “I’ve mentored a lot of people; I’ve stayed in touch with some but I haven’t stayed in touch with others as much as I have with Madi.”

Aman, who graduated from the College of Education in May with a bachelor’s degree in secondary social studies education and now is working as a long-term substitute teacher in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, got connected to Kiehl, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, and recently started a position as chief operating officer for the Ohio High School Athletic Association, through the College of Education Alumni-Student Mentoring Program. The professional development program gives students an opportunity to tap into the knowledge and expertise of College of Education alumni. Contact is made through the Alumni Relations Office and matches are made based on shared career interests.

“For the students especially, it’s really a professional development opportunity for them that helps enhance what they’re learning in the classroom,” said Stefanie Tomlinson, assistant director of alumni relations in the College of Education.

Once a mentor and protégé are matched, Tomlinson said, they stay matched throughout the student’s time at Penn State. That gives them time to build a relationship, with the hope they will stay connected after graduation — just as Aman and Kiehl have.

Andrew Ahearn, who received a master’s degree in educational leadership from the College of Education in 2017, is one of those alumni who relishes the opportunity to stay in the know about his alma mater.

“I get to see how we’re developing these new teachers and the experiences they have through Penn State, and I’ve got to say, Penn State does a really good job,” he said.

Ahearn, who previously worked in the Mifflin

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Screen capture

Alumnus Andrew Ahearn, top, and junior Rachael Savio are partnered in the College of Education’s Alumni Student Mentoring Program.

County School District and now teaches seventhgrade advanced math in the State College Area School District, got connected to College of Education junior Rachael Savio during her freshman year through the Alumni-Student Mentoring Program. Savio, who is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is majoring in middle level math education, said she appreciates the opportunities that the program provides to “get a realistic look at what the education field looks like and what my career is going to be like.”

Savio and Aman both said they appreciate the collegiality of the mentoring relationship, adding that it carries even more weight during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has turned the education world upside down.

“I feel like teaching is one of those jobs where you can try to talk to people who aren’t teachers but it’s hard,” said Aman. “Having done it herself, (Kim) understands what I’m trying to say or what I’m going through without me having to go through the nittygritty details of it all.”

“Even if you just have someone who has gone through what you’ve gone through, just to have someone there who understands what it’s like and can say, ‘I’ve been in your shoes’ … I think that’s really important, especially right now.,” Savio said.

For more information about the Alumni-Student Mentoring Program, contact Stefanie Tomlinson at skt2@psu.edu or 814-863-2216.

Impact Gift supports inclusive educational programs Phylis Bolno, who received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Penn State’s College of Education in 1972, has never taught professionally. She and her husband, Gary, a graduate of the College of Health and Human Development, run a financial consulting and insurance business in their home city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Nonetheless, Bolno has a deep appreciation for the benefits of a well-rounded education — particularly for individuals with disabilities and other minoritized groups.

That appreciation is exemplified by her recent ongoing pledge of $9,000 a year to be distributed equally among three programs: WorkLink, a new program in the College of Education for students with intellectual disabilities; the Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Educating Individuals with Autism; and the Social Justice Collaborative and new social justice minor.

For the full story, click here.

CSATS’ SHAPE MATTERS project gets $1.3 million grant A National Institutes of Health/ National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIH/NIGMS) grant worth more than $1.3 million will support high school biology and chemistry teachers to incorporate current advancements of molecular modeling into their teaching.

The NIH/NIGMS grant recently was awarded to the Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS) in Penn State’s College of Education in support of the project, titled SHAPE MATTERS, “SHaping of Authentic Practices by Engaging in Modeling of A Topic with Teachers to Explore Research in Science.”

Kathy Hill, director of CSATS, said secondary science curriculum will be developed that ultimately will provide learning experiences centered on engaging high school

to benefit social equity initiatives The College of Education is participating in #GivingTuesday to raise $10,000 through at least 100 individual gifts in support of programs in the college’s Office of Education and Social Equity (OESE). Click here to learn how to contribute.

This year’s #GivingTuesday, which will be held Dec. 1, marks the sixth year Penn State has participated in the international celebration of philanthropy. The event is a way to give back during the holiday season and to help create impactful experiences for students.

Directed by Maria Schmidt, assistant dean for Education and Social Equity, the OESE provides underrepresented and marginalized students a sense of community and belonging, a students in authentic science practices. The project includes using advances in computational power to make molecular biology accessible to all students by bringing it to life in the classroom.

safe space where they can be themselves.

The OESE promotes and values diversity and multiculturalism, infuses diversity across the curriculum and student experiences, facilitates access to post-secondary opportunities, supports the advancement of outstanding underrepresented educators, and works toward the greater diversification of the education profession.

“The work we do is important, and helps so many of our students be successful in their college careers and beyond. All donations on #GivingTuesday will help us, because it will be combined with other gifts to help us reach our goals,” said Schmidt.

For the full story, click here. and/or community diversity.

College of Education alumni are honored with awards from the college’s Alumni Society as well as from the Penn State Alumni Association.

Selection is made on the basis of: fostering an environment in which diversity is understood, valued, and promoted; meeting the needs of employees and/or community members of traditionally underrepresented groups and/or diverse populations; collaborating with others who have shared goals around justice, equity, diversity and inclusion; and creating diversity programs and/or initiatives that positively affect the nominee’s organization and/or community.

