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Congratulations to our faculty and students who will be presenting at the NCACES conference in Rosemont, IL from Oct. 17-20^th, 2024! NCACES is the regional association for the Association for Counselor Education & Supervision representing 13 states in the Midwest. Listed below are our KSU faculty and students with the topics they will be presenting on:

Faculty: Drs. Kristin Bruns & Emily Herman McMillan
Expanding Sexual and Gender Minority Education: Clinical Insights & Skills for Counselors-in-Training

• Doctoral Candidate: Jessi Budyka
  The meaning of broaching to CMHC Practicum and Internship Students

• Recent alumni: Dr. Laura Caputo
  Preparing Counselor Trainees for Power within the Counseling Relationship 
  Utilizing Relational-Cultural Theory in Remediation and Gatekeeping

• Doctoral students & Faculty: Courtney Chester, Amanda Shuluga, Colleen Trhlik, Zoey Liu & Dr. Lynne Guillot Miller
  Fostering Teacher Identity: Evaluating Efficacy & Embracing Scholarly Practices in the Classroom

• Doctoral Candidate: Amanda Cole
  Reflecting Teams in Practicum Courses

Doctoral Candidate, Dogus Duran & Doctoral Student, Zoey Liu

• Guidelines for broaching in supervisory relationships: cultural humility, modeling and developing skills, knowledge and self awareness

• Doctoral Candidate: Dogus Duran
  Living experiences of master’s level counseling students of color’s broaching experiences with white clients

• Doctoral Candidate: Anna Ellenson
  Adulthood and aging: Educating counselors to effectively work with older clients

• Doctoral Student Dusty Timmons, Masters Student, Morgan Crum & Dr. Lynne Guillot Miller
  Supervising School Counseling Students with a Solution Focused Approach

• Doctoral Candidate: Morgan Stohlman
  AI and Counseling Education: A Four Phase Evolution
  True Competence in AI Enhanced Counseling Education: Strategies to Overcome False Positives

• Faculty: Dr. Cassie Storlie
  CSI Chapter Leaders Training
  Keynote: Counselor Education & Supervision Professional Sustainabilit
  ACES TownHall

The Cultural Foundations program would like to congratulate alumna, Dr. Sarah Schmidt, who has published

• Schmidt, S., and Salvador Rivas-Aceves. "Critical Social Participatory Action Research for Conscientization: Pedagogies and Findings from Xochimilco." (2024): 23476311241249247. 

She also has the following articles coming out soon:

• Schmidt, S., Rivas-Aceves.  (2024, accepted, in press). Cultivating Crisis: The Military-Food Industrial Complex and Mass Atrocity Risk. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis.
• Schmidt, S., Rivas-Aceves, Velasquez, Marisol.  (2024, accepted, in press). Cultural Preservation and Economic Inclusion in Small-scale Food Production: the Case of Latino Farms in Ohio. Short Food Supply Chain and Transitions to Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems. Springer Nature Group SDG Programm Special Collection.

Sarah also received a grant for her work: Research Funding:100,000 Strong in the Americas “Indigenous Food Systems for Climate Justice”, 2023-2024. $25,000, This grant will expand the current research line in Mexico City to Saskatchewan, Canada, working primarily with the Kainai Nation.

The Cultural Foundations program would also like to congratulate doctoral student Kris Harrington. Kris co-authored a forthcoming publication with colleagues Dr. Rachael Blasiman and Dr. Sheren Farag Mohammed Elshahat. The publication is titled, “Student and Instructor Perspectives of Hyflex Courses: A Multidisciplinary Mixed Methods Approach,” and it will appear in The Journal of Interactive Learning Research. Kris also recently received Gold and Platinum teaching awards from ����Vlog’s Center for Teaching and Learning. Additionally, Kris spent ten days at Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with a group of Salem Campus nursing students and faculty as part of her research on student identity and transcultural immersion.

Sarah D. "Sadie" Greywitt is an Education Fellow participating in a 2-year fellowship at the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in Cambridge, MA.

Kendra Wilson successfully defended her dissertation proposal in December and is completing data analysis and starting chapter 4!

Dana Oleskiewicz published the following paper:

Oleskiewicz, Dana, Janice Kroeger, and Erica Pelz. 2024. “Gender Identity, Ohio Politics, and Academic Freedom: A Critical Discourse Analysis to Expose Disinformation.” 15: 1–13. 

