Two outstanding Georgia educational leaders—Philip D. Lanoue and Jack Parish—were recognized for their service to the field at the University of Georgia College of Education’s educational administration and policy program’s annual awards luncheon April 19 at River’s Crossing.

Parish, the associate dean for outreach and engagement in the college, received the nationally recognized Excellence in Educational Leadership Award from the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) and Philip D. Lanoue, superintendent of the Clarke County School District (CCSD), received the Johnnye V. Cox Award from the UGA department of lifelong education, administration, and policy.

Parish

Jack Parish
Parish (Ed.D. ’99), who joined the UGA faculty in 2008, was recognized for his contributions to the preparation of educational leaders as a lecturer in the educational administration and policy program after a 30-year career in K-12 education as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant personnel director, assistant superintendent and superintendent, mostly in Henry County. He began his career as a teacher at Riverdale High School in Clayton County.

Parish has been involved in a number of activities, assignments and tasks at UGA that have provided service to students, colleagues, the field of educational leadership and graduate education. He was named director of the Early Career Principal Residency Program in 2010.  He served as the executive director of the Georgia Association of Educational Leaders (GAEL), engaging with the state legislative body on behalf of school districts and educational leaders. He was named a clinical associate professor in 2012 and associate dean for outreach and engagement in 2013. Parish earned his doctorate in educational leadership from UGA in 1999.

The Excellence in Educational Leadership Award nationally recognizes school administrators  who have made significant contributions to the improvement of administrator preparation efforts. UCEA is a consortium of higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders for the benefit of schools and children.

Lanoue

Philip D. Lanoue
Lanoue, who has led the CCSD since 2009, was recognized for his contributions to educational supervision and leadership, and consistently bringing schools and districts to higher levels of academic achievement.

“During the past two years, the Clarke County School District under the leadership of Dr. Lanoue has been leading a learning revolution in the realm of leadership evaluation,” said UGA College of Education Professor Sally J. Zepeda. “Dr. Lanoue’s work is revolutionary as our state struggles with finding an evaluation system that can accurately reflect the real work of the principal and purposefully link their work to school improvement.”

The school district’s Leader Evaluation System provides a strong structure by which to monitor the progress of the system and its principals and assistant principals in an ongoing manner. The evaluation system, which reflects growth and is a development model, is flexible enough to be applied to leaders at all stages of their careers and is rigorous in its implementation.

Under his leadership, the Clarke County School District has been honored as a Title I Distinguished District for being Georgia’s top large district for closing the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students. In addition, all elementary schools, as well as Hilsman Middle and Clarke Middle, made 2011 Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the state’s measure of achievement under No Child Left Behind. Both Cedar Shoals High School and Clarke Central High School are Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools for the state of Georgia. In addition, the 2011 graduation rate increased to 70.8 percent, an increase of 7.5 percent since 2009.

Lanoue was also instrumental in developing innovative partnerships including the revitalization of the Athens Community Career Academy. The Charter Program is a partnership between the school district, UGA, Athens Technical College and OneAthens. With a shifted focus on post-secondary education, Athens Tech faculty members were tapped to teach free college courses for school district students. He also worked closely with the UGA College of Education in forming one of the nation’s few Professional Development School Districts. Aspects of this partnership include university professors-in-residence — faculty who dedicate 50 percent of their time to a school or district location, college students taking courses on site and school district teachers and university faculty participating in continuous learning.

The Johnnye V. Cox award was named for the late retired College of Education professor who joined the UGA faculty in 1946 and developed the college’s program of supervision.  She was considered one of the preeminent early national trailblazers of the field.

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Four doctoral students in the University Of Georgia College Of Education’s educational administration and policy program received scholarships and a fifth was recognized for his scholarly work at the program’s annual awards luncheon on April 19 at River’s Crossing.

Cole

Ray E. Bruce Academic Support Award
Jennifer Cole, an instructional coach at Winterville Elementary School in Clarke County, received the Ray E. Bruce Academic Support Award, which provides a $1,500 scholarship for a graduate student enrolled in the educational administration and policy program.

Cole, a second-year doctoral student, is a longtime educator who has received the Clarke County School District’s Foundation for Excellence Teacher of Excellence Award and held the Margaret and Raymond Ponsoldt Chair for Elementary School Teachers. She also led a team that received a CiviConnections Grant for Service Learning Projects funded by the Federal Corporation for National and Community Service and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS).

As an instructional coach, Cole works closely with teachers and administrators to plan and implement professional learning linked directly to teachers’ needs. This led her to explore the relationship between data about teachers’ performance and their professional learning. She presented findings from this project at the NCSS annual conference in Washington D.C., and has presented other work at numerous local, state and national conferences.

