Members of the 2019 Twin Cities Cohort of the MNPA celebrate completion of their work.
Three cohorts of students—from Fergus Falls, Staples, and the Twin Cities, respectively—recently graduated from the Minnesota Principals Academy. Participants, who are principals and administrators at schools across the state, presented their Action Learning Projects at mini-conferences held in Fergus Falls on June 12 and in Burton Hall on June 21.
New cohorts (one in the Twin Cities and one based in Marshall, Minnesota) will begin in August and continue through June, 2021.
The Academy, directed by Katie Pekel, OLPD, also recently received a legislative appropriation of $200,000 per year for 2020 and 2021 during a special session of the Minnesota State Legislature.
The Minnesota Principals Academy was created in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association, the Minnesota Association of Secondary School Principals, and the University of Minnesota. The Academy partners with the National Institute of School Leadership, utilizing their robust and research proven curriculum in addition to units created at the U of M. Participant registration fees are supported through funding from the Minnesota Legislature and participant districts. The Academy has been based in OLPD since 2013.
To learn more about the Academy, see “The Power of Principals,” from CEHD Connect magazine, spring 2019.
Maureen Weiss, PhD, speaking at the USDHHS public listening session.
Maureen Weiss, PhD, professor in the School of Kinesiology, was invited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS) to present at a public listening session intended to inform the development of a National Youth Sports Strategy. Representing the National Academy of Kinesiology, Weiss and colleague Dr. Dan Gould (Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, Michigan State University) opened the day-long session by summarizing the current state of youth sports and proposing recommendations for how the government can implement the initiative. You can see their presentation here.
The session focused on four topics: (1) participation benefits and barriers, (2) private and public strategies to increase youth sports participation, (3) metrics to gauge and improve participation, and (4) strategies to recruit and train coaches. Emphasis was also placed on reducing barriers for underrepresented populations, including girls, racial/ethnic minorities, and youth with disabilities.
The USDHHS is charged with
drafting the National Youth Sports Strategy Report by early summer, an
initiative mandated by Executive Order 13824, declared on February 26, 2018.
Weiss said she is excited about the potential of this initiative, “It is encouraging that the government is recognizing the potential for youth sports to contribute to physical activity and other health outcomes. They are taking steps to promote youth sports programming and education for coaches, as well as to reduce disparities in participation of underserved groups.”
Like Huberty, Butler who is a teacher at Mounds View High School also has a Department of Educational Psychology connection. He works with Andrew Zieffler, senior lecturer in the QME program, as part of the College of Continuing Education’s College in the Schools (CIS) program and teaches “EPSY 3264: Basic and Applied Statistics” to academically prepared high school students.
The article mentions this Minnesota Math Bowl will be Butler’s last. He is retiring from coaching and teaching at the end of the school year.
Huberty told the Pioneer Press the team will miss Butler. “He’s the big picture guy. He’s the motivator,” he said.
In celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day, experts from the School of Kinesiology’s Tucker Center and Gopher Women’s Basketball talk about how female participation in sports has benefits that reach far beyond the court. Hear from Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D., senior lecturer and director of the School of Kinesiology’s Tucker Center, Lindsay Whalen, Gopher Women’s Basketball head coach, sport management alumni and former Tucker Center intern, and Kelly Roysland Curry, Gopher Women’s Basketball assistant coach, and sports management and applied kinesiology alumni.
Yuhei Inoue, Ph.D., assistant professor of sport management in the School of Kinesiology, is featured and profiled in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of CEHD Connect. The article, Fans for Health, highlights Inoue’s research in ways that sports spectatorship can lead to a sense of belonging, specifically in older adults.
Inoue partnered with Daniel Wann, a psychology professor in Kentucky, and they won funding for a pilot study from the North American Society for Sport Management. Inoue and Wann collaborated with Minnetonka Senior Services, having half of the study participants attend University of Minnesota volleyball games. Participants were surveyed after attending the games, and the results found that participants felt a closer bond to the volleyball team and the senior services center. From the results, Inoue is currently developing an associated theory.
Sidney Peters, Gopher Women’s Hockey goaltender and senior in the School of Kinesiology, was drawn to volunteer work from the very beginning of her college career. As a freshman, she became involved in M.A.G.I.C (Maroon And Gold Impacting the Community), a program designed to encourage student-athletes to get involved in community service, and she has continued volunteering her time and talents with organizations ever since. On Friday, April 6, her commitment to helping others was recognized when she received the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award from the Hockey Humanitarian Award Foundation. The organization presented Peters with a check for $2,500 during a ceremony held at the NCAA Men’s Frozen Four tournament in St. Paul. The funds will be donated to her designated charity, Project Medishare.
