2024
LEARNING & COGNITION NEWSLETTER
FROM THE
PROGRAM C O O R D I NATO R
Dear Learning & Cognition Alumni, Students, and Friends, This past year was a bit quieter than last year. For the first time in many years, we did not admit any new doctoral students! Dr. Roehrig was very involved with her role as our department chair, Dr. Phillips continued as the MS program coordinator, and Dr. Kim settled in. Our fully online master’s program in Learning & Cognition continues to expand, and our thesis and dissertation students are making great strides in their programs. Over the past year, a total of 12 students graduated with their master’s degrees, and 3 students defended their doctoral degrees! You’ll see our students’ progress this year at the end of the newsletter. One major change is that The College of Education merged with the College of Health and Human Sciences to become the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences (CEHHS). With the merger, our college is now the second largest within Florida State University. Although we’re still adjusting to the new name, the merger has not impacted our daily routines. We continue to have the same departments and programs, and we continue to work in two buildings. Our students and alumni continue to focus on work that makes a difference in people’s lives. Below, you will see a sampling of what our current and past students are doing in their profiles. As in past years, the L&C faculty were pleased to award students with L&C research funds to support their preliminary and dissertation research studies. Students have used these funds to buy software programs, provide incentives to research participants, and transcribe interviews. As you know, resources for conducting research are hard to come by, so your donations to our Learning & Cognition Foundation Account are extremely helpful. Please consider supporting our budding researchers through the L&C Research Fund—even a small amount can make a huge difference! We encourage each of you to donate at least $10. Every little bit helps! You may contact me (jeturner@fsu.edu) to donate to this important fund. Alumni, you are important members of our community! Please email me your comments or suggestions, and please let us know your current successes! I hope you enjoy reading about your colleagues’ latest accomplishments—including alumni, current students, and faculty. Cheers, Jeannine Jeannine E. Turner, PhD Professor L&C Graduate Program Coordinator
F A C U LT Y U P D AT E S
D R . A LY S I A ROEHRIG
Two huge opportunities came my way this year: I was elected as a fellow of the American Psychological Association Division 15 (Educational Psychology), and I began work as a co-author updating the 3rd edition of my doctoral advisor’s textbook, Child and Adolescent Development for Educators. It’s a full-circle moment for me! I still clearly remember working with my advisor Michael Pressley at Notre Dame—I am so grateful that I get to continue to work with the next generation of scholars in a field that is so rewarding. I am proud of my new L&C PhD graduate, Dr. July Diaz (The Voice in the Back of My Head: Latinas’ Testimonios on the Development of Their Science Identities in a Hispanic Serving Community College). See us at the hooding in my photo here! Other student research updates include: Shawna Durtschi defended her prospectus (regarding public school media specialists’ experiences during the pandemic), while Jacourie Clark (regarding culturally relevant pedagogy in college classrooms), and Candace Norris-Holiwski (regarding self-regulation training and online learning) completed dissertation data collection, and Mira Talpau Joos (regarding transfer of engagement from Duolingo to the language classroom) made great progress on her prospectus, and Camille Lewis (regarding farm to preschool curriculum training) defended her dissertation prospectus this summer! Tolu Jegede (regarding shame experiences of Black women in college STEM courses) and Shaniqua Pelham (supports for autonomous learning motivation in employees) are closing in on finishing their prelim studies, and Steven Williams (defining wealth identity in Black millennials) successfully defended his prelim. I am continuously inspired by ways our graduate students use educational psychology to make a difference in educational contexts. This fall, I hope to have a new doc student join our amazing group, along with Makana Craig—who will be returning from leave following the birth of her second child. I also just completed my second year of service as the Department Chair of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. I am honored to have the chance to mentor my colleagues and support the growth of the programs in our department. We had five successful promotions and
we conducted three successful faculty searches in 23-24! I also continued in my role as Co-Director of Research for the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) Developmental Research School’s Freedom School, where this summer our team again conducted activities about STEM, and conducted research and evaluation projects. I am particularly excited to work with my PURPOSE fellow Jenesis Rodriguez (cohort 7!) on her research about banned books, which is the theme at Freedom Schools this summer. I continue to be grateful to Dr. Turner, who is the PI for the PURPOSE 2.0 grant (funded by the Institute of Education Sciences for $1.5 million) and co-director (along with myself) for the research training program. The goal of PURPOSE (Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education) is to support the development of research skills in diverse students from FAMU and FSU, especially as it relates to social justice and culturally relevant research (visit www.PURPOSEtraining. org). It is funded by the Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences: Pathways Training Program competition. To help increase the diversity of those with doctorates in education-related fields, PURPOSE fellows from FSU and FAMU participate in mentoring activities for and applying to education-related doctoral programs. PURPOSE keeps the graduate school pipeline flowing: For example, this year, my former fellow, Natalia Ramirez, is joining us as my Master’s student in L&C!
