Message from the Dean The spring 2019 semester afforded our students, faculty and partner schools many opportunities for professional development and collaboration. From Holmes Scholar recruitment to surprise classroom visits where we rewarded career teachers, we have been busy! Last fall, we surveyed teachers in our professional development schools and discovered that 87% of these teachers wanted to further their education but couldn’t afford the cost of graduate work. As a result, we secured funding to offer 60 applicants the opportunity to earn a master’s degree, but we had to turn more than 40 candidates away. Moving forward, we are working to fund master's degrees for these dedicated teachers. This will allow UNF to transform the Northeast Florida region by creating a diverse pipeline of expert teachers for K-12 schools to recruit the most qualified teachers to be change agents within the schools. Teachers are amazing. Even without the prospect of a substantial salary increase as a result of a graduate education, they want to go back to school to improve their practice. Teachers who earn their advanced degrees show a deeper level of understanding and commitment to the profession, allowing them to modify curriculum goals, adjust teaching methods and mentor new teachers. Because of this, teachers are able to hone their abilities to become expert educators and enact a systemwide change in education. If you are interested in helping us fund master's degrees for these teachers, please reach out today!
Best regards, Diane Yendol-Hoppey
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Gladys Prior Awards Last month, we were honored to once again manage and coordinate the Gladys Prior Awards for Career Teaching Excellence! We surprised four Jacksonville teachers in their classrooms on April 15. This award was established by Gilchrist Berg to honor teachers who have had lifelong careers in teaching and inspiring students.
The 2019 winners include Amy Glendenning, Seabreeze Elementary School; Mary Phillips, Duncan Fletcher Middle School; Kevin Sullivan, Edward White High School; and Terry Woodlief, Central Riverside Elementary School. Read more here.
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| Standout Student: Jordan Blair Jordan Blair is a junior in the UNF College of Education and Human Services and is one of two students majoring in secondary chemistry education. Jordan has wanted to teach since second grade, and her passion for chemistry led her to this unique major at UNF.
“I want to be a chemistry teacher who helps students realize they have a passion for chemistry … but at the very least, I plan to build my students’ tolerance for it,” said Jordan. Read more here.
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commUNITY Art Shows
This semester, the UNF Center for Urban Education and Policy (CUEP) established an on-going series of Community Art shows, which have been planned and organized through the leadership of COEHS freshman Micaela Pineiros, the CUEP Community Arts Curator. Read more.
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Micaela Pineiros is a first-year elementary education major and CUEP's Community Arts Curator. She asked gallery visitors to answer a simple question: "How does the community frame who you are?" | | | |
A Conversation with Dr. Ronni Sanlo We were honored to have Dr. Ronni Sanlo speak with some of our faculty and graduate students last month. Sanlo is a 1996 Graduate of the UNF Ed. D. program (Cohort 2) and is one of the most influential scholars in the study of LGBT students in higher education. During the discussion, Sanlo credited her success to her education at UNF, along with the relationships she established with mentors in Jacksonville. "I will forever be grateful, and I think you are all very lucky to be in this program," Sanlo said. "I hope you have the same outstanding experience as I did." Sanlo is the founder of the Lavender Graduation ceremony, which celebrates the accomplishments of LGTBQ students. UNF's Lavendar Graduation ceremony was held April 18.
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Deaf Education Program Leverages Technology for Job Fair UNF’s Deaf Education program held its inaugural virtual job fair on April 4. Deaf education students were able to learn about various jobs around the country—from Tampa, Florida, to Seattle, Washington—for teachers of the deaf. To date, 100% of the deaf education graduates have been offered teaching positions during their final internship or upon graduation. The deaf education faculty are pleased to be able to prepare future educators who will have a lifelong impact on learners who are deaf or hard of hearing.
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Holmes Scholar Program The College of Education and Human Services is currently recruiting the first cohort of UNF Holmes Scholars to address and respond to the critical and unmet need for diversifying the demographics of our teacher candidates for Northeast Florida. The first cohort of 10 high school students and/or transfer students from historically underrepresented groups will receive support for tuition, room and board, books, travel and an internship stipend so they will be entirely supported throughout their college career. For a more in-depth look at this program, check out Dean Yendol-Hoppey's recent guest column in the Florida Times-Union.
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|  | Alumni Spotlight: Stewart McDonald
Stewart McDonald, a 1992 UNF graduate, is the Superintendent of the North Slope Borough School District in Alaska. He was recognized as Alaska’s Superintendent of the Year in 2017, and was also honored as one of the final four for National Superintendent of the Year in the same year. Read more about Stewart here. | |
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Students in Dr. Kristi Sweeney's Sport Management Fundraising class are helping to raise money for kids with muscular dystrophy. One team, Belle's 7 Dwarfs, has raised over $5,400 to help six-year-old Belle, who has Walker Warburg Syndrome. To date, 11 teams in Sweeney's class have raised nearly $23,000. |
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Interpreter and Deaf Experience in Nazi Concentration Camps Spring Break Trip Drs. Sherry Shaw and Michael Stultz, along with instructor and staff interpreter Dawn Wessling, co-led a study abroad trip to Austria (Hartheim Memorial) and Poland (Auschwitz-Birkenau), in collaboration with a researcher of deaf stories at the University of Vienna. Students practiced using Austrian Sign Language and International Sign with the local deaf community in Linz, Austria, visited Schindler’s factory in Krakow, and toured the United Nations Office at Vienna. "The trip was very educational and it made a huge impression on me," Stultz said. "I must say that my emotions were all over the place, especially during the walk at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. This sole experience left me speechless. I strongly feel that our students will remember this trip for the rest of their lives."
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Learn about our innovative doctoral program, a member of the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED) consortium! | |
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