Global Health Students Compete to Solve Problems for Dallas Nonprofits

As part of Simmons’ Global Health class taught by Professor Eric Bing, students were asked to compete in teams to examine and solve challenges faced by two of the city’s nonprofits, Resource Center and Brother Bill’s Helping Hand. Two winning teams presented ideas to increase medical care at Brother Bill’s and to extend behavioral health counseling run by Simmons at Resource Center. Students were mentored by consultants in McKenzie & Company, Bain, and the Boston Consultant Group.

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Thomas Schmedding, Carrie Perkins, Claire Trotter and Jordan Schimoda came up with the winning proposal for Brother Bill’s Helping Hand, a ministerial organization serving low-income neighborhoods in West Dallas.

Judges for the competition included Marisa Elliott, COO, Resource Center; Suzanne Griffin, executive director, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand; Ameeth Sankaran, investment partner with 2M; Jeremy Smith, executive director, Rainwater Charitable Foundation; and Dean David Chard.

The class is part of Simmons’ Applied Physiology and Wellness Department, and this marks the first Global and Public Health Case Competition for SMU.

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Tyler Friske, Yewande Dada, Jessica Chu, Aya Mouhaffel, Michael Iwuoha presented the winning case to help the Resource Center in Dallas, a social service agency for LGBT communities.

Accelerated School Leadership’s Elizabeth Pittman Receives Fulbright

E Pittman Head Shot cropped Elizabeth Pittman, a student in Simmons’ Accelerated School Leadership program, is one of 49 American citizens to receive a Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching grant for 2015-16. She will conduct research in New Zealand.

The Fulbright program asks participants to “take courses, lead master classes and seminars, visit local schools, collaborate with each other online and in person, and complete an inquiry project of their own design.” Pittman teaches at H. Grady Spruce High School in Dallas. Read more about the program here.

Annie Wright Contributes to Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning

8.27.14Portraits12578Annie Wright, director of evaluation for the Center on Research and Evaluation in Simmons, recently published an essay in the Handbook of Social and Emotional Learning: Research and Practice (Guilford Press, 2015).

Her essay, “Accountability and SEL Programs: The Getting To Outcomes® Approach,” was co-written with Andrea Lamont, Abraham Wandersman, David Osher,  and Eric S. Gordon. Read more about the book here.

Simmons Volunteers with Reading Partners for Service Day

16816329180_2f8c51f518_zThanks to Reading Partners Dallas, Simmons faculty and staff spent a morning  tutoring students at J.W. Ray Elementary and Jack Lowe Elementary schools in  Dallas Independent School District.

Dean David Chard created the service day and Reading Partners took on the volunteers to help advance children’s reading skills. See photos here.

Reading Partners is a member of The School Zone, a collaborative partnership of nonprofits and schools in West Dallas. The service day was organized by the Budd Center in Simmons, which manages The School Zone.