STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

building emerging leaders

CEHD STUDENTS IN THE NEWS

The Association of American Colleges and Universities has awarded Dale M. Brown, a doctoral student in Teaching Learning and Educational Studies (TLES) and Philosophy, the prestigious 2022 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award for his work in the Prison Education Outreach program. Brown established the program along with faculty advisor Dr. Fritz Allhoff through Western Michigan University in 2018. The program provides content modeled after traditional college courses to incarcerated individuals at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater, MI and has been on hold since the pandemic began. Brown is one of eight recipients selected out of nearly one-hundred nominees from around the world.

“It is an honor to be nominated for the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award,” shared Brown. “It is my hope that my commitment to academic innovation with respect to equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning is not only apparent but clearly foundational to what I have done and what I will do in the future.”

The mission of the Prison Education Outreach program is to educate, challenge, and inspire program participants to achieve their academic, personal, and professional goals.

The program provided courses on critical thinking, ethics, ethics and social theory, and education and human flourishing to 66 unique individuals from the fall of 2018 to the spring of 2020. Despite the fact that the courses are not credit bearing, the program often had over 100 individuals on the waiting list for a class.

The motivation to start the program is based on his family background and his own experience with the transformative power of higher education. Brown began researching the potential benefits of establishing a higher education outreach program for justice-involved individuals in the Summer of 2017. “Through this research, it became clear that the lack of opportunities for selfimprovement generally—and the lack of access to quality higher education specifically—was (and is) part of the systemic disadvantages faced by this marginalized population. Though not a total solution to the raciallydiscriminatory, class-reproducing, community-destroying practice of mass incarceration, college in prison remains, at the least, one of the most effective means of reducing the likelihood of a person returning to prison or jail upon release,” explained Brown. He wrote hundreds of emails and participated in numerous phone calls, video chats and in-person meetings with a variety of stakeholders to get the program off the ground. After graduation, Brown hopes to find a tenure-track position at an institution where he can also be the director of prison education program.

“This has been one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life.

Dale Brown

FAMILY STUDIES STUDENTS TAKE HOME AWARDS

Family studies students, Amyrillis (Monet) Payne, recipient of the Above and Beyond Award, and Emily Homrich, recipient of the Storyteller Award, both completed their internships within WMU’s Health Promotion & Education’s FIRE Place Resource and Support Center & Sexual Health Peer Educators (Sexperts) programs.

STUDENT EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR AWARD

Rachel Kirkolis, an exercise science student who works in the Office of Admissions has been named the Student Employee of the Year. Kirkolis is the daily operations manager, responsible for scheduling dozens of student employees and overseeing several positions within the office. She is on the front line of welcoming prospective students and families. Kirkolis will also be considered for awards through the Midwest Association of Student Employment Administrators and potentially national awards through the National Student Employee Association.

EMR STUDENT RECIEVES TRAVEL AWARD

Dung Pham, Ph.D. student in Evaluation, Measurement and Research in the Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology at Western Michigan University, was selected for the 2021 Conference Mentored Travel Award for the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness. The award is for early career professional and students researchers of color and covers conference registrations, hotel, and travel. Awardees will participate in a mentorship program with an established researcher to help them navigate the meeting and make it a valuable professional experience.

DESIGNS ACCEPTED INTERNATIONALLY

Maxine Poage, Rose Soma, and Carly McKay, Fashion Design & Merchandising majors in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, had designs accepted in the fall 2021 International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) Annual Meeting Design Exhibition. Poage and Soma received scholarships for their work. WMU has never before had so many student submissions accepted into this competitive and highly respected conference. Each design was peer reviewed and competed with over 200 designs from around the country. “I am so proud of each of these students! The quality of their work, the thought, time, and commitment each student put into their designs reflect the commitment these students have made to their success,” said Dr. Mary Simpson, Assistant Professor of Fashion Merchandising and Design.

Maxine Poage received a Blanche Payne Scholarship in the amount of $1,000, for her piece, “Vintage Ambition.” The award is given for creative design and is the highest award in the undergraduate category. Poage chose the vintage fashion trends of the 1960s as inspiration for her design, coupling a vintage silhouette with a modern color palette to bridge then with now. See her design below.

HIGH SCORE: GRAD COLLEGE RESEARCH PRESENTER

Xin Li, a post-graduate fellow in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies, recently received the highest presentation score during WMU’s Graduate College Research Presentation Week held this April. the event gives graduate students an opportunity to share their work with the University community. Li’s presentation was titled, “The Effect of Preschool and Kindergarten Participation on Later Achievement of Language-Minority Student: A Sociocultural Perspective.” aims to illustrate the language-minority students (LMS)’ preschool and kindergarten experience with sociocultural perspective by investigating the preschool and kindergarten experience, family environment, and school environment. Longitudinal data from the U.S. nationwide Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten (ECLS-K), was used to apply a hierarchical linear model (HLM). This study explores whether and how preschool and kindergarten experiences are associated with LMS’ cognitive and socioemotional outcomes. This study examined LMS’ cognitive gains obtained at the end of kindergarten, third grade, fifth grade, and eighth grade. This study offers new perspectives on how sociocultural environments impact the cognitive development of LMS.

Xin Li