Kristine Harrington is presenting at the AURCO conference at Ohio University Chillicothe on April 12^th on the topic of hyflex teaching. She was also recently certified an AI Ready Educator by the Center for Teaching and Learning. Kris also co-authored a publication with colleagues Dr. Rachael Blasiman and Dr. Sheren Farag Mohammed Elshahat. It is titled, Student and Instructor Perspectives of Hyflex Courses: A Multidisciplinary Mixed Methods Approach, and it will appear in The Journal of Interactive Learning Research.

Congratulations to Jeremy Johnson on the birth of his baby, Gianna!

Congratulations to Timo Acker, who became a US citizen on April 16^th! Timo now has dual citizenship in the US and in Germany. 

Conference

Presented with you at NCSS.

Abdulmalik S., Bolaji, I., Egbedeyi, T., & Babalola, A. (April, 2025). Social Determinants of Students’ Academic Achievement: Analysis from the 2019 National Household Education Survey Programs. Presenting the paper at the American Educational Research Association Conference, Denver, CO.

Bolaji, I., & Hollstein, M.S. (February, 2025). Growing Global Citizens: Integrating Environmental Education into Social Studies. Presenting the paper at the International Society for Social Studies (Virtual). 

Bolaji, I., & Adedara, S. (November, 2024). Understanding Motivations in Internship Placements Among White Preservice Teachers: A Mixed Methods Case Study Approach. Paper presented at the National Association for Multicultural Education Conference, Anaheim, CA.

Hollstein, M.S., Burroughs, G., Vosburg-Bluem, B., Shuttlesworth, J., Pasch, S., & Bolaji, I. (2024). Diverse Voices for the Planet: Stories of Marginalized Environmental Activism Presented at the annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, 104th Annual Conference, Boston, MA.

Research

Hollstein, M.S. & Bolaji, I. (in-progress). Comparative Study of Social Studies Curriculum in Nigeria and Ohio.

Adedara S. T. & Bolaji, I. (submitted). Understanding Motivations in Internship Placements Among White Preservice Teachers: A Mixed Methods Case Study Approach.

Journal Articles

• Adekanbi, I.T.A., & Alamu, M. O. (2025). Educating the Developing Mind: A developmental theory of instruction. Top Educational Review Journal, 16(2), 1–6.
• Adekanbi, I. T.A., & Oladele, M. (2024). Empowering teachers in delivering effective teaching for children’s holistic development. Curricula: Journal of Curriculum Development, 3(2), PP. 235-246.
• Kim, I. & Adekanbi, I.T.A. (2024). Pre-service teachers' voices about learning through a practice-based teacher education approach. Ohio Journal of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 45(1). PP. 17-19.

PRESENTATIONS

• Kim, I., & Adekanbi, I. T. A. (December 2024). Error Analysis Training for Badminton Skills. Presented at the Ohio Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Conference. Sandusky, Ohio.
• Kim, I., & Adekanbi, I. T. A. (December 2024). Common Errors and Error Corrections in Teaching Golf Swings. Presented at the Ohio Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance Conference. Sandusky, Ohio.
• Budyka, J. Miller-Marsh, M. Adekanbi, I.T.A. & Jencius, M. (2024). Family Perspectives on Engagement within an Early Childhood Laboratory School Community. A paper presented at the 40th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Scientific Study of Subjectivity, Kent, Ohio, USA.
•  
• Adekanbi, I. T. A. (April 2024). Childhood Education Teachers’ Experiences and Challenges in Delivering Physical Education Curriculum. Presented at the 11th Annual Education, Health and Human Services (EHHS) Research Gallery, ����Vlog, Kent, Ohio, USA.
• Adekanbi, I. T. A. & Kim, I. (April 2024). Pre-service teachers' voices about learning through a practice-based teacher education approach. Presented at the 11th Annual Education, Health and Human Services (EHHS) Research Gallery, ����Vlog, Kent, Ohio.
• Olalowo, I. & Adekanbi, I. T. A. (April 2024). Aspiring Teachers’ Perception of the Effectiveness of Classroom Movement on Child Social Development. Presented at the 11th Annual Education, Health and Human Services (EHHS) Research Gallery, ����Vlog, Kent, Ohio.

Sanampreet Gill and Temitope Egbedeyi also have accepted presentations (see below):

Gill, S., Kosko, K. W., & Egbedeyi, T. (March, 2025). Children’s multiplicative reasoning when engaging with partial products. Research report presented at the 52nd annual meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning, College Station, TX.