F A C U LT Y U P D AT E S
DR . JEANNINE TURNER
For me, my role seems to be one of service. Last year, I continued the role of leading the L&C doctoral program, which takes a good chunk of my time. I also served on a search committee to replace Dr. Erik Hines in our School Counseling program. Finally, I continue to serve on students’ committees across our program, college, and university. In addition to my ‘regular’ university service, I’m still involved in program evaluations for Dr. James Huff’s (University of Georgia) NSF-funded career grant, and summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates for FAMU-FSU Mechanical Engineering. Finally, I’m evaluating a USDA grant given to FSU and FAMU’s nutritional sciences programs. I’ve been happy to be involved again with research on academic shame. This past year my colleague, Dr. Jeremiah Sullins from Harding University, and my student Juhee Kim published an experimental study that looked at learning-related consequences of shame-prone students experiencing shame (Investigating impacts of shame-proneness on students’ state shame, self-regulation, and learning) in Education Sciences. Dr. Sullins, my student Wenting Song, and I are currently working on a manuscript for publication that looks at psycholinguistic aspects of experiencing shame. Juhee Kim and I published her prelim study (A grounded theory study on Korean doctoral students’ shame experiences in the U.S.: Exploring the role of cultural self-construals) in Culture & Psychology. Additionally, Wenting Song just published her prelim study (Chinese heritage language learners’ motivation and intention to continue learning Mandarin) in Foreign Language Annal, which has a component of shame. Finally, I’m thrilled that Darcey Liang and I published a chapter (Using an ambiguous picture for data triangulation in qualitative research: The case of exploring writing-anxiety among Chinese graduate students) in Qualitative research for diverse and underserved communities. We started this process when Darcey was a student, and the chapter has taken about two years to get to print! Finally, I am grateful that our PURPOSE grant has continued. Although I am technically the Principal Investigator, Alysia and I continue to lead this work together (she was the previous PI), along with Tamara Bertrand Jones and Novell Tani. This grant has many pieces to hold together, so we need all the hands we can get! This year, we took on a new program coordinator, Betsy Staudt-Willet. She jumped in and filled the role that Erik Rawls had from the beginning of our first grant (Erik has worked with the College of Medicine since his graduation). Betsy is dedicated and energized to help us navigate all the parts! As I head into the new academic year, I am preparing to graduate several doctoral students and I have lots of manuscript-writing waiting in the wings (as always!). I look forward to working on some projects with our new faculty member, Dr. Kim, as well as developing projects with my shame-focused graduate students and colleagues at Harding University.
F A C U LT Y U P D AT E S
D R . B ET H P H I L L I P S
My research group has been very busy this year with presentations at numerous conferences. Jessica and Elizabeth presented at the Eastern Educational Research Association Conference. Youngmin, Lexi, Brielle, and I recently traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark to present at the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading Conference. Many of these presentations are being turned into manuscripts now. Everyone is, of course, hard at work making progress on their thesis, prelims and dissertation projects, too. During the past year my research team, colleagues, and I continued to work on numerous intervention, development, and professional development projects. We completed a very large, randomized trial of professional development learning communities for preschool teachers in South Carolina. This study also includes a substantial qualitative research component complementing the various assessments, surveys, and observations so we expect very rich findings to explore in the coming year. We also completed more design and field-testing work for the new curriculum being developed for two-and-three-year-old children.Iin the coming year, we will be conducting a small-scale randomized pilot study to further evaluate and refine the materials. Work steadily continues on the language sample and video coding project using a massive archival data set I collected a number of years ago. Some exciting news: graduates Shiyi Chen, Sisi Dong and I published a paper from these data in 2024 in Teaching and Teacher Education. This is one of several 2024 publications so far. In addition, I submitted multiple new and resubmitted grants in 2023 and early 2024 that should be bringing good news very soon. The first confirmed good news is a new grant from IES led by Dr. Veronica Fleury in Special Education on which she and I (and former FSU faculty member Dr. Kelly Whalon) will be developing new instructional materials for parent-child reading for preschool children with autism spectrum disorder. Multiple doctoral students working with Dr. Fleury and me will have the opportunity to work on this project over the next four years. I am very excited for recent graduate Sisi Dong, who just began her new Postdoctoral Fellow position this August at the University of San Francisco. Last but definitely not least, big congratulations to recent graduate Chelsea who just had a baby boy! Welcome Logan!
F A C U LT Y U P D AT E S
D R . Y E O -EU N KIM
My first year at FSU as an Assistant Professor has been exciting, filled with new relationships and rewarding experiences. I’ve had the opportunity to work with amazing colleagues, engage with enthusiastic students, and start new research projects. The supportive community and warm environment have greatly enriched my professional journey. My family is also enjoying our time in Tallahassee, and I am so grateful to see my little girl settling into her new daycare. During my first year, I taught EDP 5053 (Introduction to Educational Psychology), EDF 5481 (Methods of Educational Research), and EDF 5916 (Research Proposal Writing). I was particularly excited to secure funding (through a tech fees grant) for my class (EDP 5053) to provide free e-textbooks for all students. My students shared that they really appreciated the innovativeness and accessibility of these e-textbooks. I was also excited to receive the First Year Assistant Professor (FYAP) grant (titled Reviving my own motivation: Applying motivational regulation strategies to enhance motivation for academic and nonacademic tasks) and the CEHHS Open Access Publishing fund award. The most exciting news to share is that I launched my research lab: Self-regulation and Motivation for ALL learners (SMALL) lab. We held weekly lab meetings specifically focusing on a mixed methods project examining students’ motivational regulation. Through our work, we explored various motivational challenges students face, the underlying reasons for them, and the strategies students use to enhance their motivation. The tangible outcome of this effort was a successful conference proposal acceptance to APA 2024. I am incredibly proud of our fabulous lab members: Amanda Gorham, Juhee Kim, Mariana (Mira) Talpau Joos, and Ria-Skylar Brooks. Special thanks to Amanda for working closely with me this year as a research assistant as well. With the help of my lab, I engaged in research with great enthusiasm this year and am quite pleased with the progress I’ve made. In Fall 2023, I published two first-authored manuscripts at Educational Psychology Review and Educational Psychology, as well as a book chapter. In Spring and Summer 2024, I had another manuscript accepted at Journal of Educational Psychology and another book chapter accepted. As the principal investigator on multiple research projects, I have been able to advance my research agenda and delve deeper into the interplay between motivation, self-regulated learning, and multiple goal pursuits. Beyond FSU, I have been actively engaged in the field through various roles. I was honored to be invited to join the editorial boards of two SSCI journals: Journal of Educational Psychology and Journal of Experimental Education. I also served as the SIG chair at AERA Teaching Educational Psychology SIG, where I led collaborative initiatives and helped foster a vibrant community dedicated to advancing teaching practices. Additionally, I participated as an invited panelist in the AERA Studying and Self-Regulated Learning SIG event titled “Applying Self-Regulated Learning Theory and Research to Communities of Color: Current Shortcomings and How to Address.” This event was highly successful, with approximately 200 registered participants from around the world, and I was thrilled to contribute to the panel. Looking ahead, I am eager to continue growing, exploring new collaboration opportunities, and expanding my lab. I cannot wait to work more closely with students, fostering their academic growth while also cultivating a supportive learning environment.
