Congratulations to the more than 300 graduates who received degrees from Simmons School of Education & Human Development at two ceremonies on May 12, 2023. The joyous event held in McFarlin Auditorium was attended by thousands of proud family members and friends who witnessed and cheered the culmination of their graduates’ hard work and commitment.
The following degrees were conferred at the morning ceremony: Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership, Doctor of Education in Higher Education, Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Master of Education in Higher Education, Master of Bilingual Education, Master of Education, Bachelor of Science in Educational Studies.
The following degrees were conferred at the afternoon ceremony: Doctor of Liberal Studies, Master of Science in Counseling, Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution, Master of Liberal Studies, Master of Science in Health Promotion Management, Master of Science in Sport Management, Bachelor of Science in Applied Physiology and Sport Management.
Teresa Valerio Parrot is graduating with her EdD in higher education. Her dissertation title is “Presidential and Board Governance of Division I Intercollegiate Athletics: How the Players, the Rules, and the Game are Influenced by Temples, Prestige, and Positioning.
With over two decades of work in higher education, Parrot’s career has focused on making higher education relatable and understandable. She is the founder and owner of TVP Communications and serves as founding co-editor and contributor to the Inside Higher Ed blog, Call to Action, which focuses on marketing and communications topics in higher education.
Parrot’s expertise has been featured in numerous publications including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, U.S. News & World Report, The Chicago Tribune, and Huffington Post.
Hannah Lawrence is receiving her Master of Education with Teacher Preparation degree. She joined the Simmons Teaching and Learning graduate program in 2021. Faculty and staff describe her as “absolutely exceptional, a thoughtful student who produces excellent work.” Department leaders say she is one of the strongest new teachers they have ever seen in the field.
Lawrence is a STEM teacher at Donald Elementary School in the Lewisville Independent School District in Lewisville, Texas. She says she is thrilled to be able to inspire the next generation of learners through hands-on, project-based lessons, while building children up in their unique passions. She also looks forward to continuing to learn from her students.
Courtney Harbour and Elizabeth Klevana
Courtney Harbour known to many as “CC,” began her Doctor of Liberal Studies journey in the fall of 2018. Her DLS studies led to a career change last year. Harbour moved from an Executive Dean role at Dallas College’s Eastfield Campus, overseeing fine arts and humanities to Broadway Dallas (formerly known as Dallas Summer Musicals).
In that new role she leads interdisciplinary educational programming for K-12 performing arts students and teachers in the DFW area. One of her signature programs includes hosting 3, 400 theater and dance students and teachers for a dedicated Broadway performance followed by a S.T.E.A.M. project inspired by the show to bring STEM to life through the arts.
Her DLS dissertation is titled: Remixing a Revolution: Embodied Politics, Identities, and the Transfiguration of Hip Hop Culture.
Elizabeth Klevana is receiving a B.S. in Applied Physiology & Sport Management with a concentration in Sport Performance Leadership.
Klevana is a faculty-appointed Simmons Ambassador, an indication that she has excelled at SMU as a student and a leader among her peers. Faculty and staff in the Department of Applied Physiology and Sport Management say that Klevana’s optimism, drive, and humility set her apart, providing her classmates and faculty with a selfless commitment to ensuring everyone’s success. They believe she embodies the values of a world changer and a top scholar, which is why she has the prestigious honor of being one of the Simmons commencement speakers.
DALLAS (SMU) ̶ In six short years the SMU Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development has risen to the rank of 49 in the U.S. News & World Report national rankings. The annual report which ranks 272 participating public and private graduate schools of education around the country was released online on April 25.
The latest ranking represents a significant leap from 105 in 2019 and from 54 in last year’s report. It moves Simmons one spot higher among the top private graduate schools in the U.S. to number 11, up from 12 in the previous year’s report.
In the state, Simmons maintains the number one spot among private universities and is third among all colleges in Texas. Only University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M at College Station, both public universities, have a ranking higher than Simmons.
The school’s rankings have steadily climbed under the leadership of Leon Simmons Endowed Dean Stephanie L. Knight who joined SMU in 2017. She says dedicated research faculty members are significant factors in the school’s continued advancement. “External funding per faculty member is $369,200 which is up from the last report. In fact, funding has risen since 2019 when $143,700 per faculty member was reported. That means our researchers are doing meaningful work to improve education which is perhaps more important now than ever before in our country and world.”
To rank schools of education, U.S. News & World Report considers many factors including research activity, academic quality, faculty resources, student selectivity, doctoral degrees granted, as well as peer assessment scores.