Egbedeyi, T., & Kosko, K. W. (November, 2024). Preservice teachers’ replications of a common fraction error. Poster presented at the 46th annual meeting of the North American Chapter for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Cleveland, OH.

Temitope's presentation at PME-NA also means a publication in the peer-reviewed conference proceedings.

Iyanu Olalowo has two co-authored papers (one of which he is the lead author) accepted for Roundtable Sessions and has been invited to discuss a third Roundtable Session at the 2025 American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, April 23-27.
Olalowo, I. & Miller Marsh, M. Exploring Conversion Factors and Recruitment Modules Towards Teacher Education Enrollment for “Marginalized Groups” Aspiring Teachers (Round Table Session EE/CD)
Miller Marsh, M. & Olalowo, I. Teacher Image Twenty Years Later: Representations of Educators Held By Aspiring Teachers from Marginalized Groups (Round Table Session - Critical Perspectives on Early Childhood Education SIG)
Session Discussant - Shaping the Future of Early Childhood Education: Teacher Perceptions, Professional Learning, and Equity-Driven Development (Division K - Teaching and Teacher Education / Division K - Section 10: Inservice Teacher Education and Teacher Educator Development)

Additionally, he is an author on the following publication:
Gallo-Fox, J., Marsh, M.M., Paris, C., Barbour, N., Brookshire, R., Fisher, M., Hutchins, P., McBride, B., DeMartino Newton, E., Olalowo, I., Radnai-Griffin, D., Schlesinger-Devlin, E. (2025). Look to laboratory schools for innovation and leadership. Early Childhood Education Journal.

Bee Viton, Ph.D. candidate, has been working with Dr. Jen McCreight and Dr. Gumiko Monobe on the World Explore Club, an afterschool program for bi/multilingual students (K–5) in collaboration with Richardson Elementary School.
They are excited to share that their work has now been expanded through a Jennings Foundation Grant, in partnership with the Cuyahoga Falls City School District—and Bee continues to play an important role in this extended initiative!
Additionally, Bee Vinton will be presenting at the following conferences with Dr. Jen McCreight and Dr. Gumiko Monobe:

•    NCTE National Convention, Denver 2025
Cultivating Partnerships and Dreaming Together: Elementary Teachers and University Faculty Engage in Culturally Sustaining Practices with Students and Families

•    The 16th Asian Conference on Social Sciences (ACSS 2025), Tokyo, Japan
Reimagining Teacher Education: Bridging Theory, Practice, and Assets for Global Citizenship

Abbey Galeza co-presented at NCTE this past fall with two colleagues from Miami University and Dr. Jennifer McCreight, sharing about projects that were completed with pre-service teachers. This IRB-approved study looked at the growth of PSTs’ responses to whether/how they would use children’s literature focused on challenging topics in their current or future classrooms. Dr. McCreight, Abbey, and the Miami faculty are currently writing a manuscript on this work, with data they’ve collected over two semesters.

Abbey and Dr. McCreight also co-authored a manuscript on the use of family dialogue journals as a third space for learning with a first-grade classroom community; it is currently under review.

Andrea Sanchez has two manuscripts in Press and has presented her research about Child-led digital documentation in kindergarten with National Council for Teachers of English Assembly for Research (2025) and one upcoming presentation at the US Play Coalition 16th Annual National Conference in Bloomington In. and also at Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education (Chicago, 2024).  
 

Kosko, K. W., Zolfaghari, M., Shihab, R., Aguilera, A., Gandolfi, E., & Ferdig, R. E. (March, 2025). Developing measures of self-efficacy for teaching mathematics and concrete-to-abstract pedagogy. Research report presented at the 52nd annual meeting of the Research Council on Mathematics Learning, College Station, TX.

Congratulations to the following graduate students for their accomplishments

Matt Mills successfully defended his Ed.D. dissertation, The Effect of Debriefing After Low-Fidelity Simulation on the Self-Efficacy and Anxiety of Athletic Training Students, and graduated in May 2024.

Grace Morris successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation, Exploring Pre-Service Educators’ Development of Creativity Through Game-Based Learning, and graduated in August 2024.

Yong-Seng Tan successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study to Understand Undergraduate Students’ Everyday Texting Experiences as They Relate to Social Connectedness.

Ann Walter successfully defended her Ed.D. dissertation, #BlackInTheIvory: A Discussion of Black Undergraduate Fashion Students and Social Capital.

Roy Greenlee, Ya Li, and Nicole Yoder successfully defended their Ed.D. dissertation proposals.

Jonathan Gates successfully defended his Ed.D. portfolio.

