COE Honors Faculty, Staff and Students at Annual Awards Ceremony

On Friday, May 7, the College of Education hosted its Spring Assembly to honor faculty, staff and students who received awards for their scholarship, service, and contributions to the College and the University of Maryland, as well as to reflect on the accomplishments of the College over the previous academic year.

Held in the Tawes Building, Dr. Donald J. Bolger, chair of the COE Senate Committee, began the assembly by updating the audience on the work of the committee over the 2017-18 year, which included revising the College’s plan of organization. He also introduced chair-elect Daniel Levin, assistant clinical professor, who will be helming the Senate Committee in 2018-19.

Dean Jennifer King Rice presented on the achievements of the College throughout the year, highlighting in particular the progress made on the College’s strategic plan, as well as expressed her gratitude to numerous faculty and staff for their contributions to the community.

Dr. Bolger then presented awards bestowed by the College of Education and The Graduate School, as well as length of service awards given to faculty and staff by the state. He also thanked the COE Senate committee, comprised of co-chairs Jessica Chew and Kelly Lee, and committee members Daniel Levin, Olivia Saracho, Hong Jiao, and Maria Concepcion Sian Izursa.

College of Education Awards

Alison Jovanovic is the Professional Development School, or PDS, coordinator for the secondary social studies education program, where she is directly responsible for preparing undergraduate cohorts to become teachers in the classroom. She also teaches social studies teaching methods courses to both undergraduates and MCERT students. Ms. Jovanovic is known for being detail-oriented, maximizing student learning, guiding students through their teaching assignments and helping them prepare for future jobs by hosting mock interviews, bringing in experts and providing media literacy resources to address the rise of “fake news,” according to TLPL Chair Dr. Francine Hultgren in her nomination letter.

“In the classroom, Alison consistently and impeccably models the balance of genuine warmth, infectious enthusiasm and strong professionalism that we hope our students will bring into their teaching. In evaluating student work, she is incredibly thoughtful in providing developmentally appropriate feedback to her students to promote their growth and again, to provide a model for how they should approach feedback with their own students. In every aspect of instruction, she thinks about her students’ experience – how will they buy-in, build their understanding and benefit as learners and future teachers,” writes Dr. Francine Hultgren, professor and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, and Catherine E. McCall, co-coordinator of social studies in the PDS program.

Dr. Elby serves as the graduate director for the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, as well as its associate chair. He is also active in his department’s Division of Science and Math Education. As the chair of the department’s Graduate Research and Education Committee, Dr. Elby has helped implement policies that help all faculty with research and grant writing, and provided colleagues with valuable advice. 

 “His eyes light up when he is engaged like the creative scientist (who he is) at work with faculty. He delights in discovering new ways to do things, and is not hesitant to step outside the box to try out ideas. His enthusiasm is catchy, and faculty feel rejuvenated by the possibilities he puts out for consideration,” wrote Dr. Hultgren in her nomination letter.

Dr. Butler’s research focuses on the development of young children’s social cognitive skills, their skills and abilities at understanding other people, and the understanding that others can have different perspectives than one’s own. He has already published, or is in the process of publishing, nine research articles, is editing a book under contract with Cambridge University Press and has presented posters and papers at prestigious conferences, including the meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development and the Cognitive Development Society. Gaining recognition in the field for his work early in his career, Dr. Butler received the 2016 Rising Star Award from the Association for Psychological Science.

“One of the things I admire about Luke’s work is his ability to synthesize conceptually and then design elegant experiments to test the subtle hypotheses that follow from this synthesis. I would not be surprised if, looking back in the years to come, Luke’s current work is seen as the genesis of a new paradigm in developmental psychology. It’s that original and important,” wrote Dr. Kelly S. Mix, professor and chair of the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, in her nomination letter.

Dr. Terrell Shockley has demonstrated her commitment to students, faculty and the community in a variety of ways, helping students prepare for professional conferences, including them on co-authored papers and presenting research—as well as chairing a Girls in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics symposium with a doctoral student at AERA—serving as a faculty member for the Carrillion Living Learning community for incoming UMD freshmen, engaging families in Prince George’s County on literacy and STEM and presenting her children’s book, which features a counternarrative about a female of color in the STEM field. She also serves as the only American to serve on the editorial board of Transformación, a journal published by the University of Camaguey in Cuba.

“Since arriving at the University of Maryland (UMD), College Park, in 2012, Ebony has served students and faculty in our department, the College of Education and across the UMD campus. She has also worked closely with groups outside of campus. Over time, she has established a positive record of service to the Prek-12 and post-secondary education community,” writes Dr. Hultgren in her nomination letter.

This year, student services program coordinator Judy Foster has taken on the primary responsibility for coordinating and organizing the College’s use of the virtual reality “avatar” simulations. This technology allows teacher candidates to interact with a set of virtual students, which creates an opportunity for the candidates to practice teaching strategies before trying them out in a real classroom. Judy received training for the software, and now provides support to instructors, as well as with the software company to schedule sessions, to design the scenarios, and to prepare the technology and manage the simulation on the day of use. She is calm, organized and positive, responding to inquiries sometimes even after hours. She has also shown technological initiative and a positive attitude in her work on the College of Education SPARC grant review committee.

