In late October, Andrew Furco, Ed.D., associate professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership Policy and Development (OLPD) and associate vice president for public engagement in the Office for Public Engagement, gave the closing keynote at the 10th Annual International Research Conference on Service-Learning and Community Engagement. This international conference was hosted by IUPUI, and was attended by about 400 individuals, including participants from 14 countries.
McMaster receives Early Career Research Award
Department of Educational Psychology associate professor Kristen McMaster is a recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Early Career Research Award from the Division for Research of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). This award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding scientific contributions in basic or applied research in special education within the first 10 years after receiving the doctoral degree. The award, cosponsored by the Donald D. Hammill Foundation, includes $1,000 to be presented at the Division for Research reception at the 2011 CEC Annual Convention and an invited presentation at the CEC convention the following year.
McMaster has contributed to the field with her research focusing on reading and writing difficulties of children with special needs. She has over 35 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has made numerous presentations at national and international conferences. Her work in the areas of peer-assisted learning and progress monitoring is particularly noteworthy. She has been awarded federal funding to support this important work.
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Gewirtz’s work with military families highlighted in UM Moment
The current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan impact more than just those deployed–they also affect their families. Department of Family Social Science professor Abigail Gewirtz recently received a $3.2 million grant to develop a web-based training program that will help the families of troops better adjust to life back home. Gewirtz says the training program will target the families of National Guard members. For more information, listen to the U of M Moment.
CEHD students win Scholarly Excellence in Equity & Diversity awards
Three CEHD students were among the 2010 Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity (SEED) award winners announced in November. Kimberly Diggles, Ph.D. student in marriage and family therapy (family social science); Kevin Hynes, senior in family social science; and Bai Vue, senior in human resource development were honored at a University ceremony for their outstanding work on issues of equity, diversity, and social justice in the classroom and in the community.
Diggles is a recipient of an American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Fellowship. She is a former McNair Scholar and has research interests in racial and cultural socialization in minority families.
Hynes is majoring in psychology as well as family social science. He has worked on adoption research and cites his own adopted person status and Korean birth culture as contributors to his deep interest and understanding of cultural diversity.
Vue, in addition to his human resource development major, has minors in leadership and human resource industrial relations. He is the education co-chair for the Hmong Minnesota Student Association and has been a McNair Scholar and Multicultural Kickoff Ambassador.
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Edleson study receives widespread attention
School of Social Work Professor Jeff Edleson’s study about battered women who become involved in legal disputes under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction received widespread attention after its release on December 10. Time magazine’s homepage featured a story about the study, as did the University of Minnesota’s homepage.
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NIH extends CLEVER grant; co-investigator is Beth Lewis
Dr. Beth Lewis, assistant professor in Kinesiology and co-investigator on the CLEVER (Claudication: Exercise Versus Endoluminal Revascularation) study funded by the NIH, has learned that the grant will be extended for 1.5 years. Dr. Lewis is co-investigator on the grant with Timothy P. Murphy, M.D., of Brown Medication Center.
The CLEVER study is a multicenter randomized clinical trial that tests the hypothesis that stent placement results in improved exercise treadmill test performance compared with supervised exercise rehabilitation for people with claudication due to aortoiliac insufficiency.
Research suggests factors for preventing child abuse
Professor Arthur Reynolds‘s research is having a significant impact on the development of programs for preventing child abuse, according to a recent story in Miller-McCune, a national online magazine that focuses on current academic research applied to pressing social concerns. The story, “A Cure for Child Abuse,” describes how the Center for Study of Social Policy is using the work of Reynolds and others to investigate the roots of child abuse and help families build “protective factors” for prevention.
The ground-breaking research by Reynolds, from the Institute of Child Development, involves his longitudinal study for 30 years of children enrolled in the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, an innovative public school program for low-income children and their parents. In tracking the long-term effects of the program on the children’s later academic success and adult outcomes, Reynolds has discovered that for every dollar invested in the program, more than seven dollars of economic return for society has resulted from reduced dropout rates, fewer special education needs, less strain on the juvenile justice system, and increased earnings capacity. But his study also discovered a 51 percent reduction in the rate of substantiated child abuse among participants, compared to a similar group not in the program.
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Stephanie Motiff receives UROP
Stephanie Motiff, pursuing her B.S. in Kinesiology and an undergraduate research assistant in the Affordance Perception Action Laboratory (APAL), has received a UROP award, which will support her research relating movement kinematics to the perception of multiple affordances. She is working with Prof.Tom Stoffregen, director of APAL.
LaVoi blogs on the scarcity of female coaches, commenting on demotion of U of M’s women’s golf coach Katie Brenny
In her occasional blog, 
Nicole LaVoi, Tucker Center associate director and lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, comments on the breaking story of the demotion of U of M women’s golf coach Katie Brenny. LaVoi says more broadly that female coaches are fewer at all levels and that homophobia and a climate of intolerance are contributing factors.
