Megan Gunnar, Regents Professor in the Institute of Child Development, is applying her path breaking research concerning stress and early childhood development to help families that adopt internationally. Her discoveries about the impact of a child’s age at adoption and of institutional care help caregivers and educators give adoptees the support they need.
Read more about CEHD research and support for adoptive families in “A Successful Start,” featured in the Summer 2010 issue of Connect.
Johnson brothers featured in Boston Globe story on healthy competition
The Boston Globe Magazine cited the work of professors Roger and David W. Johnson, leaders of the Cooperative Learning Center, in an article titled “What happened to losing?” Teaching children about healthy competition is the challenge presented by parent/writer Neil Swidey in the article, which notes that the Johnsons’ research has shown that “people working cooperatively, in the classroom or on the playing field, reach a higher level of achievement than people pitted against one another or working alone.” Swidey quotes David W. Johnson extensively in the article.
LA Times interviews Wahlstrom on benefits of later school start times
Professor Kyla Wahlstrom is featured in a Los Angeles Times story titled “Later school start times and Zzzs to A’s,” which focuses on the increasing body of research indicating that delaying school start times — even by just 30 minutes — makes a significant difference in how well students feel and perform in school. One of the first and most influential studies was conducted in the mid-1990s by Wahlstrom and her research team at the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI). It led the way for continuing study of later start times and their relationship to educational achievement for high school students.
Ross delivers keynote at international symposium in Seoul
Stephen Ross, Ph.D., associate professor of sport management in the School of Kinesiology, delivered the invited keynote address, “Developing global brand equity in the sport event industry,” at the Brain Korea 21 International Symposium at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, on August 21. The symposium focused on international perspectives on strategic sport management.
Magnuson to present Gopher Adventure Race at U of M, Colorado this fall
Dr. Connie Magnuson, lecturer in Recreation, Park, and Leisure Studies in the School of Kinesiology, watched Adventure Racing, made popular by the television show Amazing Race, take off in colleges around the country, and thought, Why not at the U of M? This November, Dr. Magnuson, who has collaborated with U of M student programs, the Center for Outdoor Education, and community partners to create a unique, challenging course event, will present the Gopher Adventure Race (GAR) at CEHD’s Saturday Scholars. She was also invited to present GAR at the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education National Conference in Keystone, CO. For more information on this University-wide event, go to:
http://www.cehd.umn.edu/kin/recreation/gopher-race.asp
C&I alumna Boeser wins another national award
Bloomington Jefferson High School teacher Elizabeth Boeser (Curriculum and Instruction, M.Ed. ’08) has won the annual Media Literacy Award, the second consecutive year she has earned a national award for outstanding teaching by the National Council of Teachers of English.
Boeser was awarded the NCTE’s 2009 High School Teacher of Excellence honor for excellent classroom teaching in high school English. The latest national award showcases teachers who have developed innovative approaches for integrating media and media literacy into their instruction.
See the KARE11.com story.
U.S. Department of Education renews TRiO grant
The U.S. Department of Education has renewed funding through 2016 for TRiO Student Support Services, housed in the College of Education and Human Development on the Twin Cities campus. The University of Minnesota grant for the program has been funded continuously since 1976.
TRiO Student Support Services supports academic development for traditionally underserved students, encouraging retention and ultimately, graduation. Financial aid counseling, leadership development, supplemental study skill development, and learning communities are all part of the services for first year TRiO students. Returning students are also counseled in career and major choices.
Continue reading “U.S. Department of Education renews TRiO grant”
College faculty involved in federal leadership grant to Saint Paul public schools
Several individuals in the College were involved in a successful grant submission for a “Turnaround Schools” project: Professor Karen Seashore and Professor Jennifer York-Barr in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD), and Dr. Kyla Wahlstrom, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement. Professor Peter Demerath, also in OLPD, is expected to be involved in the initiative along with his departmental colleagues Seashore and York-Barr.
Continue reading “College faculty involved in federal leadership grant to Saint Paul public schools”
Educational Psychology graduate student receives prevention research award
Aimee Arikian, a doctoral student in Educational Psychology (CSPP), received the Graduate Student Prevention Research Award from the Prevention Section of the Society of Counseling Psychology at the American Psychological Association Convention in San Diego this month. Aimee’s award was based on her research relating to eating disorders.
Yonas Lab creates screening tests for ‘face blindness’
In a recent MinnPost article, Al Yonas, professor in the Institute of Child Development, describes his research on developing screening tests for children with “face blindness,” a neurological disorder that makes kids unable to remember faces. Developmental prosopagnosia, the scientific name for the disorder, occurs in up to 2 percent of the population according to some estimates.
Yonas’s lab and that of Harvard University psychologist Ken Nakayama recently received grants from the National Eye Institute to create screening tests for children with the disorder — tests that may make it possible to diagnosis prosopagnosia at a very early age, when treatments might be most effective. Yonas is hoping to identify about 30 children who suffer from the disorder to work with them.
“The goal is to find these children and get them down here to establish that they’re really suffering from the problem — and then engage them in a training program,” Yonas says in the article.
