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2021 News Stories

Tori Pearson
Dual language programs are launching across the state thanks to the work of W&M faculty and alumni

Students are now living in a culturally and linguistically diverse world and our education systems are making strides to embrace it through the development and implementation of dual language programs. Katherine Barko-Alva, assistant professor and director of ESL/Bilingual Education, collaborates with school districts across the state to develop dual language and bilingual education programs.

Mixed Reality Training
W&M professors hone mixed-reality training to promote diverse hiring

Jason Chen, associate professor of education at William & Mary, is working with Professor of Theatre and Asian & Pacific Islander American Studies Francis Tanglao Aguas are using a grant from the National Science Foundation to create a professional development curriculum.

Chandra Floyd
Chandra B. Floyd Ph.D. ’20 wins dissertation award for her work towards equity in gifted education

Chandra B. Floyd Ph.D. ’20 has been named the second place winner in the Dissertation Award Competition for 2021 by the National Association for Gifted Children’s Research and Evaluation Network. Her dissertation, Promoting Equity in Gifted Education: Stories from Selected Virginia Gifted Education Leaders, shares the stories of three gifted education coordinators and their experiences with underrepresentation of children from racially marginalized groups through a narrative inquiry research design.

Lavare Henry Ph.D. '24
Fulbright Scholar Lavare Henry Ph.D. ’24 fosters international exchange of ideas

Bringing his ideas from back home is sparking intellectual dialogue amongst colleagues and peers in the School of Education’s Educational Planning, Policy, and Leadership (EPPL) classes. Here as a Fulbright Scholar from Jamaica, Lavare Henry Ph.D. ’24 is in his second year of the EPPL in K-12 Administration Ph.D. Program.

Pamela Eddy
Supporting STEM Faculty Development during the Pandemic

A virtual professional development program for STEM faculty was designed a few months before the start of the pandemic and became a year-long study providing activities and workshops to engage faculty in learning about evidence-based strategies.

Camp EAGER
Engineering for all: Inaugural Dean’s Innovation Fund grant brings middle-school students to W&M for Camp EAGER

Thanks to a grant from the Dean's Innovation Fund, established in 2020 through a gift from the Jennings family, middle-schools students from Newport News Public Schools gathered on the W&M campus for a week-long camp to explore engineering design challenges. The camp is designed to inspire an interest in the STEM fields among students from underrepresented backgrounds and prepare them to work collaboratively and communicate effectively.

Holmes Scholars
Six doctoral students named Holmes Scholars

This year, six doctoral students in the W&M School of Education were selected to participate in the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education’s (AACTE) Holmes Scholars Program based on their achievements and their commitment to diversity and equity.

Erica Wiborg
Erica Wiborg joins W&M Higher Education faculty

Erica Wiborg joins W&M as a visiting assistant professor in the Higher Education program. Her research interests include college access and inequity in leadership learning and teaching, critical race theory and whiteness in leadership, critical leadership pedagogy, and college student leadership development, including identity, capacity, efficacy, emotional intelligence, and spirituality.

Denita Hudson
Denita Hudson joins W&M Counseling faculty

Denita Hudson joins W&M as a clinical assistant professor in the online Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Her research interests include best practice in online pedagogy, neuro-counseling focused on anxiety, generational trauma in African American families, Global Counseling, Advocacy and Leadership for Diversity Equality and Inclusion in Higher Education.

CRT Resources
What is Critical Race Theory? Resources for Educators

Critical Race Theory has garnered widespread attention and been highly politicized in recent months. The faculty in the School of Education collected resources to help educators and families better understand the theory.

Coralis Solomon
Coralis Solomon joins W&M Counseling faculty

Coralis Solomon joins W&M as a clinical assistant professor in the online Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Her research interests include using self-compassion interventions to prevent emotional burnout in teachers and increase emotional resilience to address racial battle fatigue for teachers of color in the schools.

Crosses win Mensa Awards for Excellence in Research
Center for Gifted Education receives Awards for Excellence in Research from Mensa

Tracy L. Cross, the Jody and Layton Smith Professor of Psychology and Gifted Education, and Jennifer Riedl Cross, research associate professor, have been recognized by the Mensa Education & Research Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit organization dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in human intelligence, with their annual awards for excellence in research. The awards celebrate groundbreaking investigations in the disciplines of intelligence, intellectual giftedness and related fields.

ACETO Award
W&M honors Marchello, Martin with the Aceto Award

William & Mary has selected Sallie Marchello, associate provost and university registrar, and Jeremy Martin Ph.D. '12, M.B.A. '17, chief of staff to President Katherine A. Rowe who has spent the past nine months serving as interim athletics director, to receive the Shirley Aceto Award.