Congratulations to the following students and faculty on their accomplishments:

Megan Alicea co-authored a paper with Elena Novak and Shannon Navy on socially shared metacognition and science interest in preservice elementary teachers.

Novak, E., Navy, S., & Alicea, M. (in print). Effects of collaborative 3D printing problem-based learning on socially shared metacognition and science interest in preservice elementary teachers: A mixed methods study. International Journal of Learning Technology.

Sima Ahmadi co-authored two AERA papers with Elena Novak and Lisa Borgerding on robotics and cascading mentoring in a high school computer science classroom.

Novak, E., Ahmadi, S., Smith, S., Matar, S., Kim, JH., & Borgerding, L.A. (2025, April). Engaging high school students in robotics and artificial intelligence through robotics engineering design challenges. Paper to be presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Denver, CO.

Ahmadi, S., Novak, E., Borgerding, L.A., Fime, A.A., Tirkey, C., & Kim, JH. (2025, April). Cascading Peer-Mentoring in the High School Computer Science Robotics Classroom: A Qualitative Multiple-Case Study. Paper to be presented at the American Educational Research Association (AERA). Denver, CO.

Nicole Yoder successfully defended her Ed.D. dissertation, Exploring Faculty Perceptions of Collaborating with an Instructional Designer during Asynchronous Online Course Development.

•    A symposium titled "Exercise Medicine for Parkinson’s Disease: Research and Clinical Perspectives" has been selected to be presented in-person at the 2025 ACSM Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia from May 27-30, 2025. Brittany Smith (Doctoral student) is a speaker with a talk titled Effect of Exercise on Acute and Chronic Motor Responses in Parkinson's Disease: Impact of High-Cadence Dynamic Cycling and Lara Shigo (Doctoral Student) is the Chair of the session.  
•     KSU Alumni Younguk Kim and current doctoral students Brittany Smith and Lara Shigo are authors on a newly published study in Neurorehabiliation and Neural Repair.  ;
•    Graduate students (Ryan Davis & Edward Pelka) will be presenting a Symposium at the Midwest ACSM meeting next week.
o    Title: NAVIGATING NEAR-INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY FOR HANDS ON LEARNING: MUSCLE PERFUSION AND METABOLISM
•    Poster Presentations at Midwest ACSM
o    Jessica Smith-Ricketts
o    Gretchen Elsey
o    Chen Li

•    Jennifer Rivera received a $15k research award entitled “Effects of Cold Water Immersion Timing on Athletic Performance and Recovery” from the NSCA Foundation

The ����Vlog Speech and Hearing Center was awarded a five year grant through the Parkinson Voice Project® to develop a Parkinson Therapy and Research Center in Ohio. This will be the only one of its kind in Ohio. The mission of the research center is to provide free treatment and support to persons with Parkinson’s disease and conduct related research.  

In a separate effort, the Clinic has also expanded its community support by including Medicare billing for applicable services.

Our program is very sad to announce the retirement of Dr. Lisa Audet but would like to highlight her accomplishments including her work as the Director of the Neurodiversity Research Initiative. In February this group hosted the 3-day virtual Advanced Seminars in Autism where scholars from KSU and Catholic Pontifical University of Curitiba, Brazil presented to over 200 participants.

Audet, L. (2025). Understanding Gestalt Processing Styles, Invited Master Class Texas Speech and Hearing Association. San Antonio, Tx.  

Hemsley, B., Bryant, L., Dray, J., Bowen, C., Beals, K., Shane, H., Audet, L., Dixon, G., Lim, J., Senner, J., & LaForce R. 

(2025) A Meta-Narrative Review of Gestalt Language Processing and Natural Language Acquisition Related Approaches for Children or Adults with Communication Disability: Assessment and Treatment Characteristics [Protocol]. PROSPERO 2024 CRD42024628375 .

Melanie Johnson (doctoral student, HIED) and Morgan Robinson (doctoral student CULT) recently presented at the Reimagining the Academy conference at Miami University. We discussed the critical elements of the FYE course redesign at ����Vlog.

Todd Kamenash (doctoral candidate, HIED) is serving as Interim Dean of Students here at KSU following the departure of Dr. Drummer-Ferrell. He will be presenting at the United Kingdom Town-Gown Association in Manchester, England in November; his presentation is titled Ted Todd Talks on ISM’s – ways to acknowledge and successfully work with some of the extreme challenges in our modern environment and people.

