Sandmann

Lorilee R. Sandmann, a College of Education faculty member, has been named the new editor of the University of Georgia’s Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement.

A leading scholar in the field of the scholarship of engagement, Sandmann assumed the role Aug. 15 after the retirement of Trish Kalivoda, long-time JHEOE editor and associate vice president of public service and outreach at UGA.

Sandmann is a professor in lifelong education, administration and policy in the College of Education and has been involved throughout her career in major educational and institutional change processes promoting and institutionalizing community engagement. Among her achievements, she was co-director of the Clearinghouse and National Review Board for the Scholarship of Engagement, serves on the National Advisory Panel for Community Engagement of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and is the recipient of 2013 Distinguished Research Award by the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement.

“Earnest Boyer, in the inaugural issue of the journal, first wrote about the scholarship of engagement. It is indeed an honor to be leading the JHEOE’s editorial team to continue the strong tradition of being the premier vehicle for new knowledge and critical conversations in the field,” said Sandmann. “One of our goals is to reach an even wider audience around the world and advance the global dialogue about the scholarship of outreach and community engagement.”

The journal will begin accepting new manuscripts for peer review and publication consideration on Sept. 1. All article submissions should be original and unpublished work that contribute new knowledge to the field while aligning with the mission of JHEOE. Additional information on submission requirements as well as access to current and back issues can be found at http://openjournals.libs.uga.edu/index.php/jheoe/index.

About the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement

JHEOE has been published by the University of Georgia since 1996 and serves as a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary journal to advance theory and practice related to all forms of outreach and engagement between higher education institutions and communities. The Journal is a partnership of UGA’s Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, Institute of Higher Education and College of Education.

Williams

Sheneka Williams, a faculty member in the College of Education, has been selected by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education as a member of its 2013 class of the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).

Williams and 20 other selectees will attend monthly colloquiums for nine months to broaden their understanding of the policy process in education and related issues. Members will also attend a national policy seminar in Washington, D.C.

Williams, an assistant professor in the department of lifelong leadership, administration, and policy, teaches graduate classes in educational policy analysis and school/community relations. Her research focuses on student assignment policies, school governance and its impact on school communities, and magnet schools and desegregation.

She also currently serves as associate director for policy and advocacy for the University Council for Educational Administration, a national consortium of higher education institutions focused on advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders.

Williams received her Ed.D. in educational leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University.  She joined the UGA faculty in 2007.

COE professors of adult education Juanita Johnson-Bailey and Talmadge Guy met with South African politician and activist Winnie Mandela in a recent visit to South Africa. Pictured are: (L-R) Johnson-Bailey’s husband, Marvin; Norvella Carter, an endowed chair in Urban Education at Texas A & M and a visiting professor at UGA in Education Administration and Policy; Mandela, Johnson-Bailey and Guy.

University of Georgia College of Education professors Talmadge Guy and Juanita Johnson-Bailey recently met with iconic South African politician and longtime activist Winnie Mandela in a visit to her homeland.

Guy and Johnson-Bailey, both professors of adult education, were making their seventh visit to South Africa to re-establish contacts regarding UGA’s memorandums of understanding (MOU) for collaborative work with the University of Botswana  and to establish a new MOU with the University of the Witwatersrand at Johannesburg.

The UGA faculty members met with faculty of both universities, including a master’s degree graduate of UGA’s adult education program, Bheki Zungu (BSEd ’03, MEd ’05), now a faculty member at the University of the Witwatersrand.

The pair toured several schools, meeting with various school administrators and Johnson-Bailey gave talks about women in the South African freedom struggle at two adult community programs at Zungu’s request.

However, the highlight of the trip was meeting with Winnie Mandela which was arranged by Zunga, said Johnson-Bailey.

“It was at a birthday party for her great-granddaughter at the home of Mandela’s granddaughter in Johannesburg,” she said. “We had been scheduled to meet with Winnie privately the day before at her home in Soweto, but she had an unexpected meeting that she had to attend. So the only way that she could fit us in was if we saw her the next day at the birthday party.”

Mandela has held several government positions and headed the African National Congress (ANC) Women’s League. She is currently a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee.

Zepeda

Georgia’s proposed new  teacher evaluation method is “fundamentally flawed,” said Sally Zepeda, a professor in educational administration in UGA’s College of Education in a June 22 Athens Banner-Herald story.

The U.S. Department of Education recently offered states with waivers from the federal No Child Left Behind Law permission to wait another year before implementing controversial new teacher evaluation methods.

Georgia qualifies, but state education officials don’t know yet if they will accept the offer to wait until the 2015-16 school year to implement a new assessment method that heavily weighs student achievement and test scores, the Banner-Herald story reported.

L-R: Casey Mull, Dionne Rosser-Mims (Conference Organizer and Associate Director of Academics, Troy University), Jenny Jordan, and Katherine Adams

Three University of Georgia College of Education graduate students presented their research at the opening symposium of the 54th annual Adult Education Research Conference May 31 in St. Louis, Mo.

Katherine Adams, a PhD candidate; Jenny Jordan and Casey Mull, both fourth-year doctoral students, all in adult education, were invited to present their research titled, Boundary Spanning Roles in Communities & Organizations: Implications for Adult Educators at the conferences’ opening symposium.

The selection of their research for the plenary presentation in one of the most notable conferences in the field of adult education was significant because they are usually reserved for college presidents, titans of the field and well-known adult educators, said Adams. The three UGA students were also selected to write a paper that was submitted to the annual proceedings journal.

Jordan, of Bogart, is a UGA Extension 4-H specialist in volunteer and teen programs. Mull, of Athens, is a UGA Extension 4-H specialist in military programs. Adams, of Athens, is an: academic advisor in UGA’s Odum School of Ecology. Lorilee Sandmann, a professor in the department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, is the major professor for all three students.

Bierema

Laura Bierema, a professor of adult education, has been named the University of Georgia College of Education’s new Associate Dean for Academic Programs, effective August 1, 2013.

Bierema replaces James Marshall, who has served in the post since 2009 after joining the UGA faculty as a professor in the department of language and literacy education in 2005. Marshall will retire in June.

“Laura’s appointment allows us to continue to evolve the Office of Academic Programs to more completely serve the needs of the College, while continuing its outstanding focus on PreK-12 education,” said Dean Craig H. Kennedy.

The office handles four major areas within the College: assessment and accreditation, curriculum processes, technology initiatives and student affairs. Specifically, the office oversees the College’s overall performance-based assessment system by assisting programs with ongoing national, state and university program assessment and accreditation efforts, managing the collection of information for various College reports, and working with external bodies including the Professional Standards Commission and Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. This office also facilitates curricular changes within the College, serves in a coordinating role to the College’s international efforts, and oversees the Student Services Office.

Bierema, a faculty member in the College’s department of lifelong education, administration, and policy, received the 2013 Outstanding Scholar Award from the Academy of Human Resources Development (AHRD) for her pioneering feminist research in the field.

She is recognized as one of the first scholars to do feminist research in the field of Human Resources Development (HRD) 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 joined the UGA faculty from Michigan State University as an assistant professor in 2000. During her career at UGA, she has received 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 at UGA.

Zepeda

“I think the law and the policies surrounding the law are fundamentally flawed,” said Sally Zepeda, a faculty member in the University of Georgia’s College of Education who is an authority on teacher evaluations in a May 19 article in the Athens Banner-Herald.

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.