UW–Madison held its 2023 winter commencement ceremony at the Kohl Center on Dec. 17. Prior to the campus-wide event for those earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, the School of Education celebrated with its latest cohort of graduates with a Pre-Commencement Celebration at the Gordon Dining & Event Center.
We reached out to some of our School’s graduating students to learn more about their areas of study, most meaningful experiences, and future plans. Following are some responses:
Madison Delebeck
BS, Art and Biiochemistry
Delebeck explains that when she first arrived at UW–Madison, she had intended on pursuing a bachelor’s degree in astronomy-physics.
“I quickly realized that, although I loved physics in high school, it wasn’t the type of opportunity I saw myself being fully content with,” she explains. “I changed majors multiple times throughout my academic career, but I found my true passion through the (School of Education’s) Art Department at the beginning of my sophomore year.”
And while art and biochemistry might seem like two, very different majors, Delebeck explains how they fit well with who she is and how she thinks.
“I want to show people that they don’t have to settle for one field of study, even if their goals are across multiple, incredibly different, fields,” she says. “I could not imagine a life where I didn’t enrich myself in both the sciences and the arts. I couldn’t have done that without UW-Madison.”
To learn more, check out this Q&A with Delebeck:
Where are you from, and what drew you to UW–Madison and the Art Department? I’m from Antigo, Wisconsin, a town about three hours straight north of Madison with a population of 8,000. My graduating class was about 210 people, and while the arts were prevalent in school, the variety of techniques paled in comparison to everything I got to see at UW. Here, I was surrounded by room upon room of different studios, different technology, and thousands of creative minds. This was a place where I could leave my comfort zone, express whatever my heart desired, and be surrounded by like-minded peers. I ended up falling into photography and 3D modeling/animation classes for my artistic focus, something my high school didn’t even have as an opportunity. I never would’ve found these passions if it wasn’t for the cutting-edge opportunities available at UW-Madison.
What can you tell us about also wanting to major in biochemistry? I didn’t declare biochemistry as a major until well into my academic career. I had never even taken chemistry in high school, and I heard rumors that organic chemistry was brutal, so I avoided it as much as possible. However, when the other majors I was considering all had some sort of chemistry requisite, I took the plunge, and it changed my life forever.
The teaching staff was wonderful, and I quickly began to fall in love with this subject I knew nothing about. I was passionate about learning as much as I physically could. Engaging professors like Lea Gustin only fueled this passion further, and she ended up recommending me for a lab assistant role for the general chemistry courses, where she became my boss, mentor, and friend as I got to pass on my love of chemistry to incoming students for two years. This opportunity was easily the most meaningful and impactful experience of my college career. During this time, the Chemistry Building was remodeled, so I had the honor of teaching some of the first lab sections in both the new North Tower and the remodeled Daniels Wing. It was incredible to see how the lab space was curated specifically for general chemistry, and how the building was laid out to efficiently provide everything a student could need.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like art and biochemistry have a lot in common. Are there any similarities between the majors or do they work well together in any ways? I ended up loving the visual nature of organic chemistry, and it felt more so like a puzzle to figure out how the mechanisms of certain reactions would fit together. I feel as though my artistic background was able to help me visualize these molecules in three-dimensional space, especially with 3D modeling experience under my belt. As I took more chemistry and biochemistry classes, this method of visualizing the active site of a protein or the functional groups of a molecule became my go to. In my art classes, I noticed the beginnings of a calculated order taking form in my work. Paintings, photos, and 3D models had a precise order of operations — as if I were approaching it the same way I approached a lab procedure. People in my art classes joked that I had a “science brain” because of this, yet people in my STEM classes joked that my thought process was more abstract and freeform than most of my biochem peers. I embraced this ambiguity, placing myself in the center of two very different worlds, fusing them into each other and creating something that lets me stand out from my fellow students.
Are you happy with your time and experiences here at UW–Madison? I had decided to go to UW-Madison because it’s at the cutting edge of research, it was one of few schools to have any sort of astronomy-physics major, and it allowed me to stay within the beautiful (and sometimes freezing) Midwest. Now that I’m graduating, my majors may have changed drastically from my initial intentions, but the heart of my pursuit is more alive than ever. I have gotten to see this campus grow and develop, see the Chemistry Building evolve and change into something incredible for future generations, and experience not only the cutting edge of research, but the cutting edge of industry programs and experimental techniques through the Art Department.
