Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and F. Zehra Çolak of Utrecht University published a chapter titled “Co-constructing a pedagogy of radical belonging: plática~testimonio as a methodology in teaching for social justice” in The Handbook of Social Justice in Education. The chapter highlights methods for supporting student teachers in building an educational philosophy that centers social justice.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol and Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi released the premiere episode of season two of the Ms. Behaving in Literacy podcast. This episode features the creative team behind “Cosmic Comics,” the first comic style series of decodable texts out of New Zealand, with special guests Rachel and Grace Walker, the publishers of Flying Start Books, and author John Lockyear. This episode features methods for creating decodable texts that delight young children. The podcast can be viewed here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Thinking in 3D” in the summer 2026 newsletter of the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education (ICRSME). 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 summer column can be read here, starting on page 11 of the newsletter. This issue also has a call for STEM education proposals for ICRSME XVIII in Lima, Peru, in March.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz presented “A Model of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy for Roma Youth in Spain” with Alba Salázar Jiménez of the University of Seville at the International Migration Research Network Annual Conference in Girona, Spain, held June 29–July 2. Sáenz Ortiz also co-led the workshop “Anti-racist and Anti-colonial Organizing in Global North Higher Education” with Zehra Çolak of Utrecht University.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen was an invited speaker at the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s biannual Project WILD Facilitator Forum at Bastrop State Park, where he presented “Playing WILD: The Power of Play and Play Organizations.” Professor of Education Alicia Moore and Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol contributed content on trauma-informed play to the presentation.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol was recently appointed as executive secretary of Specialized Literacy Professionals, a national organization founded in 1988 by Dr. Jack Cassidy. The organization was established to support the unique needs of literacy educators through practical research that is responsive to those needs.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Playful Mathematics: Choice, Joy, and Wonder” in the peer-reviewed book Collaboration to Advance Science & Mathematics Education: Valladolid, Yucatán, México, published by the International Consortium for Research in Science & Mathematics Education. The book may be viewed here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education major Sydney Jackson ’27 published “STEM and Successful Play-based Programs” in the peer-reviewed book Collaboration to Advance Science & Mathematics Education: Valladolid, Yucatán, México, published by the International Consortium for Research in Science & Mathematics Education. The book may be viewed here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “STEM: Juggling Math and Science” in the Spring 2026 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 column can be read here, starting on page five of the newsletter.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol and Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi interviewed Steve Graham of Arizona State University on the fifth episode of their podcast Ms. Behaving in Literacy. Dr. Graham is considered one of the leading researchers on writing instructional methods. He graciously shared his insights on current issues in writing instruction, and future directions for research on teaching composition. The podcast can be viewed here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented “STEM and Successful Play-based Programs” at the 2026 Annual International Conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching in Seattle. The presentation was co-authored by elementary education major Sydney Jackson ’27.

Members of the Education Department attended and presented at the American Educational Research Association, held in Los Angeles, CA from April 8–12. Assistant Professor of Education Alexandrea Melgoza gave a talk titled “Agents of New Knowledge: A Transcendental Phenomenology of BIPOC Mothers Traversing Texas’ Special Education.” Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and education and Spanish double major Ximena Ling Uribe ’28 presented research from a 2025 SURF project, titled “Towards a model of culturally sustaining pedagogy for Roma youth.”

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol and her co-author, Dr. Tye Martin, Ph.D. of the University of New Mexico Albuquerque, presented a study titled “Didn’t We Almost Have It All: Disability, Technicism, Resistance and Internalized Ableism in Higher Education” at the annual Pop Culture Association conference in Atlanta, GA. They presented their autoethnographic research on navigating doctoral programs and disability services. Tye, who has muscular dystrophy, and Marilyn, who is the primary caregiver to her daughter who has a life-threatening rare disease, detailed their experiences in Ph.D. programs in the face of “normalcy” and social conditions that create barriers to access.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen, along with Professor Emerita of Teaching and Learning at New York University Pamela Abder, Adjunct Professor of Physical Sciences at Suffolk County Community College Nina Leonhardt, Professor Emerita at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education Bonnie Shapiro, and Faculty Member at Paderborn University Gabriela Jonas-Ahrend, presented “Hopeful Strategies to Address Challenges Currently Facing Teacher Preparation Programs: International Perspectives” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education (ICRSME) 2026 Virtual Conference.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman, presented “Ian Inquiry Speaks: Fictional Stories to Support Preservice Teachers in Math and Science” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education (ICRSME) 2026 Virtual Conference.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Dramatic Science” in the Winter 2026 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 column can be read here, starting on page seven of the newsletter.