Knight says Simmons will continue to strive for excellence. “We are thrilled to have jumped so significantly in this national ranking. We now continue to assess what we can do to improve learning through our research and will work diligently to further advance and build the reputation of SMU’s Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development.”
The West Dallas Stem School is a partnership between the Dallas Independent School District, SMU, the Toyota Foundation USA and the West Dallas Community. Now in its second year, the school wasrecently profiled by the Dallas Morning News.
DALLAS (SMU) – Volunteers will plant a fruit tree orchard between 9 a.m. and noon Monday, Dec. 12 at Dallas ISD’s West Dallas STEM School — the first step of the school’s planned learning garden.
When the trees mature in three years, students will harvest as many apples, pears, peaches, figs and paw paws as they can eat. Other produce will be distributed through the campus general store, or shared with West Dallas nonprofit, Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.
School volunteers and partners from SMU, Toyota USA Foundation and the West Dallas community will prepare the site for each tree, then plant and stake them. Grow North Texas, the Dallas affiliate of the Giving Grove, a national nonprofit serving communities experiencing food insecurity, is providing the trees and will oversee the planting process. To ensure a healthy and productive orchard, Grow North Texas has trained two tree stewards from Brother Bill’s Helping Hand to oversee continuing care.
The West Dallas STEM School orchard is the 11th Dallas-area orchard planted by GROW North Texas’ Giving Grove program this fall, with more scheduled by the end of February. A grant from Domino’s Pizza is funding the project through One Tree Planted, a global reforestation organization.
The mature orchard is expected to produce more than 20,000 servings of healthy fruit each year, with a typical tree lifespan of 20-30 years or more. The orchard will preserve urban greenspace, increase tree canopy and offer important environmental benefits, including carbon sequestration, improved soil biology and stormwater absorption.
In addition, the orchard will be an outdoor laboratory that will strengthen the unique project-based STEM curriculum at the West Dallas STEM School, opened in 2021 as a collaboration between Dallas ISD, SMU, the Toyota USA Foundation and the West Dallas community.
Details
What: An urban orchard of 30 fruit trees will be planted at Dallas ISD’s West Dallas STEM School
When: 9 a.m. remarks and groundbreaking. Planting to follow.
Where: West Dallas STEM School, 2200 Dennison St., Dallas. Orchard entrance off Hampton Road, south of Texas Quality Remodeling
DALLAS (SMU) – College students like Mary Cabanas are in the pipeline to relieve the impact of widespread teacher resignations threatening U.S. public education. But what sets Cabanas apart is that she will enter a tough profession with her eyes wide open, thanks to determination, mentorship and training from SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development.
“Ongoing problems in education have been magnified by the pandemic and the political division in the U.S.,” says Stephanie Knight, Simmons School dean. “And previous approaches to solving the teacher shortage, like alternative certifications, haven’t worked.”
Teachers need to develop knowledge and skills in the classroom early in their teacher education, Knight says. They also need higher pay and to be treated like professionals, which includes the opportunity to be collaborative and creative, Knight says.
SMU Noyce Scholar Mary Cabanas Cardenas poses for portraits in and around Harold Clark Simmons Hall Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 in Dallas. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship is funded by the National Science Foundation and supports new math teachers who commit to working in underserved communities after graduation. Job 23-255
Cabanas’ trajectory as an education student may be a model for other students. She has taken collaboration with other future teachers into her own hands, forming SMU’s first student organization for education majors. But instead of taking field trips and hosting guest speakers, each week the Hilltop Educators meet to discuss controversial subjects in education, like book bans and school shootings.
The senior mathematics and education major has been planning to become a teacher since 8th grade. She worked in a classroom early, observing and even teaching a pre-K class as a future teacher intern in high school. At SMU, she is a recipient of the Noyce Teacher Scholarship, which commits her to teach math at a high-need school after graduation in exchange for a scholarship funded by the National Science Foundation.
Mentorship by Noyce Scholar faculty sponsors has opened other doors for Cabanas. On Saturday mornings, she can be found on campus assisting in an education research project comparing the effectiveness of using iPads vs. virtual reality to teach geometry. She also spent a summer researching best practices in math education by watching videos of math teachers and coding their teaching practices. In addition, Cabanas helped analyze the effectiveness of demonstrating to students how workers use math in their careers.
“I’ll take what I’ve learned from research into my classroom,” Cabanas says.
Participating in education research gives Noyce Scholars the opportunity to be part of a larger academic community dedicated to bringing evidence-based practice to education, says Annie Wilhelm, one of Cabanas’ Noyce Scholar mentors and an associate professor of teaching and learning at SMU’s Simmons School.
