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WSU Vancouver honors Martin Luther King Jr. through social justice workshops

By: Hannah Schneider – College of Education

On MLK Day, the At Home At School (AHAS) program hosted a teach-in on the WSU Vancouver campus. The focus was to on honor Martin Luther King Jr. by envisioning a future where the needs of an increasingly diverse society are met.

A series of workshops were scheduled throughout the day. They covered topics of poverty and homelessness, mental health, race and racism, and indigenous educational policy among many other social justice topics.

“Our purpose was to provide a format for discussion and to inspire action among individuals and organizations that aspire to remove equity barriers in education and other social systems,” AHAS Director, Susan Finley said.

Participants included representatives of many social service organizations, educators from local K-12 public schools, faculty and staff from Clark College, WSU Vancouver, Portland State University, and even from Southern Illinois University. In total the event had over 100 attendees.

AHAS has a Youth Activism Board made up of students from Clark College and WSU Vancouver along with students from local high schools. These students were major contributors to the conversations that took place during the event.

AHAS is hoping to achieve a similar impact as other related groups. They continue to grow a relationship with the Climate Crisis Breakout group, said Finley.

They currently do not have any specific plans for other events however, they are still working on their effort to create and encourage positive social change.

Background

Established in 2002 on principles of empowerment and democratic education, AHAS is breaking down barriers in education on multiple fronts.

AHAS has three goals which consist of helping children overcome social and economic barriers, shaping the next generation of teachers to work with underprivileged children, and creating an environment where teachers can design projects and curriculum for students.

There are many components within AHAS. From organizing volunteers in shelters to tutoring children during the academic year, they are focused on helping students reach their full potential.

“In the long term, we are revisioning our purpose to support the continuation of these conversations and to facilitate activism among our current and future participants,” Finley said.

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Keep up on AHAS by following their Instagram: @ahas2020andbeyond

Learn more about AHAS at: https://labs.wsu.edu/ahas/about-us/

By C. Brandon Chapman

Students getting to hear how things really work in the sport world highlighted Washington State University’s recent Sport Management Career Exposition Fair on the WSU Everett campus.

“We had a good turnout and an excellent roster or list of presenters who provided an inside glimpse into the day-to-day of sport management professionals,” Sport Management program chair Simon Licen said. “This included quite a few program alumni who reaffirmed the importance of lessons they had learned in class.”

It wasn’t the first time the program has hosted a career fair with speakers, such as this, but it was the first time at WSU Everett, which helped the program attract Seattle-area sport professionals. This included people working for the Seahawks, Mariners, Sounders, Storm, XFL Dragons, Aquasox, WIAA, Everett Community College, and exhibitors from regional graduate programs.

Because it was held at WSU Everett, Chancellor Paul Pitre, also a faculty member in the College of Education, shared a concise, yet informative overview of how the Everett campus came to be.

Clinical assistant professor Tammy Crawford, who was the driving force behind the initiative, said WSU Everett was very helpful in helping the event take place.

“The staff in Everett were incredibly supportive and generous and the location and facility was perfect,” she said. “It allowed us to cater to students returning to the Seattle area for the winter break, and expose the program and the college on WSU’s newest campus in Everett.”

Because Crawford came up with the idea of the first career exploration fair, and has been intimately involved in each one since the inception, this time leading a group of committed graduate students to plan and execute the event, Licen said it was fitting that industry giants gave Crawford public kudos.

And it cemented his appreciation for having Crawford as a colleague and friend.

“It was quite rewarding to see the University of Washington’s senior associate athletic director Erin O’Connell and the XFL Seattle Dragons’ senior directorz of marketing Michelle DeLancy share their professional and personal appreciate of Dr. Crawford with the audience,” Licen said. “You realize then that you are learning from, or working with, an elite professional and extraordinary individual.”

Licen said the event will happen again.

“There are fields that remained unexplored or only briefly mentioned, so next time we will highlight some new aspects and realms of sport management.”

