Endeavors - 2023 by UMD College of Education

Endeavors U N I V E R S I T Y O F M A RY L A N D

C O L L E G E O F E D U C AT I O N

PG 5 WINDS OF CHANGE

PG 11 FIVE TIPS FOR RESPONDING TO BOOK CHALLENGES

PG 24 THE CENTER FOR YOUNG CHILDREN TURNS 75

How EdTerps Are Addressing Humanity’s Grand Challenges

2023

THE BULLETIN NEWS

FROM THE DEAN I’ve had an incredible first year as dean of the College of Education. I’ve probably most enjoyed learning about how EdTerps contribute to schools and society as current and future educators, counselors, psychologists, administrators, researchers, scholars, policymakers and educational specialists. I am inspired by EdTerps’ work and contributions! While we are a diverse group, there is so much that EdTerps share. To me, being an EdTerp means being part of a community of faculty, staff, alumni and students that supports each other and cares deeply about building a better world. EdTerps are action-oriented, transformative leaders and champions for equity and justice. We all strive to transform lives and communities for the better. To strengthen the way we talk and think about ourselves, the College of Education is refreshing our brand and refining how we tell our story. Our new tagline—“Transforming Education for Good”— highlights EdTerps’ commitment to advancing equity and building healthier, better educated communities for all. The arrow in the “E” in our new logo symbolizes EdTerps’ dedication to driving education and society fearlessly forward. In this magazine, you’ll learn how EdTerps are transforming education for good and addressing the grand challenges of our time. We’d love to hear about your impactful work and how you are transforming education for good. Share your stories at coecomm@umd.edu. Sincerely,

Kimberly Griffin, DEAN

First TerpsEXCEED Graduates Look Toward a Bright Future

Tackling Disinformation, Re-centering Equity

A Community Makes Art to Honor Its History

Winds of Change

College of Education Students Help Local Pre-K-12 Kids Hit the Books

IN THE CLASSROOM 6

Becoming the Teacher Who Saved Him

My Educator-Entrepreneur Journey

IMPACT 8

An Opportunity to LEAD

Letting the (Hot) Air Out of Climate Change Misinformation

College of Education Receives $4.8M Grant to Launch School Improvement Leadership Academy

UMD Center Receives $6.2M to Help People With Disabilities Build Careers

Five Tips for Responding to Book Challenges

How Is Education a Force for Good?

How to Create Inclusive School Environments for LGBTQ+ Students

$2.9M State Grant Supports Project to Alleviate Teacher Shortage in Center-Based Child Care

Faculty Awards and Accolades

FEATURES 16

How EdTerps Are Addressing Humanity’s Grand Challenges

Lessons for the Littlest Terps

Endeavors is published annually for alumni, friends, faculty and staff of the University of Maryland College of Education. Feedback and comments on the magazine and/or published articles should be sent to coecomm@umd.edu.

ALUMNI PHOTO GALLERY 27

2023 Memories

PROFILE 28

Four Friends, Four Decades

A True Renaissance Teacher

A Chance to Learn and Freedom to Teach

AWARDS 32

Outstanding Alumni Honored

Two Exemplary EdTerps Receive Coates Scholarships

PAGE 8

NEWS 34

Class Notes

Meet the Alumni Network Board

Upcoming College of Education Events

PAGE 24

DEAN

Kimberly Griffin M.A. ’01 DIRECTOR OF MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Natifia Mullings EDITOR

Emily Schuster

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Stephanie S. Cordle Brandon Leigh LNJ Designs Photo Mike Morgan Riley N. Sims Ph.D. ’23

Timothy Ford Bryson Sara Wheeler Cowan ’69 Alexandra Ducane ’23 Christina Folz Sandhya Rani Jha Erin Jones Natifia Mullings Sofie Paternite ’25 Emily Schuster Karen Shih ’09

COVER ART/FEATURE ILLUSTRATIONS

Rachel M. Hess

Jeannie Phan

DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION

Laura Figlewski

›

PHOTOGRAPHY

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS

›

Facebook.com/UMDCollegeofEducation Twitter.com/UMDCollegeofEd Instagram.com/UMDCollegeofEd Youtube.com/@umdcollegeofeducation education.umd.edu This publication is produced by the College of Education Office of Marketing and Communications. CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Send address updates and corrections to coeadvancement@umd.edu.

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NEWS

First TerpsEXCEED Graduates Look Toward a Bright Future PROGRAM HELPS STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES BUILD CONFIDENCE, SKILLS, FRIENDSHIPS BY EMILY SCHUSTER

Whenever Amy Dwyre D’Agati walked across McKeldin Mall with her student Hari Kannan ’23, she would always need a little extra time to get to her destination. That was because fellow students would constantly stop Kannan along the way to say hello. And she rarely met a performing arts student who didn’t know Zach McKay ’23, either from his campus job at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center or his roles in student-run musicals.

Hari Kannan FAVORITE CLASSES:

Communication and well-being classes ONE THING HE LOVED ABOUT COLLEGE:

“I loved the community of TerpsEXCEED [and] the family I created there.” PLANS FOR AFTER GRADUATION:

Working toward his GED and starting a Best Buddies Jobs program for people with intellectual disabilities

In May, Kannan and McKay became the first two students to graduate from TerpsEXCEED (EXperiencing College for Education and Employment Discovery), a two-year college experience for students with intellectual disabilities. During their two years at UMD, Kannan and McKay fully embraced the college experience. They lived on campus, attended classes and activities, worked in campus jobs aligned with their interests and cultivated time management skills and lasting friendships. As they prepared to walk across the stage to receive their certificates at Commencement, McKay and Kannan glowed with pride as they recalled their accomplishments.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

“I am most proud of being in the first TerpsEXCEED graduating class and paving the way for the next class,” said McKay. “I am proud of being able to complete college,” Kannan added. “I’m so proud of myself overall.” “Hari and Zach were trailblazers who helped guide how we developed the program,” said D’Agati, director and founder of TerpsEXCEED and senior faculty specialist in the College of Education’s Center for Transition and Career Innovation. “They’ve grown so much in terms of becoming more confident and independent, developing social networks and becoming really good self-advocates.” As the two graduates leave UMD, D’Agati hopes they will use what they’ve learned to pursue job opportunities of their choice and to build lives they truly enjoy. And her other hope? “That they visit us a lot because for me, these two years went by too fast.” TerpsEXCEED was launched with funds from the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Council and is currently funded through the Maryland Developmental Disabilities Administration and donor gifts by Ellen Gaske ’75, Paul Gaske ’76 and Alison Clarvit ’13, M.Ed. ’14, with additional partnership support from the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services.

Zach McKay FAVORITE CLASS:

Foundations of Acting and Performance ONE THING HE LOVED ABOUT COLLEGE:

“Going to the games and sitting in the student section.” PLANS FOR AFTER GRADUATION:

“I’m working in the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. I love theater, and this is a dream job for me.”

In that small town on the border of Georgia and Florida, a social scientist and a leader for justice was emerging.

TACKLING DISINFORMATION, RE-CENTERING EQUITY SHAUN HARPER GIVES DEAN’S LECTURE ON DEFENDING DIVERSITY IN EDUCATION BY SANDHYA RANI JHA

When Shaun Harper went to high school in Thomasville, Georgia, students voted for homecoming queen. Each year, students cast their ballot for that year’s winner. And each year, there were always two winners. One Black queen and one white. One ballot, two queens. He went back to visit his family not long ago, and during a town parade, his high school’s float featured, 25 years later, two queens. One Black queen and one white. From the age of five, Harper noticed clues that his community was stratified. At that age, he may not have had the words, but he noticed that his family and most Black families in town were living

in poverty and that most of the white families were wealthy. And as he grew up and heard the misinformation people used to justify that stratification, he also observed that his family was not simply unlucky, they were the opposite of lazy, and they were in no way inferior. Something else was going on. In that small town on the border of Georgia and Florida, a social scientist and a leader for justice was emerging. Harper’s curiosity and commitment to creating something different has led him to develop systems of radical inclusion in K-12 and higher education, knowing those shifts can affect the whole nation. Today, he is one of the nation’s

most highly respected racial equity experts. On October 25, the College of Education welcomed him as this year’s speaker in the Dean’s Lecture Series on Education and Society. His talk was entitled “Understanding and Confronting Politicized Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Education.” Having been in the world of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in education for almost 30 years, Harper’s current home is at the University of Southern California (USC), where he is a University Professor and Provost Professor in the Rossier School of Education and the Marshall School of Business. He serves as founder and executive director of the USC Race and Equity Center. While DEI efforts in education have been underfunded and underprioritized for decades, the last several years have seen a significant increase in attempts to restrict DEI and queer, trans, Black and people of color’s rights and representation in educational spaces. Harper’s Race and Equity Center has recently rolled out the National DEI Defense Fund, which seeks to confront organized disinformation campaigns in K-12 and higher education on multiple fronts. The fund supports the center’s work to distribute DEI-focused books to students affected by state and district book bans; invest in DEI initiatives that have been underfunded due to “politicized, ill-informed budget cuts”; provide legal support to educators fired or sued for teaching accurate race content; and fund research on the impact of anti-DEI policies on democracy. “My lifelong quest is not just to understand DEI issues but also to be the person who forces conversations that are long overdue—and to become an architect of solutions,” Harper says.

ENDEAVORS 2023

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NEWS

THE LAKELAND COMMUNITY OF COLLEGE PARK AND THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION PARTNER TO PRESERVE COMMUNITY STORIES THROUGH ART BY EMILY SCHUSTER

W PHOTO COURTESY MARGARET WALKER

Walker (third from right) with graduate students and Lakeland residents.

A Community Makes Art to Honor Its History

hat was once a plain gray electrical box has become a multicolored tribute to the culture and history of the Lakeland community of College Park, thanks to the creative efforts of community residents working with Margaret Walker ’91, associate clinical professor, and her graduate students. The community-based art project was prompted by the City of College Park’s ongoing restorative justice work to address how the city and other agencies have harmed Lakeland, including during an urban renewal project that decimated this flourishing, historically African American neighborhood. Community elders chose the images that appear in the art, based on their own stories and memories. “When we work together in art making, stories are shared and histories are understood,” says Walker. The project, which took place from February to June, was funded by a $12,500 Teaching & Learning Innovation grant from the university’s Teaching & Learning Transformation Center.

+ READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/lakeland-art

PHOTOS: RILEY N. SIMS PH.D. ’23

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Winds of Change THE COLLEGE HOSTS THE STATE’S FIRSTEVER KIDWIND CHALLENGE TO ENGAGE KIDS IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY SOLUTIONS BY EMILY SCHUSTER

With their homemade wind turbine models in tow—constructed from poster board, PVC pipe and paper cups, and held together with everything from duct tape to hot glue—more than 120 students in grades 4 to 12 came to campus on March 30 to participate in the state’s first-ever KidWind Challenge. The teams tested their turbines in wind tunnels and presented them to judges at the event, spearheaded by Assistant Clinical Professor Angela Stoltz Ph.D. ’19.

More than 40,000 students have participated in KidWind Challenges in 30 states since 2009. “Students need to feel like they are part of a community of problem solvers that are working on critical issues like climate change,” Stoltz says. The Maryland Regional KidWind Challenge was sponsored by The Kahlert Foundation, Ørsted, US Wind and a College of Education Dean’s Initiative Grant.

+ READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/kidwind

PHOTOS: STEPHANIE S. CORDLE

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION STUDENTS HELP LOCAL PRE-K-12 KIDS HIT THE BOOKS UNDERGRADS COLLECT 500 BOOKS TO BUILD CLASSROOM LIBRARIES IN PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY BY ALEXANDRA DUCANE ’23

Students in Prince George’s County Public Schools now have a lot more books to choose from, thanks to a book drive organized by a team of College of Education undergraduate peer advisors. Over three months, the three students collected and distributed 500 books to 26 classroom libraries at five Pre-K-12 Title I schools, making books accessible to children from low-income households. “We wanted to find a way that we could give back to all of the educators who dedicate so much to their students,” says project member Shayna Becker ’25, a human development major. Becker,

along with fellow peer advisors Alyssa Orlando ’25, a special education major, and Adelaide Sudbrink ’25, an early childhood education/early childhood special education major, hosted the book drive as a part of their Peer Advisors Capstone Project. The three students also worked to install a Little Free Library in the Benjamin Building’s courtyard, with funding from the Pepsi Enhancement Fund and the College of Education Senate.

ENDEAVORS 2023

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IN THE CLASSROOM

Becoming the Teacher Who Saved Him A COMMITMENT TO CARING AND EMPATHY SHAPES A FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT AND FUTURE TEACHER BY SANDHYA RANI JHA

“

I truly felt like I could breathe; I was in a space where I could authentically be myself and not have to worry about anything.

”

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Bryant Rivera Cortez ’25, an exceptional gymnast and a member of UMD’s Gymkana troupe, spent this past summer teaching circus arts to students ages 6 to 16 at a camp in Pennsylvania. Camp might be different from a classroom, but the experience reminded him of a key lesson about teaching well. “In a traditional classroom, teachers often get caught in the mindset of ‘these are the students that will be okay,’” says Rivera Cortez. Those students, he notes, are the ones who get less attention. It was halfway through the first session before he realized he was spending most of his energy on the little kids, when everyone could use some help in an intro to circus arts class. “I’m glad that I’ve been having those early-on ‘aha’ moments. Even if someone teaches it to you in a traditional classroom, fully seeing it [in practice] is when it solidifies.” That aha moment has a lot to do with the core of who Rivera Cortez is as a teacher and a human being. If Cortez is already well known for something, it’s for his repeated commitment to bring “care, warmth and empathy” into the education field, the same values he brought to his campers this summer. He plans to take that dedication into the classroom as an eighth grade STEM teacher. And he has a clear sense of who first modeled that possibility for him: his own ninth grade English teacher. At a time when Rivera Cortez was facing real challenges at home and at school along with all the typical issues that make the early teens difficult, in Mr. Pang’s class, “I truly felt like I could breathe; I was in a space where I could authentically be myself and not have to worry about anything,” he says. Pang invited students to check all the hard things they were dealing with at the door so they could just be present during that hour. It was a completely new experience for Rivera Cortez, who says, “It’s something I want to keep replicating for whoever comes into my classroom. Because that feeling is something that definitely saved me in such a dark time.” Teachers like Pang helped Rivera Cortez become a first-generation college student who intentionally chose teaching science rather than focusing on being a scientist in a laboratory setting. As an openly queer person of color, Rivera Cortez is clear on how he will help his students navigate challenges and biases in society and how he will show up for them under any circumstances. “I’m going to do what I think is morally right, because that’s what I wanted as a kid,” he says. “If [the students] ever need anything, I am here.” At the end of the day, he notes, that’s the most important thing a teacher can offer. INSET PHOTO: LNJ DESIGNS PHOTO

My Educator-Entrepreneur Journey DOCTORAL STUDENT WORKS TO INCREASE JUSTICE IN GLOBAL SPORT BY TIMOTHY FORD BRYSON

n February 2020, one of the international athletes I was advising through UMD’s student-athlete career development program told me she could not apply to a job because it was not aligned with her major. When I looked at her in confusion, she politely explained, “It’s called OPT.” I had no clue what OPT meant, let alone what it stood for. Two weeks later, I attended a program on campus with that same student on what international students needed to know to find a job. During the first 10 minutes, I learned that OPT, or Optional Practical Training, requires international students on an F-1 visa who want to work in the United States to secure employment in an industry directly related to their academic degree. At the end of the session, I told the student that I would do everything I could to ensure she could live and work in the United States for as long as she wanted—and that’s exactly what we did. But this was more than just a happy ending. For me, this experience illuminated discriminatory practices in international athlete recruitment, injustices in athlete academic advising and inequities in athlete career development outcomes. I was scheduled to begin my doctoral program in student affairs at UMD in Fall 2020, but I knew that focusing on higher education alone would not fix systems that are broken by design. I also needed to be an entrepreneur to work outside the systems. And so my educator-entrepreneur journey began. Under the mentorship of Assistant Clinical Professor Taylor Woodman (whom I affectionately call “T Dub”) and Dean Kimberly Griffin, I found my purpose. As a sports entrepreneur, I am committed to solving structural and systemic issues related to international athlete development—including, but not limited, to recruitment, retention and career readiness. I am also keenly interested in leveraging sport for economic, societal and education development in African countries. As a consultant, I currently teach National Collegiate Athletic Association administrators how to better understand

sport as a medium for building a global mindset, international partnerships and cultural exchange. Since starting my doctoral program, I’ve accomplished many things, including serving as one of 25 Black American entrepreneurs in the U.S. Department of State’s inaugural African Descendant Social Entrepreneurship Workshop and as a sports diplomat through the department’s Play Like a Woman initiative to combat gender inequalities in Brazil through promoting women’s football. I am at a stage in my life where I feel like I can conquer anything and everything. Without the College of Education, I would not be prepared to thrive in a career in entrepreneurship and sports diplomacy. In particular, T Dub’s courage and humility have created a healthy environment for me to translate my imagination into innovation. I will be a full-time consultant and represent the United States in global sport and international education. And I will also proudly represent the College of Education along the way.

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IMPACT

An Opportunity to LEAD TRUE TO THEIR NAME, RESEARCHERS AT THE LEAD LAB ARE LEADING THE WAY TO INCLUSION IN NEUROSCIENCE BY CHRISTINA FOLZ

Assistant Professor Rachel Romeo and her team at the Language, Experience and Development (LEAD) Lab are pursuing innovations to include more people of color in cognitive studies, including hairstyling techniques that optimize how brain activity is measured. Romeo embarked on this work after noticing a barrier to inclusion posed by the technology she used for her research into how early experiences affect cognitive development. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) uses light beams delivered through a cap studded with sensors to track neural blood flow. But the caps were designed for people with fair skin and thin, light-colored hair. Because the technology uses light passing through the skin and scalp, it works less well for people with darker skin tones or Afro-textured hair, particularly protective styles like box braids or locs. For this and other reasons, Black people are often excluded from neuroscience studies. Romeo sought out best practices to address this issue without harming people’s hair—and couldn’t find any. “We wanted to increase inclusion while

also protecting the integrity of the hair in culturally appropriate ways,” she says. Pursuing solutions, Romeo told her classes that she was interested in hiring a student with experience styling Black hair. That’s how Abria Simmons ’25, a psychology major and human development minor who was taking Romeo’s Paradigms and Perspectives in Human Development class, became involved. Simmons has been braiding her own hair since age 13, and she interviewed friends and relatives with professional experience styling African American hair for the project. Simmons is testing ways to style Black participants’ hair to achieve a more direct connection between their scalps and the sensors, such as marking sensors’ locations so she can braid around them. She also advises the team on strategies for avoiding damage to Black hair. “[Most] people doing [neuroscience] studies don’t have the knowledge or the lived experience to create best practices for African American participants,” says Simmons, who presented a poster highlighting her findings at the annual conference of Flux: The Society for Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience in September. “I want to create a path for people to come behind me.” PHOTOS: STEPHANIE S. CORDLE

Letting the (Hot) Air Out of Climate Change Misinformation RESEARCHERS PARTNER WITH TEACHERS TO DEVELOP KIDS’ CRITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC THINKING SKILLS BY EMILY SCHUSTER

PHOTO: ISTOCK

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Demonstrably false online claims about climate change are as common as melting glaciers. “Climate change can’t be real—it’s cold out today!” “Variation in the sun’s output is driving climate change.” “Not even scientists can agree that humans are causing climate change.” So how can we—and young people in particular—separate credible, evidence-based information from statements (like those above) that are biased, intentionally misleading or just plain wrong?

Romeo (left) and Simmons test ways to make an fNIRS cap track brain activity more effectively for a participant who has Afro-textured hair.

The LEAD lab is working on two other projects involving families from diverse racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. One project evaluates neural synchrony (the degree to which people’s brains do the same thing at the same time) among preschool children and their caregivers, which is thought to support learning. The lab is collaborating with UMD colleagues in computer science and hearing and speech sciences on this $150,000 project, funded through UMD’s Brain and Behavior Institute. The other is a $1 million, National Institutes of Health-funded project exploring the neural bases of language and cognitive development in preschool children. The team often brings their lab to others so people don’t have to take time off or rearrange child care to participate. For example, the synchrony studies are done at preschools during pickup or dropoff, and they use headbands rather

than caps to avoid excluding people with Afro-textured hair. “It’s a win-win—we can include all families easily and ask interesting questions about the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain that develops rapidly during these early years,” says Ellen Roche, the doctoral student in charge of the synchrony study. In addition, UMD computer scientist colleagues are developing new algorithms to enhance the signal as it travels through darker skin. The LEAD team believes inclusion makes science better. “When you systematically exclude people, you don’t have a representative sample, and your science is biased,” Romeo says. “We want to know how all children develop, not just some.” The researchers’ focus on partnering with study participants, such as by volunteering in the community, leads to another positive outcome—building trust. Mistrust is a significant barrier to African Americans’ participation in scientific research, due to historical events like the unethical U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee and ongoing discrimination in the healthcare system. Traditional medical science “can feel exploitative,” explains Ellie Taylor, lab manager and community partnerships specialist. “There is decades’ worth of research where [scientists] never interfaced with the communities they’re studying,” she says. “Rachel saw a unique opportunity to build something from the ground up and get labs invested in communities.” For her part, Romeo is glad her work took this unexpected turn. “It was never my plan to create a new system,” she says, “but when the systems you want don’t exist, you’ve got to figure it out.”

which launched 11 years ago under Lombardi’s leadership. Funded by the National Science Foundation, College The project recently expanded from a focus on just of Education researchers are partnering with teachers science classrooms to an approach that includes social in three states to answer that question by developing classroom materials that help students cultivate skills— studies and English language arts and the social and political implications of climate change. including the ability to evaluate evidence and sources, “We need to have legitimate debates in society about make reasoned claims and collaborate respectfully— how we’re going to tackle problems created by climate that are key to strengthening democracy and finding change, sea level rise and extreme weather,” says McGrew. solutions to issues like the climate crisis. “But those arguments need to be rooted in accurate claims, “We hope to help students become better informed evidence and credible sources.” citizens and give them tools they can use to engage in The team hosts webinars and summer professional critical and scientific thinking and solve local and global development institutes for teachers and posts resources problems,” says Doug Lombardi, professor and associate at serc.carleton.edu/mel/index.html. dean for faculty affairs. Lombardi and Assistant Professor Sarah McGrew READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/climatechange are leading a team of five master teachers to create and test materials for middle and high schools. This work represents a third phase in the $5.7 million project,

ENDEAVORS 2023

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IMPACT

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION RECEIVES $4.8M GRANT TO LAUNCH SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT LEADERSHIP ACADEMY PROGRAM WILL CULTIVATE HIGH-QUALITY SCHOOL LEADERS TO RAISE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT PHOTO: ISTOCK

BY NATIFIA MULLINGS

The College of Education has launched a program to support school leaders in their efforts to increase student achievement. Funded by a $4.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Supporting Effective Educator Development Program, the School Improvement Leadership Academy is bringing together up to 180 principals and assistant principals from Title I, high-need and/or targeted support and improvement schools in Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware for comprehensive, evidence-based professional learning and development. “To narrow achievement gaps and help advance education equity, we need to provide resources and targeted support to school districts where historical trends and society have not

always allowed students to succeed,” says Segun Eubanks Ed.D. ’12, professor of practice and director of the college’s Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement, which leads the academy. “We know that high-quality leaders are critical to meeting student needs.” The two-year academy creates webinars and synchronous and asynchronous course experiences that teach the principles of improvement science. In addition, the academy implements academic interventions, supports equity-informed leadership, promotes culturally responsive social and emotional learning, and focuses on methods to advance literacy and mathematics outcomes.

+ READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/sila

W UMD Center Receives $6.2M to Help People With Disabilities Build Careers EDUCATION EXPERTS SUPPORT CONNECTICUT PROJECT AIMED AT FAIR PAY, PERSONALIZED SUPPORT BY EMILY SCHUSTER ILLUSTRATION: ISTOCK

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

hile federal law allows employers to pay many people with disabilities less than half the national minimum wage, a new five-year, $6.2 million grant is supporting College of Education researchers’ work to create a pipeline to meaningful, fairly compensated jobs. The college’s Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) is partnering with the state of Connecticut on the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment project. The project offers services to Connecticut residents with intellectual disabilities, customized to each person’s interests, skills and needs, says Christy H. Stuart, research professor and CTCI director. Importantly, people with disabilities and their families are directly involved in developing the project. “Ultimately, the project will help provide all people who desire to work with the opportunity and the means to be successfully employed,” Stuart says. Connecticut is one of 14 states to receive a Disability Innovation Fund grant from the U.S. Department of Education to transition to a model known as “competitive integrated employment.” In this type of employment, people with disabilities receive industry-standard wages and benefits and work alongside people of all abilities. “Truly, we believe anybody can work who wants to work, given the right accommodations and support and the right job match,” says Kelli Thuli Crane, assistant research professor and CTCI co-director.

+ READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/integrated

Five Tips for Responding to Book Challenges AS BOOK CHALLENGES REACH A RECORD HIGH, DOCTORAL STUDENT OUTLINES WHAT TO KNOW AND STEPS TO TAKE BY NATIFIA MULLINGS

According to the American Library Association, the number of book challenges in the United States has drastically increased in the past year, sparking a debate over free speech and expression and the need for diverse voices on libraries’ shelves. Pamela Callahan and Joel Miller, doctoral candidates in the education policy program, recently explored trends in book challenges and the legal implications of classroom library challenges in an article published in West’s Education Law Reporter. Based on their findings, Callahan offers five things you can do if a book is being challenged in your local school district.

Read the book. “One of the single most important things a parent or community member can do during a

book challenge is to read the book,” Callahan says. “You’ll have first-hand knowledge about the book’s content and context and whether the premise for the book challenge is warranted.”

Engage with local school board members.

In addition to participating in public comment, meeting one on one with a school board member or attending their scheduled community chats can be helpful. “We’ve heard from school board members that these kinds of interactions can help them better understand their constituents and the issues they care about,” says Callahan.

BOOK CHALLENGE BOOK BAN A book challenge is an attempt to remove a book from the library, whereas a book ban is the physical removal of a book. “When a book is challenged, we still have access to the book and can take steps to fight the book challenge. Fighting for a book after it’s been physically removed from a school library often requires legal action,” explains Callahan.

PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Join your district’s review committee. In a separate

study, Callahan and Miller examined more than 40 school districts where a public school library book challenge was reported to the American Library Association within the last five years. Most of these districts had a formal review committee that parents and community members could serve on and actively engage in the decision-making process around whether a specific book was removed.

Know the case law. The 1982 Supreme Court ruling

in Island Trees Union Free School District vs. Pico offers a guideline for school boards and members of the community to use when navigating a contentious library book challenge, says Callahan. The court found that books can be removed for pervasively vulgar content or limited education suitability but not for partisan or political reasons. It concluded that libraries function as special sites of intellectual exploration beyond the required classroom curriculum.

Recognize the complexity of this issue.

“It’s important for students to explore diverse ideas and see a variety of characters and topics in their reading material. We need to be prepared to have conversations that may be uncomfortable but that help young people understand a complicated world,” says Callahan. “Yet there are times when you want a book challenge process and possible removal. For example, if I saw ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ in my niece’s elementary school library, I would be thankful for the opportunity to raise a concern.” ENDEAVORS 2023

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IMPACT

How is education a force for good? “Education is not a destination but a journey, a commitment to a continuous process that brings about change in others through change in ourselves.” > GREGORY R. HANCOCK, PROFESSOR, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR-TEACHER, DIRECTOR OF THE QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY: MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICS PROGRAM

“When it is well designed and well delivered, education is a doorway into a world of possibilities for individuals from all walks of life, diverse backgrounds and all corners of the globe. Effective education expands the mind, embraces differences in experiences and perceptions, and works toward the betterment of all members of the global community.” > PATRICIA A. ALEXANDER PH.D. ’81, DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

“Education reveals the ways in which we value humanity, and it is the way we humanize each other.” > WILLIAM MING LIU M.A. ’95, PH.D. ’00, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF COUNSELING, HIGHER EDUCATION AND SPECIAL EDUCATION

“Education research has the potential to touch many people. Research related to children at young ages sets them up for a good foundation, while research that highlights teaching habits of college professors can impact the lives of adults who are on their career paths. Everything learned through education research can be used to better the lives of others.” > MARIEH ARNETT, SECOND-YEAR MASTER’S STUDENT, QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY: MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICS

“Education has the power to shape future generations into strong, positive, powerful members of society.” > ALYSSA LEVENTHAL ’24, SPECIAL EDUCATION AND GENERAL EDUCATION CERTIFICATION MAJOR, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MINOR

“If done well, education prepares individuals to be open to lifelong learning and emotional development. These factors help to cultivate a world that understands the investment in education as foundational to well-being.” > SHARON FRIES-BRITT ’81, PH.D. ’94, DISTINGUISHED UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR

“Education empowers individuals to rewrite the trajectories of their lives and discover their true potential and values, irrespective of their background, even if rooted in adversity. I wouldn’t have been able to become who I am without all the education I received. It is indeed life changing.” > YI FENG, PH.D. CANDIDATE, QUANTITATIVE METHODOLOGY: MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICS

“Education is the bedrock of democracy. Without it, people would not have the tools to effectively evaluate and question what is going on in society.” > LAURA MAHALINGAPPA, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR ILLUSTRATION: JEANNIE PHAN

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Ask the Expert:

Richard Shin

HOW TO CREATE INCLUSIVE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENTS FOR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS BY EMILY SCHUSTER

In June, the Human Rights Campaign declared a national state of emergency for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people. The civil rights organization cited an “unprecedented” wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation PHOTO: M I K E M O R GA N this year, much of it targeting LGBTQ+ youth and school environments. Richard Shin, associate professor and director of the school counseling program, identifies as an “aspiring ally” to the LGBTQ+ community. A large part of his research focuses on helping counselors and therapists become more aware of their biases to improve their work with LGBTQ+ students and clients. Endeavors spoke with Shin about how national trends are affecting LGBTQ+ youth—and how counselors, teachers and other educators can support them.

HOW HAS THE RECENT INCREASE Most LGBTQ+ youth are IN ANTI-LGBTQ+ LAWS AFFECTED thriving and wonderfully YOUTH’S MENTAL HEALTH? living their best lives. That being said, this moment is terrifying for LGBTQ+ folx. Youth, in particular, are in a vulnerable place, learning where they fit in the world. Many queer youth have enough support to cope, but for some, this trend may enhance existing mental health challenges. WHAT CAN EDUCATORS DO TO As impactful as safe spaces like CREATE INCLUSIVE SPACES Gender and Sexuality Alliance FOR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS? groups can be, the ultimate goal should be to create an entire school that is a safe space. LGBTQ+ youth are at an increased risk of being bullied, so schools need clear policies to prohibit these behaviors, as well as programs to teach students and staff how to foster inclusive environments for everyone. Having a robust Pride month celebration and making sure students see themselves and their families reflected in the curriculum and school library sends a strong message that LGBTQ+ folx are valued. WHAT ROLE CAN SCHOOLS PLAY When LGBTQ+ lives are IN SUPPORTING KIDS THAT HAVE affirmed, it creates the perfect NOT COME OUT AS LGBTQ+ YET? environment for young people to explore their identities internally and maybe also in dialogue with others. A school culture where different identities are celebrated is good for everyone.

UMD’s LGBTQ+ Equity Center provides helpful resources on inclusive language and practices at lgbtq.umd.edu/trans-good-practices. It’s important to stay current with inclusive language associated with sexual orientation and gender, which shifts more frequently than for other marginalized groups. If you’re in a position of power as a counselor or teacher, you can share your pronouns first and invite students to share theirs if they feel comfortable. I default to “they/them” pronouns until I know a person’s actual pronouns. Using “they/them” was challenging for me at first. It took focus and self-coaching. HOW CAN EDUCATORS BE MORE INCLUSIVE IN THEIR LANGUAGE AND ACTIONS?

If you don’t identify as LGBTQ+, spend time in LGBTQ+-affirming spaces. If you’ve never been to a Pride event, go! It’s not a magical solution, but stereotypes grow partly through our segregated lives. At the first Pride parade I participated in, there were protestors along the route. I will never forget the fear I felt. It was important for me as a heterosexual, cisgenderidentifying person to feel the fear of the potential abuse and harassment that could come from being identified as LGBTQ+. It fueled my empathy and passion for dismantling anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination. WHAT ELSE CAN EDUCATORS DO TO SUPPORT LGBTQ+ STUDENTS?

ENDEAVORS 2023

THE BULLETIN

IMPACT

FACULTY AWARDS & ACCOLADES | SEPT. 2022–AUG. 2023 SUSAN DE LA PAZ Ph.D. ’95, professor

$2.9M State Grant Supports Project to Alleviate Teacher Shortage in Center-Based Child Care MARYLAND EARLY EDCORP TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY CHILD CARE IN HIGH-NEED COMMUNITIES BY EMILY SCHUSTER

A $2.9 million grant from the Maryland State Department of Education is supporting a College of Education project to put more highly qualified early childhood educators from diverse backgrounds into the communities where they’re most needed. The college’s Center for Early Childhood Education and Intervention (CECEI) has established Maryland Early EdCorp, a 15-month project to recruit, train, mentor and support future child care teachers to serve children ages 3 to 5. The project addresses teacher shortages in “child care deserts” where centers and staff are in short supply around the state, including the Eastern Shore, Southern Maryland, and northern and western regions. Non-degree-seeking early childhood teacher candidates working toward their Child Development Associate credential will complete apprenticeships in high-quality child care centers that care for underserved populations. The CECEI emphasizes recruiting new teachers from underrepresented groups in these same communities. “Children need to see themselves represented in those who teach them. Families need to have access to teachers who understand their strengths, resources, challenges and needs,” says Christy Tirrell-Corbin Ph.D. ’96, clinical professor and executive director of the CECEI, who directs Maryland Early EdCorp.

READ MORE AT go.umd.edu/maryland-early-edcorp

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

KIMBERLY GRIFFIN M.A. ’01, dean

(CHSE), and COLLEEN

and professor (CHSE), was named

O’NEAL, associate professor

to the 2023 Rick Hess Straight

(CHSE), received Fulbright

Up Edu-Scholar Public Influence

Scholar Awards to teach and conduct research in Vietnam

Rankings by Education Week for the second year in a row.

and to teach in Malaysia, respectively.

COURTNEY HOLDER, assistant director of the Leadership Studies Program (CHSE), and MELISSA ROCCO

BRITTANY DEVIES, lecturer (CHSE),

Ph.D. ’17, affiliate assistant

was inducted into the American

professor (CHSE), were named

Association of Colleges and

Impact Fellows with the

Universities’ Future Leaders

Aspen Institute’s Leadership

Society. She also received the

Development Index. The

NASPA Student Leadership Programs and

initiative aims to advance the

Knowledge Community’s Outstanding

access to and quality of youth leadership

Emerging Professional Award.

development programs.

