School Notes

Benjamin Cluff Jr. Annual Lecture

Dr. Marilyn Cochran-Smith, a nationally recognized speaker, researcher, and director of the doctoral program in curriculum and instruction at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education, presented at the 2008 annual Cluff Lecture. Her topic was “Teachers for Urban Schools.” At a presentation following the lecture, educators Steven Shumway, Barbara Smith, and Annette Evans received Cluff Awards honoring them as distinguished educators.

Adolescent Literacy Conference

The McKay School of Education Alumni Board, in connection with the Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (CITES), held the first annual Literacy Promise Conference in Salt Lake City in March. Participants numbered over 900. Speakers of national prominence included Patricia Wolfe, Janet Allen, Brod Bagert, Cathy Collins-Block, and many others.

Robert Bullough Nationally Recognized

The Lives of Teachers Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association honored Robert Bullough by presenting him with the Michael Huberman Award for Excellence in Research on the Lives of Teachers. Bullough is a 30-year veteran of teacher education and an associate director of the Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling.

MSE Special Ed/ESL Program Receives Honorary Mention

Excelencia in Education, an organization that seeks to improve Hispanic student performance in the nation’s schools, recently awarded an honorable mention to the McKay School’s Culturally Responsive Special Education/English as a Second Language Program for accelerating Latino student success on the university level. The award reflects the McKay School’s desire to promote policies and practices that support high Latino educational achievement.

Article by McKay School Professors and Graduate Student Wins Award

Professors Charles Graham of Instructional Psychology and Technology and Clifford Mayes of the Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations, in collaboration with former doctoral student Clint Rogers, recently won the Outstanding Article Award from the journal Educational Technology Research and Development, which is published by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT). The article, entitled “Cultural Competence and Instructional Design,” based on Rogers’ dissertation, addressed the challenge educators face in meeting the needs of learners who come from diverse cultures.

Dromey Appointed as University IRB Chair

Dr. Christopher Dromey was appointed by BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson to be chair of the BYU Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Research. He will serve in this capacity for approximately three years, working with other faculty, staff, and community representatives to ensure that BYU-affiliated research projects involving human subjects are administered in compliance with federal regulations.

Associate Professor Named Co-Editor

Brad Wilcox, an associate professor in the Department of Teacher Education, was appointed the co-editor of Literacy Research and Instruction, the official journal of the College Reading Association.

Graduate Student Effie Thacker Honored

The Utah Association of School Psychologists selected Effie Thacker, a graduate student in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, as School Psychology Student of the Year.

University Honors Members of McKay School

BYU honored several McKay School faculty during the 2007–2008 annual university conference. Robert V. Bullough Jr., teacher education professor and associate director for CITES, received the Karl G. Maeser Excellence in Research and Creative Arts Award to honor his outstanding research on effective school cultures and quality teachers. Stephen C. Yanchar, an associate professor in the Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology, received the BYU Class of 1949 Young Faculty Award. The award recognizes outstanding contributions by junior faculty. Michele M. Bray, secretary for the Department of Instructional Psychology and Technology, earned the President’s Appreciation Award in recognition of her exceptional service, creativity, and competence. M. Winston Egan, chair of the Department of Teacher Education, received the David O. McKay Fellowship in support of his teacher education research.

AED Scholars

John I. Goodlad, president of the Institute for Educational Inquiry (IEI), recently announced that four leaders within the BYU–Public School Partnership were nationally recognized as Agenda for Education in a Democracy (AED) Scholars. They are Dr. Steven Baugh, director of the Center for the Improvement of Teacher Education and Schooling (CITES), executive director of the Brigham Young University–Public School Partnership (BYU–PSP), and associate professor in the McKay School of Education at BYU; Dr. John Rosenberg, dean of the College of Humanities at BYU; Dr. Vern Henshaw, superintendent of Alpine School District; and Barry Graff, an administrator for K–12 educational services in Alpine District. These four administrators, who serve the BYU–PSP, are among 30 university and school district educators in the nation designated as AED Scholars.

Sage Creek Awarded First Myra Tollestrup Grant

Sage Creek Elementary School in Springville, Utah, has been awarded the first $10,000 Myra Tollestrup grant, to be used during the 2007–2008 school year to extend the effectiveness of professional learning communities and to develop systems of intervention for struggling students. The grant is sponsored by nationally recognized researchers Dr. Richard and Rebecca DuFour as a tribute to Myra Tollestrup, former associate director of CITES, who passed away in January. Tollestrup was instrumental in promoting and training for professional learning communities in the BYU–Public School Partnership.

Emerging Professional Award

Dr. Tim Smith, an associate professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Special Education, received the 2007 Emerging Professional Award for “outstanding contributions in the promotion of ethnic minority issues.” The Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues, a division of APA, grants the award.