Five doctoral students in the University of Georgia’s educational administration and policy program received scholarships at the program’s annual awards luncheon on Feb. 18 at River’s Crossing.

Lauren Moret and Muhammad Akram both received Ray E. Bruce Academic Support Awards, a $2,500 annual scholarship for practitioner-scholars studying the theory and application of supervision in schools and school systems.

Moret, a third-year Ph.D. student in the College of Education program, is origi nally from Freeport, Bahamas, but spent her secondary years in Marietta. After completing a bachelor’s degree from UGA, Moret moved to Manhattan in marketing for a well-known fashion house. Her career eventually led to San Francisco, where she later decided to leave advertising to teach.

While teaching high school with the San Francisco Unified School District for six years, Moret completed the equivalent of a fifth-year master’s degree in cross-cultural language and academic development at Stanford University. She completed a second master’s degree at San Francisco State University in secondary education with a focus on the support needed for the middle school to high school transition in an inner-city system.

Moret’s current research focuses on K-12 school leadership preparation and cultural competency practices used by school principals in their process of teacher supervision. She is currently serving as an ally and advocate for the Graduate Student Association, Lambda Alliance, National Coalition Building Institute team of UGA, and COE Dean’s Council on Diversity.

Upon graduation, she plans to pursue a position in higher education as a member of a teacher and leader preparation program faculty.  However, she plans on staying involved in education at the K-12 school level in some capacity.

Muhammed Akram, also a third-year doctoral student in the program received a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan in 1995 and earned a scholarship for his scholastic work. In 1998, he earned a master’s degree in education from the same university and became a secondary school teacher.

He was named Best Teacher of his school district in 2002. Besides performing school duties, Akram set up an Educational & Vocational Information Center where students could access educational and vocational sources. In 2008, he was selected lecturer in the University of Education (UE) in Pakistan and was awarded a foreign scholarship for doctoral work.

During 10 years of teaching and administrative experience in a public high school, Akram learned that teacher evaluation and supervision was the most neglected area of Pakistan’s educational system and required immediate attention of researchers and policymakers.

His curiosity to learn about teacher evaluation and supervision brought him to UGA in 2009. Here, he opted for supervision and teacher evaluation as an area of interest and took numerous courses in the area. He particularly aimed at developing a teacher evaluation and supervision instrument and measuring the relationship between teacher evaluation and student achievement.

After graduation, Akram intends to develop a valid and reliable performance evaluation report for Pakistani primary and secondary school teachers.

Christy Epps and Adam Kurtz received David J. Mullen Memorial Scholarships,which provide a $2,500 award for a doctoral candidate preparing for a public school position.

Epps, of Commerce, a second-year doctoral student, is a family and consumer sciences teacher at Commerce High School. Her research focus is on school food environment, particularly the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program.

She hopes to become an assistant principal in the short-term, but long-term goals include working for the State Department of Education in the division of school nutrition.

Epps earned a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences education and a master’s degree in educational administration and policy from UGA.

Kurtz, of Athens, is a second-year doctoral student. He grew up attending Clarke County Schools and worked as a police officer in the Athens community for several years while completing his bachelor’s degree in technological studies at UGA. He earned a master’s degree in education while teaching drafting, computer repair and maintenance, computer networking, and introduction to technology in the Oglethorpe County School District.

In his work with Oglethorpe County Schools, Kurtz took administrative roles in state reporting of student data and served as the Director of Career, Technical and Agricultural Education. He became assistant principal at Chase Street Elementary School and now serves as principal of the school.

Kurtz says he began the doctoral program to acquire a greater understanding of the interconnections of research, theory, and educational practice. He hopes to apply this knowledge of how theory informs and improves practice in his career as an educational leader.

James Barrett Bowen, Jr., of Athens, a second-year doctoral student, received the Carroll Wade McGuffey Scholarship. The $2,500 scholarship is awarded to a doctoral student whose studies include research into the impact of the school’s environment on teacher behavior, pupil behavior and/or pupil learning.

Bowen has served as assistant principal at Haymon-Morris Middle School in Barrow County since the school opened in 2005.  He taught science and special education at his alma mater, Oglethorpe County High School, for seven years prior to that.

Bowen earned a master’s degree in educational leadership, a specialist degree in educational administration and policy and a bachelor’s degree in education, all from UGA.

Bowen’s research interests focus on school leadership teams, school principalship and charter school systems.  He plans to pursue a principal position in the Athens area upon completion of his degree.

See all photos from 2011 EDAP Awards Luncheon on the COE’s Facebook page.