BRANDEN ELMORE, assistant research professor (CHSE), received the 2023 NASPA NOW Professional Award for demonstrating a spirit of curiosity that has led to more engaging programs for students. DREW S. FAGAN, associate clinical professor (TLPL), was named the 2023 TESOL Teacher of the Year Award by the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) International Association. He also received the Distinguished Alumni–Early Career Award from Teachers College, Columbia University. SHARON FRIES-BRITT ’81, Ph.D. ’94, Distinguished University Professor (CHSE), and BRIDGET TURNER KELLY M.A. ’96, Ph.D. ’01, associate professor (CHSE), were honored as UMD Graduate Faculty Mentors of the Year. Fries-Britt also received the Robert H. Shaffer Award for Academic Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member from NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

VERONICA KANG, assistant professor (CHSE); MELANIE KILLEN, professor (HDQM); JIONI LEWIS, associate professor (CHSE); ROSSINA ZAMORA LIU ’98, assistant professor (TLPL); CAMPBELL SCRIBNER, associate professor (TLPL); MIN WANG, professor (HDQM); and TAYLOR WOODMAN M.A. ’12, Ph.D. ’19, assistant clinical professor (CHSE) were granted Faculty-Student Research Awards from the UMD Graduate School. The award supports faculty-led projects that directly involve graduate students. SUSAN KOMIVES, professor emerita (CHSE), was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Leadership Association.

UNIVE RSIT Y DI STI NC TIONS DANIEL CHAZAN, professor (TLPL),

SHARON FRIES-BRITT ’81, Ph.D. ’94 (CHSE)

was selected as a UMD

was named a Distinguished

PETER LEONE, professor emeritus

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

University Professor in 2023. As

(CHSE), was awarded the

for demonstrating outstanding

the highest appointment UMD

2023 Leadership Prize by

scholarly accomplishments

the Juvenile Law Center for

and excellence in teaching.

his decades of research on

bestows upon tenured faculty, the professorship recognizes excellence, impact and significant contributions to the field.

improving equity and access to education for youth in the juvenile justice system. RACHEL ROMEO, assistant professor DANIEL LEVIN Ph.D. ’08, associate clinical

MARGARET WALKER ’91, associate

(HDQM), was recognized with

clinical professor (TLPL), was

professor (TLPL), received the

two awards for early career

awarded the 2023 Eastern

Linda Clement Outstanding

contributions to research, from

Region Higher Education Art

Advisor Award from UMD’s

the American Speech-Language-

Educator Award by the National

Annual University Student

Hearing Association and the Society for

Leadership Awards program.

Research in Child Development.

JIONI LEWIS, associate professor

KENNETH H. RUBIN, professor emeritus

Art Education Association. JADE WEXLER, professor (CHSE), was chosen as the inaugural recipient

(CHSE), received the 2022 Early

(HDQM), was honored with the

of the College of Education’s

Career Psychologists Award

APA’s Award for Distinguished

Dean’s Impact Professorship for

from the American Psychological

Contributions to Developmental

Association (APA). She was also

Psychology in recognition of his

named an APA Fellow for her significant

work’s scientific merit and importance.

contributions to the field of psychology.

her impactful research and scholarship on improving literacy outcomes for students with learning disabilities. In addition, she was among the UMD faculty

LENA MORREALE SCOTT, director of the

recognized for best exemplifying research

Civic Education and Engagement

excellence at the 2023 Maryland Research

named a Maryland Research

Initiative and senior faculty

Excellence Celebration.

Excellence Celebration Honoree

specialist, received Transform

by UMD. He was also one of six

Mid-Atlantic’s Civic Leadership

JING LIU, assistant professor (TLPL), was

innovators to win the U.S.

CIXIN WANG, associate professor

Award for contributing to the development

(CHSE), was honored with the

Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Future

of civic and community engagement in

Distinguished Contributions to

of Data in K-12 Education Design Challenge.

the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and

Practice Award by Asian American

Delaware region.

Psychological Association for

CANDACE MOORE, associate clinical professor (CHSE), was appointed

her career contributions to promoting Asian LAURA STAPLETON Ph.D. ’01, professor

Americans and Pacific Islander Americans’

to an endowed professorship

and chair (HDQM), was named a

as the Harold R. W. Benjamin

2023 American Educational

Professor for the College of

Research Association (AERA)

THE CENTER FOR DIVERSITY AND

Fellow in recognition of her

INCLUSION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Education. In this role, she focuses on

mental health.

eradicating racism in education globally and

exceptional contributions to, and excellence

received a Special Merit Award from the

domestically, with an emphasis on Black

in, education research.

Association for the Study of Higher Education.

liberation. EBONY TERRELL SHOCKLEY Ph.D. ’12, ALANA MURRAY ’98, Ph.D. ’12, adjunct

clinical professor (TLPL) and

faculty member (TLPL), was

associate dean for undergraduate

recognized with the Middle

studies and educator preparation,

States Council for Social Studies’

was elected to serve as a council

Harry J. Carman Award for her

member of the AERA Middle-Level Education

support of social studies through effective

Research Special Interest Group. She was also

research, teaching, integrity, service and

appointed by Maryland Governor Wes Moore

professional excellence.

to serve on the Professional Standards and

DEPARTMENT ABBREVIATIONS CHSE | Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education HDQM | Human Development and Quantitative Methodology TLPL | Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership

Teacher Education Board for three years.

ENDEAVORS 2023

How EdTerps Are Addressing Humanity’s Grand Challenges THROUGH 11 GRAND CHALLENGES GRANTS, THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION TACKLES PRESSING SOCIETAL ISSUES BY EMILY SCHUSTER

From raising literacy rates in vulnerable communities, to strengthening civic engagement, to countering the damaging effects of racism on mental health, College of Education researchers are leaders in addressing humanity’s grand challenges and shaping the future of our community, nation and world. In February, the university recognized the college’s impactful work when it awarded 11 of its 50 Grand Challenges Grants to nearly 40 EdTerps, including in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education; Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology; Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership; Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement; and Office of the Dean. EdTerps received Grand Challenges Grants in all four categories: one Institutional Grant, four Impact Awards, four Team Project Grants and two Individual Project Grants. The Grand Challenges Grants Program is the largest and most comprehensive program of its type in the university’s history. It reflects an institution-wide commitment to tackling critical societal issues ranging from educational disparities, to racial and social injustice, to threats to democracy, to pandemics. The grants total more than $30 million. Many of the teams taking on these grand challenges are interdisciplinary, bringing together expertise from across the university.

Maryland Initiative for Literacy & Equity INSTITUTIONAL GRANT

Supported by one of three Institutional Grants awarded across the university, the Maryland Initiative for Literacy and Equity (MILE) aims to increase literacy in Maryland and the surrounding region through research, education, professional development, and community and policy outreach. It focuses on partnering with and addressing the needs of marginalized communities across race, culture, ethnicity and language, as well as neurodiverse populations. MILE intends to break down silos by bringing together brain and behavioral researchers, teachers, speech pathologists, librarians, policymakers, families and community members. Donald J. Bolger, associate professor, and Simone Gibson Ph.D. ’09 of Morgan State University lead this initiative, which includes colleagues from the UMD College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU), College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSOS), College of Information Studies (INFO), School of Public Policy (SPP) and College of Education. EDTERP FACULTY

Donald J. Bolger, ASSOCIATE

Maggie Polizos Peterson,

PROFESSOR (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Ayanna Baccus M.ED. ’98, PH.D. ’04,

Kellie Rolstad, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Susan De La Paz PH.D. ’95, PROFESSOR

Drew S. Fagan, ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Shenika Hankerson, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Endeavors spoke with EdTerps representing each of the college’s 11 Grand Challenges Grants. Read the interviews on the following pages and find extended versions online at education.umd.edu/ news-events/endeavors-magazine.

Loren Jones, ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Shannon Kane, ASSISTANT CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Veronica Kang, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Jeff MacSwan, PROFESSOR

GRAND CHALLENGES GRANTS

Melinda Martin-Beltran, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Rachel Romeo, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Ana Taboada Barber PH.D. ’03, PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR RESEARCH, INNOVATION AND PARTNERSHIPS

Ebony Terrell Shockley PH.D. ’12, CLINICAL PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES AND EDUCATOR PREPARATION

Christy Tirrell-Corbin PH.D. ’96, CLINICAL PROFESSOR

Jennifer Turner, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

Jade Wexler, PROFESSOR

Maryland Democracy Initiative DONALD J. BOLGER

IMPACT AWARD

WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Half of Maryland’s children of color are reading below a basic level, and roughly one in five adults in Maryland (and nationally) are reading below a fourth grade level. This means that they may have limited or no understanding of the words on the page, and they may not be able to fill out forms for health care or taxes. They are more likely to face poverty, more likely to suffer poor health and less likely to vote.

The Maryland Democracy Initiative strives to create a more fair and just society by building the capacity of all people for a lifetime of civic participation. It expands interdisciplinary, communitycentered research on civic engagement; offers innovative teaching and learning opportunities; and hosts civic engagement convenings.

HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

MILE addresses literacy on a scale that has never been attempted before. This initiative brings researchers and practitioners from different fields together with families, community members and stakeholders. I see this as a public health model, where everybody is under the same roof, working on the same problem and asking and tackling questions together. MILE ensures that practitioners and community members have a seat at the table from the beginning and that the approaches and evidence that come from research make their way into the hands of parents, teachers, community members and policymakers. We’re harnessing the assets of our communities to come up with stronger, sustainable solutions. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HIM PERSONALLY:

In college, I worked with children who had learning disabilities. For 11 months, I worked with an eighth grader, a hockey player from an underresourced community in western Massachusetts. The inability to read had taken a toll on his mental health, but he was able to move from a fifth grade reading level to achieving on grade level. When I ran into him a year later, he came up to me and gave me this big bear hug. I saw how much being able to read transforms someone’s life. It became my passion in life to understand how reading and learning happen and how we can knock down barriers to learning and becoming literate.

Led by Lena Morreale Scott, senior faculty specialist, this initiative includes colleagues from BSOS, the Philip Merrill College of Journalism (JOUR), SPP and the College of Education. EDTERP FACULTY

Lena Morreale Scott, Doug Lombardi, SENIOR FACULTY SPECIALIST (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

PROFESSOR AND ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR FACULTY AFFAIRS

Lucas Butler, ASSOCIATE Sarah McGrew, PROFESSOR

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

LENA MORREALE SCOTT WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT:

Democracy is under attack. We see it in a lack of trust that people have in government institutions. We see it in intentional efforts to undermine the peaceful transfer of power. We see it in hyper-partisanism and targeted disinformation. We see it in threats to democracy in schools and libraries across blue and red states, and around the world where aspiring despots from the left and right are gaining power and influence. Democracy has been described as government of the people, by the people and for the people, but that means it relies on the people to be engaged in it. Civic education empowers people to take on other grand challenges like literacy, climate change and systemic racism. HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: The Maryland Democracy Initiative has three core areas: research, teaching and learning, and civic engagement opportunities. Our research focuses on topics including what motivates people to vote and the role journalists play in preparing voters. We’re using interdisciplinary approaches to teach students to recognize mis- and disinformation. At our civic engagement events, we share research and invite community members to participate in designing solutions to empower democracy. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: My parents taught

me I could make a difference in small ways but I could make an even bigger difference when I joined together with other people. I feel a sense of purpose when joining with others to build a better, more inclusive and responsive democracy by transforming civic education for all.

