Category: Higher Education

Simmons Continues on the Upswing in U.S.News & World Report Rankings for Best Graduate Schools in Education

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SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development advances for the third consecutive year in U.S. News & World Report 2023 national rankings released online on March 29. The Simmons School ranks 54 in public and private graduate schools of education, rising from 59 last year. Previously, the school’s placement was 63, which represented a significant leap from 105 in 2021.

This progression reflects continued upward growth for the school’s placement among top public and private education schools. Simmons now has moved from the top 15 private graduate schools to the top 12.

In the state, only UT Texas at Austin and Texas A&M at College Station have a ranking higher than Simmons.

“Our ranking is shaped by many factors, but what our research faculty members are doing is extraordinary. External funding per faculty member is $323.8 thousand and our researchers’ determination to pursue important work is setting a grant funding record at SMU,” says Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Stephanie L. Knight.

“We know the Covid pandemic impacted students and their families with many challenges, but now what we can do as educators is to assess and improve learning. The evidence-based practices we teach in Simmons are defined by our research.”

To rank schools of education, U.S. News & World Report considers measures of academic quality, including faculty resources, student selectivity, doctoral degrees granted, in addition to peer assessment scores and research activity. Rankings for 2023 were assessed for 274 schools.

 

Dean Knight Offers Perspective in NBC5’s Report on Current Exodus of Superintendents

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Stephanie L. Knight, dean of the Simmons School of Education and Human Development at SMU.

On a day when Dallas and Fort Worth superintendents announced their retirements, NBC5 reported on the pressures education leaders may be facing and causing the exits. Dean Stephanie L. Knight commented on the current conditions that add to an already demanding job.

See the story below.

 

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/north-texas-superintendents-face-challenges-several-stepping-aside/2858508/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baker Joins the Ranks of Top 200 Education Scholars Influencing Public Discourse

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Dominique Baker, assistant professor of education policy in Simmons, is one of 200 top education scholars who move ideas from academic journals into the public sphere. The designation is part of the 2022 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, posted annually by Frederich M. Hess, an Education Week blogger, and director of the American Enterprise Institute’s education policy studies.

According to Hess, the scholars must excel in five areas:  disciplinary scholarship, policy analysis and popular writing, convening and shepherding collaborations, providing incisive media commentary, and speaking in the public square.

“This year, two junior faculty made the top 200: Harvard’s Anthony A. Jack, at 159, and Southern Methodist’s Dominique Baker, at 187. Given that the exercise, by design, favors scholars who’ve built bodies of work and had a sustained impact, these two are deserving of particular notice,” he said.

The Simmons School congratulates Baker for her high accomplishment.

Baker Receives Excellence in Public Policy Higher Education Award from ASHE

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The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) has honored Simmons Assistant Professor Dominique J. Baker with the Excellence in Public Policy Higher Education Award. The award is given by its Council on Public Policy in Higher Education.

The citation reads “In her already substantial body of published work, Dr. Dominique J. Baker has consistently focused on how higher education policies affect minoritized student populations. Dr. Baker has regularly shared her research and expertise with the wider policy community via numerous op-eds and policy briefs. As evidence of the high esteem in which her work is held, Dr. Baker was recently asked to give testimony before the U.S. Senate.”

Baker also was recognized by the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) with its Early Career Award, which she received at the association’s annual conference in March.

Her research focuses on the way that education policy affects and shapes the access and success of underrepresented students in higher education. She primarily investigates student financial aid, affirmative action, and policies that influence the ability to create an inclusive and equitable campus climate. She is a faculty member in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership.

Associated Press Includes SMU Simmons in List of Teacher Prep Programs Managing Changes Due to COVID-19

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In a survey of teacher preparation programs around the country, the Associated Press asked how COVID-19 is impacting the way new teachers are being trained. SMU Simmons responded by saying professors are training students to use Google Classroom and also to evaluate education technology. Read the article here.

 

How To Replace College Admissions Tests? WSJ Looks at Baker’s Research on Admissions Lotteries

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Dominique Baker, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Education Policy and Leadership, SMU Simmons School of Education and Human Development

Assistant Professor Dominique Baker, Dept. of Education Policy and Leadership, provided her expertise on admissions lotteries for a Wall Street Journal story on ways to replace admissions tests for colleges and universities.

Baker, who has run lottery simulations with Michael Bastedo at the University of Michigan, says lotteries don’t necessarily create more diverse classes. Read the article here.

 

 

The American Society of Biomechanics Honors Peter Weyand with Hay Award

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Simmons Professor Peter Weyand will receive the Jim Hay Memorial Award for Research in Sports and Exercise from the American Society of Biomechanics during its annual conference in August. The award recognizes “originality, quality, and depth of biomechanics research that addresses fundamental research questions relevant to extraordinary demands imposed in sport and exercise.”

His scholarly work focuses on mechanics, metabolism, and performance at the whole-body level. His work is well-known to academics and professionals in various fields. Because of his expertise,  he has served as a lead investigator in several high-profile projects. These include “Michael Johnson, Wired Athlete,” “Physics of Basketball Flopping,” and the Olympic eligibility cases of amputee sprinters Oscar Pistorius and Blake Leeper considered by the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

Weyand holds the Glenn Simmons Endowed Professorship of Applied Physiology and Biomechanics in the Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness.

To see the Hay Award symposium, watch the YouTube video below.

Gándara Becomes a William T. Grant Scholar and Pursues Five-year Research on Free-college Programs

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Denisa Gándara, assistant professor of higher education, is a faculty member in the Dept. of Education Policy and Leadership, Simmons School.

Assistant Profesor of Higher Education Denisa Gándara is one of  five early-career researchers selected by the William T. Grant Foundation to receive $350,000 “to execute rigorous five-year research plans that stretch their skills and knowledge into new disciplines, content areas, or methods.”

Gándara will examine how the administrative burdens of free-college programs, such as eligibility criteria and application processes, impact college enrollment and degree completion for racially or ethnically minoritized students. She aims to provide a more complete understanding of how administrative burdens affect students from different racial or ethnic groups, and, ultimately, to inform program design in ways that help reduce gaps in program take-up and degree attainment.

“By supporting their research agendas and professional development, the William T. Grant Scholars Program seeks to contribute to a bright new generation of scholars who will bring rigorous research to youth policies, programs, and practices in the U.S.,” said the Grant Foundation’s Senior Vice President Vivian Tseng.

Ed.D. Student Valerio Parrot Publishes Washington Post Op-ed on Reforming College Athletics

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Teresa Valerio Parrot, a higher education doctoral student in Simmons, offers a good historical perspective in a Washington Post Op-ed on efforts to reform college athletics for a century. Despite these, nothing has really happened, she says. “Real change and reform will occur only when leaders are willing to rethink this prioritization of profits and turn down the endorsement and media dollars associated with competition.”  Read the article here.