Krittika Grau (doctoral candidate, HIED) along with doctoral students Brandon Pettry (CES), Karen Plaster (C&I), and Adepeju Prince (C&I), co-authored an article Dr. Damrow that was published in the Qualitative Report titled Self-Directed Learning in a Qualitative Research Methods Course for Doctoral Students.  She also launched the Career Champions program at Case Western Reserve University as a Career Center initiative and the inaugural cohort of faculty and staff has 31 participants. The Career Champions Program covers a variety of career related topics from helping students with making informed career choices and exploring majors, to equipping mentors to offer valuable guidance, industry insights, networking opportunities, to enhance students’ employability, competitiveness for graduate programs and ultimately helping them bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical career skills.

Andy Sokolich (doctoral student, HIED) presented four sessions at the NASPA Student Success in Higher Education conference in June 2024 and is awaiting publication of his review of “Trends in assessment: Ideas, opportunities, and issues for higher education, by S. P. Hundley and C. J. Keith (eds.) (2nd ed.)” in the Journal of Assessment and Institutional Effectiveness.  He was also recently promoted to Interim Associate Dean of Mathematics at Cuyahoga Community College.

Daysjia Jeter Black (2020 Cohort) was awarded The Black Women Rocking Madame CJ Walker Award on March 14th and on March 30, 2024, will be receiving the Harriet Tubman Community Service Award from New Progressive Leadership of Tomorrow.  She also attended the The New Progressive Leadership of Tomorrow’s (N.P.L.O.T) Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast where she was a recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott-King Community Service Award. She is the youngest honoree to receive this award.

Amanda Colucci (2021 Cohort) presented the following paper with Richard Greene: Using Geographic Methods to Identify Education Deserts for NAAB Accredited Architecture Programs. 2023. Association of American Geographers Annual Conferences. Denver, Colorado.

Donne Copenhaver (2020 cohort) took a new position as Superintendent of a dropout prevention and recovery program called Ashland County Community Academy, in Ashland, OH. 
Jeff Corbett (2022 Cohort) was accepted into the Belonging Champions Program at ����Vlog and was selected to teach the new ����Vlog Flashes 101 course teaching three in-person sections in Fall 2023, two online sections in Spring 2024, and is slated to teach three on-line sections in Fall 2024. He was also selected to receive a grant to take the Open Education Librarian certificate to facilitate his DiP topic. He received an additional grant from Solar Eclipse Activities for Libraries (SEAL) to receive 500 eclipse glasses for ����Vlog – Geauga. He is using the scholarship to help create an action plan geared to moving an open education initiative forward on his campus, ����Vlog – Geauga Campus.

Assma Daifallah (2023 Cohort) recently published “Beyond the Acronym: Interconnections of STEAM, the Humanities, and .

Jonathan Gates (2022 Cohort) presented at several conferences:
2022 Annual Conference for the Ohio Transfer Council (OTC) – June 2022
2022 Annual Conference for the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) – September 2022
2024 Annual Conference for the National Institute of the Study of Transfer Students (NISTS) – February 2024

Bianka Hausknecht (2022 Cohort) will be giving two presentations at the Textile Society of America in November. The abstracts are from a research study she has been working on with colleagues in the ����Vlog Fashion department. The research focuses on the effects textile crafting has on the well-being of BIPOC and marginalized women.

Sonia Karkare (2022 Cohort) is a panelist for a virtual session at the Reimagine the Academy conference, collaboration of Miami, Bowling Green, and ����Vlog. As Faculty Advisor to the Kent Indian Student (KIA) Association, she is proud to bring Indian students, past and present, to talk about their experience.

Sarah Kiepper (2022 cohort) presented on assessment and evaluation at a national professional development conference for my employer's accreditor in CA last week. TPT Magazine (an online digital magazine) published her poetry and prose in August. She presented ekphrastic poems in reflection of works of art for Youngstown, OH's YWCA in July. Anomaly Poetry published her poetry and photography in their June Rituals. Jenny Magazine of YSU (an online literary magazine) published her poetry in April.

Paris Lampkins (2021 Cohort) was named to the Top 40 under 40 in Crain’s Cleveland.

Midori Lebron (2022 Cohort) joined ����Vlog as the Associate Director, Strategic Recruitment working in Admissions. She was also appointed to the Board of Education for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) by Mayor Justin M. Bibb.

Audrey Lemmons (2022 Cohort) was promoted in July from Project Director of Regional Campuses to Executive Director of Regional and Workforce Initiatives. She also presented on program analysis at the National Association of Branch Campus Administrators conference in May.

