With NSF Grant, Wilhelm and Norris Collaborate To Broaden Math Teacher Pipeline

SMU Simmons, Dr. Annie Wilhelm

 

Simmons Assistant Professor Annie Wilhelm and Dedman College’s Associate Professor Scott Norris received a $100,273 Noyce Capacity Building grant from the National Science Foundation to increase the math teacher pipeline. The focus will be on secondary math teachers for placement in the Dallas Independent School District.

Dedman College, Dr. Scott Norris

Wilhelm and Norris will be working in partnership with the Dallas County Community College District to create a dual-enrollment recruitment program that prepares student scholars for dual degrees in Mathematics and Educational Studies at SMU.

The project includes collaboration with staff from the Budd Center, a unit in Simmons that brings West Dallas nonprofits and schools together. This collaboration will help immerse students in West Dallas throughout the program.

To hear Wilhelm speak about the project, click here.

Project ELVA Video Highlighted on 2018 STEM For All Website

Doris Baker, associate professor in Teaching and Learning, has one of her research projects featured in STEM for All, a National Science Foundation supported website. A video of her Project ELVA (English Language Vocabulary Acquisition) explains the benefits of using an intelligent design tutoring system to guide the instruction and provide prompts to support student language development in science.

Project ELVA was awarded $1,499,586 from the Institute of Education Science, 8/1/2014 to 7/31/2017. Baker’s co-principal investigators were Simmons Professor Stephanie Al Otaiba; Ron Cole and Wayne Ward (Boulder Language Technologies). Doctoral students Jillian Conry and Paul Polanco also assisted.

Bing to Deliver Commencement Address at Wheelock College

Eric G. Bing, Simmons professor of global health in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness, will give the 2018 commencement address at Wheelock College in Boston, MA, May 18. Bing also is the founding director of the Institute for Leadership Impact and the Center for Global Health Impact at SMU.

The address is part of the 130th commencement at the college, which be the final graduation ceremony. Wheelock is merging with Boston University and becomes the new Wheelock College of Education and Human Development academic unit, June 1.

In addition, Bing will receive an honorary degree along with three other education leaders:

  • Evelyn B. Hausslein, Founding Director of SUPPORTbrokers and co-founder of Wheelock’s Child Life program
  • Toby Congleton Milner ’70, Founder of the Lillydale Literacy Project in South Africa
  • Dr. Pedro A. Noguera, Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

Four Applied Physiology Undergraduates Sweep Honors

Amanda Woodruff, Madeline Wainman, and Sydney Lyng (L to R) conduct research on concussions and blood flow with their mentor, Assistant Professor Sushmita Purkayastha.

Madeline Wainman, Sydney Lyng, and Kelly Lenz, students in Applied Physiology and Health Management, were recognized for their research abstract poster presentations at the Texas Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference in Austin this spring. Wainman, Lyng, and Lenz won first, second, and third places respectively for their work. Their mentors in Simmons are Sushmita Purkayastha, Ph.D. and Scott Davis, Ph.D.

Other recognitions were given by the department during SMU’s Honor Convocation to Amanda Woodruff, who received the APHM Departmental Distinction Award, and to Wainman and Lenz, who were awarded with APHM Departmental Honors.

All of them presented their research posters at SMU Research Day.

Doris Baker and Candace Walkington Earn Tenure

Dr. Doris Baker

Congratulations to Doris Luft Baker, Ph.D., and Candace Walkington, Ph.D. upon receiving tenure. Both teach and conduct research in the Department of Teaching and Learning, and contribute to the Simmons School in strong ways.

Baker directs the Master of Bilingual Education program. She is engaged in developing and evaluating instructional tools and assessments in English and Spanish designed to improve and monitor the academic performance of English learners.

Dr. Candace Walkington

Walkington specializes in mathematics education. Her research examines how abstract mathematical ideas can become connected to students’ concrete, everyday experiences such that they become more understandable.

Please join the Simmons School in celebrating these newly tenured professors.

 

Publication Features Collaboration by Wilhelm, Rouse, and Jones

Three Simmons faculty members, Annie Garrison Wilhelm, Amy Gillespie Rouse, and Francesca Jones examine how classroom obervations are conducted and rated in Exploring Differences in Measurement and Reporting of Classroom Observation Inter-Rater Reliability.  

Their article was published in Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, an online peer-reviewed electornic journal.