Professor of Education Alicia Moore, Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol, and Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented “Healing Through Play, Stories, and Literature: Supporting Children’s Grief, Loss, and Resilience in Early Childhood Classrooms” at the 2026 Live and On-Demand Conference of the International Play Association (IPA-USA).

Duncan Chair and Professor of Mathematics Fumiko Futamura, along with her collaborator, artist Jiabao Li, gave a talk at The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) 52nd annual conference, organized by Professor of Education Michael Kamen and held at Southwestern University. The talk, titled “Math/Art Collaboration Through Play: A Report From the Triangle Program,” focused on the role of play in our interdisciplinary collaboration, which ultimately culminated in the idea of the math playground.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen is the president of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP) and organized the 52nd annual conference at Southwestern. TASP is the premier professional organization in academia dedicated to interdisciplinary research and theory construction concerning play throughout the world. Presently, the Association publishes a quarterly newsletter titled Play Review and an annual volume titled Play & Culture Studies. The Association’s broad multidisciplinary focus includes the fields of anthropology, biology, communication studies, cultural studies, dance, ecology, education, ethology, folklore, history, kinesiology, leisure studies, musicology, philosophy, psychology, recreation, sociology, and the arts.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen was an invited speaker at the January Clearview Sudbury School monthly community gathering in Austin. He presented “Play and Learning,” highlighting his recent and ongoing research.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “To Algorithm or not to Algorithm” in the Fall 2025 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 column can be read here, starting on page five of the newsletter. 

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol and her colleague Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi released the premiere episode of their podcast Ms. Behaving in Literacy. The episode featured an introduction to the concept and purpose of the podcast, to explore politics of literacy education policies and research through the lens of humor. The co-hosts also interviewed attendees of the Association of Literacy Education and Research annual conference in Oklahoma City, who shared their favorite experiences at the conference. The podcast can be seen here. The next episode will feature highlights from the most recent publication of the academic journal Literacy Research and Instruction.

Education majors Tiffany Ashcraft ’27, Emma Bethke ’27 (in absentia), Jonas Eaton ’26, Sydney Jackson ’27, Elisa Keese ’27, Ava Knez ’27, Catherine Matthews ’27, and Abigail Shuvalov ’27 presented at CAST (the Texas Science Teachers Conference) in Dallas with Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Assistant Professor of Education Alexandrea Melgoza. The session, “Hands-on Science Activities Presented by Preservice Teachers,” organized by Dr. Kamen, also included presentations by preservice teachers from The University of Houston–Downtown and The University of North Texas–Dallas.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol and her colleague Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi published their article, titled “A collaborative and comprehensive model of professional support for implementing interactive writing in preschool,” in the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education. The research report explored professional support and instructional coaching for the implementation of writing instruction in early elementary. The abstract can be read here.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol attended the annual national conference of the Association for Literacy Education and Research, where she presented preliminary findings from her current research study, titled “Teaching with Multicultural Literature during Troubled Times: A Community Engaged Learning Project.” She also hosted the inaugural fireside chat for the Teacher Education and Professional Learning special interest group with her colleague Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. They discussed their publication, titled “Reclaiming the Pen: An Exploration of Interactive Writing in the Primary Grades.”

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Data Charts: Making Connections?” in the Summer 2025 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 summer column can be read here, starting on page ten of the newsletter.

Education major Sydney Jackson ’27 was selected to receive the Student Travel Award by the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education (ICRSME). Posted in the spring newsletter, “the ICRSME Student Travel Award is presented to one graduate or undergraduate student to offset the cost of attending an ICRSME consultation. This year’s recipient is Sydney Jackson from Southwestern University. Sydney was able to attend her first ICRSME consultation in Valladolid and share her research with other scholars in the field.” A photo of Sydney receiving the award can be seen here, on page 10 of the newsletter.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Math is a 4-Letter Word” in the Spring 2025 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 spring column can be read here, starting on page six of the newsletter.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and SU alumna Rebecca Ramirez ’24 published an article titled “An undue burden: The impact of censorship laws on Ethnic Studies teachers in Texas” in the Ethnic Studies Pedagogies Journal. This article analyzes conversations and surveys with middle and high school ethnic studies teachers in Texas about the impact of censorship legislation (Senate Bill 3, passed in 2021) on their teaching.

