UW-Madison School of Education Online News - April 2009

Welcome to the UW–Madison School of Education Online News, a monthly update on School and campus news and resources. 

Live from the Education Building! . . . Extreme Makeover Begins

The project to renovate the Education Building is now making visible progress.  To clear the way for the new East Wing and Commons area, sections of the building facing Observatory Drive were taken down in early March.  Photos of those changes and interior alterations are available online, along with live-action shots provided by a webcam installed on the roof of the Helen C. White Library. Completion is scheduled for summer of 2010.
Get links to webcam and photos

School’s Scholars Prepare for AERA Convention: April 13-17

More than 170 faculty, staff and graduate students will present at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference in San Diego, giving the School of Education a major presence at this premiere event.  A booklet (PDF) listing UW presentations is available on the School’s Alumni Events webpage, as well as details about the School’s not-to-be-missed AERA alumni reception on April 15.
Read more

Art Lofts Facility Makes its Debut: May 5-9

Alumni and friends are invited to celebrate the opening of the Art Lofts during the week of May 5-9.  Formerly a university warehouse, the facility now houses the glass lab, metal sculpture foundry, ceramics and papermaking areas, studio spaces for more than 60 faculty and graduate students, and public places for the display of student and faculty artwork.  Art alumni Marvin Lipofsky and David Dahlquist, along with Emeritus Professor Don Reitz, will give demonstrations and talks during the week.  On May 6, the facility will be open for tours, presentations, and a 5:00 p.m. public ribbon-cutting ceremony, with Acting Dean Adam Gamoran, Acting Provost Julie Underwood, and Chancellor Biddy Martin scheduled to attend.
Get the details

Library Offers Useful Resources for Physical Education Teachers

MERIT library’s LibGuides provide a multitude of resources for PK-12 educators.  The guides are organized by subject – history, life sciences, social sciences, etc. – and provide web links to journal articles, news, lesson plans, video and audio clips, and much more. MERIT (Media Education Resources and Information Technology) is in the process of enhancing all of its LibGuides, recently completing the guide for physical education teachers.
Check it out

Researcher Studies How Science Teachers Enact the Curriculum

Research by Sadhana Puntambekar, associate professor of educational psychology, has helped to pinpoint how science teachers can facilitate student inquiry.  Working with middle school teachers, Puntambekar explored how they can help students learn to ask a scientific question, pursue that question through a series of activities, and make sense of all the information available to them.  Her research is supported by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Read more

Educators Discuss Federal Education Policy Pros and Cons

Sara Goldrick-Rab, assistant professor of educational policy studies, notes many positives in the Obama administration’s education policies, including increasing the Pell Grant and reducing dependence on student loans.  Yet she points out that $54 billion of the $100 billion earmarked for new education funding will be absorbed in order to keep schools open in communities where the property tax base has been ravaged by the housing crisis.  Goldrick-Rab’s comments were part of a March 5 panel discussion sponsored by the UW Institute for Research on Poverty – its online brief, Fast Focus, summarizes the discussion.
Read the brief

Visiting Artist Arthur Ganson Draws out the Machinist in Students

The Art Department's woodworking studio felt more like an R&D shop for an Alexander Caulder installation than a woodshop early this April.  Metal wire refuse littered the floors and tables, where art students focused intently on small wire "machines" inspired by artist-in-residence Arthur Ganson, famous for his kinetic sculptures made of metal, found objects and other miscellaneous materials.  During his week-long residency, Ganson gave a public lecture, toured graduate student studios, taught, gave critiques and demonstrations, and orchestrated a collaborative art project.
Read more and view a video

Kinesiology Professor Featured on Wisconsin Public Radio

Assistant Professor Andrea Mason discussed her research on sensory feedback during a March 31 interview on Milwaukee Public Radio’s Lake Effect show.  Mason’s research is part of a vision study being conducted at the UW Eye Research Institute.  The interview can be accessed via the Kinesiology Department’s website.
Check out the website

School Honors Outstanding Faculty and Staff

The national reputation of the UW-Madison School of Education is due, in large part, to the dedication and talent of its faculty and staff.  Every year the School recognizes the most outstanding members of its family with Distinguished Achievement Awards.  Congratulations to the recipients of the 2009 awards: Lisa Armstrong, Martha Fisher, Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Joyce Hemphill, Catherine Loeb, Ann Ward and Jin-Wen Yu.
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Alumna Receives WAA’s Forward Under 40 Award

Kudos to Genella Taylor Stubrud, assistant professor and director of STEM and Diversity Initiatives at UW-River Falls, who has received one of the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s (WAA) Forward Under 40 Awards.  Stubrud has created a program that encourages historically underrepresented students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) – especially as educators.  She received a Ph.D. from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2007.
Read her story

Line Breaks Festival: April 21-25

The third annual Line Breaks Festival will feature performers from around the country and showcase new works from UW-Madison’s First Wave performing arts program, the first university program in the country centered around HipHop theater and Spoken Word poetry. 
Get the details

Dance Program’s Spring Concert: April 23-25

Choreography by guest artist in residence, Scott Wells, headlines this year’s concert along with a variety of new works by Dance Program artists Kate Corby, Maureen Janson Heintz, Li Chiao-Ping, Karen McShane-Hellenbrand, and Chris Walker.  Ticket information is available online.
Get the details

Calendar of Events

The April calendar features lots of lectures to keep those little gray cells working: “Identifying Student Pathways to and through College” (4/7), “China’s Higher Education Returns to the World Community” (4/20), “Integrating Technical and Academic Learning in High Schools” (4/22), and “Equity Issues in Mathematics and Science Education” (4/28), to name but a few.  The month also is rich with presentations by visiting artists, including Jamie Bennett (4/14), Scott Wells (4/17), and Jake Black (4/21).
Get info about these and many other events

Kudos to Education Faculty & Staff

• Daniel Bolt (professor, educational psychology) has received a UW-Madison Distinguished Teaching Award.
• Geoffrey Borman (professor, educational leadership & policy analysis) has been accepted as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association.
• Eric Camburn (assistant professor, educational leadership & policy analysis) has received the W.G. Walker Outstanding Paper Award from the Journal of Educational Administration for a co-authored paper, “School Context and Individual Characteristics: What Influences Principal Practice?”  The Journal’s Outstanding Edition Award for 2008 featured another co-authored paper by Camburn.
• Peggy Choy (lecturer, dance) has been named one of the 2009 UW-Madison Outstanding Women of Color.
• Peter Hewson (professor, curriculum & instruction) received the 2009 Distinguished Contribution through Research Award from the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.
• The work of John Hitchcock (associate professor, art) is featured in a new book, Installations and Experimental Printmaking, by Alexia Tala.
• Tom Jones (assistant professor, art), in collaboration with Nancy Mithlo and Andrea Carlson, has received one of four 2009 Expressive Arts awards from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
• Tom Kratochwill (professor, educational psychology) has received the UW Van Hise Outreach Distinguished Teaching Award.
• Julia McGivern (professor, educational psychology) has received the UW Chancellor’s Hilldale Award for Excellence in Teaching.

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