The Hockey Humanitarian Award is given each year to college hockey’s finest citizen — a student-athlete who makes significant contributions not only to his or her team, but also to the community-at-large through leadership in volunteerism.
Peters was deeply affected by her experience in 2016 when she traveled to Haiti to work as a volunteer in a hospital there. She continued her service when she returned, volunteering as an EMT and getting involved with other community organizations.
The award is featured in multiple media:
Gopher Women’s Hockey: Listen to Peters’ own words on her service work and what it means to her: Gopher Women’s Hockey video clip
Jürgen Konczak, Ph.D., professor and director of the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, presented October 30 at the Academic Health Center’s Mini Medical School as part of their Fall 2017 series, “Medical Mysteries: Navigating Complex Health Cases.” His presentation with George S. Goding, Jr., M.D., professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, was titled “Finding a new treatment for the incurable voice disorder Spasmodic Dysphonia.” Konczak and Goding have been working with colleagues from Speech and Hearing Sciences and Engineering on a new treatment approach to improve the voice symptoms of patients with this voice disorder. Currently, there is no cure for the disease, though patients can get temporary relief through Botulinum toxin injections.
Comments from attendees after the presentation included:
This work gives me so much hope – what an interesting study! Very interesting topic, more education on these topics is necessary so I am glad I was able to hear this presentation. Appreciated the presentation from both Dr’s because of the overlap! Nicely simplified from complex information. Nice to hear U of M people are working together to make life better for those in need. Loved the comment about calling around the U to find experts to help solve problems. There is so much happening at the U of M!!
Mini Medical School is a five-week program offered each semester that is designed to give individuals with a shared interest in health sciences the opportunity to examine the scientific foundations of health and disease presented by internationally renowned U of M experts who are shaping the way health care is delivered locally and globally.
Daheia Barr-Anderson, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the Behavioral Physical Activity Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology, will participate in the event “Pathways to Self-Care and Wellness for Empowering Girls and Women from Indigenous Communities and Communities of Color” Saturday, September 30, 9 a.m. to noon at the Walker Community United Methodist Church in Minneapolis. Barr-Anderson will serve as moderator for the panel discussion on strategies to empower these female communities. She will also lead movement activities.
The event is free and open to the public. Complete details are available here.
Attendees visit in between sessions at Educational Equity in Action.
On June 20 and 21, roughly 500 of Minnesota’s education leaders, researchers, policy makers, and nonprofit organizations gathered at Educational Equity in Action II. This was the second convening hosted by the University of Minnesota. Its focus: improving educational equity by “Working across schools and communities to enhance social emotional learning.”
Opening keynote
Brokenleg leads a small group discussion following his keynote.
Dr. Martin Brokenleg, Co-author of the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future and co-developer of the Circle of Courage model,explained that trauma from oppression, like that experienced by the American Indian community, can span generations.
“Our culture is plagued by intergenerational trauma,” said Brokenleg, whose mother’s family was among those imprisoned at Fort Snelling. He cited the incredibly high suicide rate among Native people, especially in the 18-30 age group, and among people in Ireland and Scotland after generations of oppression by the British, whose methods not coincidentally were adopted by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. “We’ve had a normal human reaction to an abnormal history.”
Brokenleg described his Circle of Courage model which supports character building or “teaching the heart” through generosity, belonging, independence, and mastery. Brokenleg finished his talk with practical strategies from Circle of Courage attendees could take back to their schools and communities to help young people—especially those suffering from intergenerational trauma—learn and grow.
Members of Rodriguez’s Minnesota Youth Development (MYDRG)
Dr. Michael Rodriguez, professor of educational psychology at the University of Minnesota, Jim and Carmen Campbell Leadership Chair in Education and Human Development, and co-director of the Educational Equity Resource Center and the covening, led a plenary discussion on the results of the Minnesota Student Survey (MSS).
Rodriguez explained, although at a high-level the MSS tells a positive story about the developmental skills and supports of Minnesota youth, a closer look at the data demonstrates the reality of the inequities some students experience in Minnesota’s education system. This is particularly apparent for students identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB); students who skip school; students who receive disciplinary action in school; and students who have experienced trauma.
“Ninety-nine percent of our youth say their goal is to graduate from high school—and 65 to 85 percent across demographic groups also want to go to college,” said Rodriguez. “That’s a lot higher than our state’s high school graduation goal for them, which is now about 90 percent by 2020!”
He emphasized that students’ own goals are higher than those we’ve set as a state.