Assistant Professor of Education Raquel Sáenz Ortiz and SU alumnae Rebecca Ramirez ’24 and Laura Carrasco Torres ’25 published an article titled “Centering community in fugitive pedagogy: Pláticas with Chicana Ethnic Studies teachers” in Chicana/Latina Studies: The Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. This article analyzes the impact of censorship legislation (Senate Bill 3, passed in 2021) on middle and high school Mexican American Studies teachers.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol published an article with her colleague Dr. Bethanie Pletcher of Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi, titled “Teaching Writing Skills Alongside the Writing Process: Interactive Writing in the Prekindergarten Classroom.” The article was published in The Reading Teacher  and highlights case study findings alongside practical tips for implementing interactive writing in primary grades. The article can be read here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education major Sydney Jackson ’27 presented two research sessions: “STEM and Successful Play-based Programs” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education in Valladolid, Yucatán, México, and “Play-Based Programs: Themes for Success” at the annual conference of The Association for the Study of Play in South Padre Island, TX.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman presented two workshops: “Playing with Numbers: Choice, Joy, and Wonder in Mathematics Education” at the annual conference of The Association for the Study of Play in South Padre Island, TX, and “Playful Approaches for Learning Math: Choice, Joy, and Wonder” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education in Valladolid, Yucatán, México.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol presented and conducted a workshop titled “Experience Based Learning: A Renewed Perspective in Early Childhood Education” at the Association for the Study of Play conference in South Padre Island, TX.

From March 3-5, Assistant Professor of Education Alicia Moore engaged in National Service by fulfilling her federal appointment as a member of the Board of Visitors for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC). The century-long history of this institution has played a vital role in strengthening American alliances and national security. During the meetings, she engaged with international military officers from Morocco, Singapore, Germany, Sweden, and Canada, two of whom shared that their nations send only their top officers in hopes of qualifying for the prestigious postgraduate program at the U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS). Dr. Moore provided curricular guidance and support, contributing to the ongoing development of CGSC’s academic programs.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “The 5E Instructional Model Gets an F? Is it Time to Move On?” in the Winter 2025 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 Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Never Too Old to Play with Blocks” in the Fall 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.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol’s article, titled “Reclaiming the Pen: A Call for the Return of Interactive Writing to the Primary-Grade Classroom,” was published in the January/February/March issue of Literacy Today. This article explains an effective method of composition instruction for early readers. The issue can be found here.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and education majors Sydney Aschmann ’26, Makenzi Ducharme ’26, Hannah Pullen ’26, Annika Romeo ’26, and Maddie Ziegler ’26 presented in person, and Annika Flora ’26, Alejandro Gallegos ’26, and Emily Marks ’26 presented in absentia, at the Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST) in San Antonio. The session “Hands-on Science Lessons Presented by Preservice Teachers” was organized by Dr. Kamen. Additional undergraduate students, and their professors from the University of Houston – Downtown and Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi, were co-presenters.

Assistant Professor of Education Marilyn Nicol presented two of her research projects at the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers Conference in Orlando, FL. The presentations were titled “Teaching in the Context of a Sentence: Early Literacy Skills Come Together in Interactive Writing” and “Cyrano Returns: Coaching Preservice Teachers in a Reading Clinic.” Cyrano refers to a bug-in-ear coaching model named for Cyrano de Bergerac.

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.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction and Learning Sciences at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Debra Plowman published “Respecting Children’s Questions and Adapting K-W-L Charts” 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.

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. 

Professor of Education Michael Kamen  published a review of Creative Block Play: A Comprehensive Guide to Learning through Building  by Rosanne Regan Hansel in the fall 2019 issue of Play News , the newsletter of The Association for the Study of Play.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen presented a workshop for elementary- and middle-school teachers at Granger Independent School District titled “Developing Children’s Mathematical Thinking.”

Professor of Education Michael Kamen  published the chapter “Pedagogical Models of Play for Innovative Teaching” in The Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation  (eds. Michael A. Peters and Richard Heraud; Springer Nature Singapore, 2019).