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E S & U P D AT E S
JUHEE KIM
This year has been truly amazing and productive! I successfully defended my dissertation prospectus, thanks to the incredible support from my advisor, Dr. Turner, and my wonderful committee members, Dr. Yang, Dr. Kim, and Dr. Southerland. I also had the opportunity to publish my preliminary study with Dr. Turner, which I’m very grateful for. And on a personal note, I got married in Tampa, FL! It was such a beautiful and magical day, and I wanted to share a picture with everyone. I’m so thankful for these accomplishments and our supportive community!
MIRA JOOS I am finishing my 4th year in the Learning & Cognition doctoral program with Dr. Roehrig as my adviser. I am excited to report that I have had a productive year. I am finalizing my dissertation prospectus, which I am excited to defend soon. To stay engaged with the local community this summer, I interned with the WFSU Education team. I developed and helped organize cool summer camps for local neighborhood centers and libraries. This year, I attended three conferences. I also worked on a manuscript for publication, which taught me a lot. I collaborated on research in the Self-Motivation for All (SMALL) lab with Dr. Kim and program peers. One of the surprising things that happened to me this year was meeting two wonderful people on campus whose type of work has finally given me a clear idea about the path I wish to take once I graduate. That is a very grounding realization that has renewed my energy and motivation.
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E S & U P D AT E S
JA C O U R I C L A R K
This past school year, I successfully defended my prospectus and finalized the topic for my dissertation. My dissertation focuses on analyzing an example of culturally relevant pedagogy within a higher educational context. I collected the data for this study in the spring and have been working on the analysis since then. I also got to present at my first national conference this past spring! I presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting in Philadelphia this April with my advisor, Dr. Roehrig. It was such a fun experience and has made me eager to stay connected to AERA and its future conferences. I have also been continuing my full-time position as an academic coordinator for TRiO Student Support Services here in the C.A.R.E. department on campus. This upcoming year, I’m looking forward to teaching the undergraduate educational psychology course for the first time, applying to present at a Florida Educational Research Association conference, and hopefully defending my dissertation so I can finish my time in this program!
YO U N G M I N O H I recently defended my dissertation prospectus: The Concurrent Contributions of Vocabulary Knowledge, Working Memory, and Inference Making to Listening Comprehension. Over the past year, I started teaching an Educational Psychology course for undergraduates, and it has been a fantastic experience. Listening to students’ fresh perspectives on educational theories and witnessing their motivation to learn has inspired me to try my best in teaching and expanded my understanding. Regarding my research, I presented for the FIRST time as the first author of my preliminary study at an international reading conference in Australia last summer. The research focused on the development of metacognitive skills involved in listening comprehension for children in early childhood. This was a valuable opportunity to observe other researchers’ work and gain insights from them. This summer, I presented my other research in Denmark, which examined how prekindergarten teachers apply knowledge from professional development training to their teaching practice. When it comes to my personal life, I got a second dog named Woody last year. My two kangaroos help me be a diligent morning person and keep my days healthy and joyful. Some days can be stressful as a PhD student, but overall, I feel like I am growing every year in America with good people around me and experiencing unexpected opportunities I never imagined in Korea. I believe that I’m truly enjoying my life here as a PhD student and as a mom to two dogs!
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E S & U P D AT E S
WE N T I N G S O N G
“Hi everyone! My husband and I started a new life journey with our baby bunny “Lumi” in October 2023. Time truly flies since we have this little one! Early this spring, we brought Lumi to our EERA conference, and I can’t wait to have more conference trips with her. While enjoying spending time with her, I am now trying to get back to academic life and learning to balance work and life. My next goal is to conquer the prospectus!
LEXI ELARA I am in my fourth year in the Ed Psych: Learning and Cognition program. My research is focused on the development of early reading and listening comprehension processes and interventions to help young children develop skills in these areas. I am in the process of analyzing data for my preliminary study on narrative comprehension milestones of early elementary students. I plan to defend this project in the fall. After that, I will begin to work on my dissertation.
