UW-Madison School of Education Online News - September 2008
Welcome to the UW–Madison School of Education Online News, a monthly update on School and campus news and resources. Each news headline links to a fuller story or to more detailed information.
Spirit and generosity marked UW Day at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 6, when the fairgrounds were saturated with red and white. Not only did fairgoers enjoy Bucky, the sounds of the UW Marching Band and numerous exhibits, they also had an opportunity to do good deeds by contributing school supplies for children who need them in the Milwaukee Public Schools. Organized by the School of Education and staffed by Ed School and other UW volunteers, the supplies drive collected more than 50 bags (at about 50 gallons per bag!) of cool school stuff.
Art professor Michael Connors finds that constructive criticism comes more freely and is accepted more readily among students using Critique_It. Connors recently designed and trademarked this Internet-based virtual world, in which students create “avatars,” or three-dimensional representations of themselves. The program allows students to upload images at each stage of their art-making, and to receive advice, criticism and praise from their instructors and peers in a reflective environment.
 During her Peace Corps experience a few years ago, Anne Riordan fell in love with a place where winters last nine months and temperatures plummet to 40 degrees below zero. Since then, Riordan has dreamed of returning to Mongolia. She found her chance in 2007 when a Fulbright Fellowship enabled her to go back to the central Asia country to complete research for her master’s degree in special education at UW-Madison.
A national coalition of two dozen multiracial school districts is identifying practices and strategies that show promise in alleviating disparities in student achievement. Now based at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, the Minority Student Achievement Network is focusing its research and development on four areas: mathematics, literacy, teacher-student relationships, and conversations about race. Get a sneak preview of the fall-issue Campus Connections article that describes the work of this important coalition.
Committed to sharing its research, the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) offers free downloadable publications on its New Materials website. Among the choices are “CPRE’s School Finance Research: Fifteen Years of Findings” and “Rewarding Teacher Excellence.” Also available for downloading is the latest book by teacher compensation experts Allan Odden and Marc Wallace, How to Create World Class Teacher Compensation.
You don’t need to be a kinesiology graduate to appreciate the department’s most recent newsletter. A feature article on retiring professor Jo-Anne Lazarus details her ongoing research on Parkinson’s disease, as well as her own battle with the ailment. Also featured are faculty research on hand-eye coordination that may assist in rehabilitation of stroke survivors and student research on an oat compound that has the potential to improve cardiovascular health. The newsletter is available online as a PDF file. (Under Newsletters, select Spring 2008 “On the Move.”)
Reservations for the School of Education’s Homecoming Tailgate are allotted on a first-requested, first-served basis, so you’ll need to act soon if you want to join the party! The tailgate buffet will run from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. on October 25, with game kickoff set for 11:00 a.m. – Wisconsin vs. Illinois. Cost of tailgate buffet and game ticket: $70/adult; $56/child. Buffet only: $25/adult; $15/child. Reservations and payment may be made online or by snail mail. Details are on the Homecoming website (linked via this news story headline).
Do you know an outstanding teacher, counselor, school administrator, or other education professional? If you do, and if the person is a UW-Madison School of Education graduate in elementary or secondary education, consider nominating him or her for a Nemec or Heideman Education Alumni Award. Guidelines and a nomination form are available online.
Dr. Carolyn Baum, former president of the American Occupational Therapy Association, will deliver this year’s Thompson Memorial Lecture, “Let’s Focus on Performance,” at the Waisman Center. The event is sponsored by the Occupational Therapy Program and begins with a reception at 5:00 p.m., followed by student research poster presentations at 5:30, and the lecture at 6:00. Reservations are requested (608-262-2936).
The Art Department’s Tuesday afternoon public lecture series, dance performances, WISCAPE public lectures on higher education, the annual spoken word series, the assistive technology expo, the Safrit lecture in kinesiology – details about all these and more can be found on the School’s web calendar.
Finding appropriate educational resources online can be overwhelming. Who has the time to sift through the thousands of search results on Google, let alone evaluate them for quality or alignment with standards? With its access to free online lesson plans, multimedia, games and other content, Thinkfinity takes a step toward addressing this problem and is a boon to teachers and parents alike.
KUDOS TO FACULTY & STAFF
- Michael Apple (John Bascom Professor of Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Policy Studies) has been named World Scholar and Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the Institute of Education, University of London.
- Congratulations to the School’s newly tenured faculty: Ruth Benedict (Occupational Therapy), Richard Halverson (Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Educational Psychology), Paul Sacaridiz (Art), and Kurt Squire (Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Psychology)
- An article co-written by Geoffrey Borman (Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis and Educational Psychology) received the 2008 Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award from the American Educational Research Association.
- Clif Conrad (Professor, Education Leadership & Policy Analysis) received the first Teacher of the Year Award given by ELPA graduate students.
- Amy Ellis (Asst. Professor, Curriculum & Instruction), Chuck Kalish (Professor, Educational Psychology) and Eric Knuth (Assoc. Professor, Curriculum & Instruction) have been awarded a three-year $741,938 grant from the National Science Foundation entitled “Understanding and Cultivating the Connections between Students’ Natural Ways of Reasoning and Mathematical Ways of Reasoning.” Ellis also received an Early Career Publication Award from the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group in Mathemathics Education.
- Colette Hershey (Circulation Supervisor, Center for Instructional Materials & Computing) received a UW-Madison Library Staff Service Award.
- Diana Hess (Assoc. Professor, Curriculum & Instruction and Wisconsin Center for Education Research) has received the Association of Educational Publishers award for the best article in the learned category published in an educational periodical during 2007.
- Jerlando Jackson (Assoc. Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis) received the first Mentoring Award given by ELPA graduate students.
- David Kaplan (Professor, Educational Psychology) received a Vilas Associates Award for 2008-10 for his project, “Extending Modern Concepts of Causal Inference to Educational Research.”
- Gloria Ladson-Billings (Kellner Family Professor in Urban Education, Curriculum & Instruction) was awarded the Teachers College-Columbia University Distinguished Service Award in May 2008. She also has been honored with the Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Chair at Iowa State University for the 2008-09 year.
- Ruth Landes (University Services Associate I, Educational Psychology) received the campus-wide Frontline Award from the Student Personnel Association.
- Karen O’Connell (University Services Associate I, Educational Psychology) received the campus-wide Classified Employee Recognition Award.
- Jessica Sackett (Senior Outreach Specialist, Center on Education & Work) received the Certificate of Distinction from the Association of Computer-Based Systems for Career Information.
- William Schrage Asst. Professor, Kinesiology) is one of fourteen early-career scientists to receive a 2008 American Federation for Aging Research Grant.
- Bruce Wampold (Professor, Counseling Psychology) recently was recognized by Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association with the 2008 Distinguished Psychologist Award and the 2008 Outstanding Research Award (with Scott Baldwin and Zac Imel). Wampold also received the Society of Counseling Psychology’s Section for the Promotion of Psychotherapy Science Lifetime Achievement Award.
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