2020 News Stories
Faculty and Staff Notes: Summer 2020
Learn about the accomplishments and achievements of faculty and staff in the College of Education during the Summer 2020 semester.
To submit information for a future issue of College of Education Faculty and Staff Notes, please contact Elizabeth Engasser at eengasser@usf.edu.
Associate Professor Vonzell Agosto, PhD, was selected as a Scholar in Residence with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching for the 2020-21 academic year. The program provides an opportunity for scholars to spend one academic year exploring critical issues in education by conducting research, submitting articles to research journals, writing grant proposals, and giving presentations about their work to the education community.
During her residency year, Dr. Agosto will research how educators engage in "the race talk" with their students as a way of bridging the home/community-school gap and to increase racial equity, race-consciousness, and race-conscious relationships. She will also draw on her ongoing practice and research with 鈥淭heater of the Oppressed鈥� to facilitate professional development opportunities for teachers and school administrators and will make a presentation in the Anchin Center鈥檚 speaker series.
Professor Michael J. Berson, PhD, received the Irving Morrissett Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Science Education at the Social Science Education Consortium鈥檚 (SSEC) 2020 Annual Meeting in July. The SSEC, founded in 1963, is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to strengthening social science content in social studies education. Since 2003, the SSEC Board of Directors has presented the Irving Morrissett Award to a member who has devoted their career to improving social studies and social science education. Individuals selected for the award have improved the field through significant scholarly publications and a continuing commitment to the field and the SSEC.
Dr. Berson is also partnering with Virginia-based nonprofit CodeVA and math-science nonprofit TERC on a multi-year research project to broaden middle school students鈥� participation in meaningful and culturally relevant computer science instruction during their history classes. The project, 鈥�,鈥� will develop a computer science program for teaching history to underserved middle school students in the state of Virginia. The project is supported by a four-year, $2.99 million grant funded by the National Science Foundation鈥檚 (NSF) Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) program.
Associate Professor Marie Byrd, PhD, authored a chapter, 鈥淐ultural Competence and Global Awareness鈥� of the book 鈥淥nline Teaching and Learning for Teacher Educators.鈥� The book is currently in press and is published by Rowman & Littlefield. Dr. Byrd was also appointed to the USF Faculty Champions to join the USF Faculty Instruction and Learning Excellence Development Team and began a two-year term as an elected board member of the , a national organization representing nearly 1300 teacher educators in colleges, universities, school districts, and state education agencies within 41 regional and state-affiliated units and U.S. Territories.
Associate Professor Rebecca West Burns, PhD, co-authored the second edition of a book titled 鈥淟eadership for Learning: How to Bring Out the Best in Every Teacher.鈥� The synthesizes Dr. Burns and co-author Carl Glickman鈥檚 decades of experience in teacher education and supervision into a comprehensive guide to supporting teacher growth and student learning. The book is published by the .
Assistant Professor Alisha Braun, PhD, wrote a background paper for the United Nations鈥� 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report. The "" calls on countries to widen the understanding of inclusive education to include all learners and looks at social, economic and cultural mechanisms that discriminate against disadvantaged children, youth and adults, keeping them out of education or marginalized in it. Dr. Braun鈥檚 explores the referral and identification of special educational needs and its important planning and monitoring implications for inclusive education systems and policy objectives.
Professor Lyman Dukes, PhD, and Danielle Roberts-Dahm, PhD, received a three-year $900,000 grant to establish the 鈥淯Matter鈥� program, a program that provides post-secondary educational opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities. The program will be hosted at USF鈥檚 St. Petersburg campus. is part of the Florida Postsecondary Comprehensive Transition Program hosted by the Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities at the University of Central Florida.
Assistant Professor Mandie B. Dunn, PhD, was invited to keynote the virtual member meeting of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in August. Dr. Dunn led a nationwide meeting with English teachers about starting a new school year amidst grief and loss, drawing on her expertise and research on teaching while grieving and trauma-informed instruction.
Instructor Jane Govoni, PhD, published a book with co-author Cindy Lovell, PhD, titled 鈥淟inguistics for K-12 Classroom Application.鈥� The book鈥檚 contents help readers develop a practical understanding of phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics to support the language needs of English learners (ELs) in the K-12 mainstream classroom and is published by .
Professor Victor Hernandez-Gantes, PhD, is a co-principal investigator on a nearly $1.5 million grant-funded project supported by the National Science Foundation titled 鈥�.鈥� The project, conducted in collaboration with The Ohio State University and the National Academy Foundation, aims to document the experiences of low-income, high-achieving African American male high school students who are pursuing college majors and careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The project will take place over a three-year period starting in September and will be primarily conducted within four nationally dispersed urban high school STEM academy programs.
Assistant Professor Karl Jung, PhD, is a co-principal investigator on a $1.2 million grant-funded project supported by the National Science Foundation titled 鈥�.鈥� Conducted in partnership with the University of Florida, Alachua County Public Schools, Hillsborough County Public Schools and the National Science Foundation, the project will work with more than 30 teachers and impact more than 10,000 emergent bilingual students across the state of Florida.
Dr. Jung was also selected as a Scholar in Residence with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching for the 2020-21 academic year. The program provides an opportunity for scholars to spend one academic year exploring critical issues in education by conducting research, submitting articles to research journals, writing grant proposals, and giving presentations about their work to the education community.
Jordan T. Knab, principal investigator and director of K-16 initiatives at USF鈥檚 St. Petersburg campus, received more than $18 million in state and federal awards during the 2019-20 academic year.