YA N Y U PA N This year, I have been actively involved in teaching FSU’s SLS1122 course (SelfRegulation) and was honored to present in the FSU Provost’s Showcase of Scholarly Teaching. Additionally, I’ve taken a leading role in redesigning the SLS1122 course, piloting new strategies, and completing the FSU Summer Course Redesign Institute. As the coordinator of the ACE workshop series, I have been scheduling and creating new workshops to enhance academic support for undergraduate students. On a personal note, my family and I recently made our first trip to China since COVID, where we celebrated our Chinese wedding and our daughter’s first birthday.
S T U D E N T P R O F I L E S & U P D AT E S
S T EV E N WI L L I A M S
I am a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Learning & Cognition program. I am excited to share that I successfully defended my preliminary study on July 11th, 2024. My research used a critical phenomenological approach to understand how Black college-educated Millennials describe their socialization experiences regarding wealth attainment. I investigated how their attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors inform their wealth identities. I discovered many interesting findings. One of the most exciting was the need to develop a culturally relevant wealth education intervention. This intervention should offer unique content tailored to individuals who integrate wealth into their identities and those who do not. I am grateful for all I have learned to this point, and I’m looking forward to my continued development in candidacy. I am also involved with the PURPOSE Program, which this year includes 11 Fellows from Florida State and Florida A&M. For most of the Fellows, this is their first exposure to comprehensive research processes. It has been rewarding to help advance the program and contribute to the research training of these Fellows as they conduct original research focusing on social justice in education.
JA M E S H E R NA N D E Z This year has been a period of hard work and significant transitions. In Fall 2023, I piloted the Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Knowledge Assessment, which forms the foundation of my dissertation. I have also prepared my dissertation prospectus and plan to defend it in early Fall 2024. In Spring 2024, I taught Educational Psychology for the sixth semester and took on the role of course coordinator for the first time. It was an amazing semester, marked by continued improvements to the course. This past summer, I served as an advisor to PURPOSE, contributing to another successful summer at Freedom Schools. Lastly, my family and I moved back to Kissimmee, Florida, where we bought our first home. We are excitedly preparing to open a new learning environment to support my wife’s non-profit mental health practice.
M A S T E R ’ S G R A D U AT E
T I NA B E C K I celebrated my 10-year work anniversary at FSU this year as an Academic Advisor in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. I recently got engaged and I am currently planning a wedding for April 2025. I graduated with my L&C Master’s degree in 2019, and I am currently applying to the PhD program. I’m excited about continuing my education and knowledge about college students, specifically, transfer students and transfer data.
D O C T O R A L G R A D U AT E S
D R . J I N J U S H A N G ( C H E NA) CHEN
I received my doctoral degree from the L&C program in the fall of 2023. Before I graduated, I returned to China to stay with my family. The picture shown above was taken one month after my graduation. In the picture, I am with my husband and four-year-old daughter, who is seeing a real snowman for the first time in her life. Since 2024, I have been a postdoctoral fellow at the Metacognition & Learning Lab at Beijing Normal University. My past research primarily focused on large-scale data analysis and survey studies. I am now interested in examining the causal relationships of key variables extracted from population-level phenomena observed in largescale datasets.
D O C T O R A L G R A D U AT E S
D R . J U L I ET H PA O L A D I A Z
So much has happened since I graduated from the Ph.D. program in December (it does not feel completely real yet). I’m adjusting to my new pace of life and have continued in my role as an Instructional Design faculty at the College of San Mateo in California. This summer, I led our inaugural Equitable Grading Summer Lab, a two-day institute where faculty across disciplines developed plans to redesign core aspects of their grading models and policies. We funded 10 faculty members who will pilot their plans this fall (wish us luck!). I provided a picture of me with the group. If you’d like to collaborate on professional development experiences related to equitable grading and decolonizing curriculum, please reach out (benitezj@smccd.edu). I’d be happy to connect!
DR . ANDRIA COLE This past year has been full! I successfully defended my dissertation on July 18, 2024 (How Did I Get Here? The Influence of Lived Experiences on the Decision-Making Process of Black Men STEM PhD Holders Currently Working in the STEM Academy) and participated in the commencement ceremony. I also officially became a contributing author in 2023: Lampkin, L. O., Stephenson, A., Cole, A., Townes, J. and Kessee, M. L. (2023). The journey matters: Examining the paths and lived experiences of African American males for STEM success. In Patterson-Stephens, S. & Jones, T. B. (Eds.), Advancing inclusive excellence in higher education: Practical approaches to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (pp. 215-242). Information Age Publishing.
This past year, I celebrated the 40th anniversary of my sorority chapter’s establishment (Omicron Omega Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.) at Texas A&M University, and I also spent quality time at the beach with my godsisters. Outside of school, I work full-time as a bureau chief with the Florida Department of Education. I enjoy spending time with my husband, children, and grandson, Jaxon. In my ‘spare time’, I enjoy attending concerts, sporting events, and road trips with my husband. I also enjoy cooking and teaching Bible study classes.
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
DR . SHIYI CHEN
I graduated from EPLS in 2019 and became an Assistant Professor of Child Development at the University of Idaho (UI) in the beautiful northwest. Since I began my employment at UI in 2019, I have garnered more than half a million dollars in extramural funding, and established a state-wide research collaboration with schools, communities, and government agencies. I recently received the 2024 Emerging Leader Award from the Eastern Educational Research Association and just submitted my tenure packet! Please keep your fingers crossed and send good jujus! My proudest achievements are my undergraduate and graduate students in my lab; the students taught me how to be a good teacher, mentor, and leader. The picture is me and my graduate students Rebecca (left) and Nikki (right) chilling after presenting at the 2024 Cognitive Development Society conference in Pasadena, CA.