Following the plenary, students in Rodriguez’s Minnesota Youth Development Research Group (MYDRG) led detailed discussions on the MSS results for some of these groups, including: American Indian students, Hmong students, students in special education, LGB students, and students experiencing trauma.
Throughout the convening, participants selected from 28 smaller group breakout sessions on social-emotional learning led by University of Minnesota researchers, youth engagement groups, school districts, the Minneapolis Department of Education, and more. Several sessions included youth as presenters and/or focused on youth participatory action research projects.
Small group discussions
Attendees share their educational equity challenges in small groups.
Before the final keynote, attendees participated in a process called TRIZ. They met in small groups—dividing themselves up based on the different developmental skills and supports students need to be successful (identified in Rodriguez’s work). Participants started with the unusual task of listing actions communities might take to destroy the skill being discussed in youth. Then, they shared opportunities they had to remove some of these destructive activities and developed action plans for their schools, communities, and organizations.
Khalifa gives the final keynote at Educational Equity in Action.
Dr. Muhammad Khalifa, associate professor in Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, closed out the convening by challenging the group to practice culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL). He asked that school leaders promote schooling that addresses the specific cultural and learning needs of students by focusing on the perspectives of parents, students, and community members.
“Change in schools can be promoted and fostered by ‘leaders,’ but culturally responsive school leadership is practiced by all stakeholders,” said Khalifa. “Community-based based knowledge informs good leadership practice.”
In this statement, Khalifa connected his keynote to Rodriguez’ and Brokenleg’s work. Each of the speakers stressed the importance of listening to all members of our community to improve educational equity.
Khalifa ended his talk by sharing strategies to help attendees to achieve CRSL in their own schools, organizations, and communities.
Ms. Ziyi Wang, participant in the 2016-17 China Champions Program (CCP) and World Champion in sailboating, spent the afternoon of May 3 enjoying her sport at the Minnetonka Yacht Club. As a bonus, she had the chance to meet and sail with U.S. National and Olympic sailing coach Gordy Bowers, who is currently head coach of the Lake Minnetonka Sailing School, and Peter Wattson, president of the Minnetonka Yacht Club.
Ms. Wang was accompanied by Ms. Chunlu Wang, Olympic gold medalist in short track speed skating, and Ms. Jill Griffiths, a member of the CCP advisory board. The group also spent time sailing and interacting with high school students from the sailing school.
The China Champions Program is sponsored by the University’s School of Kinesiology, the College of Education and Human Development and the China Center.
Jennifer McComas with the award presented to her on March 30
Jennifer McComas, associate chair and special education professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, is the CEHD nominee for this year’s President’s Community Engaged Scholar award. This award recognizes faculty involvement in public service and encourages and emphasizes civic engagement as a permanent priority of the College of Education and Human Development.
“Jennifer is highly deserving of the award,” says Department of Educational Psychology chair, Geoffrey Maruyama. “She has worked over the past decade in Minneapolis Public Schools, first in North Minneapolis, then with Anishinabe Academy, and recently, she added tele-health research to connect with rural communities,” says Maruyama. “These and other projects reflect her deep commitment to engaged research and to doing work that makes a difference in people’s lives.”
Please join us in congratulating Professor McComas on this tremendous accomplishment!
Graduate assistant Chris Moore, advised byYuhei Inoue, Ph.D., assistant professor of Sport Management in the School of Kinesiology presented research results to study participants at the Minnetonka Senior Services.
This research study titled “The Influence of Sport Team Identification on Mental Health for Older Adults” was funded by Janet B. Parks NASSM Research Grant. For this study, Moore and Inoue worked with Minnetonka Senior Services to recruit older adults and coordinated trips to three home games of University of Minnesota Women’s volleyball team. The purpose of the project was to examine if attending sporting events and establishing a sense of connections with the sport team and its fans may help enhance older adults’ social relationships and well-being.
Under the leadership of Tony Brown, Ph.D., Recreation Administration instructor in the School of Kinesiology and associate director of the Department of Recreational Sports, students participated in this year’s Resilient Communities Project (RCP), working with the City of Brooklyn Park. The students enrolled in the Recreation Administration major applied their knowledge and skills to a real-world project with a community partner. They worked with the City’s in its effort to address nature-based recreation opportunities and equitable use of athletic fields.
The RCP is an organization dedicated to connecting communities in Minnesota with diverse expertise of University of Minnesota faculty and students to address pressing local issues in ways that advance sustainability and resilience.
Under the leadership of Tony Brown, Ph.D., Recreation Administration instructor in the 