Brenton McNulty (2023 Cohort) was promoted from Assistant Director to Associate Director in the Office of Student Conduct. 

Catherine Meredith (2022 Cohort) was commissioned by The University of North Carolina School of the Arts to create a new choreographic work on their 'soon to be graduating' seniors. The name of the piece, Between the Space In Between, premiered September 24th-28 at the DeMille Theater and received standing ovations for several of the performances.

Matthew Mills (2021 Cohort) has several new publications and conference presentations: 
Mills, M., Winston, B. (2021). Administering Interactive Simulations to Supplement Traditional Clinical Placements in C Ford. K Garza (Eds.) Updating and Innovating Health Professions Education: Post-Pandemic Perspectives. IGI Global
Mills, M., Ferdig, R. & Gandolfi, E. (2023). The Utility of Asynchronous Low-Fidelity Simulation for Student Self-Efficacy and Anxiety: A Preliminary Analysis. In E. Langran (Ed.), Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference (pp. 569-573). New Orleans, LA, United States: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).
Mills, M. (2024, January 6). Lessons from Silicon Valley: Human-Centered Design for Athletic Training QI [Conference Session]: 76th EATA Annual Conference, Ledyard, CT, United States
Mills, M. (2024, January 5). Using Learning Outcomes to Guide Simulation Mode Choices [Featured Presentation]: 76th EATA Annual Conference Educator Summit, Ledyard, CT, United States
Mills, M. (2023, June 23). When Nonspecific Low Back Pain Goes Sideways: Fibromyalgia in the College Student Athlete [Conference Session]: 74th National Athletic Trainers’ Association Clinical Symposia & AT Expo, Indianapolis, IN, United States 
Mills, M (2023, May 23). Evidence-Based Concussion Assessment and Return to Life: An Update[Conference Session]: Rhode Island Athletic Trainers’ Association Annual Symposium, Providence, RI, United States
Mills, M. (2022, November 5). Use of an Unfolding Case Study to Facilitate Interprofessional Collaboration in Athletic Training and Athletic Counseling Students [Conference Session]: Athletic Training Educators Conference, Virtual
Mills, M. (2022, October 20). Using an Unfolding Case Study to Facilitate Interprofessional Collaboration [Conference Session]: Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions Annual Conference, Long Beach, CA, United States
Mills, M., Winston, B (2021, October 20). Designing and Implementing Problem-Based Learning Techniques to Supplement Clinical Experiences [Conference Session]: Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions Annual Conference, Virtual

Amanda Paulus (2022 Cohort): The CommUNITY Lab living-learning program that Amanda oversees in Community Engaged Learning won three national awards this year.
•    Ohio College Personnel Association Innovative Program Award (2024)
•    NASPA Silver Award for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice Programs (2024)
•    NASPA Orientation, Transition, and Retention Knowledge Community Collaboration Award (2024)

Jamie Rhoads (2020 Cohort) presented at the Quality Matters Ohio Consortium 12th Annual Member Meeting and at the annual Ohio CanvasConnect Conference. Jamie is the creator and chair of a committee for Instructional Designers across all Kent campuses: Instructional Design Inquiry and Innovation (ID&I). She is also consulting the North East Ohio Medical University on their new executive education program for Lean Six Sigma.

Debbie Rozner (2020 cohort) was a finalist for the Carnegie Project for the Education Doctorate (CPED) Dissertation of the Year Award.

Lana Whitehead (2022 Cohort) started a new position in August: Vice President for Enrollment Management at Westminster College.

Jonathan Gates recently started a new position at Cuyahoga Community College. He is the Program Manager, Liberal Arts and Sciences. Congratulations Jonathan!
Sonia Karkare was nominated for the G.E.A.R Award - Gender, Equity, Advocacy and Representation award, March 19th 2025. Congratulations Sonia!

Misty Franklin, director of Online Education and Master of Studies in the School of Law, represented Akron Law at the 8th Annual National Legal Masters Conference, "Leading Innovation and Access." This conference was hosted by St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. Misty presented on transitioning a residential legal master's program to an online or hybrid format and also led a session on navigating Title II compliance in light of the recent U.S. Department of Justice order. Congratulations Misty!

Peggy Busker-Postlethwait presented her original pedagogy at the National Science Teacher Association National conference in Denver, CO.  As a public-school science teacher, a perpetual ����Vlog grad student (lol), and an avid student of curriculum, she embraces the challenges of writing, teaching, and assessing original pedagogy-specifically event or problem based, authentic units. Her presentation was for her original unit on the East Palestine Train Derailment in Ohio. Her unit was directly linked to Environmental Science standards. Congratulations Peggy!