What’s next for you? What are your plans for the future? My post-graduation career is as an analytical chemist at Eurofins, where I get to see a new side to the subject I found such a deep passion for. Although my career is in chemistry and I plan to go back to school to get a PhD in organic chemistry, the arts are continuously surrounding my life. I paint almost every day, I have thousands of pictures on my phone and numerous flash drives, and I enjoy seeing how to push myself to make my animations even more unique.
Tiaira Porter-Beall
PhD, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Porter-Beall, who holds a master’s degree in neuroscience, has focused her dissertation work while at UW–Madison on the critical intersection of race and gender in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine (STEMM) academia. Porter-Beall explains how this research centers on the departmental-level experiences of women of color faculty members in STEMM, and how these experiences shape their retention.
“As a Black, queer woman with a master’s in neuroscience, my dissertation reflects and responds to my time in STEMM and how a lack of representation shaped my academic experiences,” says Porter-Beall.
“Tiaira’s dissertation is a groundbreaking study drawing upon critical quantitative and mixed methods approaches that delve into the nuanced factors of job satisfaction, productivity, and departmental climate, revealing how these elements influence the decisions of women of color to either stay or leave the institutions,” says Xueli Wang, who is Porter-Beall’s doctoral advisor and who holds the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Endowed Professorship in Educational Leadership.
Porter-Beall’s impact far extends beyond her dissertation research. She also is a research associate with Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) and is a former community college instructor. Across all of her roles, she actively works to mitigate institutional barriers for students from historically marginalized backgrounds.
“Notably, she has developed, implemented, and studied the Transfer STEM Immersion program, a highly innovative cohort model that provides summer orientation and year-round activities for incoming and current transfer students,” says Wang.
To learn more about Porter-Beall and her work, check out this Q&A:
Where are you from, and what brought you to UW–Madison? I am originally from Detroit, Michigan, and attended Northern Michigan University for my bachelor’s degree. During my time at NMU, I was a McNair Scholar and had the opportunity to visit UW–Madison as I considered which institutions to attend for my graduate studies in neuroscience. During my campus visit, I was overwhelmed by the genuine kindness and warmth from every single person I met. The faculty were enthusiastic to answer my questions, and students were willing to openly talk with me about their experiences. Together with the opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research at one of the top schools for my program, deciding to come to UW-Madison was an easy choice.
What else would you like people to know about your research and research interests? In addition to my dissertation work that focuses on women of color in STEMM faculty, my research interests more broadly explore the institutional barriers that prevent the inclusion and academic success of those from historically marginalized backgrounds. As a research associate in Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory, I have conducted work tailored toward broadening the participation of Black and Brown graduate students and faculty in engineering and computer sciences. As a previous instructor at Madison College and through a partnership with the Wisconsin Institute for Science Education and Community Engagement, I also conducted research on ways to support marginalized transfer students. Notably, I created the Transfer STEM Immersion program, a cohort-model summer orientation program that provides the social, cultural, and academic capital to transfer students in an effort to create equitable and transparent transfer pathways.
What was your most meaningful experience at UW–Madison? One of the most meaningful experiences I have had at UW–Madison has been building a mentorship with my doctoral advisor, Dr. Xueli Wang. She has simultaneously challenged me to be my best self while instilling confidence in my capabilities as a scholar. Her encouragement, kindness, and honesty spanned beyond simply achieving doctoral milestones to a mentorship that made me feel visible and cherished. She is, and continues to be, my role model and primary source of inspiration.
What’s next for you? What are your plans for the future? After graduation, I will be starting as a research scientist in the Center on Equity Research at NORC at the University of Chicago. The Center on Equity Research conducts research to advance equity through the development, implementation, and dissemination of high-quality, inclusive, and equitable social science research methods. I’m excited to continue to use data that includes and represents a diversity of people, their thoughts, and experiences, and to use research as a means to champion for equity.
Thinking about the principle of the Wisconsin Idea, how will you use what you have learned at UW–Madison to influence other people’s lives or positively impact our world? During my time at UW–Madison, I have learned rigorous, culturally responsive research methodologies that aim to mitigate inequities and advocate for social justice. Reaching beyond my academic studies, the experiences I’ve had at UW–Madison have permanently shaped my worldview. I’m excited in my future work to center empathy, to continue to challenge my horizons — and to extend the Wisconsin Idea-in-practice to the Wisconsin Idea-in-action, by creating tangible steps that strive for a more just and equitable society.
Leandro Chernicoff
PhD, Educational Psychology
Chernicoff is interested in the development of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills to foster well-being and alleviate suffering. He is a founding partner and the academic and research director at AtentaMente, a Mexican nonprofit focused on teaching these very skills to adults, children, and teens.
