This is the latest online edition of Learning Connections, a magazine for alumni and friends of the UW–Madison School of Education. The Winter 2021-22 issue centers on Research that Matters. At the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education, our faculty and staff are world-renowned for the quality and impact of their research. This groundbreaking work is helping to redefine the limits of what’s possible in fields across the arts, health, and education. This issue of Learning Connections also highlights important and innovative work being done across all 10 of our departments. A pdf of the print edition is available here.
'It was because of my students'
Learn how Courtney Bell took a career path that led her to become the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
Message from the Dean
Dean Diana Hess writes that across the School — including at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), which is one of the largest and most productive education research centers in the world — our research and scholarship is thriving.
Voices
After a year and a half of remote work and largely virtual and hybrid instruction, faculty, staff, and students returned to campus for the start of the fall 2021 semester ready to discover the new normal of UW–Madison. Read what members of the School community were saying as they began the new academic year with cautious optimism.
Voices
Li-Ching Ho co-authored the newly released book, “Curriculum for Justice and Harmony: Deliberation, Knowledge, and Action in Social and Civic Education.” She explains how this work presents a global vision of social and civic education — one that reorients the field toward justice and harmony.
Voices
The School welcomed three new faculty members to campus at the start of the fall semester and we shared Q&As to introduce them to our community. Here, get to know Suzanne Eckes, who joined the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis as a professor.
News and notes
Madison College students preparing to become elementary or special education teachers now have a direct pipeline to the UW–Madison School of Education thanks to a new transfer agreement signed this past fall. The agreement guarantees admission into these teacher preparation programs for students who meet the requirements.
News and notes
In this news and notes roundup, check out the School of Education Bookshelf, which spotlights examples of recent publications from faculty and staff across our School.
Research that Matters
When you think of research, you might envision study teams designing experiments or conducting surveys. While research across the School of Education’s departments of Art, Dance, and Theatre and Drama might sometimes look different, faculty in these areas are engaged in projects that are examining social issues, deepening understanding of history, and advancing their artistic fields.
Research that Matters
Student Tricia Francis took part in the Summer Education Research Program (SERP), joining a team studying vaccine hesitancy. She now plans to pursue her doctorate after she graduates and become a nurse practitioner focused on psychiatric and mental health.
Research that Matters
For the 20th anniversary of 9/11 this past fall, Diana Hess and Jeremy Stoddard published an article and spoke with media about what their research has shown about how the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and the global war on terror are taught in classrooms.
Research that Matters
Dorothy Farrar Edwards is a co-author of a study published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in September 2021 that found an optimal time for intensive rehabilitation of arm and hand use after a stroke.
Research that Matters
A research team with the School of Education is playing a leading role in a $102 million project supported by the Wallace Foundation. “The CALL-ECL project will tackle one of the most important education issues today: Can we prepare leaders to create more equitable schools for students and communities?” says Richard Halverson.
Media mentions
Faculty and staff from across the School of Education are routinely quoted or make their voices heard in newspapers, magazines, and online news media outlets. Similarly, these experts are often interviewed and showcased on a range of local, national, and international radio and television news reports.
Innovation
“At UW–Madison, we’re uniquely positioned to draw from the university’s world-class academic and athletic resources to prepare dynamic sports leaders,” says Peter Miller, the faculty director of the new Master of Science in Sports Leadership program.
Class Notes
Check out what School of Education alumni from across the globe have been up to.
Innovation
A new certificate program in the Department of Counseling Psychology aims to fill the increasing need for bilingual mental health providers. Called “Esperanza,” or hope, the program evolved from a growing partnership between the department and Centro Hispano of Dane County, and is made possible via a grant from the Wisconsin Partnership Program.
Innovation
Diego Román and Lisa Barker are working on a project that aims to improve education for Latinx students in rural Wisconsin by training their teachers in how to facilitate discussion about topics that directly affect local communities. The project received a grant through UW–Madison’s Understanding and Reducing Inequalities Initiative.
Innovation roundup
A project being co-led by Beth Fields is focusing on the development of a home assessment tool to aid in modifying homes for people with disabilities. Fields is an assistant professor of occupational therapy with the School of Education’s Department of Kinesiology.
Spotlight
UW–Madison alumnus Joseph Marinelli credits his experiences with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis with changing the course of his career — and he explains that it was Richard Rossmiller who had the most significant effect.
Spotlight
A small group of people with ties to the School of Education received the unique opportunity to meet and speak with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona during a visit to the UW–Madison campus on Sept. 20, 2021.
Alumni spotlights
James T. Minor was approved in December 2021 as the 10th chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE). Minor, who is the first Black chancellor at SIUE, earned earned his PhD from the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2001.
Keep in touch!
If you have questions or comments about Learning Connections, email Todd Finkelmeyer at todd.finkelmeyer@wisc.edu, or call 608-890-1430.
The School of Education wants to hear from our alumni and friends. We also want to make sure you are hearing from us. If you have not received electronic updates, it may mean we don’t have your current e-mail address. Please visit the Wisconsin Alumni Association website to update your information. In addition, the WAA offers free e-mail accounts to all alumni.