Alicia Johnson, the 2009 Tucker Center Summer Intern and undergraduate student in Exercise Science at Minnesota State University Mankato, has been accepted and will attend graduate school at Springfield College, Springfield, MA, in sport and exercise psychology. Congratulations Alicia!
Doherty to parents of teens: tough love required
Professor Bill Doherty, of the Department of Family Social Science, offered advice to parents of teens, following a deadly weekend on Minnesota roads that claimed six young lives. Speaking to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Doherty cautions against “wishy-washy” parenting, stating that parents must establish firm expectations of teens, putting parenting duties ahead of friendship with their children.
“Many parents want to be buddies with their kids and don’t want to come down too hard on them,” Doherty said. “And many parents have this idea, ‘Well, the kids are going to use alcohol anyway so why be the heavy, why talk about it that much?’ What we know from the research is that teens who believe their parents are firmly against them drinking are less apt to drink. Our kids carry us in their brain and that’s why [you need] a firm hand, that you’re too young to drink and it’s not acceptable to me as your parent that you drink at all, let alone drink and drive.”
Seohee Son’s dissertation featured at research showcase
Seohee Son, Ph.D. student in Family Social Science, had her doctoral research featured at the 2010 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship Research Showcase. The event, held on April 6, 2010, was hosted by the Graduate School, and honored research from across the University.
Son’s dissertation, “Korean Divorced Mothers’ Experiences of Parenting After Divorce,” focuses on both the increase in divorce and the lack of research on the effects of divorce on families in Korea. Son interviewed seventeen mothers, who have divorced within five years and have raised at least one minor child, in order to explore their experiences of parenting after divorce.
Juergen Konczak honored by American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education
Professor Juergen Konczak, School of Kinesiology, has been elected as an Active Fellow in the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE). He will be inducted at the Annual Academy Meeting, October 7-9, 2010, in Williamsburg, VA.
With Konczak’s election, the School of Kinesiology has six Active Fellows in AAKPE: Professors Mary Jo Kane, Arthur Leon, M.D., Tom Stoffregen, Michael Wade, and Maureen Weiss.
Graduate Garrett Brown is free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs
Garrett Brown, sport management B.S. student who graduated last fall, was signed recently as an undrafted free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs to play in the NFL. Garrett was a two-year starter at defensive tackle and captain for the Golden Gophers with 99 tackles during his four-years on the team.
Konczak presents at CCE’s LearningLife Fest, publishes in Cerebellum
Prof. Juergen Konczak, Kinesiology, gave a lecture on “The Brain and Physical Activity” to an audience of over 200 people on Saturday, April 17, on the St. Paul campus as part of the LearningLife Fest organized by the College of Continuing Education.
In other activity, and in Prof. Konczak’s ongoing international academic collaborations, he and a group of neurologists and neurosurgeons from Germany published the following paper:
Schoch B, Hogan A, Gizewski ER, Timmann D, & Konczak J. Balance control in sitting and standing in children and young adults with benign cerebellar tumors. Cerebellum. 2010 Mar 30. [Epub ahead of print]
Ropers-Huilman named department chair of OLPD
Professor Rebecca Ropers-Huilman has been appointed chair for the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD) effective August this year. Ropers-Huilman follows Darwin Hendel, who is stepping down after chairing the department since April 2007.
Ropers-Huilman has been a professor of higher education in the department since August 2007. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in educational administration with a concentration in higher education. Her research interests relate primarily to race and gender in higher education, and change agents in postsecondary contexts. She is also editor of Feminist Formations. Prior to coming to the University of Minnesota, she was a faculty member at Louisiana State University and held positions there as director of women’s and gender studies, director of the Women’s Center, and coordinator of the higher education program.
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Thesis research grants awarded to Hansen and Smalkoski
Sarah Hansen and Kari Smalkoski, doctoral students in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, have each been awarded Thesis Research Grant funds by the Graduate School. Grant funds help students cover expenses associated with their thesis research, such as domestic travel, fieldwork, postage, and photocopying.
Hansen’s research (Bic Ngo and Thom Swiss, advisers) will explore the stories Indian-American participants at a community-based ethnic organization document about their everyday lives–stories that converse with, but also complicate, dominant discourses about what it means to be a South Asian youth in a global context.
Smalkoski’s research (Bic Ngo and Tim Lensmire, adviser) examines the layers of multiplicity within the Hmong community by looking at the the ways in which Hmong masculinities and popular cultural practices impact males’ non-school and school identities.
Graduate students Simmons and Martel receive awards
Two Ph.D. students received graduate student awards as part of Curriculum and Instruction’s Graduate Student Research Day on April 9th. Annette Simmons, PhD student in Social Studies Education, received the Research Award for Excellence in Scholarship on Diversity. Her research examines how a group of Hmong immigrant adolescents conceptualize their citizenship in the United States. This award is meant to enhance academic understanding of diversity issues, particularly among historically underserved populations. Jason Martel received the Graduate Supervisor Award, which recognizes excellence in supervision among graduate supervisors who develop a positive rapport with supervisees to support their developing skills as teachers and tutors. Jason leads students to reflect on their own performance with high standards of professionalism.
Remembering Tim Mazzoni
Professor Emeritus Tim Mazzoni died of cancer on April 6 at the age of 73 in San Diego. Tim was a faculty member in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration (now the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development) for 27 years, and mentored both his colleagues and students with grace and ease. He was the acting chair of the department, 1998-99, and chair, 1990-91.