DR . SISI DONG It has been an eventful year filled with many new experiences! I am excited to share that I recently accepted an offer from the University of San Francisco and will begin working as a postdoc fellow in the School of Education. I am looking forward to this new role and am deeply grateful for the research and teaching experiences I received at FSU, in our Learning and Cognition program!
D R . G U I L L E R M O FA R FA N Since my last update, I left my position at the Florida Center for Research in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (FCR-STEM) to become a Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation. In my new role, I’m involved in all aspects of research and evaluation on a range of big and small projects, including working as a project analyst for a 3-year, cluster-randomized trial targeting 200 STEM teachers in Oklahoma. I also provide technical assistance and oversight to various state and federal initiatives through the Region 7 Comprehensive Center (R7CC) and the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast, which are supported by the U.S. Department of Education. In that capacity, I’m helping staff at state and regional education agencies in Alabama and Florida identify, assess, and support evidence-based practices intended to improve student outcomes in mathematics. I even got to present our work last March at a national conference in D.C., which was a lot of fun! Most of all, as an L&C graduate, I feel well-equipped to apply what I’ve learned to reallife educational settings, which I find very intellectually and professionally rewarding!
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
D R . C H E L S E A F U NA R I
This past year, I have been working with Dr. Phillips at the Florida Center for Reading Research. I really enjoy the early childhood projects I get to contribute to and the wonderful teams of people I work with. I have also been able to stay connected with the department since graduation by continuing and starting new collaborations with current students. I look forward to continuing this work. Our family has also started some new adventures this year. My husband, Zac, is now the pastor of a church in Greenville, FL, so we have moved there. We also welcomed our first son, Logan James Funari, to the world on July 10th! We are excited to begin this new chapter of our lives.
DR . CHEYEON HA I graduated from the L&C program in 2022 and am currently working as a postdoctoral associate at the Yale Child Study Center. Academically, I am involved in empirical research on SEL (social-emotional learning) interventions in elementary schools. I am interested in student-centered teaching and learning approaches by exploring how teachers can support students’ social-emotional and academic development through various subject areas and classroom situations. Personally, I had a wonderful time with my family this summer when I visited South Korea for a month. It was a memorable experience for me because I always missed my family so much! In April, I attended the AERA conference in Philadelphia, where I was pleased to reunite with my advisor and mentor, Dr. Roehrig (see the picture of us!). Since both my husband and I are alumni of FSU, we are often reminded of our beautiful memories in Florida, especially the sunny weather and the beautiful beach scenery. I hope everyone enjoys your academic journey at FSU with lovely mentors and friends.
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
D R . B ET H ( B R I N K E R H O F F ) HAMMOND This is the beginning of my tenth year as faculty at the University of South Carolina Beaufort, and I was promoted to associate professor in 2022. Child development and cognition and literacy are the focus of the courses I currently teach (undergraduate and graduate level courses). I work with several local organizations attempting to improve literacy education and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) experiences for children in the Lowcountry area including The Children’s Center on Hilton Head Island, The Basics (through the local United Way), and the American Association of University Women. My current research relates to children’s growth and development. The Great Sibling Research Project is a longitudinal study exploring how sibling relationships shape children’s perception of self and one’s life. Please consider helping with my data collection by sharing the survey widely through email, text message, etc. Please feel free to complete the survey yourself! Thank you in advance for participating! The survey asks questions about relationships with siblings and how these relationships have been influential. Additionally, questions ask participants with no siblings for their ideas on perceptions of others with siblings as compared to oneself as an only child. Currently, the first round of data analysis is in progress, and I’m working on a second push for participants. Participant volunteers are needed, and the survey can be accessed through this link to survey: https://bit.ly/3uNt6KU or by scannning the QR code:
D R . L AU R A JA K I E L I graduated from the Learning & Cognition program with my Ph.D. in Fall 2022 and am now the Compliance & Operations Manager for The Graduate School at FSU. I find this work rewarding as I help design and interpret policy for graduate students as well as advocate for the benefits of current graduate students when it comes to tuition waivers, health insurance subsidies, and other awards. I also work as an educational consultant and instructional designer where I create professional development activities, assist with data analysis, and construct online courses for clients. Once a teacher, always a teacher. In my free time I continue to experiment with recipes, research for vacations abroad, and work on learning a new language. The L&C program truly instills a passion to be a lifelong learner!
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
D R . L A I T H J U M ’A H This year has been an exciting one filled with both personal and professional growth. On the personal front, I spent the last year with my family in Jordan after living for several years in the USA while working on my Ph.D. My children got to know their relatives, and we enjoyed reconnecting with our roots and exploring the vibrant culture of Jordan. On the professional side, I am now working as an Assistant Professor at the University of Jordan. I teach undergraduate students in the Department of Educational Psychology. My research continues to delve into maximizing students’ potential through self-regulated learning, focusing on understanding how students’ knowledge, beliefs, and emotions impact their learning processes.
D R . A N G E L I NA KU L E S H O VA I work at Tallahassee State College in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness as a Student Success Analyst. I am greatly enjoying the world of Institutional Research and learning a lot about state and federal data reporting. In my spare time, I hang out with my family & go to meditation retreats in Georgia. My son Lev is 8! He is going into 3rd grade and is a pretty good piano player!