A few tweets that Sport Management sent out during the event

Nov. 1, 2019
By C. Brandon Chapman – College of Education

Jose Riera is only 5-foot-6. Like Spud Webb or Al Pacino or Ben Stiller. Not an inch more, not an inch less.

But that’s OK because this is Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! and Jose is Little Mac, doing a great job swinging way above his weight class.

On Monday, Oct. 21, Riera won the 2019 Travel Grant Competition hosted by Washington State University’s Innovation and Research Engagement Office (IREO). By winning, Riera receives a $2,500 travel grant to further and enhance his research goals and provide him with valuable administrative support from IREO.

And he did it against seven other competitors, all of whom were faculty members.

Riera is a doctoral student in the WSU College of Education’s Language, Literacy and Technology program.

“I’m humbled that IREO would have selected this presentation over so many other impressive presenters, all whom were full-fledged Ph.D.’s and faculty,” he said. “I did not expect to be the only student who would be invited to present at this prestigious event. This is truly an honor for the entire College of Education, and I trust it demonstrates that our people and our proposals can be appreciated for their innovativeness and societal impact even in traditional hard-science spheres.”

According to the IREO website, the organization “works with students, faculty, and staff to position WSU’s creative, scholarly and technical assets in ways that maximize impact and return value to our state and national stakeholders.”

Riera was presented his award certificate on Thursday, Oct. 24 at an event that included WSU president Kirk Schulz, as well as vice president of research Christopher Keane.

About the research

Riera’s research focuses on advancing the use of visual speech recognition (VSR) technology to improve communication and learning for individuals with disabilities and health impediments.

An example of this would be someone who can’t make a vocal sound. Even though the individual is unable to make this kind of sound – or perhaps just has a difficulty doing it – the assistive technology can pick up the facial movement and translate that into actual sound.

Riera said that, with more than 50 million individuals in the United States with verbal and hearing impairments, VSR technology can help.

“VSR has the ability to facilitate more intimate, real-time conversations,” he said.

It’s research that is both important and timely. And, according to Don McMahon, an assistant professor of special education, as well as a research team member, a project that is destined to succeed not in spite of a graduate student leading, but because of who the graduate student is.

“Jose is a great example of a graduate student who came in to a program with vision and clear interests,” McMahon said. “In addition to Jose doing an excellent job creating an interdisciplinary team to support his research, he is a prime example of a graduate student working to get the most out of their program.”

A collaborative project

It should probably not be anything new that Riera aims high and succeeds. After all, he’s already an Ivy-Leaguer. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Riera earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s distinguished Wharton School. Most folks probably wouldn’t know that. And why would they? Riera doesn’t walk around telling everybody. If his diminutive stature stands out, so does his humility. Riera refuses to take credit for, well, almost anything, deferring instead to the efforts of the team and, with this latest success, the work itself.

“This research was undoubtedly enhanced by the sponsorship and expertise from College of Education faculty members Don McMahon and Yuliya Ardasheva,” Riera said. “But it was also very collaborative across colleges, as I received unparalleled hands-on guidance from Howard Davis from the College of Engineering, and Mark Vandam from the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine.”

Indeed, Riera is correct. He has been able to rely on the expertise of many others. Take McMahon, for example: he runs the VR2GO Lab, which uses virtual and augmented reality as assistive technology. Or Vandam, an associate professor of linguistics who runs the Speech and Language Lab at WSU Spokane.

Tariq Akmal, chair of the College of Education’s Department of Teaching and Learning, said he thinks Riera’s research has the potential to be successful precisely because of his penchant for teamwork.

“Collaboration is a vital ‘soft skill’ sought after in pretty much all fields; but in addressing complex problems, it’s critical to bring together multiple perspectives and approaches, Akmal said. “Jose is doing just that, identifying a complex problem and then thinking through available resources to assemble a team that has the capacity to effectively address that problem.”