A paper coauthored by Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton, Associate Professor of Education Sherry Adrian, and Emma Kathryn Groves ’17, titled “A Model of the Transmission of Cholera in a Population with Contaminated Water,” which was accepted for publication in November 2018, has been published in the CODEE Journal, vol. 12.  The article was downloaded across 15 countries in its first 25 days of online availability.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented a paper titled “Developing Critical Awareness: A Teacher’s Role in Engaging Students to Dialogue about Social Inequities” at the Establishing Sociopolitical Consciousness as the Fourth Goal of Dual-Language Education symposium at the 2019 AERA Annual Meeting in Toronto, Canada, April 5–9, 2019.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Sarah Buchanan ’20 and Abigail Luna ‘20 presented their collaborative research “Block Play and a Pedagogic Model for Playful STEM Learning” at the International Consortium for Research in Science and Mathematics Education conference in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne Garcia-Mateus presented a paper titled “One White Student’s Journey Through Six Years of Elementary Schooling: Uncovering Whiteness and Privilege in Two-Way Bilingual Education” which was part of a panel titled “Translanguaging in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL):  Perspectives and Possibilities” at the TESOL International Convention in Atlanta, GA, March 12–15, 2019.

Associate Professor of Spanish Abby Dings and Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented about their ongoing research project titled “Language Ideologies in a University Classroom: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Latinx Students as Language Learners.” The panel about dual-language education took place at the 6th National Symposium on Spanish as a Heritage Language (NSSHL) hosted by University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley, in McAllen, TX.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented a paper titled “A Case Study of One Latinx and Bilingual Student: (Re)envisioning Bilingualism for Immigrant Children in a Gentrifying Two-Way Immersion Bilingual Program” on a panel she organized titled “Possibilities for Resistance and Change: Constructing Identities as Learners, Educators, Transfronterizos, and Intercultural Nations in Public Education” at the 117th American Anthropological Association conference in San Jose, CA, Nov. 14–18, 2018.

Associate Professor of Mathematics Therese Shelton, Associate Professor of Education Sherry Adrian, and Emma Kathryn Groves’s ’17 coauthored paper, “A Model of the Transmission of Cholera in a Population with Contaminated Water,” has been accepted for publication in the special issue Linking Differential Equations to Social Justice and Environmental Concernsof the Journal of the Community of Differential Equations Educators(CODEE). Groves and Shelton worked on the mathematical model in SCOPE 2015. Adrian and Shelton worked on the connections with social justice.

Associate Professor of Education Sherry Adrian was invited by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to present a nationally sponsored webinar, “Diversity Is Nature’s Greatest Asset: Including All Children in Project WILD.” Adrian’s presentation addressed how educators can enhance Project WILD learning experiences by differentiating instructional content and procedures that foster more successful inclusion of all students.  Project WILD Coordinators and Facilitators from universities and organizations throughout the U.S. participated in the webinar.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen along with Southwestern students Sarah Buchanan, class of 2020, Abby Earle, class of 2019, Abigail Luna, class of 2020, alumna Kelli Mclaughlin ’18, and NYC-based playwright Adaire Kamen and Dr. Alys Mendus of the University of Hull, United Kingdom, performed and discussed their collaboratively written original play “They Call Teachers by Their First Names!”: An Ethno-Drama of Pre-Service Teachers Visiting Schools at the Performing the World 2018 conference in New York City. The conference brings together professionals, artists, and scholars who share an interest in the role of performance and play for activism, education, and healthcare.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus was interviewed by Austin’s Community Impactnewspaper. The article “Austin ISD’s Bilingual Program Aims to Narrow Achievement Gap” provides a brief history of bilingual education in the U.S. and offers multiple perspectives focused on becoming bilingual, bi-literate, and bicultural in Austin public schools.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne Garcia-Mateus has been selected to be one of the 2018–2019 Council of Anthropology and Education (CAE) Concha Delgado Gaitán Presidential Fellows. As a Fellow, she will participate in a professional learning community with the new cohort and previous presidential fellows and mentors. She will also be paired with a senior CAE mentor, who will meet with her in person at the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Conference in San Jose, Cali., Nov. 14–18, 2019.

Associate Professor of Education Sherry Adrian, Professor of Education Michael Kamen, and Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore, together with staff from Texas Parks & Wildlife, hosted the Texas WILD Forum over three days for 40+ participants in Mood-Bridwell. The Forum was an opportunity to demonstrate how to share conservation with young children with the intent to build a child’s sense of wonder with arts and crafts, music, reading, math, and conservation activities. Presenters demonstrated the importance of enhanced learning and development in all areas within the social, emotional, physical, linguistic, and cognitive domains,correlated with TEKS, Head Start, and National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) standards.

