2012 Background

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College of Engineering at The University of Texas at San Antonio Online Magazine

Awards

Abraham DeLeon, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies has received the American Educational Studies Association’ Critic Choice Award for his lead-edited book titled "Critical Theories, Radical Pedagogies, and Social Education."

Richard Diem, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies and Dean of the Honors College has been elected to serve as vice president of the Social Science Education Consortium. The Consortium is made up of leading scientist and social science educators throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. Alex Bowers, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies has been named the Association of Educational Research Association Division A Emerging Scholar for 2012. This award recognizes “a pre-tenure scholar who is in the first five years of her his/her career in the professorate and who has made outstanding contributions to the field of leadership, administration, or organizational theory.”

Roxanne Henkin, professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching was recognized as the Education headliner at the 32nd Annual Awards Banquet for the San Antonio’s Women in Communication. Dr. Roxanne was recognized as the Education Headliner for her work with the San Antonio Writing Project, her outreach writing projects with South African teachers, and providing writing services to local teachers.

Daniel Sass and Suzanne Winter

Dr’s. Daniel Sass and Suzanne Winter, received Honorable Mention in ACEI's 2011 Distinguished Education Research Article Award Program. Their article "Healthy & Ready to Learn: Examining the Efficacy of an Early Approach to Obesity Prevention and School Readiness” will be published in the Journal of Research in Childhood Education. They were presented with an award at the Global Summit on Childhood in Washington, D.C. in March 28-31, 2012.

Alan Shoho, professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies has been named American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow for 2012-2013. The ACE Fellow strengthens institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration.

Miriam Martinez, was awarded the 2012 Colson Herndon Educator Award by the Tejas Storytelling Association in recognition of the work the UTSA Storytelling Festival Team has done in promoting storytelling for educators.

San Antonio Women's Chamber of Commerce

Betty Merchant, Dean of the College of Education and Human Development was awarded the Henrietta Frances Lowak Endowed Distinguished Professorship. Merchant was also named the North Star Constellation Award Winner 2012 by the San Antonio Women's Chamber of Commerce for being a consistent advocate for women in both their personal and societal success in and out of the workplace.

Margarita Machado-Casas, is guest co-editor for the special Issue of Urban Review on the theme: “Book banning, Censorship, and Ethnic Studies in Urban Schools.”

Carmen Tafolla, writer in residence and adjunct lecturer in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies was named San Antonio’s first poet laureate.

Ellen Clark, professor emeritus in the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, was the recipient of the 2012 Hispanic Research SIG Award in Research.

Kim Cuero, associate professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, has been selected as a 2012-2013 Fulbright Scholar.

Robert Milk, chair of the Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, was awarded the “The 2011-2012 Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Association of the American Educational Research Association’s Bilingual Education Research SIG (Special Interest Group). The award recognizes the lifetime achievement of an outstanding scholar (with at least 15 years in academic appointment) whose work has made a notable impact on the field of bilingual education through continuous scholarship in bilingual education research and practices; service to bilingual education at national and local levels; and steady mentorship of beginning level scholars as well as those pursuing doctoral degrees in the field.

ATE

Dean Betty Merchant and Academy for Teacher Excellence members (From left to right) Norma Guerra, Belinda Bustos Flores, Lucretia Fraga, Maria Kaylor, Lorena Claeys, Mary Reidel, Ellen Riojas Clark (not pictured), and Betty Travis (not pictured) recieved the 2012 UTSA‘s President Distinguished Diversity Award.

Thelma Duffey, was awarded the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Distinguished Mentor Award.

Department of Counseling, was awarded the 2011 Robert Frank Outstanding Counselor Education Program Award by the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision.

Belinda Flores, professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching received the honor of being inducted into the 2012 San Antonio’s Hall of Fame. She also received the Texas Association for Bilingual Education (TABE) 2012 Higher Education Award.

Heather Trepal, was elected President of the Southern Association for Counselor Education and Supervision for 2012-2013.

Nunez

Anne-Marie Nunez, assistant professor in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, received the 2012 Mildred Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship from the Council on Ethnic Participation of the Association for the Study of Higher Education. The Mildred Garcia Award for Exemplary Scholarship is awarded annually to one tenured faculty member and one tenure-track faculty member whose “seminal, scholarly “ research focuses on issues related to underrepresented populations in higher education.

Margarita Machado-Casas and Howard Smith, received an award to provide library materials to BICU (Bluefields’ Indian and Caribbean University) in Bluefields, Nicaragua—a university with whom UTSA (through BBL and COEHD) have a formal agreement. The award comes from the TOEFL Program at ETS, through a competitive grants process. English language testing and teaching publications, as well as some TOEFL-related materials, valued at approximately $2,000 were given to BICU.