Alumna Tabitha Messmore presented a paper based on her DIP at the Philosophy of Education Society meeting in Baltimore. This paper, "The Future is Now: Present-tense Teaching in the Post-Critical," will also be published sometime in the next year. Tabitha also started her business, Word Nerd Magic llc, to help writers with editing, coaching, and formatting services, including an online EdD community for those seeking a space to share support, get feedback, and talk about the DiP process. She is excited to serve those working on dissertations, journal articles, presentations, or any other writing challenges. Congratulations Tabitha!

Cassie Butler and her husband had their first child, Bryon Patrick Butler, on February 9th. Congratulations Cassie!

Catherine Meredith was promoted to Associate Professor of Dance this Spring. She is also creating a new piece based on the life of Annie Oakley for the Dancing Wheels Company (Premiering in June at Public Hall). Catherine’s physically integrated dance work, Ne Me Quitte Pas was invited to be performed in Mexico City at the Festival Internacional De Danza Contemporánea this August. They only invited 2 companies from the United States. Congratulations Catherine!

Monty Pender was awarded the esteemed Robert E. Wilson Fellowship. This scholarship is a wonderful recognition of his dedication and accomplishments working with low-income families. The Robert E. Wilson Fellowship not only provides vital financial support but also offers unparalleled opportunities to grow, collaborate, and innovate alongside inspiring individuals. Congratulations Monty!

Stephanie Evans, along with Dr. Yvonna Washington-Greer, presented at the Reimagine the Academy conference back in September. . Their presentation was titled, Cultural Connections for Student Life Professionals. Congratulations Stephanie!

Scott McKinney moderated a panel on Foundation Board Advocacy (his dissertation topic) at the Association of Governing Boards Foundation Leadership Forum in Washington DC in January. The title of the panel was Engaging Your Board in Advocacy. Congratulations Scott!

Alumna Jamie Rhoads is presenting at the 13th Ohio Quality Matters Annual Member Meeting this April, and she also presented at ����Vlog’s e2 (education Elevated). She is also consulting with NEOMED on their LSS executive education curriculum, and she continues to chair the Instructional Design Inquiry and Innovation committee. Other committees Jamie has served on in the last year are the University Council of Technology Committee, the Proctoring Software Search Committee, and the Anti-Plagiarism Software Search Committee. Lastly, Jamie received my certification as a Master Reviewer for Quality Matters. In this role, she ensures the rigor and consistency of the official Quality Matters Course Review policies and procedures.

Congratulations Jamie!  

Special Education Graduate Student Accomplishments & Activities:
•    Doctoral students Temitope Egbedeyi (EC program) and Alexander Gariba (SPED program) were selected to serve as members of the Holmes Program Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center for Equity (ECIPC-E) Initiative. They are part of a prestigious national center located at the University of Connecticut Health System, federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. The ECIPC-E aims to support states in developing comprehensive personnel development systems to enhance outcomes for infants and young children with disabilities and their families. Temitope and Alexander will gain access to mentorship, monthly seminars, and ongoing support to foster their scholarly growth and development as a future leader in the early childhood special education field.

•    Doctoral student Alexander Gariba was selected to join the AACTE/Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center for Equity (ECIPC-E) Holmes Scholar Cohort #2:

•    Doctoral candidate Courtney Cruz received an EHHS Graduate Research Grant to support her dissertation study.    

•    Doctoral candidate Courtney Cruz poster was accepted for presentation at the upcoming 2024 Teacher Education Division Annual Conference.

•    Doctoral candidate Tshebukani Ncube’s conference proposal entitled Video-Based Multimedia Vocabulary Instruction for Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities was accepted for presentation at the Council for Exceptional Children 2025 Convention and Expo.

•    Dylan David co-authored a book chapter: Wiley, A. L., & David, D. (2024). Multi-tiered systems of support as special education reform: A critical appraisal. In J. M. Kauffman, D. P. Hallahan, & P. C. Pullen (Eds.), Handbook of Special Education (3rd ed.)

