Press release from UCA News (https://uca.edu/news/uca-selected-for-30-million-usde-funding/)
The University of Central Arkansas has been selected to receive $30 million in funding through the U.S. Department of Education’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP).
This is the first statewide GEAR UP award for Arkansas. UCA will facilitate the seven-year, $30 million grant award.
“UCA is proud to provide leadership in this space as we work with partners statewide to break down barriers to and open up access to postsecondary education,” said UCA President Houston Davis.
The grant aims to increase enrollment in postsecondary education through expanded preparedness measures for students and their families. Tapped the GEAR UP Arkansas College Ready Navigator (GUAR-CRN) project at UCA; the seven-year grant is a cohort model targeting sixth- and seventh-grade students in urban and rural Arkansas school districts.
“As a former public school K-12 teacher and administrator, I know that many students are excited learners ready to explore opportunities, but as they begin to question whether they have the ability to attend college, we see their excitement dwindle, and their narrative for what is possible narrows. In many cases, their visions begin to fade as early as middle school,” said Dr. Charlotte Parham, principal investigator and associate professor in the UCA College of Education. “For some students, they start to question whether they belong on a college campus, and for others, it is finances. The GUAR-CRN program will address both of those concerns for thousands of students in Arkansas.”
The GUAR project will provide activities across three broad categories: student services, educator and school development, and family education.
The grant program is designed to increase the preparedness of students from low-income backgrounds to enter and succeed in college. The current grant funding includes at least 3,400 students from 15 schools from 11 Arkansas school districts starting in sixth or seventh grade. Upon high school completion, these student cohorts will be eligible for college scholarships through grant funding.
Targeted school districts are in Pulaski, Hempstead, Lee, Mississippi, Monroe, Ouachita and Phillips counties and are listed below:
- Blytheville
- Brinkley
- Camden Fairview
- Clarendon
- Little Rock
- Pulaski County
- Helena/West Helena
- Jacksonville
- Lee County
- Marvel/Elaine
- Hope
A kickoff event will be held on UCA’s campus on Monday, Nov. 27, for leaders of the 11 school districts and GUAR-CRN administrators.
GUAR-CRN partners include Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science, Vela Institute, Cambridge Educational Services, College Prep Associates, UCA College of Education, Arkansas Department of Education Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
On Thursday, October 26, the Pi Beta Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi held its induction ceremony for ten new members: Jacob Barnett, Jabril Bass, Brittney Bowman, Catherine Bridges, Isabella Klemme, Danielle Smith, Adelaide Spradling, Stephanie Voegele, Shelby Waters, and Carrie Willis.
Kappa Delta Pi, an International Honor Society in Education, has a membership of over 55,000 in more than 400 universities, colleges, and alumni chapters. Members strive to promote excellence in teaching as well as recognize outstanding contributions to the field of education.
An invitation to join the local chapter, Pi Beta, is based on high academic achievements (a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0), a commitment to education as a career, and a professional attitude that assures a member’s further growth in education. Positive attitudes toward life and teaching are also important attributes of all potential members.
Dr. Michael S. Mills, Associate Dean of the College of Education, facilitated the induction ceremony. Also in attendance were faculty members Dr. Donna Wake, Dr. Matthew White, and Ms. Laura Marshall.
Marsha Masters from Economics Arkansas recently visited Ms. Tracie Rushing’s (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) Social Studies Methods classes to discuss the importance of economics education. Economics Arkansas generously provided concept guides and books for every student. Students applied some of those concepts in ELSE 2304 and left class feeling excited about taking these ideas to their future students.
Students in Mrs. Dee Dee Cain’s (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) literacy assessment and intervention class are having trouble staying off their phones! All kidding aside, they are working hard learning about language development and phonological awareness. They are participating in lots of make & takes for their literacy tool kits!
Dr. Christa Kuebel (Assistant Professor of Music Education) presented ways to infuse music into the elementary classroom to reinforce classroom management in Dr. Stefanie Sorbet’s (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) Positive Classroom Environment class recently. Dr. Kuebel demonstrated chanting, clapping, and singing to transition to a new activity, musical attention getters, brain breaks with music, and how to incorporate music into teaching and practicing routines and procedures. Our juniors had a great time and are excited to try some of these techniques in their field placement.
Dr. Evan Faidley, Assistant Professor in the College Student Personnel Administration (CSPA) program, engaged his first-year students in a game of Gender and Sexuality Jeopardy to learn more about culture, (in)equity, and identities around gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, and the different outlets that these topics exist (i.e., social movements and popular culture). Before students played for points, they were led by one of their peers (Kylee Beetch, first-year CSPA master's student and Office Manager for UCA's Office for Student Life) on writing an equation/formula on how they would make an impact surrounding the destigmatization of and work toward addressing sexual violence on college campuses.
The College Student Personnel Administration (CSPA) program takes pride in preparing the scholar-practitioners of tomorrow. Students enrolled in Dr. Evan Faidley's Student Development Theory course (CSPA 6392) immersed themselves in reading about additional theories in college student development, followed by designing and delivering stellar, interactive presentations around various student identities. Several topics have been:
- understanding student parents in their transitions through college while identifying their various capital (using Schlossberg's transition theory and Yosso's community cultural wealth model)
- creating space and support for college students at the intersection of sexuality, gender, and race/ethnicity (using the socio-ecological model from the CDC Injury Center)
- developing the counter-storytelling of Black womxn in American higher education (using Patterson's framework of progression to womanhood)
- exploring the lived experiences of and multiple identities held by first-generation college students (through Orbe's conceptualization of the population's identity negotiation through dialectical tensions, such as individual ↔ social identity, certainty ↔ uncertainty, and openness ↔ closedness).
