Professor of Education Michael Kamen was an invited presenter, along with Retired Project WILD State Coordinator Kiki Corry and Leander ISD Elementary Science Coordinator Jennifer Kaszuba, to lead “Hike Through the Guide” for the first of the WILD Webinar series, a professional development webinar for Project WILD facilitators.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol had her essay, “Disrupting epistemology and coalescing community: Disability activism on social media,” published in the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. Trends in critical disability studies have taken issue with the absence of representations of disability beyond images of heroism or charity cases. In addition, an absence of representation in cinema and literature reinforces an existing bias that individuals with disabilities are uninteresting and have less value than nondisabled people (Beckett et al.; Hodkinson). The article explores the frontier of disability activism on social media as a space where new onto/epistemologies grapple among existing biases of disability. The article is available here.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz published the manuscript “Solidarity in labor organizing: The alliance between the Black Panther Party and the United Farm Workers,” in the Black History Bulletin (BHB), volume 87, issue 2. The manuscript examines the collaborations between the Black Panther Party and the United Farm Workers in the 1960s and 1970s and includes a project-based lesson on solidarity in labor organizing for a high school U.S. History course. This manuscript is part of a special issue on African Americans and Labor.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz attended the International Migration Research Network (IMISCOE) annual conference in Lisbon, Portugal in July. She presented, with Melina Bountris ’22, “Culturally responsive instructional strategies for immigrant-origin youth in Austria,” based on research conducted while Melina was completing a Fulbright Teaching Assistantship in Austria. She also presented, with Zehra Çolak of Utrecht University, “Co-constructing a pedagogy of radical belonging: Pláticas on teaching for social justice,” which is based on a chapter that has been accepted to be published in the Handbook of Social Justice in Education. In addition, Dr. Sáenz Ortiz co-led a workshop, titled “Towards decolonial futurities: On reimagining the university,” along with Zehra Çolak of Utrecht University, Zakia Essanhaji of VU Amsterdam, Dounia Bourabain of Hasselt University, and Leila Mouhib of Université libre de Bruxelles and Université de Mons.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz published the manuscript “Radical Love: Liberatory Pedagogical Praxis for Black and Latinx Youth in an Alternative School,” in the International Journal of Learner Diversity and Identities. The manuscript highlights a case study conducted by Dr. Sáenz Ortiz in an alternative school in the northeastern United States where most students were Afro-Caribbean. The article is available here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and his Faculty-Student-Project student, Sydney Jackson ’27, virtually presented a poster, titled “Successful Play-Based Programs: Case Studies,” at the International Society of Cultural-historical Activity Research Conference 2024: Inclusiveness as a Future Challenge, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. They reported on their analysis of twenty interviews with teachers, parents, and administrators from three play-based programs in New York City, Oxford, UK, and Billund, Denmark.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen is one of seven co-authors of the recently published chapter “Teacher Educators’ Perspectives, Beliefs, and Practices,” in the book Re-Exploring Play and Playfulness in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Narratives, Reflections, and Practices. His section is titled “Playing to Learn and Teaching with Play in a Science Methods Course at Southwestern University.” The book can be found here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen, Retired Project WILD State Coordinator Kiki Corry, and Leander ISD Elementary STEM Coordinator and Project WILD Facilitator Mark Corry presented “Polishing the GEMS: Improving PD through Lesson Study” at the 2024 Coordinator Tri-Conference and Training for Project WILD, WET, and Learning Tree state coordinators and facilitators. Kamen and Corry were also invited facilitators for state coordinators observing and collecting observation data on combined WILD, WET, Learning Tree at a pre-conference workshop for local educators.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “There Are No Word Problems in Real Life–To Keyword or Not to Keyword” in the Summer 2024 newsletter of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education. Their quarterly column tells the ongoing story of the fictional character, Ian Quiry, as he studies and struggles to learn how to be an effective elementary school STEM teacher. The newsletter can be read here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Assistant Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published a chapter titled “Slide Rules: To the Moon and Back” in Collaboration to Advance Science & Mathematics Education: Panamá City, Panamá, published by the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education. The publication can be read here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen was elected to the position of second vice president (becoming the first vice president and president over the following two years) of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP). He will serve as conference chair for the 2026 TASP conference. TASP is the premier professional organization in academia dedicated to interdisciplinary research and theory construction concerning play throughout the world since 1973. The Association’s broad multidisciplinary focus includes the fields of anthropology, biology, communication studies, cultural studies, dance, ecology, education, ethnology, folklore, history, kinesiology, leisure studies, musicology, philosophy, psychology, recreation, sociology, and the arts.