“The nature of her position means she is often operating behind the scenes. Perhaps because she does not draw a lot of attention to herself, her value may not be readily apparent to all. We hope that this award will bring Judy the recognition she deserves,” TLPL assistant clinical professors Drs. Dan Levin and Peggy Wilson wrote of Foster.

Maria Somarriba, who serves as business services specialist with the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership, started work there in September 2015. While she had previously worked in benefits, she had never done payroll work. However, she has learned quickly on the job using the campus payroll and human resources system, the new I-9 employment verification system, as well as taking over all payroll duties for TLPL. Colleagues also note that she friendly and dedicated, and able to interact with faculty, staff and students alike with respect and efficiency. She also serves as the department’s fundraising representatives and enthusiastically attends College events and lectures.

“She is almost always in early and frequently responds to email and does payroll even on her days off,” writes Stephanie Goodwin, director of administrative services.

Emily is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Human Development program, where she is focusing her research on children’s mathematical development. Based on the strength of her undergraduate work, she was awarded the NICHD Training Fellowship, which provided her with full-time funding for 4 years in the program. During her time as a doctoral student, she had an integral role on two projects aimed at improving the numerical knowledge of children primarily for lower-income backgrounds through games.

“She is one of the strongest doctoral students I have encountered in the program in terms of her intellect, productivity, and commitment to research… For Ms. Daubert’s dissertation, she has designed an incredibly strong, innovative, and ambitious study that I believe could have a very large impact on the field of early childhood education in the area of mathematics,” writes Dr. Geetha Ramani, an associate professor in the Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology who serves as Emily’s advisor.

Yi Feng, who is finishing her M.A. in Measurement, Statistics & Evaluation, has made a strong impression among department faculty in her time in the program, with advisor Gregory Hancock making note of her “first-rate” teaching skills and research that has received notice on the national level. Dr. Laura Stapleton, director of the Maryland Longitudinal Data System, notes that Yi’s efficiency and skill as MLDS project coordinator have “dramatically changed the expectations for this program.”

Dr. Hancock writes: “As for me specifically, I can say that she is one of the top three graduate students I have ever worked with over my decades as a graduate student mentor – and she hasn’t even started her doctoral studies yet. Indeed, by any standards, Yi Feng is already a superstar and her star will only continue to rise.”

Feng will have the opportunity to continue to shine once she finishes her master’s degree, as she plans to stay on board to complete her Ph.D. at UMD.

Outstanding Alumni Award
David Edwards, Ph.D.

This year’s Outstanding Alumni award goes to David Edwards, who earned his Ph.D. in educational policy and leadership from the College in 2014. This year, he was named to lead Education International, a global teaching union organization that represents 32 million teachers and other educators in 173 countries globally.

Dr. Steven J. Klees, professor of international education policy, describes Dr. Edwards as a “brilliant student” who pursued his doctoral studies while working full-time at the Organization of American States and the National Education Association.

In his current role at EI, Dr. Edwards is working against trends in education such as privatized education and charter schools, and an excessive emphasis on standardized tests to promote a “free, democratically-controlled, quality public education oriented to the whole child,” writes Dr. Klees.

“He is thoughtful, understands the perspectives of those who disagree with him and can relate to them, is straightforward, and has great personal integrity. Because of this, David is a major respected figure on the global stage of education policy discussions,” according to Dr. Klees.

Length of Service Awards

After the presentation of the College of Education awards, faculty and staff were recognized for their length of service at the University of Maryland.

• Jonathan Malone, of the Maryland English Institute, for 5 years
• LaTrina Graves, of Student Services, for 5 years
• Andrea Norris, of the Office of the Dean, for 5 years
• Caroline Scott, of CHSE, for 10 years
• Lattisha Hall, of TLPL, for 15 years
• Ann Battle, of HDQM, for 20 years
• Stephanie Goodwin, of TLPL, for 20 years
• Joy Jones, of TLPL, for 30 years
• and Kathy Angeletti, of the Office of the Dean, for 35 years

Graduate Student Awards

Finally, The Graduate School at the University of Maryland bestows awards on Outstanding Graduate Students, as well as recognizes other graduate student accomplishments.

Charles Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award
Emily Q. Rosenzweig, Ph.D.

The Graduate School’s Charles Caramello Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes original work that makes an unusually significant contribution to the discipline. For her work in 2017 on her dissertation “More Useful or Not So Bad? Evaluating the Effects of Cost-Reduction and Utility-Value-Enhancing Interventions with College Physics Students,” HDQM’s Dr. Emily Q. Rosenzweig received this prestigious award.

Distinguished Dissertation Award
Amanda Fogle-Donmoyer, Ph.D.

Now we present the College of Education Distinguished Dissertation Award to Dr. Amanda Fogle-Donmoyer in CHSE for her dissertation “Teaching Citizenship & Democracy in a New Democracy: Pedagogy, Curriculum & Teacher’s Beliefs in South Africa” and to Dr. Elizabeth Fleming in TLPL for her dissertation “Positioning in an upper-level undergraduate mathematics class.”

All-S.T.A.R. Fellow
Tabitha Kidwell (TLPL)

This year, five Outstanding Graduate Assistants from the College of Education were recognized for their work. 

• Alexandra Shelton (CHSE)
• Lee Penn (CHSE)
• Alexander D’Esterre (HDQM)
• Jessica Gladstone (HDQM)
• Kristin Sinclair (TLPL)

After the ceremony, the College of Education gathered in the Benjamin Building courtyard for refreshments.