SOE Graduate Programs | Instant Impact

July 2, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Spring/Summer Issue of “Baylor Impact” is Online . . . Only [07/02/2020]

Meet the new SOE dean, learn about faculty research, and find out about new programs in Baylor School of Education in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Baylor Impact newsletter. This issue of Impact is online only. If you are a graduate of Baylor SOE and did not receive an email with the newsletter, please let us know by emailing BaylorImpact@baylor.edu. You can also update your information online at this link: Update Your Information

In this issue, you get two deans for the price of one! Read all about the SOE’s new Dean, Dr. Shanna Hagan-Burke, who arrived July 1, and see the farewell message from Dr. Terrill Saxon, who has been SOE Interim Dean for three years.

This issue features research profiles on faculty members in each SOE department:
• Curriculum & Instruction: Dr. Sandi Cooper’s early mathematics program leads to student success.
• Educational Leadership: Dr. Bradley Carpenter and Dr. Jon Eckert bring new research focus to K-12 leadership studies.
• Educational Psychology: Dr. Nick Benson’s research on assessments makes “testing” a good thing.

Don’t miss an inspiring Q&A with Baylor SOE alumna Lisa Fuentes ’96, whose Focus Behavioral clinic is helping hundreds of children with autism and their families. And there’s more inspiration from Baylor supporters Ryan and Karen Liles, who know that investing in a teacher’s education helps the education of many others. Plus, all sorts of exciting news about awards and new programs is tucked into the SOE news briefs.

Thank you for keeping in touch with Baylor SOE!

June 18, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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K-12 EdD Program Celebrates First Graduates [06/18/2020]

Cohort One of the EdD in K-12 Educational Leadership started in 2017.

As the nation and the field of K-12 education face unprecedented challenges, Baylor School of Education was proud to celebrate the first graduates in the SOE’s EdD in K-12 Educational Leadership in May 2020.

“Cohort One, including the program’s first seven graduates, is an extraordinary team of students who carried a positive vision of completing their Doctor of Education degree in K-12 Educational Leadership,” said Dr. John Wilson, Clinical Professor and Program Director. “Children and education will be better with the high character and leadership skills possessed by these May 2020 graduates, many of whom have already moved forward in their careers with advancements and greater responsibilities in their current or new school districts. We are very proud of these seven graduates and their accomplishments.”

The Baylor Doctor of Education (EdD) in K-12 Educational Leadership is a cohort-based practitioner-oriented program for leaders of schools, educational systems, and agencies. Designed for the dedicated working education professional with weekend scheduling, the program prepares highly qualified practitioners to lead K-12 education institutions, while refining skills for executive positions. A new cohort begins each year in June, and Cohort Four began this year. The EdD program also includes preparation for the Texas superintendent certification exam, and all graduates who chose to take the exam passed it.

Hear from the SOE’s May 2020 EdD Graduates: Continue Reading →

June 4, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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SOE PhD Candidate Receives Baylor Research Award [06/04/2020]

Jeff Strietzel, PhD candidate in Higher Education Leadership Studies

Jeff Strietzel, a PhD Candidate in the School of Education’s program in Higher Education Leadership Studies within the Department of Educational Leadership, received the Baylor University Outstanding Graduate Research Award for the social sciences. Strietzel’s dissertation research focuses on higher education leaders whose careers have been derailed at some point and how they recovered. That same week, Strietzel also placed second in the Baylor Graduate School’s “Three-Minute Thesis (3MT)” competition, presenting his dissertation research in 180 seconds.

“Some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned through failure,” Strietzel said. And that inspired him to study the experiences of high-level administrators in higher education to find out what it felt like to lose a job and what they learned. Strietzel interviewed 37 leaders, all of whom had “rebounded” and found employment again in higher education. The rebound was one of his criteria, because he was interested in how they found success again. He only interviewed people who had been presidents, provosts, or administrators who reported to them. All the respondents will be anonymous in his published dissertation, which was important for most — but not all — of the people he interviewed. Continue Reading →

May 27, 2020
by Baylor Instant Impact
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Baylor SOE Launches School Psychology Program in Dallas [05/27/2020]

Baylor SOE’s School Psychology program will offer the EdS degree from a Dallas campus through a hybrid program.

Baylor University School of Education is launching a new Dallas-based program in School Psychology, offering the Education Specialist (EdS) degree. Baylor’s school psychology program in Waco is nationally accredited by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and Baylor is now accepting applications for the School Psychology-Dallas EdS program for the fall semester of 2020.

“There has been a national shortage of school psychologists for several years, and there is an expectation for over 20,000 new jobs over the next 10 years,” said Dr. Julie Ivey, associate professor and program coordinator for Dallas. Baylor’s Dallas program is actively responding to this need by expanding opportunities and making this career accessible to more students interested in making a difference and helping children achieve success.”

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. School psychologists apply expertise in mental health, learning, and behavior to help children and youth succeed academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally. Continue Reading →

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 →

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