The Star Tribune also has a story out today on Brenny’s lawsuit.
Tucker Center Participates in NWLC Blog Rally
Our Associate Director and graduate students from the Tucker Center answered the question “What did you win by playing sports?” for the National Women’s Law Center’s Blog to Rally for Girls’ Sports Day to show support for equal opportunities for girls in school and community sport programs. Check out responses from Chelsey, Katie, Maya, Dr. LaVoi, Austin and Ness on the Tucker Center blog.
International law permits abusive fathers custody of children, study finds
School of Social Work Professor Jeffrey Edleson is co-author of a newly released study about battered women who become involved in legal disputes under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.
The study shows that when women living abroad left their abusive partners and returned with their children to the United States, in half of the cases, U.S. courts sent the children back, usually to their fathers. The authors of the study, the Hague Domestic Violence Survey, want to help to establish domestic violence as a factor in whether courts send children back to their fathers.
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Yonas Lab’s ‘face blindness’ research featured on UMNews
UMNews is highlighting the work of Professor Al Yonas, Institute of Child Development, and the Yonas Lab in a story on prosopagnosia, or “face blindness”. Titled “Facing a difficult condition,” the story describes the lab’s research on identifying children with the condition, which is a neurological disorder that inhibits the ability to remember faces. It occurs in 1 to 2 percent of the population.
Yonas and his research assistants have been developing a number of tests for face blindness since 2008, with the goal of making more people aware of face blindness. “A lot of people don’t know they have this condition,” Yonas says in the story. “They go through their life with the disability and they don’t know anything is wrong.” And often children are misdiagnosed with other cognitive disabilities.
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Rodriguez contributes to GRE Revised General Test
Michael Rodriguez, educational psychology associate professor, has contributed to a recently released video, as part of the information campaign for the GRE Revised General Test to be launched by ETS in August 2011.
Rodriguez has served as the chair of the GRE Technical Advisory Committee since 2006. To view other informational videos and to get more information about the planned revisions to the GRE General Test, visit the ETS Information Center at http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general_institutions/infocenter/.
Educational Psychology graduate student selected as CEC doctoral student scholar
Viveca Pinto, a doctoral student in Educational Psychology was selected through a national competition to participate in the Division for Research of the Council for Exceptional Children (DR-CEC) 2010-2011 cohort of Doctoral Student Scholars in Special Education Research. Viveca was nominated by her advisor, Professor Kristen McMaster.
DR-CEC Doctoral Student Scholars will participate in an online seminar and discussion series designed to foster connections among students at different universities and contribute to raising the standard of research in the field through sustained inquiry into the question, “What makes for excellence in special education research?” Seminars will be led by noted scholars recognized for making outstanding contributions to the field, including: Dr. Karen Harris of Vanderbilt University, Dr. Stephanie Al Otaiba of Florida State University, and Dr. Michael Wehmeyer of the University of Kansas.
espnW goes live!
The espnW website is up and running! espnW’s mission is to serve, inform, and inspire female athletes and fans. It provides a platform to engage both the fan and sports participants in ways beyond television: digital, mobile, and social media. Mary Jo Kane, professor and director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, is on espnW’s advisory panel.
espnW will be covering men’s and women’s sports for the female sports fan: WNBA and NBA, NFL and NCAA, and more.
Stoffregen gives Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility talk
Tom Stoffregen, director of the Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory, gave a talk December 3 at the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility (NBCF) entitled, “Postural Variability: Performance and Exploration.”
Kihl publishes in Journal of Sport Policy
Lisa Kihl, associate professor in kinesiology, recently published an article titled “Democratization and governance in international sport: Addressing issues with athlete involvement in organizational policy” in the International Journal of Sport Policy. Co-authors are Dr. Lucie Thibault and Dr. Kathy Babiak.
Brownlee comments on public funding for Vikings stadium
Eric Brownlee, sport management lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, comments on the current climate for potential public funding of the Vikings stadium in the Star Tribune article, “Hail Mary pass or timeout for Vikes stadium?”
Seashore keynote speaker for National Education Directorate in Oslo
Karen Seashore, Ph.D., Regent’s Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, was the keynote speaker in Oslo, Norway for the School Development in Theory and Practice Conference of the Norwegian National Education Directorate on October 16, 2010. Seashore’s talk was titled “School Culture and School Improvement.” She also conducted a workshop for staff of the Ministry and the Directorate on October 17 titled “Policy Leadership for Educational Reform.”
Fry, Magnusson conduct seminar for Thai educators
Gerald Fry, Ph.D. and Deanne Magnusson, Ph.D., co-directors of the international Ed.D. programs in the Department of Organizational, Leadership, Policy, and Development, conducted a two day seminar, Re-Imagining Leadership in an Era of Globalization, for Thai educators. Participants in the seminar were Ph.D. students in education leadership and administration attending Vongchavalitkul University, Thailand, visiting the University of Minnesota as a component of their doctorate program.