Graduating senior education major Leora Ammerman ’24 has earned selection for the prestigious and nationally competitive Fulbright U.S. Student Program fellowship, to serve as an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Spain for 2024-2025. Leora will be able to leverage the elementary and special education certifications she’s earning at SU to be a highly prepared ETA. Congratulations to Leora and her faculty champions!

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Assistant Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “It’s Done with Mirrors” in the Winter 2024 newsletter of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education. Their quarterly column tells the ongoing story of the fictional character, Ian Quiry, as he studies and struggles to learn how to be an effective elementary school STEM teacher.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore, Visiting Professor of Education Deborah Shepherd, and Rebecca M. Giles (University of South Alabama) published the article, “Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Create Inclusive Literacy,’” in English in Texas: A Journal of the Texas Council of Teachers of English Language Arts. The essay highlights the importance of “mirror” texts for young children, which allow students to see their identities highlighted through books and analysis.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented a roundtable session, “Polishing the Gems, Professional Development for Project WILD facilitators Through Lesson Study,” at the Association for Science Teacher Education in New Orleans annual conference. He discussed the results of a pilot project he conducted with Kiki Corry, former Project WILD coordinator for the state of Texas.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Assistant Professor Debra Plowman (A&M -Corpus Christi) published “Solving Word Problems with Understanding” in the Fall 2023 newsletter of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education. Their quarterly column tells the ongoing story of the fictional character, Ian Quiry, as he studies and struggles to learn how to be an effective elementary school STEM teacher.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education majors Hailey Arrington ’25, Alexiz Quintanilla ’25, and Terri Ray ’25, presented “Hands-on Science Lessons Presented by Preservice Teachers” at the Science Teachers Association of Texas annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Houston, Texas.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz, along with Rebecca Ramirez ’24 and Aminadab Corral Arras ’24, presented a paper titled “Towards a LatCrit Youth Program Evaluation: Tensions and New Directions” at the annual Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA) conference in Chicago on October 26-27. This paper emerged from FSP research conducted in the summer of 2023 to evaluate an after-school music program in Santa Fe, NM.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Assistant Professor Debra Plowman (A&M -Corpus Christi) had their column, “Learning to Teach Math and Science: Thoughts from an Emerging Elementary Teacher,” accepted as an ongoing column in the quarterly newsletter of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education. It tells the ongoing story of fictional character, Ian Quiry, as he studies and struggles to learn how to be an effective elementary school STEM teacher. The first column is published in the Summer 2023 newsletter.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz attended and presented her research at the International Migration Research Network (IMISCOE) annual conference at the University of Warsaw in Poland. The conference took place from July 3-5 this year. Sáenz Ortiz presented a paper titled “Ethnic Studies and the fight for educational equity for immigrant-origin youth in an era of censorship in the United States,” focusing on the impact of censorship legislation in Texas, on a panel about institutions, educational opportunities and in/exclusion in an international context.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore has been invited to serve on the College of Education Advisory Council based on her expertise and commitment to positively impact their education program. Dr. Moore has humbly accepted.

Associate Professor and Chair of the Education Department Alicia Moore and Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented “New Kids in the Blocks: Pedagogical Models of Play for Social Justice” at The Association for the Study of Play annual conference. In addition, Kamen was an invited panelist for the roundtable session “Playful Pedagogies in Early Childhood Teacher Education: Building a Playful ECE Workforce” and presented a research session, “Successful Play-Based Programs,” reporting on his current research.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz delivered a paper at the Annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting in Chicago, April 13-16. Her paper, “‘Separate but equal?’: Interest convergence in an era of censorship in K-12 Ethnic Studies,” examines the impact of censorship legislation (Senate Bill 3) on high school Ethnic Studies (Mexican American Studies and African American Studies) in Texas.

Allison Hentges ’24 and Education Professor Michael Kamen presented “The Reasons for Seasons” (Allison’s King Creativity project), and Kamen and Assistant Professor Debra Plowman (A&M Corpus Christi) presented “Slide Rules: to the Moon and Back” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education in Panama City, Panama.