MPR: Gunnar interviewed on brain development issues for children in poverty
Megan Gunnar, Regents Professor in the Institute of Child Development, talked with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) about why children born into poverty are at increased risk for toxic stress that can hinder brain development. When families live without housing, food, or stability, or where there is physical or emotional abuse, according to Gunnar, a bio-chemical reaction in a child’s brain can delay development of the brain.
“The reason the stress chemicals don’t come back down is the adults who help children regulate stress are not there or present, or they are themselves dysfunctional because they are experiencing toxic stress in their lives,” Gunnar said in the MPR story.
Continue reading “MPR: Gunnar interviewed on brain development issues for children in poverty”
Tucker Center director’s new role with ESPN featured on MinnPost
Mary Jo Kane, professor and director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, is profiled on her appointment to the espnW advisory panel in a story by MinnPost’s Jay Weiner. The story, “Media critic and women’s sports advocate Mary Jo Kane is about to step into the belly of the ESPN beast,” discusses Kane’s expertise on sports, media, and gender issues and her opportunity to make a difference as ESPN launches its new business and digital platform for women, espnW.
Dateline July 30: This story has now been picked up by the online magazine Salon.com‘s Broadsheet with the provocative title “The woman who could save ESPN.”
Romano leads University’s Global Spotlight initiative
John Romano, professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, will spearhead the University’s Global Spotlight initiative for 2010-12 in the Office of International Programs (OIP). Appointed as the assistant vice president for international scholarship, a two-year rotating position, Romano will lead the University’s international scholarly and academic agenda beginning Sept. 1, 2010.
The 2010-12 Global Spotlight focus will be on Latin America and the Caribbean and the pressing global issue of the impact of urbanization. OIP will sponsor symposia, conferences, lectures, films, and cultural events to address this topic and engage the entire University community in a variety of ways.
LaVoi quoted in Salt Lake Times’ article on youth sport
Nicole LaVoi, Tucker Center Associate Director and Lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, is quoted in a Salt Lake Times article (“What happened to Utah’s beloved ‘Sandlot’?” by Bill Oram) regarding the rise of organized youth sport and the lack of free play for kids.
Lakin interviewed on 20th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act
Charlie Lakin, director of the Research and Training Center on Community Living and associate director of the Institute on Community Integration (ICI), gave an extensive interview on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) marking the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This landmark piece of legislation aimed to give disabled people the freedom to participate in all realms of life: housing, education, employment and public venues. Twenty years later there have been many accomplishments, but many consider the ADA part of an ambitious social revolution that remains unfinished.
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Skovholt receives award for lifetime contributions in counseling psychology education
Educational psychology professor Thomas Skovholt has been named the recipient of the 2010 Lifetime Contributions to Education and Training in Counseling Psychology Award by the Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs (CCPTP). CCPTP comprises all American Psychological Association accredited programs in counseling psychology.
In the award letter, the awards committee commended Tom on his “exemplary service to his program (including his ten years as program coordinator), his professional service, and his commitment to training, teaching, and mentoring of graduate students.” Tom will receive his award at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention in August 2010.
Large national study strongly links educational leadership to student achievement
A new study, the largest of its kind, offers important new evidence affirming the strong connection between what school leaders do and student achievement — and sheds new light on what effective leadership involves.
The conclusions in the report, Learning from Leadership: Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning, by researchers Kyla Wahlstrom and Karen Seashore Louis from the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development (Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development) and Kenneth Leithwood and Stephen Anderson from the University of Toronto, have broad implications for the understanding of how leadership affects learning across the United States.
“The rubber hits the road in the classroom; that’s where the learning happens,” said Wahlstrom. “Leadership is important because it sets the conditions and the expectations in the school that there will be excellent instruction and there will be a culture of ongoing learning for the educators and for the students in the school.”
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Romano presents symposium on mental health recovery after tsunami
Educational Psychology professor John Romano and research colleagues from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) presented a symposium on topics of mental health recovery after the 2004 tsunami at the 27th International Congress of Applied Psychology in Melbourne, Australia. The symposium was covered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) with a summary of the symposium and interviews of presenters and disseminated to countries in Asia and the Pacific.
LaVoi participates in ShiftN think tank hosted by Nike
Nicole LaVoi, Tucker Center associate director and lecturer in the School of Kinesiology, traveled to London on July 8 to participate in a think tank workshop run by ShiftN and hosted by Nike. LaVoi and experts from a variety of industries and academic disciplines discussed how Nike could best leverage current research, their resources, and brand to promote and sustain physical activity. This initiative is a project of the new Nike Social Innovation team.
Lee, Eaton receive award for gerontology article
Hee Yun Lee, assistant professor in the School of Social Work, and co-author Charissa Eaton, Ph.D. candidate in social work, received an honorable mention in the Rose Dobrof competition for the best article published in the Journal of Gerontological Social Work. The article is entitled “Financial abuse in elderly Korean immigrants: Mixed Analysis of the role of culture on perception and help-seeking behavior.”
The Rose Dobrof award is designed to recognize authors of articles that are methodologically rigorous, demonstrate strong innovation, and show a great impact on gerontological social work practice. It will be presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America in November.