After graduation, Cole plans to pursue school-based leadership positions that will allow her to continue her work in instructional supervision as a means to inform and support teacher growth that promotes student success.

Patel

David J. Mullen Scholarship
Heena Patel and Bradley Bowling both received David J. Mullen Scholarships. The $1,500 nonrenewable scholarship provides assistance to doctoral candidates preparing for a public school position in the educational administration, and policy program.

A native of Athens, Patel is en route to becoming a “Triple Dawg.” She earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and a master’s degree in educational administration and policy at UGA. Currently in her fifth year of teaching in Gwinnett County Public Schools, Patel strives to create meaningful and engaging lessons for her first graders each day.

Patel’s dissertation focuses on the charter school phenomenon occurring in Georgia. The purpose of her study is to investigate and identify the factors why many conversion charter schools revert back to traditional public school models. It also explores what the consequences may be when conversion charter schools “unconvert.” The intent of her study is to help Georgia policymakers clarify why the charter option is rarely sustainable for many public schools.

As she now focuses on completing her doctorate in educational leadership, she hopes to use this educational foundation to improve the learning experiences of not only her first grade class, but someday, classrooms throughout a school or district.

Bowling

Bowling, a veteran educator of 11 years, currently serves as an assistant principal at W.R. Coile Middle School in Athens and is pursuing his Ed.D. in educational leadership at UGA.

Bowling, who earned a B.S. degree in psychology and an L-5 leadership certification from UGA, in addition to a M.Ed. in interrelated special education from North Georgia College and State University, studies interventions aimed at decreasing the dropout rate for low-socioeconomic African-American and Hispanic adolescent males.

During his career in the classroom, Bowling has worked with students with disabilities and created innovative programs and pedagogies in partnership with the community in an effort to provide young people with the skills, instruction and determination to live independently. A former coach, Bowling created and owns Bible, Basketball, Faith, and Football Camps through which he shares character virtues learned through sports but applicable to life with thousands of elementary age children He serves on the board of the North Georgia/North Coast Honduras Mission, through which he initiated a program to bring sports equipment and recreation programs to the children and youth of Honduras. He has and continues to inspire youth to refrain from drugs and gang violence, and encourages them to help their community as servant leaders in the face of poverty.

Bowling was appointed to the Athens Area Mental Health, Substance Abuse, and Developmental Disabilities Board by Athens-Clarke County Mayor Nancy Denson and the Clarke County Commissioners in December, 2012. He also serves on the Athens First United Methodist Church Council.

Finklin

Carroll Wade McGuffey Scholarship
Rejer A. Finklin received the Carroll Wade McGuffey Scholarship. This $1,500 scholarship supports students whose studies include research into school organizations’ impact on teacher behavior, pupil behavior and/or pupil learning.

Finklin began her career in education as a secondary social studies teacher in Washington, Ga.  During this time, she developed an interest in the professional and social experiences of teachers of color working in rural settings. She also became interested in school leadership and the role it plays in recruiting and retaining teachers—specifically, how effective school leadership can alleviate teacher isolation and attrition rates for minority teachers in rural schools.

As part of her doctoral studies, Finklin has worked with her advising professor, April Peters-Hawkins, examining the role of the principalship in the shaping of school culture. Finklin’s dissertation will focus on the professional and social experiences of teachers of color that opt to leave rural teaching assignments for suburban and urban assignments. She has also completed requirements for the Certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Studies with an interest in interview methodologies and case study.

Upon completion of her degree, Finklin hopes to pursue a post-doctorate opportunity and then enter an academic position where she can continue her research into the lives of teachers of color and rural education.

Deas

Faculty Scholar Award
Kendall Deas, a doctoral candidate from Sumter, S.C., received the Faculty Scholar Award for his exhibition of outstanding citizenship and academic progress.

Deas holds a B.S.F.S. degree from Georgetown University, a M.A. degree in globalization studies from Dartmouth College, a M.A. degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis, and a M.A. degree in public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He also holds certificates in policy studies from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and the University of Texas’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. Deas was a one-year Visiting Student at Mansfield College of Oxford University and in 1991 was named a Fulbright Scholar to Finland where he earned a diploma in international trade law at Turku International University.

At UGA, Deas has had papers accepted for presentation at several national and international conferences sponsored by the Education Law Association, National Education Finance Conference, and the American Society for Public Administration. This spring, he was one of two national finalists for the Ann Plato Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship at Trinity College sponsored by the national Consortium for Faculty Diversity at Liberal Arts Colleges.