An informal celebration of his life was held on April 17 in San Diego, where he and his wife, Judy, moved after retirement. A Minnesota celebration will be held on Thursday, May 13, 1-4 p.m. in the Johnson Room at the McNamara Alumni Center. Friends and colleagues are urged to drop in. Judy will greet friends starting at 2 p.m. before turning over the event to Professor Emeritus Neal Nickerson, who will introduce speakers and facilitate the honoring of Tim’s contributions.
Weiss publishes on female athletes’ commitment to sport participation
Maureen Weiss, Ph.D., professor in the School of Kinesiology and co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, along with co-authors Windee Weiss and Anthony Amorose, recently published an article in the Journal of Sports Sciences titled, “Sport commitment among competitive female athletes: Test of an expanded model.” In this study, female athletes who reported greater enjoyment, involvement opportunities, and personal investments, and fewer perceived costs and attractive alternative activities, showed greater desire and resolve to continue their sport participation and greater effort and persistence in their training sessions.
Roosevelt High School’s DigMe students tour campus
Students from Minneapolis Roosevelt High School’s DigMe program visited the Twin Cities campus last week. The DigMe program partners with University of Minnesota faculty and students in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (Cynthia Lewis, professor of literacy eduction; Cassie Scharber, assistant professor of learning technologies; and doctoral students Jessica Dockter, literacy education; Lauren Causey, literacy eduction; Bjorn Pederson, learning technologies; Brian Lozenski, culture and teaching).
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We call it…Cedar!
We call it Cedar. And we think it’s the start of something big. What is it? It’s a new web-based tool – constructed and delivered by your CEHD IT Fellows. Cedar exists to help staff find documents and resources that support their use and implementation of education technologies.
Do you need a good user guide for Moodle gradebook or for uploading video to Media Mill? Do you need help with VideoAnt? Did you find a great user guide last month only to not be able to ever find it again? Did you print a user guide and file it in a stack of papers in your office? Or, did you find it on the web – but neglect to bookmark it? Cedar provides you with instructional technology support documents when and where you need them.
Give Cedar a test drive at cehd.umn.edu/cedar. Not finding what you’re looking for? Let us know. Cedar can only improve and become more valuable with your input. Can’t find something? Great resources we’ve missed? All feedback should go to your department’s IT Fellow.
Symons and students present at Gatlinburg Conference
Educational Psychology associate professor Frank Symons and graduate students, Breanne Byiers, Stacy Danov, and Jason Wolff, presented posters at the 43rd Annual Gatlinburg Conference on Research and Theory in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Annapolis, MD, March 17-19, 2010.
The Gatlinburg Conference is one of the premier conferences in the United States for behavioral scientists conducting research in intellectual and related developmental disabilities. The theme for the 2010 Conference was “Fragile X Syndrome: Frontiers of Behavior and Biology.”
Bart and Langley receive outstanding research award
Educational psychology professor William Bart and his former graduate advisee, Seth Langley, Ph.D., are the recipients of the 2010 Outstanding Research Award from the New York College Learning Skills Association. This award recognizes the excellence of their article “Examining Self-Regulatory Factors that influence the Academic Achievement of Underprepared Students,” which appeared in the fall 2008 issue of Research and Teaching in Developmental Education. Langley is currently assistant director of research development at the State University of New York (SUNY), Downstate Medical Center.
According to Amy Crouse-Powers, the president of the New York College Learning Skills Association, the research article “positively contributes to the field of developmental education and ultimately benefits students. We thank you for your work in this important area.”
Are there differences in coaching boy and girl athletes?
Nicole LaVoi, Tucker Center associate director and lecturer in the School of Kinesiology discusses research on coaching boys versus coaching girls in a recent Post Crescent News article.
Entry to the University facilitated by new program
Barbara Hodne, Ph.D., Senior Teaching Specialist is actively involved with Entry Point Project, a new initiative of College in the Schools, a national program in which the University of Minnesota participates. This program allows high school students to receive high school and university credit concurrently for the classes they take.
For seven years, Hodne, whose background is in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages and American Literature, has coached high school instructors as they teach a college-level writing class through the College in the Schools program. Recently, she has been involved in the initiative Entry Point Project, launched in fall 2009 to expand College in the Schools’ offerings to high school students in the academic middle, or in the 50%-80% range of their classes.
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Albrecht receives engagement award
Lisa Albrecht, associate professor in the School of Social Work, received the “Outstanding Partners in Engagement” award on April 22. The award is given in recognition of her work as a highly engaged faculty member partnering with the community through the social justice minor. The Campus Community Coordinators Alliance, a network of staff who direct and coordinate publicly engaged programs across the Twin Cities campus, created these awards four years ago to call attention to the members of the University and broader communities who are doing exemplary collaborative work that promotes the public good.
delMas honored by American Statistical Association
Educational psychology associate professor Robert delMas has been selected as a 2010 Fellow of the American Statistical Association. Nominated by their peers, ASA Fellows are members of established reputation who have made outstanding contributions in some aspect of statistical work. Given annually, this prestigious honor is limited to no more than one-third of one percent of the ASA membership. Fellows will be honored during the Joint Statistical Meetings awards ceremony in Vancouver in August.
Kinesiology’s Rayla Allison talks about recent athlete behavior on Fox 9 & Kare 11 News
Rayla Allison, J.D., sport management lecturer in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Sport Business Institute, was interviewed in a Fox 9 and Kare 11 news video “Digging Deeper: NFL Player Personal Conduct Policy” on the issue of player conduct off the field.