•    The following doctoral students passed their comprehensive exams:
o    Oktaviani Hidayah (PhD)
o    Jason Hale (EdD)
o    Susan Marquis (EdD)
o    Erin Lambert (EdD)
o    Megan Krippel (EdD)

•    These candidates successfully defended their dissertation proposals:
o    Bahaa Al Ghareibh (Ph.D., proposal defended) - Dissertation Title:  Teacher Perceptions of the Self-Esteem of Middle School Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Special Education Program Alumni Accomplishments & Activities

•    Dr. Jennifer Webb presented at the International Summit on Learning and Behavioral Health in Florence, Italy: Should I Stay or Should I Go? A Quantitative Look at Working with Students with Disabilities and Teacher Retention.

•    Dr. Tricia McCollum was hired by State Support Team 4.

•    Dr. BeckyAnn Harker hired as Assistant Professor at Monmouth University.

Spring 2025 Graduate Howler

Successfully Defended

•    Jennifer Arthur, Ph.D. successfully defended her dissertation study: The Effectiveness of Using Coaching with Text Messaging Performance-Based Feedback to Evaluate Paraprofessionals’ Use of Communication-Promoting Strategies for Young Children with Communication Delays.

•    Mukadas Tashieva (master’s student) defended her master’s thesis - Evaluation of school readiness for participation in reading research in Kyrgyzstan. (Note: Mukadas worked with the Qualtrics team to make Kyrgyz language an option for all future Qualtrics users!)

•    Gretchen Jessel (Ed.D. candidate) defended her dissertation proposal - Participation of K-12 Students with Disabilities in Extracurricular Activities: Parent Perceptions and Experiences

•    Jason Hale (Ed.D. candidate) defended his dissertation proposal - Exploring Juvenile Court Transition Specialists’ Experiences With Systems-Involved Youth With Disabilities In Juvenile Detention Facilities

•    Bahaa Al Ghraibeh (Ph.D. candidate): Teacher Perceptions of the Self-Esteem of Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders - 2025 Badar Kauffman Conference.

•    Kia Merrifield (Ed.D. student): Violence in Special Education: Redefining Policies for Teacher Protection and Student Accountability - 2025 Badar Kauffman Conference.

•    Tshebukani Ncube (Ph.D. candidate): Video-Based Multimedia Vocabulary Instruction for Middle school Students with Learning Disabilities - 2025 Badar Kauffman Conference.

•    Oktaviani Hidayah (Ph.D. candidate) & Alexander Gariba (Ph.D. student): Investigating Intervention Success: A Mixed Methods Implementation Study of the I Control Program. 2025 Badar Kauffman Conference.

•    Alexander Gariba (Ph.D. student): Inclusive Instruction: Universal Design For Learning in Teacher Preparation in Ghana and The United States. Accepted proposal to the Division of International Special Education and Services (DISES) 2025 Conference.

•    Alexander Gariba (Ph.D. student): The effect of Universal Design for Learning on classroom engagement of learners - 2025 Badar Kauffman Conference.

•    Alexander Gariba (Ph.D. student): The Effect of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) on Classroom Engagement of Learners – poster presentation at the AACTE 2025 Annual Meeting.

•    Lauren Falter, Ashley Hlebak, Kate Koch, Stacy-Anne Pink, Samantha Samblanet, and Mylena Stark, graduate students from the Early Intervention Graduate Certificate Program, will present posters on their participatory action research projects at the 2025 Graduate Student Symposium.
 

•    Hani Alanazi (PhD candidate): Stevenson, N. A., Chen, C. I., Harker, B., Al-Smadi, F., & Alanazi, H. (2024). Empowering Students Through Effective Performance Feedback: The FACTS Framework. TEACHING Exceptional Children
 

•    Courtney Cruz now serves on the Award Committee of Council for Exceptional Children-Ohio.
•    Alexander Gariba (Ph.D. student): IEP Essentials: Preparing Future Teachers for Individualized Instruction. Webinar hosted by the Special Education Department at University of Education, Winneba.

The Office of the Senior Vice President for Student Life seeks a graduate student trustee to serve on the ����Vlog Board of Trustees and is now accepting applications from interested candidates. Our Student Trustee  website  /studentlife/trustee provides information about the position, including expectations, responsibilities, and qualifications. Documents necessary for completing an applicant’s file are application form, resume, and three letters of recommendation (two from individuals affiliated with ����Vlog and one from a personal source not affiliated with the University). Students may choose to include additional relevant information with their application. For best consideration, complete applicant files will be accepted through Friday, November 8, 2024.

The term for Graduate Student Trustee will begin on the date of appointment specified by the governor and end in May 2027. Graduate students who are 18 years or older, a registered voter in Ohio, and can serve a 2-year term are eligible to apply.