Faculty News and Awards

Faculty Publicity and Publishing
Applied Developmental Psychology (ADP) Associate Professor Christina Groark, also a co-director of the Office of Child Development (OCD), recently published a textbook, Early Child Development: From Theory to Practice, co-written with Stephanie McCarthy of OCD, and Afton R. Kirk, a graduate student in ADP. The text was written for educators planning to work with children birth to age 8 and explains how development and individual variations within children occur. This focus allows readers to create their own practices based upon developmental knowledge and respect for cultural variations while also describing ways to create developmentally appropriate activities.

Rich Milner, director of the School of Education’s Center for Urban Education and Dr. Helen S. Faison Chair in Urban Education, was identified by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education as one of 41 Black endowed and distinguished professors of education. He also recently had an article published in NEA Today, titled "The Testing Obsession and the Disappearing Curriculum."

Lindsay Page, an assistant research professor, had her book published on October 21, 2014, Summer Melt: Supporting Low-Income Students Through the Transition to College, which explores the complex factors that contribute to the trend of attrition among college-intending seniors—especially those from low-income families. Drawing on a series of research studies, Page and her co-author, Benjamin Castleman, show how schools and districts can develop effective, low-cost, scalable responses—including counselor outreach, peer mentoring, and using text messages and social media—to help students stay on track over the summer. She also recently wrote an op-ed about the subject for The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Assistant Professor and Director of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project (WPWP) Laura Roop co-wrote a book titled Doing and Making Authentic Literacies. The book features educators in construction trades, English, math, and multidisciplinary teams who have created empowering disciplinary classrooms and projects that allow students, particularly those who are sometimes disenfranchised by the larger culture and current institutional structures, to “gain new identities as makers and doers.” Roop and her co-authors center their examples in a continuum of disciplinary literacy learning, demonstrating how it can be used to look at and reconfigure lessons, units, courses, and programs.

Faculty News and Awards
Associate Professor Christina Groark and Assistant Professor Shannon Wanless were asked by Mayor William Peduto's office to take part in the City of Pittsburgh Community Forum on Early Childhood Education in mid-August. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Mayor Peduto, and other forum participants visited Hug Me Tight Childlife Center to meet with early childhood education providers, parents, and community members. In addition, other officials from the Department of Education, National League of Cities, and the city convened stakeholders for a private focus group on early childhood education. Groark and Wanless will continue to serve the Mayor's office in his Early Childhood Education Consortium with monthly meetings, which aim to improve services for prenatal-5-year-old children in the City of Pittsburgh.

Anna Arlotta-Guerrero, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in Education, was recently elected to a committee for the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. She will serve on the committee for the activity The Science of Children Birth to Age 8: Deepening and Broadening the Foundation for Success. The goal of this committee is to provide the institute with opportunities for ongoing engagement with individuals with a range of practice experience in relevant fields. Arlotta-Guerrero participated in the committee’s meeting on June 5 and 6 in Washington, D.C., and will provide feedback on the development of communications products and strategies for the study.

Kelliann Davis, a research assistant professor in the Department of Health and Physical Activity, has achieved fellow status in the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). The purpose of ACSM fellowship is to encourage high standards of professional service, recognize professional achievement in the related disciplines of sports medicine via education, and demonstrate an interest in and/or contribution to the goals of sports medicine.

Marigold “Goldie” Edwards, emerita professor, was elected to the U.S. Squash Hall of Fame.

Sean Kelly, an assistant professor, has received an outstanding reviewer award from the journal Sociology of Education (SOE). Kelly, who teaches in the school's Department of Administrative and Policy Studies, is a long-time reviewer for the journal, and served on the editorial board from 2010-12. In 2011, University of Iowa Professor and former SOE Editor David Bills started a "Revise and Resubmit" award to recognize the work of the SOE’s editorial team and anonymous reviewers. The American Sociological Association, which was founded in 1927, releases Sociology of Education quarterly.

Psychology in Education (PIE) Associate Professor Roger Klein has written, produced, and narrated eight, five-minute videos about psychology for Cengage Learning. Instructors who use Cengage textbooks for introductory psychology courses will have access to the videos for classroom purposes. The videos present research from institutions across the United States and are designed to also introduce undergraduates to prominent and up-and-coming psychologists. Klein previously produced 55 videos for Cengage in two published volumes (Research In Action, Volume 1 and 2).

Lauren Resnick, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at the University of Pittsburgh, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences’ Class of 2013. Resnick also is Distinguished University Professor of Learning Sciences and Education Policy, codirector of Pitt’s Institute for Learning, a senior scientist at Pitt’s Learning Research and Development Center, and an adjunct faculty member in the School of Education.

Renee Rogers, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Physical Activity, was selected as one of five winners of the Obesity Society’s eHealth/mHealth Section Poster Competition.

Assistant Professor Jennifer Lin Russell has been named a Carnegie Fellow for 2014-2015 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Fellows are expected to participate in the foundation by contributing blog posts, offering CEL presentations, and participating in the annual summit and fall Emerald Week offsite retreat. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is committed to "developing networks of ideas, individuals, and institutions to advance teaching and learning."

George J. Zimmerman, associate professor and coordinator of the vision studies program, received the Lawrence E. Blaha Award at the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) International Conference 2014 in San Antonio, Texas. The award honors those have made outstanding contributions to the field of orientation and mobility and who are dedicated to serving people with visual impairments. It is the highest honor that the AER’s Orientation and Mobility Division can bestow.