At AtentaMente, he leads curriculum development, professional training, and educational and technological innovation. In addition, he spearheads scientific research on AtentaMente’s social-emotional learning programs in collaboration with UW–Madison’s Richard Davidson and the Center for Healthy Minds. Different variations of this curriculum are being developed and implemented for the general public, the workplace, and in educational settings in Mexico.
Educating for Wellbeing (EW), the organization’s insignia education program, which Chernicoff co-authored, has been spotlighted by HundrED and the Lego Foundation as one of the 13 most innovative and impactful social-emotional learning programs in the world. EW has also been recognized with the Future Learning Award by Falling Walls, a Germany-based foundation, and is shortlisted for the Science Breakthrough of the Year award, which celebrates impact-oriented ideas and discoveries.
EW was also among the six projects that won the 2022 WISE Awards for their innovative approach to pressing education issues and positive social impact. This year, 488 projects applied or were nominated for the WISE Awards.
Chernicoff is also a physicist and is currently on leave from his position as a full-time professor at the Academy of Physics of the Autonomous University of Mexico City, where he had taught college-level math and physics for two decades.
To learn more about Chernicoff and his work check out this Q&A:
How does one go from being a physicist and teaching physics to working in the realm of social-emotional learning? Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a scientist. I pretty much only studied math and science and I eventually came to the U.S. in 1999 to do my PhD in theoretical physics in quantum gravity. Then, I lost my interest in that and moved into physics and math education. Critical thinking skills, to me, are one of the most important things one can teach through science. But then I got really interested in social-emotional learning, sort of the other component of education — which is also very, very necessary but often not explicitly taught. So, I started learning more about social-emotional learning, and that’s how I ended up doing my PhD in educational psychology.
How did you end up studying at UW–Madison? With my wife and some friends, we started this nonprofit in Mexico focusing on social-emotional learning. And things are working out, and we’re developing a social-emotional learning curriculum for the whole country and all these kinds of things. But then I realized it would be wise to deepen my understanding of this work’s education and educational psychology component. The Department of Educational Psychology at UW–Madison is highly regarded and renowned. Plus, I already had a relationship with Richie Davidson, who had been an advisor with our program and work in Mexico. So it seemed like a really incredible opportunity to do my work at UW–Madison, and Richie could be one of my advisors.
What did you think of your time at UW–Madison? I loved it. It has been incredible. Amy Bellmore (a faculty member in the Department of Educational Psychology) was my co-advisor, and the experience was amazing. I was able to maintain and grow my work and connections with the Center for Healthy Minds, and I’ve improved the work of our non-profit and helped people all across Mexico. As part of my dissertation work, I’ve done a rigorous, large-scale study to examine the impact of AtentaMente’s social-emotional learning program for preschool educators and children.
Tell me a little bit about the non-profit AtentaMente and the kind of work it does. We started it because we saw this gap, this need for social-emotional learning programs for adults and children. We need to help change people at the human level. We need to avoid being self-centered, where we see kindness disappear, a lack of empathy, and a lack of ethics and values.
At AtentaMente, we developed Educating for Wellbeing (EW) in an effort to transform learning environments and empower networks of adults to protect young children from adverse childhood experiences, help them develop healthily, and thrive. There is a good deal of poverty in Mexico and the public school systems have limited resources to support the healthy development of young people. So EW focuses on building adult social and emotional competency (SEC), which promotes adult well-being and the capacity to model and enact healthy relationships in the classroom and school as a whole. This allows for adequate learning environments and student SEC. Our program is a systemic approach to integrating social-emotional learning into all levels of early childhood education — leadership, educators, students, and families. Our team has adapted EW to be implemented remotely through Zoom-based sessions, an online learning platform, and a mobile app. Over time, we’ve started making an impact at a federal level and across many states in Mexico.
What’s next for you? I intend to keep doing new research and collaborating with the Center for Healthy Minds. I hope to continue to stay involved with this work, build on it and, hopefully, as time passes, we will have more evidence-based programs that work for Mexican populations. Hopefully, this work can be extended and scaled to Latino communities in the United States.
Thinking about the principle of the Wisconsin Idea, how will you use what you have learned at UW–Madison to influence other people’s lives or positively impact our world? That’s the reason I pursued this PhD. I guess, in some sense, it’s also related to gaining more knowledge. But the main reason is to develop better social-emotional learning programs that can benefit more and more people more effectively. We want to help more people and do things in better ways — especially for the populations that need this help the most.