On one hand, while having WSU work with other universities can be a positive, on the other hand, Riera said there was probably something “very special” about the fact that all the critical resources needed to bring this research to market are within WSU community.

“The judges may have perceived the significant value of sponsoring an initiative that we can nurture in-house, and one that will allow WSU to establish its preeminence in assistive technology research and social advancement,” Riera said.

A myriad of applications

Having a highly collaborative project made sense to Riera. After all, in the end, VSR has the potential for extensive applicability in a number of fields, including healthcare.

“My sense is that the judging panel connected very directly with the positive societal impact of this research proposal,” Riera said. “I could feel the way the audience immediately bonded with the presentation when I was discussing how we would enhance the quality of life and social integration for so many citizens with disabilities and limiting health conditions.

“It was a very powerful feeling.”

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VIEW RIERA’S PRESENTATION (AT 1:45:05)

August 23, 2019

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Books by Native American authors intended for use by teachers in K-12 classrooms are now available at the WSU Vancouver Library.

The books in the Native American Teaching Library were acquired through a grant to help implement the State of Washington’s Time Immemorial curriculum on Native American history and culture. The books in the Vancouver library were selected to reflect the experiences of young Native American people both past and present.

Shameem Rakha, assistant professor of education at WSU Vancouver, coordinated the selection and purchase of the books. She worked with Roben White of the Native American Elders Council and Karen Diller, library director, to choose a range of books appropriate for primary, middle and high school students. They settled on 17 titles, purchasing multiple copies of each for potential use as class sets. Powell’s Books in Portland, which supplied much of the library, helped locate obscure books and books from small publishers, and provided a discount that enabled Rakha to purchase additional titles.

One example of a book in the Native American Teaching Library is “I Am Not a Number,” a picture book about the boarding school system in the United States and Canada in the late 19^th to mid-20^th centuries. Rakha considers it relevant to a wide range of experiences in human history. “It’s the story of children taken away from their homes, culture and ways of being, and the horrors this created for them and their parents,” she said.

“Black Elk’s Vision” tells the life story of an Oglala-Lakota medicine man, who lived through the battles of Wounded Knee and Little Big Horn. “House of Purple Cedar” is about a Choctaw girl’s growing up in Indian Territory in pre-statehood Oklahoma.

“It is our goal to support the important work of teaching our children that American Indian people have had a significant impact on American history, and that despite an ongoing genocide, they are still managing to do amazing things today.”

There is no charge for teachers to check out books from the Native American Teaching Library (library cards are free for residents of Southwest Washington). Over the coming year, students in Rakha’s social studies methods classes will add summaries and questions to the books to enhance their utility as teaching materials.

If you have questions, contact Rakha at shameem.rakha@wsu.edu.

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About WSU Vancouver

As one of six campuses of the Washington State University system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations.

MEDIA CONTACT

Brenda Alling, Office of Marketing and Communications, 360-546-9601, brenda_alling@wsu.edu

PULLMAN, Wash. – The College of Education announced its annual faculty and staff excellence awards on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

This year, College dean Mike Trevisan announced that there would be two staff awards. The awards are as follows:

Faculty Excellence in Diversity: Katherine Rodela – Educational Leadership

Faculty Excellence in Teaching: Kristin Courtney – Educational Leadership

Faculty Excellence in Research: Yulia Ardasheva – Language, Literacy, and Technology

Faculty Excellence in Service: Judy Schultz– Kinesiology

Staff Excellence: Kelly McGovern – Director of the Office of Graduate Studies

Staff Excellence: Lindsay Lightner – Coordinator, Alternate Route Teacher Certification

https://education.wsu.edu/college/facultystaffawards/

By C. Brandon Chapman – College of Education

A Washington State University mathematics professor has been recognized by the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE) with its 2019 Outstanding Reviewer Award.

