SOE Graduate Programs | Instant Impact

May 7, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Cece Lively Receives Baylor Outstanding Staff Award [05/07/2020]

Baylor University honored the School of Education’s Cece Lively with an Outstanding Staff Award this spring. Lively is the Assistant Program Director for the EdD in Learning and Organizational Change, which is offered online by the SOE’s Department of Curriculum & Instruction and is the university’s largest graduate program. In that role, she coordinates and oversees program development and execution for almost 300 students and 25 faculty and staff. When the program reaches full capacity, it will serve more than 600.

Baylor’s announcement said, “Cece has proven to be an exceptional leader, innovative thinker, creative problem solver, student advocate, and collaborative colleague on campus. . . . The EdD students and faculty love working with Cece. She has a calm and caring demeanor and genuine concern for students.” Continue Reading →

April 7, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE Doctoral Candidate Wins NAPDS Award [04/07/2020]

Baylor School of Education doctoral candidate Kurt Salisbury, MSEd ’03, won the Emerging PDS Leader Award from the National Association for Professional Development Schools (NAPDS) at the annual convention in February.

The award recognizes a student member of NAPDS who shows promising leadership in the PDS movement. Criteria for the award includes service to NAPDS, presentations at the annual conference, publications, and service to a PDS program.

Salisbury is a full-time doctoral student in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and also a math instructional specialist at Midway Middle School, which is a PDS campus of the Baylor School of Education. Salisbury was a high school mathematics teacher for 12 years and spent two years as an assistant principal in Midway ISD. He earned a master’s at Baylor and his undergraduate degree in mathematics at Texas A&M.

NAPDS supports genuine collaborative, field-based, rich partnerships between P12 schools and colleges and universities. NAPDS was founded in 2005, growing out of an already-established national annual gathering of P12 educators and university representatives. The membership of the organization represents equally the public-school partners along with the higher-education partners. Continue Reading →

March 25, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Advice from a Full-Time Distance Educator [03/25/2020]

Photo by Aiden and Jennifer Werse

While distance education is new for most of Baylor, Dr. Nicholas Werse has been a distance educator for several years. Werse is the Graduate Writing Coordinator for Baylor School of Education’s EdD in Learning and Organizational Change, the university’s largest online doctoral program, housed in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. Werse runs a fully online writing center to coach the doctoral students with their academic writing. He meets with students one-on-one and also conducts webinars.

Werse holds an MDiv from Truett Seminary and a Baylor PhD in religion. He previously coached writing in Baylor’s Graduate School, often interacting with students from a distance after they had finished on-campus coursework. He has four years of experience teaching undergraduate college courses and spent two years teaching in an online format.

So we asked Dr. Werse for some advice about online interactions in academia.

Q: How do you typically interact with students in the EdD program?

A: We usually interact via email, and we meet via video conference. Students email documents for me to review. I provide written feedback and then meet with the students for a 30-minute one-on-one writing consultation. During that, we talk through the feedback and discuss strategies to help them grow as writers. In many ways, it reminds me of holding office hours for students when I taught in the classroom. Continue Reading →

January 23, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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School Psychology Students and Faculty Win Poster Award [01/23/2020]

School Psychology graduate students Ally Yturralde (left) and Felicity Frost (center) receive the Best Poster Presentation Award from Dr. Laurie Klose of Trinity University, TASP chair of poster presentations.

Graduate students from the School Psychology Program in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology garnered awards at the annual Texas Association of School Psychologists (TASP) conference late last year. Professionals from across the state gathered to enhance their knowledge in this dynamic profession and engage in professional growth. Leaders in school psychology from across the nation presented research on a variety of topics over the course of three days.

Baylor students Ally Yturralde and Felicity Frost, who are both pursuing the Education Specialist degree in School Psychology, were awarded “Best Poster Presentation” at the conference, along with Baylor School of Education senior lecturer Dr. Tamara Hodges. Their poster presentation, titled “Promoting Post-Secondary Education for At-Risk Students,” presented an overview of a pilot study that showed the effects of a college preparation program for low-socioeconomic status high school juniors and seniors at risk of not attending post-secondary education and who may have a disability. TASP conference participants learned about implementation, outcomes, and benefits of the college preparatory mentoring program. Continue Reading →

December 16, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE Sport Management Student Headed for Final Four [12/16/2019]

Shelly Stafford (#5) will experience her first Final Four this week — and her second graduation from Baylor. She will miss the commencement ceremony but graduate with an MSEd in Sport Management.