D R . FA N G ( D A R C EY ) L I A N G I graduated Fall 2022 and in June 2023, I started my role as a teaching consultant at the Center for the Advancement of Teaching at FSU. Besides these two happy pieces of news, I finally published the book chapter that my advisor Dr. Turner and I worked on a long time ago, entitled Using ambiguous picture for data triangulation in qualitative research: The case of exploring writing-anxiety among Chinese graduate student. Being lucky to continue my life in Tallahassee, I keep enjoying my hobbies of tennis and sand volley in my spare time. I hope everyone has a fun and productive time in the coming year!
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
DR . MICHAEL (MIK E) P. M E S A
I am currently an Assistant Professor at the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at the University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) at Houston. I serve as the Co-Principal Investigator of a federal grant focused on developing cross-linguistic supports for Spanish-speaking students participating in the Accelerated Early Reading Outcomes (AERO) small-group reading intervention. Recently, I received funding to develop and implement an AERO model incorporating cross-age tutoring. I also support the Texas School Ready program, a comprehensive early childhood teacher training initiative. Additionally, I contribute to other key initiatives at CLI, aimed at promoting the learning and development of all children through rigorous research, resource development, and service delivery. And this past year, I got married!
D R . J E A N N E O’ KO N I earned my Ph.D. degree in Educational Psychology from FSU in 1994. My major professor was Dr. Hal Fletcher, to whom I am eternally grateful! Since 1994, I have taught courses at Flagler College, Tallahassee Community College, and Florida State University. In the fall semester of 2024, I will teach Psychology of Women and Gender at the FSU main campus, and Research Methods and General Psychology at the FSU Panama City campus. Since 2011, I have served on the Tallahassee-Leon County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. I am also a member of the Tallahassee Police Dept. Citizens Advisory Committee, and an active member of Gulf Winds Track Club, a local running/exercise club. The Gulf Winds Track Club conducts area road races and raises funds for local charities.
D R . T I M OT H Y P R E S S L EY I am entering my 10th year as a faculty member at Christopher Newport University in the Psychology Department. Over the past year, I have continued to study teacher well-being and burnout. One of my biggest accomplishments this year included my second book, Pandemic Lessons: Disruption, Innovation, and What Schools Need to Move Forward, which was published in January (https://www.guilford.com/books/Lessons-of-the-Pandemic/MarshallPressley/9781462553877). This past June, my family and I traveled to Austria and Slovenia to prepare for a study abroad I will lead next May, focusing on their educational systems.
A L U M N I U P D AT E S
D R . E R I K R AWL S After graduation in the spring of 2023, I transitioned from working on the PURPOSE Research Training grant to the FSU Network for Clinical Research, Training and Community Engagement based in FSU’s College of Medicine. I support the network’s capacity-building for community-engaged research across FSU and the Big Bend of Florida. In the fall semester of 2024, I will begin a post-doctoral fellowship at the Florida Center for Reading Research. In my free time, I (age 40!) enjoy spending time with my family: wife Mallary (age ???), and daughters Neko (age 8!), Odette (age 4), and Sula (age 2). Mallary and I are also adoptive parents to a coven of three querulous feline sisters: Butter, Marcy, and Olive, who stay up to no good and spread mischief and mayhem throughout the household.
DR . FEI XING Since I started my real estate business when I moved to California about four years ago, I recently started my Educational Consulting company called MotivEd. I have always been thinking about how I can incorporate what I learned during my doctoral study into something I am really interested in doing, i.e., something that really challenges me in my everyday life. In the beginning, I thought that my Educational Consulting company might benefit my real estate business, and now I have found a great passion for it. Education is something I am very good at, especially educating international students, and also something I can devote a large amount of time to because I am so interested in thinking about problems involved in motivating international students. This is the reason why I finally established MotivEd. The company provides educational services, including college planning, academic consulting, etc., for Chinese high schoolers who study in the U.S. by helping them adapt to the new environment and motivating them to find their true passion. I have been using social media as a tool to market my business and improve the business model, and the whole process needs perseverance. Looking back, during my PhD study in the program of Learning and Cognition at FSU, my abilities to overcome difficulties and research have greatly improved. These two things contributed to my progress in new careers. I want to express my great appreciation for the constant support and love from my Academic Advisor Dr. Jeannine E. Turner. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me if you have any questions regarding your study at L&C at FSU.
2023-2024
C O L L O Q U I A P R E S E N TAT I O N S
Throughout the 2023-2024 Academic Year, we had a variety of interesting presentations at our bi-weekly colloquia. If you’d like to present at one of our colloquia, please email me (jeturner@fsu.edu). We would love to hear about your current work! Let me know if you’d like to join our Friday colloquia via Zoom. I’m happy to send you the link! Our first colloquium for 2024-2025 was Friday, Sept. 6.