Julie Bologna M.Ed. '23
Julie Bologna M.Ed. '22 selected as 2021 Tillman Scholar

Julie Bologna, a master’s student in the military and veteran’s counseling program, has been selected by the Tillman Foundation as a 2021 Tillman Scholar. The prestigious scholarship, founded by the family of Pat Tillman, annually recognizes military service members, veterans and spouses who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to service, scholarship, humble leadership and impact.

Church & University
Church and University: united to support the success of students

For many Black families, the church not only provides a place of worship, but a place of belonging and a hub that connects them to the community through a wide range of support services. A new partnership with a local church is exploring how educators can collaborate with faith-based communities to better support the growth of Black students.

Commencement 2021
School of Education celebrates 2021 Commencement

The School of Education celebrated its 2021 graduates during a Commencement weekend like no other May 21-23, 2021. Faculty, staff, students and families gathered on campus for a socially-distanced but decidedly joyful celebration.

GEA Board
GEA Board works to bring back community during an online academic year

The Graduate Education Association (GEA) helps connect students in the School of Education to the faculty, community, and each other. While this year’s board members have had the challenging task of connecting students together during a pandemic that has made people feel more detached than ever before, their goals are to work together to increase student engagement and create a sense of community, even from home.

Natoya Haskins
Natoya Haskins named president-elect of ACES

Natoya Haskins, associate professor of counselor education and director of diversity and inclusion at the School of Education, has been selected as the next president of the Association of Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES), the premier professional organization dedicated to the training of counselors in the U.S.

WM Leadership Course
W&M Launches Leadership Course for Alumni and the General Public

The leadership course, Modern Leadership: Reflections and Tools for the Values-Based Leader, combines theory and practice and is designed to engage participants in discussion, hands-on applications and reflections.

Esports
W&M opens new Esports Training and Research Center

William & Mary’s Esports Training and Research Center will include a research lab and training facility designed to foster interdisciplinary collaborations around gaming.

Standard File
Holmes Scholars present research at the AACTE Conference

A group of Holmes Scholars from William & Mary were invited to present their independent research at the annual conference of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) in topics on multicultural counseling and experiential learning in the time of COVID-19.

Game-based learning brings play into the high school classroom
Game-based learning brings play into the high school classroom

Lindy Johnson, associate professor of English education, has been examining the role of games and play in the classroom for several years. A former English teacher in Boston Public Schools, she now trains new teachers at William & Mary and conducts research around the essential question, how can we make learning more engaging and authentic for both students and teachers?

Internationalization Research
New research project examines internationalization at William & Mary

Faculty from the School of Education Higher Education Program have launched a research project to help advance understanding of the engagement of William & Mary faculty in internationalization efforts both on campus and abroad.

Ting Huang
Ting Huang joins W&M Curriculum & Instruction faculty

Ting Huang joins W&M as an assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction department. Her research focuses on informal learning, digital literacies, diversity in education, and video learning.

Flanagan Counselor Education Clinic
Flanagan Counselor Education Clinic answers the increased need for mental health services during the pandemic

With its new name comes new changes for the Flanagan Counselor Education Clinic. Thanks to a $2 million gift in 2020 from Professor Emeritus S. Stuart Flanagan, William & Mary’s expanded counseling training clinic now encompasses the New Horizons Family Counseling Center, the New Leaf Clinic, and a new service called the Telehealth Team, making services more accessible than ever.

Zoom Fatigue
Combating Zoom Fatigue in the Online Classroom

Have you sat through Zoom or other videoconferencing sessions and felt fatigued afterwards? Zoom Fatigue is Real. A Zoom environment can cause cognitive overload because you are constantly multitasking. April Lawrence, associate director of eLearning, provides instructional strategies for combating Zoom fatigue.

Katherine Barko-Alva
Katherine Barko-Alva to receive Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award

Katherine Barko-Alva, William & Mary assistant professor and director of English as a second language/bilingual education at the School of Education, will be recognized with the 2021 Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award during a virtual Charter Day celebration Feb. 11.

Jamel Donnor
Jamel Donnor to serve as chair of AERA Social Justice Action Committee

Jamel Donnor, associate professor of education and affiliated faculty in Africana Studies and American Studies, has been named chair-designate of the Social Justice Action Committee of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). He will serve a three-year term, assuming the role of chair in his second two years on the committee.

GPS for Success thumbnail
W&M team leads evaluation of national drug prevention program

Associate professors of counseling, Patrick Mullen and Daniel Gutierrez, along with a team of School of Education graduate students, are serving as external evaluators for a new class-based drug intervention program called GPS for Success.

Metamorphosis
Natoya Haskins launches national affinity group for Black women in counselor education

Natoya Haskins, associate professor of counselor education and director of diversity and inclusion for the School of Education, has focused much of her research on the lived experiences of Black women within counseling, as well as strategies to support the advancement of students and professionals in the field. This fall, she launched Metamorphosis, a national affinity group for Black women pursuing graduate degrees in counseling.