Barely 18 years old when she enrolled in Baylor a semester early in January 2015, volleyball middle blocker and MSEd student Shelly Stafford has seen a lot of dramatic changes in the last five years. Even her name has changed.

“I got married, so that’s pretty life-changing,” Stafford said. “The [Baylor] experience overall has truly been life changing. Baylor’s environment is just love. I have just felt so loved by everyone, and they really push me and inspire me to be my best every day — in the classroom, on the court, and in the community.” Continue Reading →

December 6, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE Master’s Students Worked Behind the Scenes at ESPN College Gameday [12/06/2019]

Baylor SOE Sport Management students and ESPN hosts on the Gameday set: (l-r) Desmond Howard, Scott Visey, Stacy Falconieri, Reece Davis, Amber Corcoran, Shelly Stafford, Sarah Edmondson, Lee Corso, Matt Gillette, Kirk Herbstreet, Caleb Clark, Mike Muto, Hayden Johnson, S.K. Stevens, Maura Walsh

Students in the Baylor School of Education Sport Management program had the opportunity to work closely with ESPN College Gameday when the national broadcast aired from McLane Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 16, for the Bears’ matchup with the Oklahoma Sooners. The SOE master’s students worked with ESPN staff to ensure the broadcast and weekend events ran smoothly as hundreds of Baylor students and fans converged on the stadium to participate.

College Gameday, an ESPN football pre-game show, broadcasts live from various colleges and universities all across the nation. The show covers the college football stats and predictions for the upcoming games that day. Continue Reading →

November 20, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Faculty and Student Literacy Research Recognized by International Literacy Association [11/20/2019]

Dr. Kelly Johnston (center with certificate) was recognized at the ILA Conference.

Baylor School of Education faculty and doctoral students in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction garnered recognition and presented research at the International Literacy Association’s annual conference in October. The International Literacy Association is a global advocacy and membership organization of more than 300,000 literacy educators, researchers, and experts across 86 countries.

Dr. Kelly Johnston, assistant professor of literacy, and Dr. Phil Nichols, assistant professor, both received recognition as finalists for the ILA’s Outstanding Dissertation Award. Baylor was the only university with two representatives recognized among the finalists. Continue Reading →

July 8, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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An American Intern in Paris [07/08/2019]

Rachel Renbarger, an educational psychology doctoral student at Baylor, is in the midst of a six-month data-analysis internship in Paris with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The OECD offers many internships — 40 in education alone. However, Renbarger was the only intern selected as a data analyst for the study on social and emotional skills. “Day to day, I’ll be doing a lot of teamwork and a lot of collaboration,” Renbarger said.

During her time working on the study, the main focus is on field data – working to make sure that everything is set to run smoothly later in the study. “I think it’s going to be really great to collaborate with people who are from outside the U.S., because I haven’t done that before,” Renbarger said. Continue Reading →

May 30, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE Hosted 12th Annual Higher Education Conference [05/30/2019]

Baylor School of Education and the Department of Educational Leadership hosted the 12th annual Christian Higher Education Leadership Seminar on the Baylor campus May 19-22. The seminar is sponsored by the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities (IABCU) and is geared toward leaders of faith-based colleges and universities.

The 30 participants included faculty, deans, program heads, and future administrators in Christian institutions of higher education from across the country. Speakers at this year’s Seminar comprised university professors, chaplains, provosts, directors, deans, and academic scholars.

Dr. Rishi Sriram, associate professor of higher education and associate chair for the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership spoke at this year’s seminar and completed his third year as the conference’s director. Continue Reading →

March 4, 2019
by Baylor Instant Impact
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School Psychology for the 21st Century [03/04/2019]

By Dr. Julie Ivery
Centennial Faculty Guest Blog

Do you know what a school psychologist is? If so, you either are one, or you are friends with one. If not, don’t worry, because this is a question many people ask. We’re hoping this blog can help everyone better understand just some of the hundreds of roles a school psychologist fills!

School Psychology is a specialty of professional psychology that focuses on the science and practice of psychology with children and families, learners of all ages, and the schooling process. It also is consistently ranked as one of the best social service jobs in the United States by U.S. News and World Report.

READ MORE at Baylor.edu/SOE/100

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