Amy Roth McDuffie, who is also the College of Education’s associate dean for research and external funding, was recognized for providing exemplary feedback as part of blinded peer-review of scholarly manuscripts for Mathematics Teacher Educator journal.

“As an associate dean, Amy has done meticulous work in development of strategic documents, internal grant processes, and critiques of external funding proposals,” college dean Mike Trevisan said. “She is analytical, reasoned, and well thought. In addition to my experiences and observations, I have heard the same from upper level administrators throughout the university. This award is a well-deserved honor for Amy and testament to the high-quality work of a consummate professional.”

Roth McDuffie is a well-published scholar in her own right, whose research focuses on teachers’ professional development, as well as equitable teaching practices and curriculum.

She has also served as the series editor for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Annual Perspectives in Mathematics Education.

She will receive a plaque from the AMTE, as well as be recognized at its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida in February.

We previously hosted Tamara Holmlund on our podcast (Education Eclipse 027 Today’s STEM Education) and she told us about a Next Generation STEM Teacher Preparation project that she and other researchers were working on. This past summer, Holmlund and a colleague from UW Bothell collaborated to put engineering and sustainability into the STEM collaboration she’s been doing for the last five years.

“The outcome was very positive, even beyond the third grade classrooms,” Holmlund said.

The Battle Ground School District featured part of this project in a recent blog post. We republish here:

Pleasant Valley Primary 3rd graders help endangered butterflies

Armed with little more than pencils, clipboards, and their own ingenuity, the third graders in teacher Talea Jones’ class at Pleasant Valley Primary School are working to solve quite the complex problem: how can they, acting as ecologists and designers, help create a healthy habitat to attract and protect endangered Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies to their school grounds?

This fun and scientifically engaging project is part of an annual Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) collaboration between the third grade classes at Pleasant Valley Primary in Battle Ground Public Schools and the student teachers at Washington State University-Vancouver. The partnership benefits both the district and the university through the practical application of STEM learning. WSU-V students earning their K-8 masters in education degrees visit the PVP campus and act as guest teachers for two hours a week over the two-week course of the project. The specific theme changes from year to year, but always involves a STEM project with a focus on sustainability education, design thinking, and engineering concepts.

“It’s a great opportunity for these young learners to experience a field-based research project,” said guest teacher and WSU-Vancouver student Stephanie Pederson. “Project based learning like this provides students with an engaging experience that is highly valuable and completely authentic.”

Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies were once abundant in the inland prairies of the Pacific Northwest, located west of the Cascade Mountains from British Columbia south through Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Almost two centuries of agriculture and the growth of urban areas has eliminated about 99 percent of the butterflies’ native habitat. As a result, the once abundant Euphydryas editha taylori are now a Washington state-endangered species and listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

To develop a design solution, the students have learned everything they can about the butterflies, including their habitat needs throughout all four stages of their life cycle. The students then learned to identify the native plants that serve as both food and shelter for the Pacific Northwest pollinators before heading out to the great outdoors to identify plants and make field observations in their project notebooks.

After their field books are full of notes and sketches, the young engineers-in-training head back to the classroom so they can start designing solutions that will help protect the butterflies throughout all stages of their life cycles. After creating their designs, the students swap booklets and peer review each other’s’ work, helping to refine their ideas and collaborate on the best, most practical solutions.

“I like that I got to be creative and make something,” said William Johnstone, a student in Mrs. Jones’ class. “Before this project, the only thing I can remember designing in school was a math word problem, so this was really fun.”

The Oregon Zoo began recovery efforts with the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly in 2003. Zoo staff work to save these delicate pollinators from extinction with partners from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Xerces Society, the Nature Conservancy, as well as several regional universities, zoos, conservation groups, government agencies, and correctional facilities to help protect and supplement wild butterfly populations. More information is available at https://www.oregonzoo.org/conserve/fighting-extinction-pacific-northwest/taylors-checkerspot-butterfly.

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