These awards include:
2019-2020 Project 10: Transition Education Network
Funding Sources: Florida Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education
Project Team: Jordan T. Knab, Principal Investigator, and Brenda Walker, Co-Principal Investigator
Amount: $1,324,765.00
The Florida Consortium on Inclusive Higher Education
Funding Sources: University of Central Florida, U.S. Department of Education
Research Team: Jordan T. Knab, Principal Investigator, and Brenda Walker, Co-Principal Investigator
Amount: $529,622.00
Multiagency Service Network for Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disabilities (SEDNET)
鈥� Administration
Funding Sources: Florida Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education
Research Team: Jordan T. Knab, Principal Investigator
Amount: $10,526,923.00
State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG)
Funding Source: Florida Department of Education/ US Department of Education
Research Team: Jordan T. Knab, Principal Investigator
Amount: $497,398.00
Award Period: 2017-2022
Funding Source: Florida Department of Education/ US Department of Education
Research Team: Jordan T. Knab, Principal Investigator
Amount: $5,500,000.00
Instructor Kahlila Lawrence, PhD, was featured in an article published by the Los Angeles Times, titled 鈥�.鈥� The article explores the importance of social-emotional learning and expert-recommended strategies that parents can use to facilitate their children鈥檚 development from home.
Associate Professor Lisa Lopez, PhD, co-authored a book, titled 鈥�.鈥� The book compiles everything teachers need to know about working with young dual language learners and is published by Brookes Publishing.
Professor Terry Osborn, PhD, authored a new book with co-author Timothy Reagan, PhD, titled 鈥淲orld Language Education as Critical Pedagogy: The Promise of Social Justice.鈥� The book provides an update on world language education and addresses major issues facing the world language educator today, including language myths, advocacy, the perceived and real benefits of language learning, linguistic human rights, constructivism, learning theories, language standards, monolingualism, bilingualism and multiculturalism. The book is published by .
Assistant Professor Lindsay Persohn, PhD, published a journal article, titled 鈥淐uration as methodology.鈥� The article aims to convey the richness of context, the depth of connection and the promotion of new ideas classically associated with curation and explores the depth and breadth of curation as a methodology. The article was published in 鈥�.鈥�
Associate Professor David Rosengrant, Ed.D, was lead author on a journal article published in Educational Psychology Review, titled 鈥�.鈥� The journal discusses a study conducted by a research team led by Dr. Rosengrant that used an eye-tracker to investigate the belief that student attention declines after the first 10 to 15 minutes of class.
Dr. Rosengrant was also selected as the inaugural STEM Fellow with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching. New this year, the Anchin Center鈥檚 STEM Fellows Program welcomes USF faculty to explore research in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The STEM Fellows Program is a two-year appointment in which participants help drive the work of the Anchin Center鈥檚 STEM initiatives.
Associate Professor Ruthmae Sears, PhD, was selected to join the second cohort of the Aspire Alliance鈥檚 Institutional Change Network (IChange) . The IAspire Leadership Academy is a National Science Foundation-funded program that is designed to develop and train the next generation of underrepresented leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in higher education.
Associate Professor Glenn Smith, PhD, was featured in on analyzing and interpreting data across STEM disciplines by the Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education (CADRE). The spotlight discusses Dr. Smith鈥檚 National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project, 鈥�,鈥� a project that helps high school students learn complex Global Climate Change science by making it personally relevant and understandable.
Assistant Professor, Patriann Smith, PhD, was elected to the Literacy Research Association鈥檚 (LRA) Board of Directors in May. The Literacy Research Association is a non-profit professional organization, comprised of individuals who share an interest in advancing literacy theory, research, and practice. Each LRA board member serves for a three-year term.
Assistant Professor Sara Smith, PhD, was selected as Fibonacci Finalist for the in recognition of her education technology startup, MARVLOUS. Through the startup, Dr. Smith created the MARVL augmented reality application, which uses the latest technology to support learning words in a new language by creating immersive, dynamic experiences to enhance vocabulary learning for all levels of students, including young children. This technology provides resources needed for increasingly diverse U.S. classrooms and allows teachers to deliver optimized vocabulary instruction for all students. MARVL recently received USF鈥檚 Bull Ring Accelerator Grant to further the development and create new versions of the smartphone application.
Associate Professor Nathaniel von der Embse鈥檚, PhD, research was featured in an article published by InsideHigherEd, titled 鈥�.鈥� The article discusses the study, which argues that the class-size debate needs a lot more nuanced and encourages educational researchers to look deeper at the effect of class size on student success. A about the study was published in 鈥淓ducational Researcher.鈥�
Professor Zafer Unal, PhD, published a chapter in the book, ".鈥� The book was featured at the 2020 Association of Teacher Educators, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation鈥檚 annual conference. Dr. Unal also published a journal article, titled "Designing an interactive gamified online case study platform for preparing preservice teachers to work with parents" in the Journal of Interactive Learning Research, which was highlighted with the "Distinguished Paper鈥� title.
Associate Professor Charles Vanover, PhD, published a journal article titled 鈥溾�� in the journal, 鈥淐ultural Studies 鈫� Critical Methodologies.鈥� In the article, Dr. Vanover discusses his efforts as a 鈥済ood enough鈥� photographer and describes the role photographs play in communicating important moments from a series of ethnodramas he built about Chicago Public Schools.
Tenure and Promotions
The following faculty members were awarded tenure or promotion for the 2020-21 academic year:
Tenure Track Faculty Promotions:
William Black, PhD
Promoted to Full Professor
Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, PhD
Promoted to Full Professor
Victor Hernandez-Gantes, PhD
Promoted to Full Professor
Zorka Karanxha, PhD
Promoted to Full Professor
Sarah Kiefer, PhD
Promoted to Full Professor
Michael Sherry, PhD
Awarded Tenure and Promoted to Associate Professor
Instructor Promotions:
Paula Cate
Promoted to Instructor Level III
James Hatten, PhD
Promoted to Instructor Level II