Instant Impact – News from Baylor School of Education

May 15, 2025
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SOE Business Office Receives Baylor Team Staff Award

Business Office staff Casey McNeil, Emma Stonecipher, Meg Hoefer, Ashleigh Herr, and Leone Moore (photo by Sahira Kodra)

Business Office staff (l-r) Casey McNeil, Emma Stonecipher, Meg Hoefer, Ashleigh Herr, and Leone Moore

May 15, 2025

Five members of the School of Education’s Business Office —Meg Hoefer, Ashleigh Herr, Leone Moore, Emma Stonecipher, and Casey McNeil — received the Baylor University Team Staff Award in a ceremony on April 29. Baylor president Dr. Linda Livingstone presented the award, which is chosen based on nominations from colleagues during the prior year.

“We have an extraordinary business team whose expertise and productivity have enabled the School of Education to grow in ways we could not have imagined,” said Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke, dean of the School of Education. “Often, we assume our best mentors are those we report to, but in reality, I have learned so much from their example. Our business team models respectful interactions with others and demonstrates how we should steward resources. I am grateful for the partnership I have with them because they make me better at my job.” Continue Reading →

May 9, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Dr. Tony Talbert Receives Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award

Dr. Tony Talbert

May 9, 2025

Dr. Tony Talbert, professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, was recognized with the Baylor Outstanding Teaching Award for Tenured Faculty. With a nearly 40-year career as a public school and higher education teaching scholar, Talbert has been and continues to be a significant influence in the lives of his students and on the success of learning communities.

“Dr. Talbert’s contributions to student success, innovations in teaching and research, and inspiration in the lives of the students and faculty with whom he serves render him an exceptional recipient of this prestigious award,” said Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke, dean of the School of Education.

Talbert said he is called to be a teacher, so he approaches it with serious commitment and dedication, entering each classroom ready to meet the changing needs of students, schools, and communities. Continue Reading →

May 8, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Dr. Sarah Mire Receives Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award

Dr. Sarah Mire

May 8, 2025

Dr. Sarah Mire, LP, NCSP, LSSP, associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology and faculty affiliate with the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities, both in the School of Education, received the Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for Scholarship for Tenured Faculty. Mire’s transformative research bridges families, school personnel, and medical providers to improve outcomes for children with autism.

Mire’s research directly addresses the challenges and complexities of autism, which frequently co-occurs with behavioral health conditions and school-based difficulties that necessitate coordinating support across multiple systems. Her dual credentials as a Licensed Psychologist (LP) and Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP) provide her with insight into the nuanced needs of children and families. Continue Reading →

May 5, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Dr. Sandi Cooper Receives Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award

Dr. Sandi Cooper

May 5, 2025

Dr. Sandi Cooper, School of Education (SOE) associate dean for undergraduate education and professor of mathematics education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, received the Baylor Outstanding Faculty Award for Significant Contributions to the Academic Community. Cooper has been at Baylor for 18 years and has spearheaded numerous initiatives ranging from a doctoral program whose oldest graduate is in her 80s to a summer math program for pre-kindergarten students.

“Dr. Cooper exemplifies the university’s motto of Pro Ecclesia, Pro Texana, Pro Mundo as she demonstrates Christ’s light and love in her work as a teacher, scholar, leader, colleague, and outstanding ambassador of our beloved institution,” said Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke, dean of the School of Education. Continue Reading →

April 11, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE Graduate Students Honored

School of Education graduate student honorees l-r Beatrice Ruiz, Liz Harrelson Magill, and Maggie Bryant

Three School of Education (SOE) graduate students were honored with awards from the Baylor Graduate School. The Graduate School honored 14 students university wide with research, instruction, and dissertation awards.

Beatrice Ruiz, a PhD student in the Department of Educational Psychology received the Research Award for the Social Sciences. Candidates are judged by their description of their completed and ongoing research projects, participation in research events and conferences, presentations and publications, future research plans, and a letter of recommendation from a faculty mentor.

Maggie Bryant and Elizabeth (Liz) Harrelson Magill, both PhD students in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, were honorees for their teaching. Bryant received the award for a course she taught in fall of 2023 and Magill for a course in spring of 2024. Recipients were selected based on recommendations from their supervising faculty, letters from students in the classroom, teaching philosophy statements, and their record of participation in professional teaching development. Continue Reading →

April 9, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor Senior Named Most Outstanding Clinical Teacher for SCANSUP

Caitlin Casassas holding her SCANSUP Award.