Shelby Blakely (College of Education student) used information from a recent classroom session and created a CVC blending activity and a letter recognition activity (in Keynote) focusing on the letters in her student's name. Students loved this interactive way to learn with Ms. Blakely.
This stemmed from a recent lesson in Ms. Ashley Wilson's class where she co-taught, with Dr. Jessica Herring-Watson, teacher candidates how to create and implement a "word work" interactive digital notebook in Keynote on their iPads. Students discussed how the use of audio, video, images, animations, and drawing can be used in Keynote to differentiate formative literacy assessments and provide teachers with more detailed data regarding students reading progress.
Ms. Aida Kuettle was recently named 2023 ARKTESOL (Arkansas Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) Coordinator of the Year. This award was established to recognize the hard work and dedication required to be an outstanding ESOL coordinator or administrator. Aida is a UCA College of Education graduate and currently works in the South Conway County School District.
The award recipient receives a $1,000.00 check from ARKTESOL, free registration to the state ARKTESOL Conference, an invitation to be recognized at the state ARKTESOL Conference, and a published article with a profile in our ARKTESOL Newsletter.
Dr. Valerie Couture and Ms. Anne Marie Cowie (Department of Leadership Studies) presented on Friday, October 20, with Dr. Rene Couture (Arkansas Tech University) at the inaugural ATU Adjunct and Graduate Assistant Conference: Cultivating Communities. Their topic was titled "From Adjunct to Professor." They shared insights from how their careers have progressed from being in adjunct positions to full-time teaching and leadership positions.
Photo Details: (from left to right: Dr. Rene Couture, Dr. Valerie Couture, and Ms. Anne Cowie)
Dr. Evan Faidley (Department of Leadership Studies) or known as "Dr. E" by his students, made an appearance on UCA's "Grad Chats with Dr. B" hosted by Graduate Dean, Dr. Angela Barlow. Listen in as Dr. E shares about his journey that brought him to UCA and what led to the topic of discussion: Stanford Duck Syndrome among graduate students.
Link: https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/grad-chats-with-dr-b/id1559389720
Mr. Scott Lewis (Department of Student Transitions) was one of two featured poets that recently read their poetry as part of the Faulkner County Library’s ongoing Poetry at the Public series. He was joined by fellow Conway poet Stacey Margaret Jones.
Scott is the author of the lyric-epic Arkansas Ghoulash. His other work appears in The Banyan Review, Arkansas Life, The Meadow, Bear Review, the Toad Suck Review, The Best of Toad Suck Review, and Investigative Creative Writing: Teaching and Practice by Mark Spitzer.
Below is one of Scott's published poems that was part of his reading list.
A Traveler's Sewing Kit
Palm-sized gold lamé topped by two brass fingers poised to snap out a drum major’s cadence. We marched through Central Park lugging hundreds of them, then boarded a plane back to Arkansas.
Inside three needles rest next to a threader, a tiny scissors, mother of pearl buttons and pewter snaps fastened to a card.
Things for putting things back together in my mother’s sewing room.
I spent hours there as a child trying on my cousins’ Easter dresses, learning the water-wristed skill of the baton, wearing ornamental sequins.
Green as sprinkles on Christmas cookies, I wanted to be the daughter she always wanted.
I knew some forceful language touched her, spelled out on the naked bottoms of her eyelids, lettered in secrets and terrified of silence.
Some verb now sends us to the loom weaving and untangling what we can, still eager to cover all our parts.
The College of Education at the University of Central Arkansas proudly announces that Dr. Rachelle Miller, Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, has been awarded the esteemed Harry Bowman Award by the Mid-South Educational Research Association (MSERA).
Dr. Miller is being recognized for her exceptional and sustained service to the MSERA, which has spanned several pivotal roles including Arkansas Director, Program Chair, Secretary, Vice President, and President. Her leadership was particularly evident during her tenure as President, when she expertly navigated the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to plan and conduct the organization's annual conference virtually, which surpassed all expectations in attendance and engagement. Following her presidency, Dr. Miller's volunteer spirit led her to once again take on the role of Program Chair, demonstrating her ongoing commitment to the association and the field of education.
The Harry Bowman Service Award, established in 1992, honors individuals who have rendered ongoing service to MSERA over many years. It is named after Harry Bowman, a dedicated member who served the organization with distinction. Dr. Miller embodies the spirit of this award through her continuous dedication and substantial contributions to the association.
Dr. Michael Mills (College of Education Associate Dean) has been named Interim Dean of the Graduate School. According to an email from Dr. Patty Poulter (UCA Provost and Executive Vice President), "Dr. Mills brings extensive experience in academic leadership, graduate education, grants, and sponsored programs, and is deeply committed to student success. He is well-respected and known on campus, and I am certain will serve and lead well in this capacity. Dr. Mills will continue some of his responsibilities as Associate Dean of the College of Education during this time period."
Dr. Brandy Walthall (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) presented Friday, November 3, in Houston, TX at the 2023 Education Mega Conference for the National Literacy Institute on Building Blocks of Phonological Awareness. Brandy said, "I was very excited to represent UCA and the Literacy Department."