ENDEAVORS 2023

Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility IMPACT AWARD

The Maryland Initiative for Digital Accessibility (MIDA) strives to change technology design research and practice so that individuals with disabilities are engaged as equal partners from the beginning of the process. This will ensure that digital technology is “born-accessible”—with accessibility proactively built in—including in the fields of education, health, employment, commerce and civic engagement. MIDA engages disability rights groups, technology companies and policymakers; develops technology projects to improve accessibility; and plans events and programs to increase awareness of digital accessibility. Jonathan Lazar (INFO) leads this initiative, which includes colleagues from the College of Education; College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences (CMNS); Division of Information Technology; School of Public Health (SPHL); A. James Clark School of Engineering (ENGR); ARHU; BSOS; Office of Diversity and Inclusion; University Libraries; University Career Center; and INFO. EDTERP FACULTY

GULNOZA YAKUBOVA

Gulnoza Yakubova, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

Amy Dwyre D’Agati, SENIOR FACULTY SPECIALIST

Yewon Lee PH.D. ’19, ASSISTANT CLINICAL PROFESSOR

David Weintrop, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: About one-quarter

of the U.S. population has disabilities, including physical and cognitive disabilities. Digital technology is currently inaccessible for the majority of people with disabilities. The lack of access to digital technology affects every aspect of life, from education, to health care, to recreation, to consumer service, to workplace performance.

Pandemic Readiness Initiative IMPACT AWARD

The Pandemic Readiness Initiative (PRI) aims to learn from COVID-19 and other disasters to better understand human behavior in public health emergencies and prepare for future crises. It integrates a broad array of social and behavioral sciences, including public health and risk communication, social media and other digital technologies, health literacy, health equity, public opinion, cognitive processing of messages, disaster management and cultural studies. Cynthia Baur (SPHL) and Brooke Fisher Liu (ARHU) lead PRI, which includes colleagues from the College of Education, BSOS, JOUR, INFO, SPHL and ARHU. EDTERP FACULTY

Sarah McGrew, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SARAH MCGREW HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: I study how

people learn to evaluate information online. Online information was hugely important to how many of us understood and made decisions about the COVID-19 pandemic, and that will continue to be true during future

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Values-Centered Artificial Intelligence IMPACT AWARD HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

We are engaging the disability rights community to understand their challenges and needs. Our goal is to change how digital technologies are designed, involving the disability community as an equal partner and not just as consumers. Traditionally, technology companies have retrofitted technology and added adaptations and accessibility features, but this is not always effective for the consumer or cost effective. Similar to how elevators and ramps benefit people both with and without disabilities, digital accessibility can benefit the whole population. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY:

My work focuses on using video-based interventions and assistive technologies to support K-12 students with autism and other disabilities. I believe in the power of digital technology to help students learn and bridge equity gaps.

health threats. One piece of this initiative is about how we create effective messaging for people about pandemic-related health risks and decisions, including how we help people evaluate information and make choices about what to trust. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY:

Personally and professionally, I spend a lot of time trying to convince people that access to high-quality information matters. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were making potentially life-altering decisions based on the information available to them, like whether to wear a mask or get vaccinated. The pandemic exposed so many equity issues, for example, whether communities had access to high-quality information and skills that would help them effectively evaluate that information. That’s something we can do a better job tackling in the future.

Values-Centered Artificial Intelligence focuses on developing artificial intelligence (AI) tools, theories and practices that align with community needs, ethics and human values. The team is developing applications in fields such as education, health care, transportation, communication and accessibility. Led by Hal Daumé III (CMNS), this initiative includes colleagues from the College of Education, ARHU; Robert H. Smith School of Business (BMGT), BSOS, INFO and CMNS. EDTERP FACULTY

Jing Liu, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR JING LIU HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: One of the biggest

concerns about AI is that it will deviate from human values and do things that are detrimental to society, such as replacing jobs or being biased or discriminatory. This initiative brings community stakeholders to the center of AI development and application so that it addresses their needs and fundamental human values such as justice, dignity, selfefficacy, creativity and social connection. Bringing people together from different disciplines to tackle this grand challenge will generate reform in the AI industry. In education specifically, there are lots of potential applications for AI, such as providing personalized learning to students and giving teachers detailed feedback. There’s an opportunity to improve the effectiveness and equity of the entire education system. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HIM PERSONALLY: I was trained

at Stanford University in Silicon Valley, so from the very beginning of my academic career, I started to think about the role of technology. I fundamentally believe that human interaction is at the center of the learning process. I’m interested in how we can leverage AI, and technology in general, to support teachers and students.

ENDEAVORS 2023

M-Powering Teachers: Using Machine Learning to Measure and Improve Equity in K-12 Mathematics Classrooms

Anti-Black Racism Initiative

TEAM PROJECT GRANT

This project is developing, evaluating and refining a tool called M-Powering Teachers, which uses machine learning techniques to analyze audio recordings of classrooms. The tool provides teachers with more frequent, timely feedback on their teaching practices than a human observer can deliver. This helps educators teach more equitably and support student learning. Although M-Powering Teachers has broad applications, this project focuses specifically on K-12 math classrooms and teachers’ equity-focused teaching practices.

This initiative strives to establish UMD as a leader in efforts to identify, disrupt and prevent anti-Black racism by fostering cross-departmental faculty-student research, offering undergraduate and graduate courses, and hosting teach-in workshops, symposia and other events for the campus and surrounding community. The initiative launched a new anti-Black racism minor in fall 2023.

Jing Liu, assistant professor, leads this project and works with colleagues from ENGR and INFO.

Jeanette Snider (BSOS) leads the Anti-Black Racism Initiative, which includes colleagues from the College of Education, ARHU, SPHL, SPP and BSOS.

EDTERP FACULTY

Jing Liu, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

Kimberly Griffin M.A. ’01, DEAN OF THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION AND PROFESSOR (CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

JING LIU WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Just like students

need feedback to learn better, teachers also need high-quality feedback to learn where their strengths are and how to improve. Because human-based classroom observation is very time- and labor-intensive, a U.S. public school teacher only receives feedback once or twice per school year on average, far from enough to support their professional growth. In particular, students from low-income, minoritized backgrounds tend to be concentrated in districts where teachers don’t have a lot of professional development opportunities to get feedback. HOW THIS PROJECT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: With M-Powering

Teachers, we transcribe classroom recordings in real time and provide teachers with high-quality feedback that is timely, specific and actionable. It can be applied on a large scale with a very low cost. It can provide teachers who are serving in high-poverty districts with feedback on equity-focused teaching practices so they can improve continuously, reduce learning opportunity gaps and serve all their students better. We will open source the software to accelerate other research on applying natural language processing in education.

KIMBERLY GRIFFIN WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: There has been progress, but the inequities in our society persist. I see more people engaging in critical conversations about racism, but we often miss the full range of its

Racial and Social Justice ResearchPractice Partnership Collaborative TEAM PROJECT GRANT

This collaborative addresses racial and social injustices in education through equal, mutually beneficial partnerships between faculty and staff at UMD and educators in local school districts. Led by Christine M. Neumerski, senior research fellow at the College of Education’s Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement (CEii), this project includes colleagues from SPP, the Office of Community Engagement and the College of Education. EDTERPS ON THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Christine M. Neumerski,

Sonya Riley PH.D. ’19, MANAGER,

SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, CEii (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR)

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS PARTNERSHIPS AND PROGRAMS

Douglas W. Anthony ’92,

Pamela Shetley, ASSOCIATE

M.ED. ’01, ED.D. ’16, SENIOR FELLOW, CEii

DIRECTOR, ED.D. IN SCHOOL SYSTEM LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Segun Eubanks ED.D. ’12, DIRECTOR, CEii

Cherise J. Hunter ’01, M.ED. ’02, PH.D. ’11, FELLOW, CEii

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Jean Snell M.A. ’98, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, CEii

impact. Anti-Black racism is built into how our society is structured, in everything from education, to health care, to the criminal justice system. It’s not just a matter of changing hearts and minds. We have to change policies, practices, laws and our own understanding to really make progress. HOW THIS INITIATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: This initiative takes both an intellectual approach and a practical approach. We’ll engage in collective problem-solving, and we’ll reform how we think about curriculum and teaching and learning, but we’ll also address anti-Black racism in communities. The initiative pulls together people from different departments across the university to examine how anti-Black racism manifests in different areas of society. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: When I think about doing this work, some of it is about understanding the systems, structures and dynamics that have had an impact on the trajectory of my life and the lives of folks I’ve known. Understanding these systems, and mitigating or eradicating them to create a more just society, is not just good for me—it’s good for my family and for other families and people who look like me. A more equitable and just society is, in fact, good for all of us. The persistence of anti-Black racism limits our progress and the possibility of realizing the full vision of our democracy. I truly believe that we can build a better and more just society and that this work is my part in that larger vision.

CHRISTINE M. NEUMERSKI HOW THIS COLLABORATIVE WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: In research-

practice partnerships (RPPs), we break down the traditional power roles where the university positions itself as an expert. Instead, we create equitable, ongoing partnerships in which both researchers and practitioners believe in and value each other’s expertise and knowledge. In this collaborative, we will partner with four local school districts to co-create research questions and design research projects that are meaningful and usable for practitioners. We will also provide opportunities for people to come together to learn about best practices for RPPs in general and to pool their collective knowledge and expertise. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: I started out as a teacher, working with highly marginalized student populations. I loved making an impact with my students, but I became frustrated by some of the larger systemic barriers that were denying my students opportunities. I decided to go to graduate school to learn about what people are doing about the structural challenges students are facing. When I got there, it was like stepping into a different world. I realized how separate education research and practice had become. I’ve worked on many meaningful research projects, yet we don’t always have a good way to share findings with the people who could use them. This collaborative is a perfect opportunity to build a mechanism to bridge that divide with the aim of addressing racial and social injustices in our schools.

ENDEAVORS 2023

Encuentros: A University-Community Partnership to Mitigate the Mental Health Crisis for Latino Immigrant Youth

An Innovative Intervention to Help Asian American Families Cope with Racism and Related Mental Health Difficulties

TEAM PROJECT GRANT

INDIVIDUAL PROJECT GRANT

This community-driven project addresses mental health issues among low-income Latino immigrant youth in Maryland to increase their sense of well-being, community and belonging. Encuentros will ultimately scale up to a nationwide program.

This eight-session, culturally sensitive intervention helps Asian American families talk about racism, discrimination and associated mental health issues and learn positive parenting practices and youth coping strategies.

Sophia Rodriguez, associate professor, and Amy Lewin and Kevin Roy (SPHL) lead this project in partnership with Identity, a local youth development organization.