Caitlin Casassa received her award at the SCANSUP conference.

by Theo John Milton

Caitlin Casassa, a senior at Baylor School of Education, received the 2025 Most Outstanding Clinical Teacher Award from the South Central Area Network for School-University Partnerships (SCANSUP).

Casassa is teaching in a fifth-grade classroom at Woodway Elementary in Midway ISD for her senior student-teaching year. Baylor seniors spend an entire academic year as student teachers in the same classroom, enabling them to experience the full year’s cycle.

The award recognizes Casassa’s teaching skills, classroom strategies, and commitment to creating an inclusive and engaging learning environment for her students. Continue Reading →

March 6, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE Professors Part of Interdisciplinary Research Team for $4.71 million Grant

Dr. Erik Carter, Dr. Sarah Mire, Dr. Terrill Saxon

School of Education researchers (l-r): Dr. Erik Carter, Luther Sweet Endowed Chair in Disabilities and Executive Director of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities; Dr. Sarah Mire, associate professor; Dr. Terrill Saxon, professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies & Global Engagement

Three Baylor School of Education faculty members in the Department of Educational Psychology — Dr. Erik Carter, Dr. Sarah Mire, and Dr. Terrill Saxon — are co-investigators on an interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team of researchers that will conduct a mixed-methods longitudinal study of patience. Over four years, the study will focus on what can be learned about patience from those who experience adversity, particularly for parents of adolescents. The SOE team’s research will focus specifically on families raising adolescents who experience intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Funded by a $4.71 million grant from Templeton Religion Trust, the study is part of the Baylor Research in Growth and Human Thriving Science Center, or BRIGHTS Center, a multidisciplinary center housed in Baylor’s College of Arts & Sciences that catalyzes research related to the science of human flourishing.

The team is led by principal investigator Dr. Sarah Schnitker, Baylor professor of psychology, and includes Baylor’s Dr. Anne Jeffrey (philosophy and medical humanities), the three Baylor SOE faculty members, and faculty from UC Riverside, Wake Forest, and Claremont Graduate University.

Baylor SOE PhD Students in School Psychology Continue 100% Match for Internships

Baylor PhD students who have earned an APA-accredited internship

Baylor School of Education fourth-year PhD School Psychology students earned 100% APA internship placement and are pictured (l-r): Cassie Jennings, Scarlett Gardner, Kayla Trites, Bradley Davis, Madeline Pettit, Janie Contreras-Munoz.

March 3, 2025

For the fourth year in a row, 100 percent of the Baylor University School of Education’s school psychology Ph.D. students have “Matched” for pre-doctoral psychology internships accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA).

The Match is run by the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC) and provides an orderly process to help applicants obtain positions in psychology internship programs of their choice and to help internship programs obtain applicants of their choice. The Match is highly competitive, and APA-accredited sites are the most competitive placements. Approximately 4,000 doctoral students from School, Counseling, and Clinical Psychology doctoral programs participate in Match, competing for spots at approximately 800 sites. Continue Reading →

February 21, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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The Power of Storytelling in Black Culture

“The most natural thing in the world to me when talking to someone is to tell them a story. That’s how I make sense of things,” — Dr. Marquita Foster

As we celebrate Black History Month, we asked Dr. Marquita Foster, lecturer and graduate program director for Baylor SOE’s EdD in Learning & Organizational Change, to share insights from her teaching career and research. A former middle and high school English teacher, Dr. Foster has published on topics including Black feminism, cultural approaches to classroom disciplines, and storytelling in Black and indigenous traditions.

Feb. 21, 2015

Faculty Guest Blog
by Dr. Marquita Foster

To say that storytelling in Black culture is just rooted in the oral tradition dismisses its historical contributions to liberation, its legitimization of oppositional knowledge, and its enduring instructions for resistance and survival. Storytelling is the universe in which we live, a whole other world fancied for the simplicity of its design and lauded for the nature of its complexity. The story is a primary vehicle of sharing lived experiences from individual to individual, household to household, generation to generation — to inspire, warn, engage, entertain. Continue Reading →

February 3, 2025
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Two Baylor SOE PhD Graduates Garner Accolades from SSMA

Photo of Dr. Melissa Donham (left) SSMA Dissertation Award and Dr. Ryann Shelton (right), SSMA Early Career Scholar Award

Feb. 3, 2025

Two Baylor School of Education graduates were honored by the School Science and Mathematics Association (SSMA) at its fall conference. Dr. Ryann Shelton (PhD ’20) received the SSMA Early Career Scholar Award, and Dr. Melissa Donham (MA ’19, PhD ’23) received the Dissertation Award. Continue Reading →