“Research gives students the opportunity to connect what they are learning in class with the K-12 classroom,” Wilhelm says.
Cabanas’ motivation is personal – she wants to teach because teachers made a difference in her life. She moved with her family from Mexico to Texas and, as a 12-year-old middle schooler, faced the challenges of 7th-grade along with the task of learning English and settling in to Garland, Texas.
“My teachers saw my potential,” she says. “As a newcomer, I was scared. It helped to know there were adults who were there for me.”
Cabanas should find plenty of teaching openings when she graduates. Almost two in five teachers plan to quit in the next two years, according to a June survey of members of the American Federation of Teachers.
After graduating in May of 2023, Cabanas plans to begin work at SMU on her Master’s degree in math education while completing her student teaching in fall of 2023. Her dream is to teach math at North Garland High School, where her teachers were so influential to her.
“I have to do this for the next generation,” she said. “If not me, who will?”
Photo cutline: Mary Cabanas, photo courtesy of SMU
Marc Sager, PhD candidate at SMU/Simmons, and Leslie Epke, PhD candidate at TCU, developed a 1-day conference (Sept. 30) in which their respective Schools’ PhD students explored the demands and pleasures of the doctoral journey. Presentations included developing a research agenda, presenting and publishing, the faulty search process, stress management, and community involvement in research. Speakers and presenters from Simmons included Dean Knight, Marc Sager, Damion Davis, and Elizabeth Adams.
Session
Speaker
Topic
Description
Welcome
Dean Knight (SMU) and Dean Hernandez (TCU)
Session 1
Dr. Taryn Ozuna Allen (TCU)
Developing a Research Agenda as an Emerging Scholar
Creating a research agenda, regardless of theoretical interests, methodological preferences, or career goals.
Session 2
Marc Sager (SMU)
Publishing and Presenting at Conferences
The processes of presenting at conferences and publishing.
Session 3
Dr. Pablo Montes (TCU)
On the Market: Life Outside of Graduate School
Becoming a professor: job search strategies and making yourself marketable.
Session 4
Leslie Epke (TCU)
Journal Session
Reflect and process what was covered at the conference.
Session 5
Dr. Damion Davis (SMU)
Mental Health Practices for Graduate Students
A counseling professional discusses stress management skills
Session 6
Dr. Elizabeth Adams (SMU)
Community Involvement: Bringing Theory to Practice
Learn about the West Dallas STEM School RPP and how research is bridged into practice.
This summer, I had the opportunity to be an intern for Clinical Assistant Professor Sarah Brown in her West Dallas pilot program, Pony Connect. Pony Connect is a research initiative that involves using STEM concepts in youth sports. The aim is to engage SMU students with the community. It was a mutually beneficial program because as much as the students are looked up to I have always wanted to get involved with the Dallas community and Pony Connect was the perfect opportunity for me. I was also learning so much from them. They taught me the importance of friendship, trust, and how the smallest details can make the biggest difference. It was incredible to form relationships with these students and watch their personalities shine. I loved seeing their excitement when different activities and projects were introduced.
We would give the students a test before the lesson was taught and then give them the exact same test at the end of the unit. Watching the students’ academic success improve was so rewarding. The fact that we were able to incorporate math or engineering lessons into fun activities and sports drills, showed them that learning can be fun and enjoyable. Overall, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and so proud of the work Dr. Brown has accomplished. I am excited to watch the program grow!
Essay by Elizabeth Klevana, Sport Performance Leadership major
Pictured below (left) is Iyasu Shaka, who writes his acceptance speech for winning the top prize at the camp, and Isaac Shaka (right), who presents a basketball shoe he made from cardboard, bubble wrap, and foam.
Simmons Associate Professor Candace Walkington teaches a class in Harold Clark Simmons Hall on the SMU Campus.
Education Week published a commentary by Candace Walkington, Simmons associate professor of mathematics education and learning sciences, and co-author, Ph.D. student, Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, who show that math textbooks are not about indoctrination, but fall short in promoting diversity and inclusion.
Their commentary comes at a time when political accusations inflame education discussions at the local and national levels. Some politicians are declaring what books schools should carry and what subjects should not be taught, such as critical race theory.
“We found no references to race or social justice let alone critical race theory, a framework for understanding how racism has been persistently embedded in policy. But our analysis did show a lack of substantial attention to differences linked to race, culture, gender norms, and sexual orientation in math-story content, they say. Read their commentary here.
Tiffini Pruitt-Britton, Simmons Ph.D. student, and co-author of Education Week commentary.