Cixin Wang, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR) CIXIN WANG

EDTERP FACULTY

Sophia Rodriguez, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR) SOPHIA RODRIGUEZ WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: Latino immigrant

youth in Maryland, and youth across the country, are facing a mental health crisis. Many local Latino immigrant youth are newcomers, who recently arrived in the United States. They may have depression, anxiety and fear, including fear of deportation. A lot of them experienced trauma during their immigration or migration journeys. These traumatizing experiences can have ripple effects that lead to other mental health issues, increased health risks and unequal access to resources. HOW THIS PROJECT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Encuentros focuses on healing the community from within. It allows youth’s mental health needs to be addressed from the ground up through non-clinical emotional support groups led by trained community members. Participants can discuss challenges they face and develop strategies for managing stress, sadness and anxiety. We’re doing focus groups with youth to center their voices so we can tailor supports to their needs. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: I’m the child of

an immigrant. My father was a Cuban refugee. As a public school teacher, and later as an instructional coach and in my scholarly work, I became invested in understanding the lived experiences, activism and social emotional needs of immigrant youth. 22

EDTERP FACULTY

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

WHY THIS ISSUE IS IMPORTANT: In 2021,

Pew Research Center found that 81% of Asian American adults felt that violence against them had increased in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic. I co-authored a study in 2020 that found that half of Asian American parents and youth had experienced racism directly, and three-quarters had witnessed or heard about racism toward other

How Does Statistical Learning Interact with Socioeconomic Status to Shape Literacy Development? INDIVIDUAL PROJECT GRANT

This project looks at whether explicitly teaching statistical learning (the ability to detect patterns or sequences in the environment) might reduce socioeconomic disparities in children’s literacy development. EDTERP FACULTY

Min Wang, PROFESSOR (PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR) MIN WANG HOW THIS PROJECT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE:

A great deal of research has revealed that children living in poverty demonstrate a considerably lower level of reading than their peers with higher socioeconomic status. We are testing children’s statistical learning (SL) ability, including the ability to detect

Asian Americans. Both direct and vicarious experiences of racism are negatively related to mental health. Suicide has been the leading cause of death for Asian American youth ages 15 to 19 since 2016. Asian Americans are less likely to access mental health services than whites, possibly due to factors including low mental health literacy, stigma and lack of culturally competent providers. HOW THIS INTERVENTION WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Currently, there aren’t any interventions related to racism and mental health that focus on both Asian American parents and youth. In this intervention, we are working with 50 Asian American families with children ages 10 to 16. We will teach parents about positive communication skills, how to talk about emotions and racism in an empowering way, how to problem-solve with youth and how to work with schools to support youth. For the youth, we will use a social emotional learning curriculum adapted for Asian American youth. We will talk about how to navigate different cultures at home and at school and how to respond to racism, as well as coping and problem-solving strategies. We’ll collect data before the intervention and six months afterward to see if participants were able to use those skills and if they were helpful. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: I’m Asian American myself, and my kids, my friends and I have

experienced different types of racism during COVID. I hope that with our intervention, more Asian American families will feel comfortable talking about racism and youth mental health.

patterns and sequences in spoken and written language, as well as in visual images, music tones and sounds. We will investigate how the interaction of socioeconomic status and SL shape reading development over two years and whether explicitly teaching SL might reduce socioeconomic disparities in literacy outcomes. For example, in English, educators might teach that when “oo” is followed by the letter “k” as in “book,” the vowel sound is pronounced differently than when it is followed by “m” or “l” as in “boom” or “tool.” In the Chinese writing system, teachers might point out that a certain component always occurs at a certain position within the character. WHY THIS ISSUE MATTERS TO HER PERSONALLY: We are conducting this study in China, which is personal to me given my roots in the Chinese language and culture. There has been rapid but inequitable economic growth across areas in China over the past two decades. China now has some of the most unequal incomes in the world, as well as severe socioeconomic disparities among school-aged children. Our findings from this project can guide similar studies in other parts of the world where severe socioeconomic disparity is also present, including the United States.

ENDEAVORS 2023

terps

CENTER FOR YOUNG CHILDREN’S STUDENTS TREK ACROSS CAMPUS TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD

MILESTONES

BY KAREN SHIH ’09

STUDENTS IN PROTECTIVE GLASSES fidgeted beneath hanging glass beakers in a University of Maryland chemistry lab, awaiting a lesson on the states of matter with the attention span of 5-year-olds. So for this group of preschoolers, Senior Lecturer Lenea Stocker Ph.D. ’13 skipped the Bunsen burners. She instead pulled out red, white and blue Legos—familiar to her audience and a perfect metaphor for the subject. After all, she pointed out, atoms are the building blocks of matter. The field trip is one of dozens that the Center for Young Children (CYC), a pre-K and kindergarten program in the College of Education, takes its classes on each year across the University of Maryland campus. Celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, the CYC has long used labs and gardens and construction sites as an extension of its building just beyond the Denton Community

1965 The University Nursery-

Kindergarten changes its name to the Research Center for Young Children.

Professor Edna Belle McNaughton founds the University Nursery/Kindergarten, after previously running a nursery school at UMD as part of the Works Progress Administration from 1934 to 1937.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

1966 The expanded program moves to the College of Education’s new Benjamin Building.

The CYC moves to Cambridge Hall.

1993 The CYC relocates to its current site beyond the Denton Community.

1995 The National Association of Education for Young Children grants the CYC its prestigious national accreditation.

PHOTO: RILEY N. SIMS PH.D. ’23

lessons for fo r the th e littlest

THE CENTER FOR YOUNG CHILDREN (even if the 3- to 6-year-olds sometimes need a fruit pouch pick-me-up before they walk back). “Hands-on experiences are essential for our program. The children can interact, question the experts and draw conclusions,” said teacher Cecilia Fowler ’03. “On our way here, a child pointed to the bricks and told me, ‘That’s a liquid.’ I said, ‘Hmm, that’s interesting. Why do you think that?’ And now, on the way back, we’ll talk about it again.” The CYC takes a “project” approach, in which its 90 children delve deeply into a particular topic for weeks or even months. It’s a research-based method of teaching that makes the curriculum accessible for learners of all levels, including children who are multilingual or have disabilities. That’s because the CYC is not only a school, but also a lab for UMD human development and early childhood investigators, as well as a demonstration site for College of Education students. “What UMD students see when they come here is what research tells them reflects the way that children learn and become the most successful,” said CYC Director Jennifer Smallwood-Holmes. That’s evident in how CYC teachers let students lead through project-based work, which is more active and engaging than traditional teaching methods, she said. For each topic, teachers find out what students already know (including misunderstandings), the types of experiences they’ve had and what they want to know, helping them make sense of the world around them. CONT. ON PAGE 26

1997 First Lady Hilary Rodham Clinton comes to UMD to speak about quality child care and visits the CYC.

BY THE NUMBERS

CHILDREN CURRENTLY ENROLLED AT THE CYC

CHILDREN ENROLLED WHEN THE NURSERY/ KINDERGARTEN OPENED IN 1948

PHOTO: STEPHANIE S. CORDLE

Smallwood-Holmes

E ON S- S AR R D N E OU A “H IENC FOR R ” PE TIAL AM. X R E EN G O S PR ES

2007 The Maryland Association for

Environmental and Outdoor Education designates the CYC as a Maryland Green School (renewed in 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2023).

2016 The CYC hires a full-time state-certified

special educator following the creation of a dual certification early childhood/early childhood special education major. The state awards the CYC its highest quality rating, Maryland EXCELS Level 5. CONT. ON PAGE 26

RESEARCHERS AT THE CYC

16 177

FULL-TIME STAFF

VISITS FROM UMD RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS IN 2022–2023

33% OF CYC KIDS RECEIVED SPECIAL ED SERVICES IN 2022–2023

600 GALLONS OF MILK CYC KIDS DRINK EACH YEAR

CONT. FROM PAGE 25

Assistant Todd Waters asked, One morning at UMD’s Insect Zoo, kinder“ E N G T O H AV A E such as the number of legs gartener Sebastian Lucic had an urgent question: OWN GED AN THEM D FE ERS insects have, what pollinators “Can you make him poop?” he asked entomology H E I LEA R N I N P O F T HL I N G B E G IGGE are and which animals eat bugs. master’s student Eric Hartell as he offered I ST T I S T H E R HING “We always think before we up a millipede for Lucic and his classmates .” start a project, ‘Do we have to pet. resources we can tap into on “No, but his poop is very good for the soil,” Hartell said. campus?’” said teacher Amy Laakso ’09, M.Ed. ’17. “These Lucic thought about it, then announced he was naming are really enriching experiences that they remember.” the creature “Stripey.” Last school year, she led her kindergarten class in two projects: bikes and scooters in the fall, visiting RecWell’s Bike Shop, and noodles in the spring, with classroom cooking lessons and a trip to Noodles and Company on Baltimore Avenue. The micromobility study was a particular hit with Mark Wakefield’s 6-year-old daughter, Naomi, he said. “She was actually learning to shift from a balance bike to a two-wheel bike,” said Wakefield, instrumental ensembles manager at the School of Music. “She came home and told me all the different parts that they learned about at the bike shop, PHOTO: STEPHANIE S. CORDLE and it just made her want to get out there.” By the end of the A kindergartener holds a 20-year-old tarantula at UMD’s Insect Zoo. semester, Naomi was zooming independently on two wheels. The experiences expand students’ worldviews beyond After a month-long study of insects, the children were eager the lessons at hand. For example, seeing Stocker wear a to handle creepy-crawlies in the Plant Sciences Building. A lab coat and demonstrate “elephant toothpaste” pouring leopard grasshopper, vividly red and yellow, was “tickly and out of a giant beaker—when many of the children had sticky,” said one brave tot. Black Bess beetles, the size of a been exposed to images only of male scientists—was large paperclip, wandered from tiny hand to tiny hand. “He eye-opening and prompted questions. loves you, I think,” said Abigail Lynn to Nora Hurst. The natural curiosity that the curriculum sparks in the With two previous trips to the woods and ponds near the children is his favorite aspect of the CYC, said Wakefield. CYC to find bugs on their own, the children didn’t need as “To have them engaged and feeling ownership of their much simplifying as Hartell had imagined, he said. They learning is the biggest thing.” shouted out answers to the questions entomology Faculty

MILESTONES [CONT.]

2019 The UMD Office of

2023 The CYC celebrates 75

Sustainability’s Green Office program recognizes the CYC with its platinum-level certification.

years of high-quality child care and top research.

2019 The CYC works with

preschool inclusion specialist Sarika Gupta to create its position statement on preschool inclusion.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

2019 CYC teachers and

classrooms are featured in “Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation” by Sue Bredekamp ’72, M.A. ’76, Ph.D. ’85.

PHOTO: BRANDON LEIGH

ALUMNI

PHOTO GALLERY

2023 MEMORIES EdTerp alumni enjoyed many wonderful moments on campus in 2023, including (clockwise from top left) the College of Education Commencement, Maryland Day, EdTerps Paint ’N Sip, Alumni of Color Celebration, Alumni Awards Reception (with 2021-2023 honorees), and Pinning Ceremony (with remarks from Montgomery County Public Schools Superintendent Monifa B. McKnight Ed.D. ’14). PHOTO: LNJ DESIGNS PHOTO

PHOTO: LNJ DESIGNS PHOTO

ENDEAVORS 2023

ALUMNI

PROFILE

Four Friends, Four Decades HOW FOUR WOMEN HAVE SHARED THEIR LIVES, LAUGHTER AND LEFTOVERS OVER 46 YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP BY EMILY SCHUSTER

When Marcella (Chela) Mendoza Patterson M.A. ’79 lost her husband of 43 years in January 2021, among those who reached out to comfort her were three friends the couple had met at the University of Maryland in 1977. Although the friends had always kept in touch, the loss of Patterson’s husband, Aldrich (Pat) Patterson, Jr., Ph.D. ’85, marked a new phase in their four-decade-long friendship as they began to meet by Zoom every month. Patterson, Jean Joyce-Brady Ph.D. ’83, Lydia Minatoya Ph.D. ’81 and Mary O’Leary Wiley Ph.D. ’82 met as graduate students in the Counseling and Personnel Services program, now the Counseling Psychology, School Psychology and Counselor Education program. Over the years, the friends supported each other as they navigated the challenges of raising families and building fulfilling, successful careers in counseling, psychology and student affairs at a time when these paths were relatively new for women. Patterson, who earned her Ed.D. from the University of Southern California, worked for 37 years at California State University, Chico, before retiring as associate vice president for student life and interim chief diversity officer. Joyce-Brady spent a 40-year career at eight higher education institutions, serving in senior roles in student affairs departments and counseling centers and as an active member of NASPA–Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Minatoya, an award-winning literary author, taught counseling and multicultural psychology at universities in the United States and Japan, including spending more than 30 years at North Seattle College. Wiley is a private practice psychologist and has served as president of the Society of Counseling Psychology, Division 17 of the American Psychological Association. All four have received numerous professional honors. Endeavors joined the four friends on one of their monthly Zoom get-togethers. Their conversation has been edited for flow, length and clarity.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Lydia Minatoya Ph.D. ’81: The four of us took a core course together, and we worked as graduate assistants in the UMD Counseling Center, along with Chela’s husband, Pat, who was a graduate student in counseling psychology. I was one of just a few single people in the graduate program, so Chela and Pat, Mary and her husband Frank, and Jean and her husband Marty provided me with a family. Jean Joyce-Brady Ph.D. ’83: I have warm memories of sitting in each others’ graduate assistantship offices, talking about our research and our personal and professional hopes and dreams. Mary O’Leary Wiley Ph.D. ’82: We’d go to the Rossborough Inn most Friday afternoons. Marcella (Chela) Mendoza Patterson M.A. ’79: We had potlucks on Friday nights where everyone brought leftovers from their own homes. Because we were broke, we pooled our resources. Pat would deejay, and we’d just hang out and relax. One time, we had pies with whipped cream. We got to the point where we were just squirting whipped cream on our plates. When you have no money … Wiley: Everybody was in the same boat. Minatoya: We were an early generation of traditionally underrepresented women to earn graduate degrees. The four of us were marginalized in some way—as people of color, as first-generation students. Growing up, I was the only person of color in my school. At UMD, all my friends had experienced being different and were empathic. It felt like the society I wanted to live in. Joyce-Brady: We were a group with diverse identities and backgrounds, so our different perspectives about what we were studying were always a big part of our conversations.