Lucila Ek, has been selected as a recipient of the 2011 Richard S. Howe Excellence in Service to Undergraduates Teaching Award. This award, established by President Ricardo Romo last year, is designed to recognize UTSA faculty who have provided exceptional learning experiences for undergraduate students, and includes a monetary award of $2,000.


Grants

Mari Cortez – San Antonio Area Foundation, $5000
La Clase Mágica Preescolar or LCMP will serve 20 early childhood students at the Henry Carroll Early Childhood Education Center in the San Antonio Independent School District from January 2012 to August 2012. UTSA teacher candidate students will work with the students and their parents on a one-to-one basis under the guidance and supervision of Drs. Mari Riojas-Cortez and Jennifer Thornton, Early Childhood Professors in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching in COEHD.
Emily Bonner, Betty Travis, Elsa Ruiz & Belinda Flores – Higher Ed Coordinating Board, $98,000
This professional development program involves a highly dynamic and interactive approach to strengthening mathematics teachers’ quality through (1) two summer institutes (one each for Algebra I and Algebra II), (2) a series of monthly workshops connected to areas of need identified through a needs assessment, (3) an online teacher support program, (4) on-site teacher support activities that include in-class lesson demonstrations of research based teaching, classroom management, and discipline strategies, (5) an action research component that develops expertise in the identification, collection and analysis of student and other related data to make decisions and study effectiveness of classroom practices, and (5) opportunities for project participants to interact and collaborate with college faculty from the Department of Mathematics in the College of Sciences at UTSA, working mathematicians and engineers to create a seamless mathematics curriculum.
Laura Rendon & Amaury Nora – TG - $198,419
This research project involves two separate, yet complementary studies conducted at the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA). The research project seeks to: 1) provide a comprehensive analysis of Latino male and female college experiences and 2) explore the pathways toward college completion for Latino/a students. The first study employs mixed methods research involving focus groups and survey of Latino/a students. Focus groups of Latino/a students will be used to ascertain the cultural factors that play an important role in college success. The second study of pathways to college completion employs a retrospective trend analysis of native and transfers students at UTSA who first enrolled in fall 2005.
Misty Sailors & Bruce Barnett – subaward with USAID, $1,339,583
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will assist the World Education, Inc (WEI) and the USAID to improve the quality and quantity of reading instruction in Mozambique (provinces of Zambezia and Mampula) through the EGRA+QIM program (USAID/Aprender a Ler).
Lesli Friedman – City of San Antonio, $14,000
A contract to assess the organizational foodservice site of the Por Vida healthy food initiative will demonstrate the implementation of the program at four site and collect on key components of the initiative. The key components are 1)organizational environmental food assessment; 2) patron awareness survey; 3)stakeholder interviews; and 4)sales tracking analysis. The project's environmental assessment shall describe the context by which patrons make food and beverage choices as well as identify facilitators and barriers to selecting healthy foods.
Laura Rendon & Amaury Nora – Lumina Foundation, $250,000
The Lumina proposal, iLUMINAndo Pathways to College Success, brings together a team of researchers and evaluators to collaboratively combine unique sets of expertise to effectively answer the overarching questions of interest. The evaluation team will seek to address assessment questions through the use of methodological tools such as survey instruments, focus groups and one-on-one interviews. Where appropriate videotaping will be used to capture the story of the partnership and its impact on students, families and community. Policy papers (accompanied by press conferences when possible) will also be produced and widely disseminated so that all stakeholders are informed about new findings and developments.
Meizi He – Baptist Health Foundation, $250,000
The objective of the "Building a Healthy Temple" program is to disseminate a faith-based obesity and diabetes prevention intervention to 18 church congregations to promote healthy eating, active living and healthy bodyweight. "Building a Healthy Temple" takes an integrated health promotion approach to prevent obesity and diabetes. The integration of spiritual and physical health promotion is more likely to result in lasting lifestyle changes. Faith communities can play a compelling role in encouraging and supporting congregation members in making the healthy lifestyle choices that will keep them well and whole.
Roxanne Henkin – National Writing Project, $40,000 (2 projects)
Professional Development in a High Need School
The San Antonio Writing Project will provide an intensive, year-long professional development program at Legacy Middle School. SAWP’s Teacher Consultants who work in high need schools similar to Legacy Middle School will their expertise to address the special needs and challenges Legacy teachers face.
Teacher Leadership Development
The San Antonio Writing Project will bring a high level of writing instruction to the students in San Antonio, Texas. By developing a strong leadership team through the Invitational Summer Institutes, we have more teachers prepared to offer high quality writing instruction.

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