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Sandmann

Lorilee Sandmann, a professor in the COE’s Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy, will speak at the second annual University of Louisiana System Academic Summit at the University of Louisiana-Monroe, reports an April 6 story in the Monroe (LA) News Star.

Moyer

Fourth annual conference of UGA’s Institute for Evidence-Based Health Professions Education

Keynote speaker: Virginia A. Moyer, M.D., M.P.H., chair of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and a leading national voice against prostate cancer overscreening.

“When Clinical Evidence and Conventional Wisdom Collide: Lessons Learned by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.”

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Williams

Sheneka Williams, an assistant professor in the College of Education’s department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, is the featured Faculty Profile in the March 4 edition of Columns, UGA’s faculty-staff newspaper.

Also, in this week’s Columns is a story on the 44th annual Georgia Book Awards and Conference on Children’s Literature hosted by the COE’s department of language and literacy education.

Bierema

University of Georgia College of Education professor Laura Bierema has received the 2013 Outstanding Scholar Award from the Academy of Human Resources Development (AHRD) for her pioneering feminist research in the field.

Bierema, a professor in the department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, is lauded as one of the first scholars to do feminist research in the field of Human Resources Development (HRD) and exploring women’s development in organizations from that perspective. She has also led the development of critical HRD—a perspective that challenges dominant management practice and urges organizations to be sustainable and socially responsible.

Bierema has made substantial contributions to the profession of HRD through both research-related service and building research-related infrastructures. Her work is widely cited in both HRD and adult education—with 27 scholarly journal articles, 29 book chapters, an authored book, a co-authored book, an edited book,  a co-edited book and another book in press.

As the vice president of research for AHRD, she conducted a comprehensive study of research and publications within the field through the AHRD Journal Task Force. She runs a research preconference before the annual AHRD conference, serves as a symposia discussant and mentors both students and faculty. Further, she is heavily involved in editorial service, providing support to journal editors through her AHRD role and as an editorial board member and reviewer.

Bierema joined the UGA faculty from Michigan State University as an assistant professor of adult education in 2000. During her career at UGA, she has been recognized for her work with several awards, including the COE’s Russell H. Yeany, Jr. Research Award (2012), Highly Commended Award at the Literati Network Awards (2009), and the AHRD’s Cutting Edge Award for Outstanding Conference Papers in 2007, 2004, 2002 and 1997.  Bierema (Ed.D. ’94) earned her doctorate in adult education from UGA.

Bierema follows a long line of UGA leadership in the field. Andrea Mary Ellinger (Ph.D. ’97), now a professor at the University of Texas at Tyler, received the 2012 HRD Outstanding Scholar Award.  Baiyin Yang (Ph.D. ’96), the COSCO Chair Professor and chair of department of leadership and organization management, Tsinghua University, China, received the 2007 HRD Outstanding Scholar Award. Karen Watkins, a professor in the COE’s department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, received the 1998 HRD Outstanding Scholar Award.

Osborne

University of Georgia College of Education graduate Kimberly Osborne (Ph.D. ’06) will spend the next couple of years working with the United States Department of Defense in Afghanistan.

Osborne began a new position this month as Chief Strategic Communications Advisor, supporting the Afghan Ministry of Defense. She will deploy to Kabul in March 2013 where she will serve as a mentor to a senior minister in the Afghan government.

Osborne received her doctorate in adult education and an interdisciplinary graduate certificate in qualitative research in 2006.

Prior to receiving her doctorate, Osborne worked as a public relations coordinator at UGA Public Affairs for nine years. She also served as assistant to the director in the Institute of Gerontology in the College of Public Health and as a data manager and science specialist in the School of Marine programs in Franklin College at UGA.

Since June 2011, she worked as the head of research communications for the Federal Highway Administration. She is currently living in Arlington, Va.

Zepda

Spangler

Two studies by COE faculty member Sally Zepeda that show the ineffectiveness of block scheduling in high school classrooms is cited in Clarke Schools’ recommendation to move back to regular scheduling, reports a front page story in the January 6 Athens Banner-Herald. Denise Spangler, head of the department of mathematics and science education and a member of the Clarke County Board of Education is quoted in the story.

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Michelle Nuss is the campus associate dean for graduate medical education at GHSU/UGA and is the principal investigator on a team created to study how faculty and students use the iPads.

Nuss’ fellow investigators are Janette R. Hill, UGA College of Education; Bruce Middendorf, chief medical officer, St. Mary’s Health Care System; Ronald Cervero, UGA College of Education; and Julie K. Gaines, GHSU/UGA librarian.