Clockwise from top left: Wiley, Minatoya, Patterson and Joyce-Brady during one of their monthly Zoom get-togethers.

Wiley: We had this sense of connectedness at UMD at a time in our lives and in a time in history when women were just emerging as professionals, when integrating family and career was pretty darn new. Minatoya: Mary, Jean and Chela have been with me throughout all the major changes in my life. We’ve enjoyed watching our children grow and nurturing our next generation.

Minatoya: At UMD, our core values of human justice and social change were nurtured. We have spent our careers working with at-risk college students, survivors of trafficking, refugees and veterans, and developing anti-racism programs. Wiley: We have so much commonality throughout our careers because of the experiences and the values that we learned at the College of Education. We were trained to view the person in the context of the environment, for example, to see how white supremacy or sexism provide context for depression, PTSD and so on. Joyce-Brady: I learned the value of data-informed practice and the importance of including questions about diversity, equity and inclusion in my work from Dr. Tom Magoon. I was his graduate assistant, and I had the opportunity to watch him in action as the director of the Counseling Center. I learned important lessons about listening, finding consensus, making decisions and using humor. Patterson: When I took an intro to college student personnel class with Dr. Lee Knefelkamp, I literally started having heart palpitations. I had found what I was meant to do. And when we were taking our comprehensive exams, Dr. Knefelkamp showed up to give everybody a pep talk and Hershey bars because she was invested in our success.

Patterson: Our kids have all gone into higher education or community service because they’re following in our footsteps. We’ve lived lives of service and helping others. And we’re the best of friends. Joyce-Brady: I treasure our friendship. I’m so grateful for the warmth, support and knowledge Lydia, Chela and Mary shared with me as we all grew together in the early years of our careers. They have been role models for me over the years. Patterson: It’s a special blessing that UMD gave us. As a new widow, to have these women reach out and be there for me—it was phenomenal. Minatoya: Pat was beloved to us all. One of the wonderful things about reconnecting with Chela is I feel connected with his spirit. Every time we are having fun with Chela, I know Pat is happy that she is being loved by people he knows. Patterson: Losing my husband was a devastating blow. But so many blessings have come my way since then. I really believe Pat knew I needed this community and that he brought us together, because if he were alive, I don’t know that we would have started meeting by Zoom every month. It came together out of love for him. With this group, I can authentically be me. It’s invigorating. We talk about issues that are important to our professions, personal lives and society. We never run out of things to talk about.

Joyce-Brady: Dr. Bill Sedlacek was a pioneer in research on college admissions criteria for underrepresented student populations. My discussions with him and his graduate students (including Lydia) shaped how I consider higher ed programs and research. Minatoya: Dr. Vivian Boyd, who became director of the Counseling Center, showed me you can be a woman of color, have a family and be amazing. ENDEAVORS 2023

ALUMNI

PROFILE

A True Renaissance Teacher

FROM JET-SETTING AS A FLIGHT ATTENDANT TO MASTERING FIVE STAGE COMBAT WEAPONS TO TEACH SHAKESPEARE, LINDA PIEPLOW LOOKS BACK ON A VARIED CAREER BY ERIN JONES

Summer’s end felt a bit strange for Linda Pieplow ’72, M.A. ’78, this year. For the first time in 30 years, August did not hold a flurry of back-to-school preparation, due to her recent retirement from Clarksville Middle School. As an English education major and then a secondary education master’s student at University of Maryland, it’s doubtful that she could have imagined a career that would cast her as not only as a National Board-certified teacher and a 2010 recipient of the Washington Post’s Agnes Meyer Outstanding Teacher Award but also a flight attendant, college instructor and certified combat actor, licensed in five weapons. But Pieplow is no ordinary teacher. In 1968 and the years following, the University of Maryland saw Vietnam War protests, rallies for women’s rights, and Civil Rights marches. These were days Pieplow recalls as “an exciting and turbulent time to be in college.” After graduation, Pieplow initially worked in Prince George’s County Public Schools as a junior high English teacher. However, her career took off, quite literally, in a different direction, when she became a flight attendant with Eastern Airlines in 1976. Drawn to the career field because of the opportunities to travel and take part in what she now considers the golden age of air travel, she thrived as a flight attendant. During her years in the skies, Pieplow kept her teaching certification current, just in case. When Eastern Airlines closed in 1991, she returned to the classroom. After briefly teaching writing, literature and communication courses at Howard Community College and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, she landed in Howard County Public Schools, starting at Clarksville Middle School in 1993.

Pieplow in her classroom.

A CHANCE TO LEARN AND FREEDOM TO TEACH As an eighth grade English teacher, she was keenly aware that her class would be her students’ last stop before high school. “A lot of people cringe at the idea of teaching middle school, but I like that age group,” Pieplow says, “I always tried to treat them like young adults, which they were, and worked on them being independent learners.” She found that students connected with “Romeo and Juliet.” “It’s a great play for kids—it’s about teenagers who make impulsive decisions,” she says. A Shakespeare fan since college, she felt the students needed to engage with the text in a theatrical medium. “Shakespeare is meant to be seen and heard. It’s not meant to be read,” she explains. In a tradition that would grow into a much-cherished staple of the Clarksville Middle School experience, students prepared scenes to perform. Initially, she guided this scene work on her own. However, she later reached out to Maryland Shakespeare Festival’s residency program, which provided actors to work with the students on their scenes for two weeks. Despite the success of the residencies each year, Pieplow noticed that while fight scenes often piqued student interest, the actors who worked with her classes were not always trained in stage combat. She remedied that by becoming trained herself. Taking courses at Towson University, she became certified in five different weapons—broadsword, single sword, knife, rapier and dagger—much to the amazement of her students. After Maryland Shakespeare Festival’s closure, Pieplow enlisted Chesapeake Shakespeare Company (CSC) to continue the annual residencies. She became a trustee on CSC’s board in 2012 and soon took on the work of promoting the company’s educational opportunities. Many schools throughout Howard County have brought CSC residencies into their classrooms as a result. In addition to her role with CSC, Pieplow remains active in the UMD community, serving on the College of Education’s Alumni Network Board since 2009. In this role, she helped create the Alumni Network’s signature event, Jump Start Your Teaching Career, which connects current students with active teachers and administrators in Maryland. Hers is a “Terp Family” that runs three generations deep, from her all-American Lacrosse player father, to her husband and fellow-teacher Jeff, to their two daughters, both Maryland graduates and cheerleaders. While her time in one classroom may be over, the journey that began in UMD classrooms continues. Even in retirement, Pieplow remains devoted to the cause of education … and to the University of Maryland.

A DONOR’S STORY BY SARA WHEELER COWAN ’69

hen I heard what happened to Brother Jon on the island of Jolo, I was already back in San Francisco. It was 1977, and I had capped off a summer of teaching in the Philippines by accompanying him to that stunningly beautiful island that was also the site of violent conflict. I was planning to teach a unit on the Philippines and its people to my fifth grade class in California, which included many children of Filipino descent. It is only thanks to the University of Maryland that I became a teacher. At my high school in a well-to-do suburb of Washington, D.C., no one thought I was “college material.” I Cowan with her students in San Francisco in 1984. had no money, no friends in school, no mentors. Classmates had begun shunning me when I was nine, after my father was arrested and imprisoned. After that, I retreated to books. I often read about strong women, like my mother, surviving and sometimes thriving in difficult times. I had wanted to be a teacher since the summer before second grade. I taught little neighborhood kids math, using sticks and acorns. They say teachers are born, and perhaps there’s some truth to that. Against long odds, in 1965, I entered the University of Maryland’s College of Education and graduated four years later with a bachelor’s degree in education and history, and a teaching certificate. I missed the graduation ceremony to catch a plane to California to begin a 40-year teaching career. Without a full scholarship from Maryland, I would not have attended college. That is why I have set up a scholarship fund to benefit College of Education students who want to teach.

...no one thought I was “college material.”

This excerpt has been edited for length and clarity.

MORE OF SARA WHEELER COWAN’S LIFE + READ STORY, INCLUDING WHAT HAPPENED ON JOLO, AT

https://education.umd.edu/alumni-giving/giving/donor-stories

ENDEAVORS 2023

ALUMNI

AWARDS

BRIAN BURT M.A. ’06 was awarded the Alumni

Outstanding Alumni Honored ANNUAL ALUMNI AWARDS RECOGNIZE SERVICE, IMPACT BY SOFIE PATERNITE ’25

The College of Education Alumni Network Board honors outstanding alumni for their professional or volunteer achievements. On September 27, four distinguished alumni were recognized at a reception for

Changemaker Award for his dedication to advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of education, specifically in STEM. As an associate professor and director of the Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, he studies the experiences of students of color in engineering. He is committed to mentoring students and engaging students and colleagues about diversity and inclusion.

AMANDA KNAPP PH.D. ’13 received the Alumni Student

Impact Award for her unwavering dedication to student success and achievement. Knapp, a first-generation college student, is associate vice provost and assistant dean of undergraduate academic affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Knapp is devoted to bridging the equity divide among students in higher education, a topic that she has spoken about widely and passionately.

MICHAEL J. MARTIRANO ’81, M.ED. ’85 ’92,

was honored with the Outstanding Alumni Award, which celebrates an alum who has demonstrated excellence through leadership and innovation. A three-time EdTerp, Martirano has served as superintendent of Howard County Public Schools since 2018. His work focuses on boosting student achievement and creating inclusive educational environments that increase equity and decrease opportunity gaps among students.

their work to increase student achievement and equity.

CLEMMIE SOLOMON PH.D. ’96 was named Alumni

Volunteer of the Year for his support for and involvement with the College of Education. Solomon launched the college’s annual Alumni of Color Celebration alongside Ebony Terrell Shockley Ph.D. ’12, clinical professor and associate dean for undergraduate studies and educator preparation, to honor and create community among alumni and staff of color and raise funds for student scholarships. He is also a board member on the college’s Board of Visitors. Solomon retired from Montgomery College, where he served as college-wide dean of student engagement and Takoma Park/Silver Spring student affairs.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

PHOTO: LNJ DESIGNS PHOTO

Martinez, Coates and Associate Dean Ebony Terrell Shockley.

Two Exemplary EdTerps Receive Coates Scholarships STUDENTS HONORED FOR THEIR SERVICE AND COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY BY SOFIE PATERNITE ’25

Two College of Education students were awarded the Elaine Johnson Coates ’59 Scholarship for their exceptional efforts to advance diversity and social justice. Amy Zhong ’23, M.Ed. ’24, and Paulina Martinez ’24 were recognized at the third annual Alumni of Color Celebration event on May 18, where attendees raised $16,000 to support the scholarship. Created in 2021 by Patricia Koskinen Ph.D. ’75 and John Koskinen, the meritbased scholarship is given to students who demonstrate a commitment to promoting racial diversity through service or activism, or who distinguish themselves through notable research. Johnson Coates, who earned a bachelor’s degree in education in 1959, was the first Black woman to receive an undergraduate degree from UMD.