The College of Education Alumni Society supports awards in several categories, presented each year to graduates and student teachers who have distinguished themselves in their profession.

Other college-level awards are Alumni Excellence; Leadership & Service; Outstanding New Graduate; Outstanding Student Teacher; Outstanding Teaching; and Service to Penn State.

New this year is the J.E.D.I. (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) Award, which recognizes alumni who showcase exemplary insight and fortitude in workplace

Nominations are accepted throughout the year, with recipients chosen each spring. For information, and to submit a nomination, click here.

For the full story, click here.

Nominate outstanding alumni for annual excellence awards

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Alumni

Creative virtual events engage alumni

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By Stephanie Koons

he Alumni Relations Office in the College of Education has adopted a flexible approach in its programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the pandemic took hold in the U.S. in March 2020, Penn State, along with many other universities, has shifted a large portion of its operations to a remote format.

In the College of Education, the Alumni Relations Office faced a conundrum: how to continue to engage alumni in the altered landscape when previously, all events had been held in a physical space.

“We had to look at everything we were doing in-person and (ask) how can we provide valuable, exceptional programming and do it virtually?” said Stefanie Tomlinson, assistant director of alumni relations in the College of Education. “But it also gave us an opportunity to think about what we haven’t been doing up until now that might be interesting and fun to do online.”

Prior to last spring, most alumni events had been held in-person on the University Park campus and in the State College community. When the pandemic forced Penn State to shut down most of its in-person operations, the Alumni Relations Office already had planned several events for summer 2020, including the GOLD Women’s Leadership Conference at Toftrees Golf Resort in State College and the New Teacher Retreat in Chambers Building.

However, Tomlinson and colleagues successfully converted those events into webinars, and also started two new webinar series — Lunch and Learn, and Coffee and Conversation.

Additionally, shortly after the shutdown in the spring, Dean

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College of Education alumna Carolyn Tague, who is the founder of a charitable nonprofit organization in Kenya, was the featured speaker in a Coffee and Conversation webinar in May.

Kimberly A. Lawless hosted a virtual ice cream social for alumni called “What’s the Scoop?”

The social, which gave alumni the opportunity to win Berkey Creamery ice cream, was a hit and will be a regular event every spring and fall semester.

One of the main advantages of virtual events, Tomlinson said, is being able to engage those alumni who may not have the time or resources to travel to University Park for an in-person gathering.

Since all of the webinars are recorded, she added, alumni who can’t attend in real time can watch at their leisure.

“We miss having events on the University Park campus because alumni love to return to their alma mater,” she said. “But you’re also limiting who can attend. By doing things online, what we’ve found is that alumni from all over the country, and even some from other countries, are showing up for our programs.”

One of those alumni is Carolyn Tague, who received a bachelor’s degree in special education from Penn State in 1985

and was the featured speaker during a Coffee and Conversation webinar in May. Tague is the founder of The Lemong’o Project, a charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering the Maasai people of Lemong’o in rural Kenya through improvement of nutrition, access to education, health support and employment opportunities.

Tomlinson said one of the most memorable events in recent months was a virtual variety show in July. Everyone in the College of Education community was invited to display their talents in the variety show, which doubled as a fundraiser for the College of Education Undergraduate Student Council.

Tomlinson said with all the benefits a virtual format offers, the Alumni Relations Office most likely will retain a strong online component in its programming for the foreseeable future.

“Even when we’re back on campus, I fully anticipate that we’re not going to stop doing online events,” she said. “This is going to be an extra suite of engagement.”

Development Message from the Dean’s Development Council Co-Chairs

In students’ own words: “The cost of tuition and textbooks is a struggle for me and my family and your generosity means so much to alleviate some of the stress and worry in my mind.”

“The scholarship has taken away a good amount of the financial burden that my family was going to experience. Due to the award I no longer have to make getting a job a priority.”

Photo: Annemarie Mountz

Barbara (EDU 1970) and David Kucharski (ENG 1970) are the co-chairs of the Dean’s Development Council.

We hope each of you is safe and healthy, and that we all remain so during these challenging times. As the College of Education approaches the final stretch of the Greater Penn State Campaign, the Dean’s Development Council continues to support the college’s Development staff and its members remain optimistic that we will reach, and perhaps exceed, our targeted goals by June 2022. Dean Kimberly A. Lawless and new Director of Development Steve Wilson have provided strong guidance and leadership along with their energy and enthusiasm as we move forward.

It has been more than 20 years since we established an endowed undergraduate student scholarship in the College of Education. Like many donors, we have been fortunate to meet with the recipients of the scholarship. The experience of hearing their stories and listening to their aspirations has been truly rewarding.

Their thank you letters, along with our conversations with them, have given us a deeper understanding of the impact the scholarship has had on them, not only financially but personally. Relieving

“I do not come from a family that is well off. With this financial assistance, I do not have to take out such a big loan to pay back.”

“I look forward to graduating in May so I can begin my career as a high school teacher. With your help, I am even closer to this goal.” somewhat their financial burden, reducing their need to work while in school, and allowing them more time to be students are consistent themes in their letters.

You can see some of their comments in the box on this page.

Thanks so much to each of you, our fellow College of Education donors. Your philanthropy makes a difference in the lives of our future educators.

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