• Dr. Adrian spoke of differentiating instructional content and procedures to foster more successful inclusion of all students in her presentation “Diversity Is Nature’s Greatest Asset: Including All Children in Project WILD.”
• Professor of Biology Romi Burks presented the “ABCs of Apple Snails and eDNA.” She spoke about the basic ecology, diversity, and distribution of apple snails and how future monitoring efforts may incorporate environmental DNA.
• Dr. Kamen delivered a session titled “WILD Play and the International Play Crisis.” His session touched on the importance of play in development and learning for children and animals.
• Dr. Moore presented “The WILD Ones: Working to Identify Learning Pathways through Diversity,” which provided opportunities for participants to examine personal and cultural identities to enhance their teaching and learning.

Visiting Assistant Professorof Education Suzanne Garcia-Mateusand Cristina Costas,class of 2019, presented a paper titled “Bilinguals Raising Bilingual Children: Institutional, Societal, and Familial Influence on Bilingual Parents’ Family Language Policy.” This new study examines how community members are making sense of the way local institutions and society support or influence family language policy decisions. The presentation was part of a panel titled “Language Planning and Language Policy” at The Symposium about Language and Society Austin (SALSA XXVI) at The University of Texas at Austin, April 20–21, 2018.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore serves as the Educational Consultant for Bela’s Children’s Books. Most recently, she provided her expertise to the author of the wonderful book The Silent Surprisewhich shares the playground adventure of a young boy who is autistic and nonverbal. The Bela’s Children’s Books Collection was created with the hope of helping children and parents become more aware of current and prevalent social issues using the collection to foster teachable moments that explore self-awareness. Leslie A. Turner ’11, an Austin-based illustrator, theatrical designer, and fabricator, beautifully illustrated the book, while Nekia Becerra ’12, Technology Design Coach in Austin ISD, and Nichole Aguirre ’12, Director of Early Childhood in Manor ISD, wrote the complementary lesson plans for The Silent Surpriseunder the supervision of Dr. Moore.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented a paper titled “‘Envisioning and Understanding Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education for Transnational Emergent Bilingual Learners” as part of the symposium “Dual Language Education and Neoliberal Reforms: When a Bilingual School Becomes a School of Choice” at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in New York City, NY, April 13–17, 2018.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus presented a paper titled “‘They are mostly like Spanish-speakers. We are Pro- Spanish speakers.’ The Power of Hegemony in a Two-Way Bilingual Education Classroom” as part of the colloquium, “Bilingualism for all?: Challenges and opportunities in two-way immersion” at the American Association of Applied Linguistics (AAAL) conference, Chicago, Ill., March 24–27, 2018.

Southwestern University, along with two other ACS institutions, Millsaps College and Hendrix College, was the recipient of a recently-funded ACS Diversity Grant to support an initiative known as FOCUS (Faculty of Color Uniting for Success). The project’s overall objectives are to enhance recruitment, success, and the retention of faculty of color at our three institutions and in all ACS consortia schools. It aims to raise awareness of the challenges that faculty of color face through sustained advocacy, summer workshops, and regular surveys of participants on campus climate. In conjunction with ACS’s Director of Diversity and Inclusion, Anita Davis, the initiative will also provide materials and webinars to help educate institutional leadership about ways to better support faculty of color. This year, the FOCUS project will host its summer workshop at Southwestern June 10–15. This workshop was designed to bring together faculty of color from ACS member colleges for a week-long summer retreat focusing on scholarship, networking, self-care, professional advancement, navigating service demands, and the challenges that faculty of color face on their path to professional success in the academy. It will include faculty participants from Hendrix, Millsaps, and Southwestern. Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore serves as the FOCUS Program Director. Director of Teaching, Learning and Scholarship Julie Sievers, Senior Director of Foundation Relations Larkin Tom, and Associate Professor of Anthropology Brenda Sendejo serves on the FOCUS steering committee and will serve as facilitators for the 2018 FOCUS summer retreat.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus received second place in the Bilingual Education Research SIG Outstanding Dissertation Award, which will be presented on April 15, 2018, at the American Educational Research Association (AERA) conference in New York City. She is also a finalist for the AERA Second Language Research SIG Outstanding Dissertation Award.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus co-presented a poster titled “How do heritage speakers support their 3rd generation children’s bilingual development? An urgent call for making connections between family and institutional language policy decisions” at the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C., Nov. 29–Dec. 3, 2017.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus published an article titled “Translanguaging Pedagogies for Positive Identities in Two-Way Dual Language Bilingual Education” in the Journal of Language, Identity & Education. The article is coauthored with Deborah Palmer, a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Professor of Education Michael Kamen and Mary Rouhiainen, Class of 2018, co-presented findings from their summer Faculty-Student Research project titled “Role of Imaginary Play in the Zone of Proximal Development and Science Learning” at the annual conference of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore delivered the keynote address at the Black History Month celebration hosted by the Sun City Ebony Ladies organization on Saturday, Feb. 28, and performed an original poem titled Black Beauty that was written to disrupt the harmful impact of colorism that exists between and within communities of color. Moore also presented “At the Crossroads of Equality: Paths to Liberation and Progress in Academia,” in honor of Black History Month, on Feb. 8 at the Williamson Museum’s Salon. The Williamson Museum’s Salon is a monthly speaker series that features leading professionals and researchers in their respective fields.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore delivered the keynote address for the Black History Month celebration at the historic Round Rock Sweet Home Pinnacle of Praise on Saturday, Jan. 28. The address was anchored by the National 2017 Black History Month Theme: The Crisis in Black Education and provided statistics about the disproportionate impact of K–12 school suspension and expulsion on students of color in southern states. In celebration of the occasion, several Round Rock dignitaries were in attendance.