2023-2024 COLLOQUIA PRESENTER S AND TOPICS DR. JEANNINE TURNER September 8, 2023 Welcome & Celebration DR. YEO-EUN KIM September 22, 2023 Motivational & self-regulatory processes in the context of multiple goals DR. BETH PHILLIPS October 6, 2023 Macro and micro structural elements in academic writing DR. COURTNEY BARRY October 20, 2023 Career paths for educational psychologists DR. FRANCES CACHO November 3, 2023 Experiences of perfectionistic collegiate classical musicians DR. HOLLY HUNT November 17, 2023 Maximizing their educational opportunities for advanced degrees: A grounded theory analysis of service member pathways MR. ELTON GUMBEL December 1, 2023 UpTogether — Investing in people
COMMENCEMENT & L&C PARTY December 15, 2023 DR. RYAN WILKE January 19, 2024 Design Team: Designing authentic, augmented learning activities for online courses MS. BETSY STAUDT-WILLETT February 2, 2024 A strengths-based approach to neurodivergence DR. YEO-EUN KIM February 16, 2024 Authorship and other ethical considerations MR. ELTON GUMBEL March 1, 2024 UpTogether — Research findings DR. GALIYA TABULDA March 29, 2024 From educational psychology to institutional research CHELSEA FUNARI April 12, 2024 Cumulative influence of teachers’ affective demeanor on student reading engagement across 1st – 3rd grade classrooms END OF SEMESTER CELEBRATION April 26, 2023
F O R WA R D P R O G R E S S
2023-2024 D E F E N S E S PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL DEFENSES:
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL DEFENSES:
• Shaniqua Pelham - The Perceived influence of supervisory
• Merve Budun - Navigating feedback landscapes: Profiling and predicting engineering students’ achievement goals and feedback-seeking behaviors • Jacouri Clark - Culturally relevant pedagogy as a form of social constructivism and its implementation in a university course • Shawna Durtschi - Experiences of school library media specialists during COVID-19 • Juhee Kim - Emotion regulation strategies among undergraduate engineering students • Camille Lewis - Exploring early childhood teachers’ experiences with farm to a school professional development: A case study • Youngmin Oh - The concurrent contributions of vocabulary knowledge, working memory, and inference making to listening comprehension • Weiyang (Neil) Wang - A path model of the factors influencing online graduate students’ willingness to seek peer review for their academic products
practices on home visiting employees’ motivation to learn: An instrumental case study • Brielle Babcock – Exploring early elementary teachers’ perspectives on reading curriculum implementation in Alabama: A survey-based study within the EPIS framework • Jessica Ritchie- Elementary teacher’s mental health knowledge and confidence in helping elementary-aged children with anxiety symptoms
PRELIMINARY FINAL DEFENSES: • Steven C. Williams II - Understanding wealth identity
among Black millennials
• Tolu Jegede - A phenomenological study of the
connections between classroom climate, classroom experiences of shame, and the STEM identities of Black female undergraduates
DISSERTATION DEFENSES: • Jinjushang (Chena) Chen - How and when do girls and boys become segregated into different STEM career paths? Testing the relationships among gender, academic achievement, motivational and cultural factors, and career aspirations (Fall) • Julieth Paola Diaz - The voice in the back of my head: Latinas’ testimonios on the development of their science identities in a Hispanic serving community college (Fall) • Andria Cole - How did I get here? the influence of lived experiences on the decision-making process of Black men STEM PhD holders currently working in the STEM academy (Summer)
F O R WA R D P R O G R E S S
2023-2024 G R A D UAT I O N S NON-THESIS MASTER’S GRADUATES:
EDUCATION SPECIALIST
• Kuter Al-Nada Al-Kadah
• Min Tang
• Allysondra Bottini • Vanessa Coote
DOCTORAL GRADUATES
• Tamara Charlette Harrington
• Jinjushang (Chena) Chen
• Shaheen Lakhani • Susan Mire • Catherine Moffses • Madelyn Nichelson • Christelle Putney • Farrah Rodriguez • Raven Shanta Self • Lauren Shell
• Julieth Paola Diaz • Andria Cole
S T U D E N T - I N V O LV E D
CONFERENCES
AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL A S S O C I A T I O N – Seattle, WA Kim, J., Lee, H., & Kim, I. (2024, August). Role of intersecting identity and adverse childhood experiences on school engagement. Poster presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. Kim, Y., Brady, A. C., Hensley, L., Brooks, R. V., Gorham, A. J., Kim, J., & Talpau Joos, M. (2024, August). Motivational regulation across academic and non-academic tasks: Mixed methods approach. Poster to be presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association. Seattle, WA. *These authors contributed equally. AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH A S S O C I A T I O N – Philadelphia Clark, J., & Roehrig, A. D. (presented 2024, April). Factors reducing low-income Black undergraduates’ perceptions of academic stress at a predominately White institution. Paper presented at Annual Meeting, American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. (International) Song, W., Fulwider, G. C., & Turner, J. E. (presented 2024, April). Into the unknown: Exploring motivation and identity development in transracial adoptee heritage language learners. Poster presented at Annual Meeting, American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. (International) FLORIDA CENTER FOR READING RESEARCH EDUCATION SCIENCES C O L L O Q U I U M – Tallahassee, FL Elara, L. & Phillips, B.M. (2024) Narrative comprehension development in early childhood. Babcock, B. Funari, C. Phillips, B. & Lonigan, C. (2024). Learning profiles of early education behavior using the teacher behavior rating scales.
