BILITERACY NEW FACES

Welcome to the new staff and faculty members who have joined us since last spring’s EdLine. You can read more about each of them on the New Faces 2019-2020 feature at uwm.edu/edline-newfaces.

ROBBIE BRUMMEL provides support for the deans, chairs and academic affairs staff. Before she joined the School of Education, she was an office associate in Vogel Hall. She has been at UWM for seven years.

MATT BUCHER, who earned his bachelor’s degree at UW-La Crosse, is on duty at the front desk of the Office of Student Services as a university services associate.

It’s a position that requires a great deal of interaction with students, potential students and visitors, so it’s good that he enjoys being in the people business. “Any opportunity I can get to work with others to help work towards and achieve their goals is one I look forward to. Coming from a family of teachers, I have a sincere appreciation for the role they play in our society.

KRISTIN GAURA serves as an instructional technology expert, providing much-needed expertise and support as instructors needed to move courses online in response to the coronavirus. She started her tech career as an intern at the UWM Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) and became a full-time employee there last year.

At CETL, she handled technological and instructional frontline support in the "Commons" while conducting intensive one-on-one support and D2L-to-Canvas migration sessions with faculty from all over the university.

KARLA GIESE joined the faculty of the School of Education in the fall of 2019 as a visiting assistant professor and program coordinator for the Deaf/Hard of Hearing area.

A native of Minnesota, she earned her BA in elementary education/DHH and special education from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She earned her MA in early childhood special education from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and is currently in the dissertation phase of her EdD program through Illinois State University in Normal. She spent 22 years in the classroom and in program supervision in settings from self-contained to residential schools.

LISA LITZSEY is the program manager for the UW System Institute for Urban Education, which is housed at UWM. (See page 11 for more about the institute)

She grew up in Waukesha, and earned both her bachelor’s degree in elementary education, with a minor in natural science, and her master’s degree in school and community counseling from UWM.

DENISE ROSS joined us as the director of the Institute of Urban Education. The institute (see story on page 11) is a UW System initiative to encourage potential teachers from campuses outside of Milwaukee to prepare to teach in urban schools.

Ross earned her doctorate and master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University with a major in special education and a specialization in applied behavior analysis. She earned her BA from Spelman College, majoring in English with a minor in secondary education. Before joining the IUE, she was an associate professor of psychology at Western Michigan University. She has also served on the faculty at DePaul University, the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and Teachers College. Prior to her university career, she had extensive experience working with children and youth in urban classrooms and preparing teachers to work with diverse populations.

TARA SEREBIN is director of the Elementary Education Program. She also teaches the classroom management course and an introduction to teaching course that focuses on the issues that surround educators in urban schools. She also enjoys serving as a supervisor for students in their final semester of student teaching. Serebin received her BS from UW-Madison and her MS in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

REBECCA WEBER joined the School of Education this fall as a university services associate, providing faculty support in the Office of Student Services. She was attracted to the position as an alumna of UWM, she says. An anthropology major, she adds: “I loved my time here as a student, and working in higher ed is my passion.”

Congratulations to faculty members on a number of significant accomplishments.

DONNA PASTERNAK, professor of teaching and learning, published a new book, "Integrating Technology in English Language Arts Teacher Education." The book draws on data from a nationwide study of English teacher education. The book focuses on English teacher educators’ experiences integrating technology into their English language arts methods courses and how technology is changing our understanding of English as a discipline.

KAREN STOIBER, professor of educational psychology and the Mary and Ted Kellner Endowed professor in early childhood education, received a $40,000 18-month grant award for a project titled “Data integration to examine school readiness indicators as predictors of student academic and resiliency outcomes.” The grant is funded through the Research in Early Child Development by Improving Resiliency and Equity (REDIRECT) program.

DEANN HUINKER received a one-year $100,000 planning grant from the Department of Public Instruction and the Kellogg Foundation to support her project titled “Educator Preparation Program Initiative: Curriculum Literacy in Mathematics and English Language Arts for Prospective Teachers of Grades K-8.”

AARON SCHUTZ, professor of educational policy and community studies, published a new book, “Empowerment” in June 2019. The book provides an interdisciplinary examination of the multiple meanings of "empowerment." The book maps out a range of ways that people can be empowered along different continuums of power, moving from more familiar forms of teaching and counseling to less common and more radical strategies for fostering solidarity and civil resistance.

THE INSTITUTE FOR URBAN EDUCATION (IUE) is up and running again after a break of several years.

The institute, which is part of the UW System but housed at UWM’s School of Education, focuses on preparing teachers for urban schools. The IUE’s goal is to recruit and support teachers from UW System campuses who can serve the needs of culturally diverse youth in urban schools.

“We are focusing on three areas – clinical placements, professional development and research,” says Denise Ross, the director of the Institute.

The IUE will be working with preservice and in-service teachers in nine urban school districts identified in the state Department of Education’s State Equity Plan.

“What they found was that the nine districts had critical teacher shortages, particularly in special education and for students of color or from economically disadvantaged families,” said Lisa Litzsey, IUE program manager.

Many UWM education students already work with diverse students in their placements. The IUE gives students from other UW System education programs the opportunity to work with urban school districts in the state.

The first group of 12 students is being recruited to begin working with the Racine Unified School District in the fall of 2020. The program will then be offered to other urban districts in the state identified in the DPI report, according to Ross. In addition to Racine-Kenosha, these districts include Janesville, Beloit, Madison, West Allis-West Milwaukee, Green Bay, Waukesha and Milwaukee Public Schools.

In Wisconsin, the majority of students in urban areas come from varied ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, according to Ross. That’s why one key goal of the IUE is to recruit more teachers of diverse backgrounds. But the focus of the IUE is also on helping all teachers and potential teachers working in urban schools develop culturally relevant teaching methods and strategies, she says.

In addition to doing a semester-long internship in Racine, students will also attend a five-day professional development academy and seminars and work with mentors throughout the program. “We hope the district will give them the option to teach within the district,” Litzsey adds, “with an extended paid internship or a teaching position.”

One important aspect of the IUE program is to encourage potential teachers to become involved with the communities they’re working in through service work, says Litzsey. The initial plan was to bring the students in for service learning and a community experience later in the summer of 2020. However, like many other school-related activities, the plan may change if school districts are still adapting to changes related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Research has shown that effective teachers are critical to student success, and the IUE plans to continue to research what that looks like in terms of culturally responsive practices. “One of our goals is to create a collaborative, systemwide interdisciplinary team that can help teachers with the issues they face in schools when they work with diverse groups of students,” says Ross. “Developing and implementing culturally responsive practices is a real focus for us.”

To learn more about the IUE and get updates on activities, go to the website at uwm.edu/iue.