Zhong graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and is now enrolled in the Master’s Certification Program (MCERT), specializing in secondary education and English. She has worked as a tutor at the UMD Writing Center and teaching assistant for both the Art Scholars Zhong program and Jiménez-Porter Writers’ House. In addition, she led a creative writing workshop that focused on how intersectionality affects the ways writers build character. Her goal is to teach high school English and examine, along with her students, how equity and diversity issues affect writing. “I will strive to make sure that my teaching practices reflect the spirit of the scholarship’s philosophy of racial advocacy,” Zhong says.

Martinez is a senior pursuing dual certification in elementary education and special education. She began her education leadership journey at the TranZed Academy, where she supported multilingual English learners who were simultaneously working and completing their senior year of high school. She has been involved with Montgomery College’s Social Justice Inclusivity Leadership Institute program, the Culturally Responsive Educators Aspiring for Teaching Excellence (CREATE) program and the Maryland Open-Source Textbook Initiative. Currently, she is president of UMD’s Native American and Indigenous Student Union. She plans to become a teacher and transform elementary social studies curriculum while advocating for social justice in the classroom. “I am passionate about helping historically marginalized students like students of color, students with disabilities and students of low-socioeconomic status,” Martinez says. Martinez adds that she acknowledges Johnson Coates as a role model. “I am more than honored to receive a scholarship in the name of Elaine Johnson Coates … who dealt with racism Martinez on and off campus,” she says. “Despite all these issues, she persisted and paved the way for African Americans, especially women in the education field.” Johnson Coates first became a student in the College of Education in 1955. She was one of seven Black students accepted into UMD that year. She devoted nearly four decades to serving as a teacher and social worker in Maryland before her retirement in 2006. ENDEAVORS 2023

ALUMNI

NEWS

CLASS NOTES

1960s

DARLA FISHBEIN STROUSE ’67, ED.D. ’04, received a grant from Sinai and Synapses and the Sir John Templeton Fund to have research scientists from Howard County, Maryland, present five science presentations with religious interpretations that connect ancient ideas discussed in the Old Testament and other Jewish texts to modern scientific discovery.

1970s

MAURICE DORSEY ’70, PH.D. ’83, was inducted into the Sigma Circle, Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Society, at UMD. JUDITH FREEMAN GAREY ’70 had her book “Theater, Drama and Reading: Transforming the Rehearsal Process into a Reading Process” published by National Council of Teachers of English.

1980s

ROCKY LOPES ’80 was elected to the UMD Alumni Association Board of Governors. MARY (CONRAD) SKOWRONSKI ’85 ’87 retired after 36 years of teaching English in Maryland serving Anne Arundel, Charles and Frederick counties. JAMES H. VANSCIVER ED.D. ’86 published his seventh book, “Beneath the Dome,” a 400-page collection of experiences from the 1950s through the 1970s of students attending a military college.

1990s

GLORIA APARICIO BLACKWELL ’92 received the UMD President’s Medal for her work with the Office of Community Engagement. GENA GLICKMAN PH.D. ’92 was re-elected as chair of the Board of Directors for the Commission on Higher Education Accreditation. ALICE MITCHELL PH.D. ’97 co-edited a special issue of the journal New Directions for Student Services on student affairs assessment practices to leverage equity. WILLIAM (BILL) PHALEN JR. ’94 is in his 30th year in education and first year as principal of Woodland Park Middle School in Woodland Park, Colorado.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

HEATHER RUETSCHLIN SCHUGAR ’01, M.S. ’05, PH.D. ’08, was named one of the 150 Most Influential Women at West Chester University of Pennsylvania where she is a professor of educational leadership and literacy and director of the doctoral programs in educational leadership and higher education administration. JOSH SCHNEIDER ’04 started The HockEYE Guy Foundation to provide transportation and lodging for blind hockey players. He co-hosts “The Dented Puck” podcast to highlight blind hockey players’ stories and co-created a hockey tournament called “The Windy City Showdown.”

MOLLYBETH JACOBS RUSHFIELD ’91 was named the inaugural recipient of the Avi West Jewish Education Award, which supports professional development for an exemplary Jewish educator in the Washington, D.C., area. ELIZABETH STUART WHITEHEAD ’98 received the Gilbert A. Clark and Enid Zimmerman Leadership and Advocacy Award during the 2023 National Art Education Association National Convention.

2000s

DARNELL BARNETT ’04 completed his doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction from Liberty University and now teaches virtually with Proximity Learning. CAROLYN MCNAMRA BARRY PH.D. ’01 received the Professional Achievement Alumni Award from her undergraduate alma mater, Ursinus College. This award recognizes an individual who has reached significant professional achievements through exemplary leadership.

RAMSEY JABAJI M.ED. ’07 has received UMD’s 2023 President’s Distinguished Service Award.

SEAN SIMONE PH.D. ’09 left his full-time position at Rutgers University to become branch chief of the Longitudinal Surveys Branch at the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of Education. MARY TRUMAN M.ED. ’04 was named 2023 Teacher of the Year by Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS). She teaches preschoolers with autism at Kenmoor Early Childhood Center and is a 22-year veteran PGCPS educator.

PHOTO COURTESY PGCPS

2010s

JAMIE ADASI M.ED. ’13 leads a global diversity, equity and inclusion team that has won numerous awards for culture and impact. BETH BARKLEY ’12, M.ED. ’13, was named Washington, D.C., Teacher of the Year. Barkley is an English Teacher for the Cardozo Education Campus International Academy. CARLOS BEATO ED.D. ’19 started Soy La Esperanza LLC, an educational consulting organization to support school teams in providing excellent services for multilingual learners.

PHOTO COURTESY JEOPARDY PRODUCTIONS, INC.

NIKLAS CONNOR BERRY ’13, M.ED. ’14, a social studies teacher at Oakland Mills High School in Howard County Public Schools, participated in “Jeopardy” in June and became a Jeopardy Champion. ROTUNDA FLOYD-COOPER ED.D. ’17 was selected as the new director of education leadership for the Wallace Foundation. ELIAS GONZALEZ ’17, M.ED. ’18, serves as curriculum innovation lead for Break Through Tech DC, where he is leading inclusive teaching efforts within the Department of Computer Science at UMD. DAMAN HARRIS PH.D. ’14 recently published a new book, “The Antiracist School Leader: What to Know, Say and Do.”

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COURTNEY HATTAN PH.D. ’18 joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as an assistant professor in the science of reading. HAYLEY HAYWOOD M.ED. ’11 was promoted to assistant provost for organizational learning at Clark University. She also launched Elevating Access, an organizational capacity-building firm supporting universities and employers in building equitable pathways to soul-filling work through identity-conscious coaching and consulting. JUSTIN K. ROBINSON M.ED. ’13 was appointed by Governor Wes Moore to serve on the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future Accountability and Implementation Board. MYRIAM (YARBROUGH) ROGERS ED.D. ’13 is superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools. ELLEN SLOBODNIK ’11, M.ED. ’12, is serving as an assistant principal in Prince William County, Virginia.

2020s

ALLISON CURTIN M.ED. ’21 received the Promising New Social Studies Teacher of the Year award from the Maryland Council for Social Studies. MARIA MCGEE M.ED. ’23 received the prestigious Knowles Teaching Fellowship award. McGee teaches at Quince Orchard High School in Montgomery County Public Schools. CANDACE QUANDER M.ED. ’22 was awarded a Fulbright award to Colombia for the 2023-2024 academic year. LEKHA TANTRY ’20, M.ED. ’21, was chosen as a member of the Desmos Fellows 2023 cohort, one of only 30 teachers selected from across the country. Tantry teaches at Capital City Public Charter School for the District of Columbia Public School System.

MICHELLE UDELI M.A. ’14 founded and launched the “College Auntie” social media platform to provide college students with tips and tricks to help them navigate college successfully. DARRYL WILLIAMS ED.D. ’11 was hired by Morgan State University as a professor of practice for the School of Education and Urban Studies program.

ENDEAVORS 2023

ALUMNI

NEWS

Meet the Alumni Network Board Members of the Alumni Network Board represent a diverse group of alumni who support the College of Education’s efforts to engage and connect alumni to the university and each other. PRESIDENT BARBARA FRIEDLANDER ’85, M.A. ’90 Coordinator of Special Projects, Frederick County Public Schools

VICE PRESIDENT MERI ROBINSON ’96, ED.D. ’16, Supervisor of Digital Learning, Prince George’s County Public Schools

TREASURER/ MEMBERSHIP CHAIR CANDICE LIETZKE ’98 Teacher, Kensington Parkwood Elementary School, Montgomery County Public Schools

BOARD MEMBERS PAST PRESIDENT LINDA PIEPLOW ’72, M.A. ’78 Retired Teacher

KRISTAN SKENDALL PH.D. ’12 Chief Operating Officer, Center for Expanding Leadership & Opportunity

TIKI AYIKU M.A. ’05 Vice President for Program and Events, The United States Green Building Council

SELVON WALDRON M.A. ’20 Executive Director, National Capital Region Genesys Works

JAIME BOWERS ED.D. ’24 Director of the Department of Testing, Research and Evaluation, Prince George’s County Public Schools

TIA WASHINGTON ’03 Learning and Achievement Specialist, Montgomery County Public Schools

JACOB GOLDBERG ’12 Data Coach, Laurel High School, Prince George’s County Public Schools

ELIZABETH STUART WHITEHEAD ’98 Visual Art Supervisor, Prince George’s County Public Schools

NICOLE LONG PH.D. ’12 Assistant Vice President, Student Experience and Belonging, University of Delaware

DARRYL WILLIAMS ED.D. ’11 Professor of Practice and Urban Studies, School of Education, Morgan State University

SECRETARY PATRICIA MYERS ’65 Retired Teacher

YOUR PASSIONS CAN LIVE ON Giving back is a Terp tradition. Extend your impact by giving through your estate plan in a way that supports your passions and shapes UMD’s future.

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Kurt Sudbrink College of Education ksudbrink@umd.edu giftplanning.umd.edu

UPCOMING COLLEGE OF EDUCATION EVENTS State of Maryland Education Virtual Session DECEMBER 5 A panel of guest speakers who are intimately familiar with the current state of education in Maryland will share news about newly passed laws governing public education as well as major updates on the implementation of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. go.umd.edu/stateofmded

EdTerps Edcamp JANUARY 11, 2024 It’s time to un-conference! Join fellow EdTerps in K-12 education from across the DMV as we dive into meaningful conversations about pedagogy, integrating technology in our classrooms, teaching best practices and anything else related to K-12 education. Edcamps feature organic, innovative conversations led by experts like you! go.umd.edu/edterpsedcamp

Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education Book Study Series JANUARY 17 & MARCH 13, 2024 Join the College of Education Alumni Network for an energizing book study that explores how educators can create equity-centered, trauma-informed learning environments. All UMD Alumni Association members will receive a copy of the book. go.umd.edu/ectiebookstudy

THE DATES Giving Day givingday.umd.edu

Terrapin EdTalks

APRIL 8, 2024 go.umd.edu/edtalks

Maryland Day

APRIL 27, 2024 marylandday.umd.edu

Alumni of Color Celebration

MAY 16, 2024 go.umd.edu/alumocc

Since 1948, thousands of children have benefited from the high-quality, inclusive early childhood education offered at the center. Additionally, the CYC facilitates early childhood research and offers UMD students opportunities for classroom observation and student teaching. As we celebrate 75 years of excellence in early childhood education and research, we invite you to join us with a generous gift to the CYC today. Your investment will help to ensure children continue to thrive at the CYC over the coming decades.

SAVE

MARCH 6, 2024

This year, the Center for Young Children (CYC) celebrates its 75th anniversary.

Do you have an idea for an event that EdTerps would love? Send your thoughts to EdTerpsAlumni@gmail.com

To learn more, scan the QR code or visit go.umd.edu/cycfund

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