Professor of Biochemistry and Garey Chair of Chemistry Maha Zewail-Foote, Cargill Endowed Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore, and Professor of Political Science Alisa Gaunder co-presented a virtual session for the Association for American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) 2023 Conference on Diversity, Equity and Student Success. The mission of the AAC&U conference was to explore the complexities of truth within higher education while examining institutional structures and beliefs that impede diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. The presentation, titled “Cross-Institutional CONNECTions: Mentorship, Truth, Belonging, and Retention,” provided an overview of Southwestern’s ACS-funded FOC CONNECT project, which seeks to dismantle barriers to success experienced by early-career faculty of color (FOC) in the academy. The project supports a cross-institutional faculty mentoring program that connects these scholars with senior faculty of color from other ACS institutions.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen has been elected to the Board of Directors of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP).

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education majors Leora Ammerman ’24, Logan Ferguson ’24, Caitlynne Graves ’24, Allison Hentges ’24, Kristin Lacy ’24, Rebecca Ramirez ’24, and William Slanina-Wertz ’24 presented “A Potpourri of Hands-on, Minds-on Lessons and Activities” at the Science Teachers Association of Texas annual Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in Dallas.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and two current students (co-researchers from SCOPE)— Rebecca Ramirez ’24 and Laura Carrasco Torres ’24— presented “Curricular imperialism: The impact of ‘anti-CRT’ legislation on Ethnic Studies classrooms in Texas” at the Critical Race Studies in Education Association (CRSEA) Annual Meeting, held October 26-28 in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor and Chair of Education Alicia Moore presented “New Kids in the Blocks: Pedagogical Models of Play for Social Justice” at the International Play Association-USA Annual Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore and Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Lamiyah Bahrainwala were invited to speak on a parent-education panel for Child’s Day, a child development center in Austin, on the topic of talking to children about race. The well-attended panel, which featured K–12 educators and organizers, continued Moore’s and Bahrainwala’s public-education efforts on inclusion work.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Maha Zewail-Foote were awarded a grant from the Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) to create a unique virtual cross-institutional faculty mentoring program for early-career faculty of color (FOC) called FOC CONNECT. The program will connect early-career faculty of color with senior faculty from other ACS institutions. Through this program, early-career faculty of color will receive mentorship and support. The program will also provide training for selected senior faculty mentors.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented “Bottom Up Professional Development for WILD Facilitators with the Lesson Study Model” at the virtual 2022 Texas Project WILD Facilitator Forum, held July 21–22 through the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz led a workshop titled “Forum Theatre as a Community Tool in Shaping Liberatory Educators” at the 2022 International Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, held May 26–29 in Chicago.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Tugce Arda Tuncdemir of Lock Haven University presented a workshop titled “Performance, Play, and Script Writing in College Classes for Preservice Teachers” at the Association for the Study of Play Online Conference.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz presented a paper titled “Reimagining Spaces of Learning for Youth of Color: A Model of Emancipatory Pedagogy” at the 2022 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, held April 21–26 in San Diego, California. The paper is a case study of an alternative school in the Northeast that roots itself in culturally sustaining models of teaching.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz presented the paper “Culture and Schooling: Supporting Academic Identities through Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies for Immigrant-origin Youth” at the 2022 International Conference on Education and Migration, held virtually and in person in Porto, Portugal, on March 10.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented a roundtable session titled “Slide Rules—to the Moon and Back” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education 2022 Virtual Conference held March 12.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education alumna Morelia Hernandez ’21 presented the poster “Scriptwriting and Performance as Reflective Process” at the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Commons Conference held February 23–25 in Savannah, Georgia. The poster’s third author, Alys Mendus of the University of Melbourne, was able to join virtually for part of the session.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen wrote the foreword in Searching for the Ideal School around the World: School Tourism and Performative Autoethnographic-Weby Alys Mendus (Brill).

