New neighborhood leaders

Dean Darlyne Bailey is pleased to announce the appointment of neighborhood leaders who will help the college carry out its vision of multiculturalism, multidisciplinarity, and modeling engagement. These leaders will work with the associate deans to bring together college, University, and community expertise to address specific challenges and to encourage research, teaching, and community engagement:

• Teaching and Learning: Matt Burns, associate professor, educational psychology, and Kyla Wahlstrom, director, Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement
• Psychological, Physical, and Social Development: Nicki Crick, director, Institute of Child Development, and Teri Wallace, research associate, Institute on Community Integration
• Family, Organization, and Community Systems and Contexts: Bill Doherty, professor, family social science

New international initiatives director

Christopher Johnstone has been appointed director of international initiatives for the college. A researcher within the National Center for Educational Outcomes, Johnstone will be working with Associate Dean Heidi Barajas and with Dean Bailey to ensure the college’s mission is carried out multiculturally and multinationally.

Appointed

Nicole Landi, assistant professor, educational psychology; reading development, reading acquisition, neurobiological bases of dyslexia; Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

Honored

Rayla Allison, kinesiology lecturer and CEO of the newly formed Sport Business Institute, was inducted into the Honor Wall of Fame honoring distinguished alumni at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Professor Patricia Avery (curriculum and instruction) accepted a one-year appointment on the new editorial board for the Teaching, Learning, and Human Development section of the American Educational Research Journal.

John Cogan, professor emeritus in educational policy and administration, who founded the Comparative and International Development Education program, received a 2007 Global Engagement Award from the University for outstanding contributions to global education and international programs.

Associate professor Don Dengel in the School of Kinesiology was a featured speaker at the October Target Health and Fitness Expo. Dengel’s presentation was entitled “Super sizing our kids: Problems and solutions for childhood obesity.”

Professor Deborah Dillon (curriculum and instruction) has been named to the Guy Bond Chair in Reading, established in honor of longtime professor Guy Bond to encourage scholarly activity in reading. Dillon’s scholarship focuses on literacy practices of teachers and learners in K-12 schools; motivation and its role in literacy learning; and the sociocultural and historical contexts for literacy.

Aaron Doering, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, will be the first faculty member to hold the Bonnie Westby Huebner Endowed Chair in Education and Technology. Doering’s GoNorth! project won second place in the over-$100,000 category of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology’s (AECT) 2007 Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Instructional Design and Development competition.

Postdoctoral associate Christine Greenhow (curriculum and instruction) received a $25,000 grant from the Office of the Vice President for Research for the multidisciplinary research symposium “Networks & Neighborhoods in Cyberspace.” She also was invited to join the International Society of Teacher Education NETS Stakeholders Advisory Council, which is revising the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers.

Tabitha Grier, assistant professor in the Department of Postsecondary Teaching and Learning, and kinesiology professor Tom Stoffregen both received Grants in Aid of Research, Scholarship, and Artistry from the University. Grier will pilot career education at Patrick Henry High School in north Minneapolis.

Stoffregen plans to continue research on postural instability and visually induced motion sickness.

The Institute for International Sport named professor Mary Jo Kane (kinesiology) one of the 100 Most Influential Sports Educators.

Professor Juergen Konczak in the School of Kinesiology received a grant for $100,000 from the Minnesota Department of Education to help make the Twin Cities German Immersion School a model for other programs in the state.

Sarah Leberman was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award to conduct research over four months at the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. Leberman was a senior lecturer in sport management and coaching at Massey University in New Zealand.

Professor Cynthia Lewis (curriculum and instruction) and her co-editors have won the Edward Fry Book Award from the National Reading Conference, which recognizes a noteworthy contribution to research in the field of literacy, for Reframing Sociocultural Research on Literacy: Identity, Agency, and Power (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2007).

Associate professor Liz Lightfoot, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare Director Traci LaLiberte, and doctoral student Katharine Hill (all in the School of Social Work) recently published the Guide for Legislative Change: Disability in the Termination of Parental Rights and Other Child Custody Statutes. To date, four states are using the guide.

Trish Olson in the Department of Family Social Science was presented with the Outstanding Leadership Award at the 2007 Minnesota Extension Fall Program Conference. Olson is the area program leader of Family Resource Management and director of the Center for Personal and Family Financial Education.

Associate professor Susan Rose (educational psychology), postdoctoral associate Charles Miller, and graduate student George Veletsianos (curriculum and instruction) won first place in the over-$100,000 category of the AECT’s 2007 Outstanding Achievement in Innovative Instructional Design and Development competition for the multidisciplinary Avenue ASL project.

Kinesiology assistant professor Stephen Ross was presented with the Sport Marketing Quarterly Article of the Year Award for “Segmenting Sport Fans Using Brand Associations: A Cluster Analysis.”

Professor Karen Seashore (educational policy and administration) won the Contribution to Staff Development award from the National Staff Development Council.

At the request of Minnesotans for Human Rights, social work professor Mark Umbreit and the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking provided training sessions for the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in West Africa and in the Twin Cities.

Maureen Weiss, professor in the School of Kinesiology, was named the 2008 chair of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Science Board, which reviews the President’s Challenge program and many other initiatives related to physical activity and health.

In memoriam

Eloise Jaeger, professor emeritus, kinesiology; died October 8, 2007 at age 91

involvement at the University as an undergraduate who took classes in physical education in preparation for a career in teaching. She earned an M.Ed. in 1944 and a Ph.D. in 1952 from the University of Iowa. Professor Jaeger taught women’s physical education at the University for many years and in 1962 became the director of the Department of Physical Education for Women. In 1971 Jaeger was named the director of the School of Physical Education, becoming the first woman at an American college or university to have jurisdiction over both men’s and women’s physical education programs.

Anne Lindgren, professor emeritus, social work; died November 1, 2007 at age 97

Anne Lindgren taught in the School of Social Work from 1947 until her retirement in 1972. She received both a bachelor’s degree (1931) and a doctoral degree in social work (1957) from the University. During her tenure, Lindgren also served as director of admissions for the School of Social Work.