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND H U M A N S C I E N C E S S H O W C A S E – Tallahassee, Florida Joos, M. T. & Roehrig, A. (2024). What else goes into a child’s writing? Dynamic experiences of a young heritage language writer. Oh, Y., & Phillips, B. M. (2024). Predicting listening comprehension of pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten children from earlier lower- and high-level language skills. Ritchie, J. M. Blue, E. L., Willis, K. B. & Phillips. B. M. (2024) Professional development websites: They can support your professional development! Song, W., & Fulwider, G. C. (2024). Into the unknown: Exploring motivation and identity development in transracial adoptee heritage language learners. Williams II, S. C. (2024). Understanding Wealth identity among college-educated black millennials. SOCIETY FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF R E A D I N G – Copenhagen, Denmark Elara, L., Phillips, B. M., & Schatschneider, C. (2024) The longitudinal relationship between phonological awareness and vocabulary skills. Oh, Y., Ritchie, J., Babcock, B., & Phillips, B. M. (2024). Longitudinal Changes in Tendency of Prekindergarten Teachers to Apply Professional Development Training to Early Literacy Instruction. Babcock, B., Phillips, B. M., Funari, C. N., & Oliver, F. (2024). Patterns of students’ code-related performance: A latent profile analysis.
STUDENT
P U B L I C AT I O N S
Clark, J. & Roehrig, A. D. (in-press). Black, Low-income Undergraduates’ Perceptions of Course-related Factors Associated with Reduced Academic Stress at a Predominantly White Institution. Journal of Black Psychology. Song, W. & Turner, J. E. (2024). Chinese heritage language learners’ motivation and intention to continue learning Mandarin. Foreign Language Annals. Chen, J. & Turner, J. E. (2024). Exploring the relationships among college students’ epistemic beliefs, epistemic emotions, and use of problem-solving strategies. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 53, 101615. Doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2024.101615 Elara, L. & McCarthy, K.S. (2024). Exploring supports to enhance learning from online science simulations. American Journal of Distance Education, doi: 10.1080/08923647.2023.2267932 Kim, J. & Turner, J. E. (2024). A Grounded theory study on Korean doctoral students’ shame experiences in the U.S.: Exploring the role of cultural self-construals. Culture & Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X241236734 Liang, F., & Turner, J. E. (2024). Using an ambiguous picture for data triangulation in qualitative research: The case of exploring writing anxiety among Chinese graduate students. In J. McClinton, & A. E. Hernandez (Eds.), Qualitative research for diverse and underserved communities (pp. 267-277). Information Age Publishing. Sullins, J., Turner, J. E., & Kim, J. (2024). Investigating impacts of shame-proneness on students’ state shame, selfregulation, and learning. Education Sciences, 14, 138. doi.org/10.3390/educsci14020138
ABOUT L&C
M I S S I O N S TAT E M E N T
As a graduate-level program, Learning and Cognition’s mission is to provide cutting-edge, individualized training for those who wish to earn graduate degrees focused on theory, research, and application in the areas of cognition, learning, and human development. We serve students who come from many backgrounds to apply Learning and Cognition in research, classroom, government, or organizational settings. Our program is highly flexible, allowing students to select the training that meets their needs. Through close mentorship and apprenticeship, we provide an excellent grounding in research to support evidence-based practice and contribute to the free, open-access of innovative research that informs teaching and learning wherever it happens.
C O R E VA LU E S As a program, all aspects of our work (teaching, research, and service) are guided by the following values. We seek to instill these values in our students as well: ETHICS—interacting with students and participants, ensuring data security and integrity of data collection, analyses, and reporting of research COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE—engaging in respectful collaboration with peers/faculty, and with stakeholders in the applied community CRITICAL THINKING & LIFELONG LEARNING—supporting engagement, mastery learning, and knowledge acquisition INCLUSIVENESS—maintaining an interdisciplinary focus and appreciation for diversity
KEEP IN TOUCH
S H A R E YO U R P H OTO S , U P D AT E S , A N D M O R E !
Please consider sharing your own update for the next newsletter! By sharing and making connections through information submitted by members of our community, we are better able to help graduates identify career tracks, job openings, research collaborators, and even funding. Send your information to Dr. Jeannine Turner, jeturner@fsu.edu Alumni: Please share your title/current position, major/degree, major professor/year of graduation, contact info, any particular research or professional interests you would like to share/get assistance with, personal news, any opportunities or requests for current students or faculty in terms of collaboration, etc.
M E N TO R / C O L L A B O R AT E WI T H A S T U D E N T Please consider mentoring and/or collaborating with a current student. Our students and alumni do many amazing things, as evidenced by the updates in this newsletter. We can further this work even more by sharing and making connections across faculty, alumni, and current students. Take a look at the research current students are doing to see if you can find a new collaborator. Connecting alumni to current students allows for tremendous networking opportunities for our current students while keeping alumni plugged in and providing an opportunity to support our current students. We look forward to expanding this process and are excited about the opportunities ahead! If interested, please contact Dr. Jeannine Turner at jeturner@fsu.edu and she will help connect you to a graduate student.
C O N S I D E R A G I F T TO L & C We are working very hard to build an endowment that can be self-sustaining. With your help, we will be able to accomplish this goal and make it possible to support an increased number of deserving students in more significant ways. Please consider making a donation to support current and future Learning & Cognition graduate students’ research and conference travel! You can make secure donations online at https://fla.st/GUINVGYY. Checks may be mailed to the College of Education (1114 West Call St.; Tallahassee, FL 32306-4450) or the University Foundation Office (2010 Levy Ave # 300, Tallahassee, FL 32310). You can pay online or by check, just be sure to specify Learning & Cognition Student Support Fund or Fund # F08101 in the memo/tribute line. You can also contact our foundation officer, Kevin Derryberry, at (850) 228-5021 or via email at kderryberry@foundation.fsu.edu