January 2017

Professor Augustina “Tina” Reyes, in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, was invited to join the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Questionnaire Standing Committee in November 2016. The group of leading education experts, chosen through a national search, consults with the testing company for the Nation’s Report Card.

Higher Education (M.Ed.) student Kimberly Schwaeble attended the Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators conference in Frisco, Texas, in October 2016. As part of the training committee, Schwaeble helped organize a workshop for new financial aid administrators. She also attended the Federal Student Aid conference in Atlanta, Ga., in November.

Higher Education (Ph.D.) students Andrew Kapral and Kathryn Wheatley presented a paper at the Association for the Study of Higher Education conference in Columbus, Ohio, in November 2016. They used data from the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Advancement of Teacher Education to examine early career retention among public school teachers in Texas. The paper focused on connecting characteristics of university-based teacher preparation programs to teacher retention in Texas public schools during a five-year period.

February 2017

Jason Bergeron, a Ph.D. in higher education student in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, won the Steven B. Dealph Outstanding Fraternity/Sorority Professional Award. Bergeron is director of the University of Houston’s Center for Fraternity and Sorority Life. The award, presented in February at the Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values Conference, recognizes a leader who embodies values of the profession and those of organizations that the advisor supports.

Anthony Rolle, former chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Houston College of Education, was selected to serve as president of the National Education Finance Academy for 2017-18. Rolle previously served as vice president. Rolle also won the academy’s 2017 Educational Considerations Outstanding Article of the Year Award. Rolle’s article focused on measuring the economic efficiency of educational organizations in Australia and examining the differences in expenditure patterns, organizational outcomes and academic outcomes. The group held its annual conference in late February.

Sly Mata and Toni Templeton, Ph.D. students in the higher education program, presented at the National Education Finance Academy meeting in late February in Cincinnati. Their research focused on tuition and higher education funding. Mata’s presentation was titled “Price Matters: A Time Series Analysis of Tuition Prices and Enrollment with a Focus on Texas Public Universities.” Templeton’s presentation related to her paper “An Exploration of Technical Efficiency in Higher Education Institutions.”

College of Education Assistant Professor Shawn Kent won a $5,945 award from the UH Division of Research New Faculty Research Award Program. Kent proposed to conduct a small-scale study to examine the effectiveness of providing parent training to assist upper elementary and secondary students with reading difficulties.

The UH Asian American Studies Center awarded several student scholarships this semester, thanks to the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association scholarship endowment.

• Students selected for the Academic Excellence scholarship ($1,000 each): Denny Do (dietian/nutrition), Thomas Santos (English, creative writing), Silvia Romo-Duarte (English, creative writing) and Andrew Wells (liberal studies)
• Students selected for the Research Scholarship Award ($2,000 each): Jason Bergeron (higher education), Daniel Chu (English creative writing), Anthony Foster (law professional), Silvester Mata (higher education), Trang Phan (higher education) and Toni Templeton (higher education)

Maria Honey, a M.Ed. in higher education student, won the 2017 Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education Distinguished University Staff Award. It was presented during the group’s annual conference in late February in Austin. Honey works as assistant director of marketing and communications for Auxiliary Services and Student Housing and Residential Life at UH.

The Department of Curriculum & Instruction graduated five students from Vietnam during the fall 2016 semester. Khanh P. Duong, Hang T. Nguyen, Huy Nguyen, Phuoc M. Nguyen and Anh Thi Van Ha received an M.Ed. in curriculum & instruction specializing in social education, led by their professor Cameron White. The students are part of a partnership between the UH College of Education and Ho Chi Minh City University of Education in Vietnam. There have been about 20 students who have completed the M.Ed. program.

March 2017

Assistant Professor Laura Turchi and Professor Cameron White, both in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, were honored as 2016 Authors of Scholarly Book Publications at the UH Inventor Patent Awards and Celebration of Researchers’ Luncheon in March.

Other College of Education faculty members were honored at the awards luncheon as 2016 New Researcher Grant Award Recipients: Consuelo Arbona, Andrea Burridge, Virmarie Correa-Fernández, Jerome Freiberg, Paige Evans, Jacqueline Hawkins, Sascha Hein, Catherine Horn, Laveria Hutchison, Milena Keller-Margulis, Anne McClellan, Robert McPherson, Rosenda Murillo, Ezemenari Obasi, Norma Olvera, Patricia Paquin, Lorraine Reitzel, Kristi Santi, Jonathan Schwartz, Bradley Smith, Tammy Tolar, Shelley Townsend and Laura Turchi.

Associate Professor Lorraine Reitzel and Assistant Professor Virmarie Correa-Fernández, both in the Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences, and doctoral student Julie Neisler presented in March at the Annual Conference for the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in Florence, Italy. They presented posters about smoking cessation outreach and research on homeless smokers. Neisler, a student in the measurement and quantitative methods in learning sciences Ph.D. program, also is a research assistant and president of the College of Education Graduate Student Organization.

Ronnie Burren, a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction student, spoke in March at the Women in Leadership Initiative Luncheon at Syracuse University about the challenges women leaders face from men.