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the following awards:

• 2021 Teaching Awards
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of Business Gabriela Flores
• Visiting, part-time, and staff with faculty rank: Director of General Chemistry Labs Willis Weigand
• 2021 Jesse E. Purdy Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Works Award
• Tenured: Associate Professor of Communication Studies Bob Bednar
• Tenure-track: Assistant Professor of History Joseph Hower
• 2021 Excellence in Advising Award
  • Professor of Spanish Laura Senio Blair

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Alys Mendus, instructor at the University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education, presented “That Could Work in My Class! Adapting STEM Pedagogy from Non-Traditional Approaches” at a roundtable session at the 2021 Virtual Conference of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and junior education majors Antonia Renfroe ’22 and Gracie Huber ’22 presented “Well, I Guess I Am Teaching Remotely: Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Online Elementary Science Methods Course” at a roundtable session at the 2021 Virtual Conference of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore was recently selected as a faculty success program coach for the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. The Faculty Success Program is an online program designed to teach tenure-track and tenured faculty the skills needed to increase both their research and writing productivity while maintaining a healthy work–life balance. As a trained faculty coach, she is charged with providing personalized support to the diverse group of participants.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen  coauthored a chapter in the textbook Affective Movements, Methods, and Pedagogies  (Routledge, ebook 2020, print 2021) along with Alys Mendus (first author) of the University of Hull, U.K. ; New York City–based playwright Adaire Kamen’ and SU alumni Sarah Buchanan  ’20, Abigail Luna  ’20, Abigail Earle Downs  ’ 19, and Kelli McLaughlin  ’ 18. The chapter—titled “They Call Teachers by Their First Names!”—is an ethnodrama of preservice teachers visiting innovative schools. 

Professor of Anthropology Mel Johnson, Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore , and Professor of Philosophy Phil Hopkins  were panelists for the Georgetown Public Library event “Confronting Racism: A Community Conversation.” The event offered three sessions centered around three selected texts aimed at children, young adults, and adults. Moore participated in the panel discussing New Kid by Jerry Craft, a graphic novel about the struggle to fit in with a world that doesn’t look like you. Hopkins participated in the panel discussing The Hate U Give  by Angie Thomas, which details the impact of police violence on communities of color. Johnson participated in the panel on Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist,  a best-selling book on how to fight racism and inequality.

Cargill Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore and Margarett Root Brown Chair in Fine Arts and Professor of Music Michael Cooper collaborated with pianist Lara Downes to produce a crowdsourced recitation of the Civil Rights “Credo” of W. E. B. Du Bois for the podcast We Need Gentle Truths for Now, hosted by Alexandra Juhasz. Seven SU faculty and staff (Part-Time Instructor of Applied Music Adrienne Inglis, Associate Professor of Music Jason Hoogerhyde, Professor of Music Kiyoshi Tamagawa, Professor of Music Lois Ferrari, Sarofim School of Fine Arts Coordinator Olivia Wise, Assistant Dean for Student Multicultural Affairs Terri Johnson, and Associate Professor of Communication Studies Valerie Renegar), three current students (Alexis Lemus ’22, Grace Sexton ’22, and Shelby Avants ’21), and six alumnae (Erin McHugh ’09, Isabel Tweraser ’19, Julia Fowler ’15, Katiebeth Brandt ’19, Kinley Johnson ’17, and Sara Watson ’13) participated in the recitation, along with 25 other participants Black and white, ages 5 to 81, from the Americas and Europe, representing four native languages. The podcast is available here. The recitation is also available as a YouTube video titled “Testimony: A #BlackLivesMatter Manifesto after the Credo of W.E.B. Du Bois,” here.

A coauthored chapter by Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education majors Abigail Luna ’20 and Sarah Buchanan ’20, “Block Play and a Pedagogical Model for Playful STEM Learning,” has been accepted for publication in Bloom, M. B. & Quebec Fuentes, S. (Eds.), Advancing Science and Mathematics Education for a Sustainable Future. In addition, this chapter has also been posted as this month’s featured research article for discussion in the Reading Group on Playfutures. PlayFutures, initiated by the Lego Foundation, is an online global community of researchers, practitioners, parents and influencers/policymakers who strive towards expanding the opportunities for learning through play.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Project WILD Coordinator (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) Kiki Corry presented a preprogram workshop session titled “Project WILD Facilitator Training” at the Association for Science Teacher Education 2020 international conference in San Antonio, TX.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and senior education majors Abigail Luna’20 and Sarah Buchanan’20 presented their research, “Pedagogical Model and Strategies for Playful Learning in Science,” at the Association for Science Teacher Education 2020 international conference in San Antonio, TX.