Associate Professor of Education and Co-Editor of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History: Black History BulletinAlicia Moore was featured in a recent edition of the Berkeley Review of Education. Ten Tips for Facilitating Classroom Discussions on Sensitive Topics, by Alicia Moore and Molly Deshaies ’12, “provides a foundation of confidence for the teacher and can be used in elementary, secondary, or post-secondary settings.” Moore is a networked leader who collaborates with colleagues to broaden participation and concurrently organizes resistance and advocates for systemic improvements in social justice through knowledge.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia L. Moore was interviewed by Tom Hall of National Public Radio’s “Midday” on Dec. 8. The conversation was broadcast that afternoon on Baltimore’s NPR station, WYPR 88.1 FM. Moore collaborated with New York Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker Dr. Kaye Wise-Whitehead and Dr. Regina Lewis to develop the Trump Syllabus K-12: Lesson Plans for Teaching During this New Age of Resistance (#TrumpSyllabusK12). The lesson plans provide ideas for teaching about the 2016 presidential election.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia L. Moore presented a teacher workshop to public school teachers and university historians at the Association for the Study of African American Life History (ASALH) 101st Annual National Conference in Richmond, Va. Moore continues to serve as Co-Project Manager for the Teacher Workshop. The mission of ASALH is to promote, research, preserve, interpret and disseminate information about African American life, history, and culture to the global community. Moore also served on two ASALH academic panels, Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memory, and Activism and Mothering in the Age of Activism.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus and her bilingual daughter, Sabrina Mateus, were recently interviewed by Telemundo-Austin to provide tips about what it has been like to raise bilingual children in Austin, and in Sabrina’s case, why she loves being able to use Spanish in her community.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Education Suzanne García-Mateus co-authored a Huffington Post article titled “Save CA Residents from a Language Drought: Vote ‘Yes’ This Fall,” which promotes California’s Proposition 58-LEARN (Language Education, Acquisition and Readiness Now). If passed, the proposition will repeal the ban on bilingual education that began in 1998, and provide a multilingual education for all students.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore was the invited keynote speaker at Georgetown’s 64th annual Juneteenth Celebration on June 18. The Celebration was hosted by the Georgetown Cultural Citizen Memorial Association. Juneteenth celebrates June 19, 1865 when Union soldiers landed at Galveston, delivering the news that the Civil War was over and that slavery had ended.

Associate Professor of Education Alicia Moore recently co-authored a book titled, Borders, Bras and Battles: A Practical Guide to Mentor Undergraduate Women to Achieve Career Success. The book is an account of mentorship with heartfelt stories from students, and provides a valuable roadmap on how to conduct research with undergraduates from diverse populations.

Four faculty members have been selected to be Community-Engaged Learning Fellows for the 2014-2015 academic year and will receive special mentoring from the Office of Civic Engagement on how to integrate community-engaged learning into their classes. The new fellows are Erin Crockett, assistant professor of psychology; Abby Dings, associate professor of Spanish; Katherine Prater, assistant professor of education; and Carl Robertson, associate professor of Chinese. Read more about the program here.