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Clark and Graham Are New Associate Deans
Sarah Clark and Charles Graham are the McKay School’s new associate deans, bringing exceptional talents and strong commitment to the dean’s office.
A professor of teacher education, Clark built a distinguished three-decade career as a classroom teacher, curriculum developer, author, editor, instructional coach, consultant, and researcher. With undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Arizona and a doctorate from Utah State University, Clark’s major research emphasis is improving children’s instruction by strengthening literacy and supporting teachers.
Graham is a professor of instructional psychology and technology with a major research interest in technology-mediated teaching and learning. He holds an undergraduate degree from BYU, a master’s from the University of Illinois, and a doctorate from Indiana University.
After 10 years as associate dean, Tina Taylor, one of Clark and Graham’s predecessors, will return to the Counseling Psychology and Special Education Department, spending the remainder of this school year as a Fulbright Scholar in Thailand. Lynnette Erickson, another former associate dean, retired from BYU on August 1, following nine years as associate dean and 26 years at the McKay School.
Communication Disorders
Master’s Program Earns Highest Accreditation
The master’s program in communication disorders in the McKay School received its renewed accreditation for the next eight years. The endorsement comes with no requests to follow up—a high achievement for any program. This was an involved process that started in fall 2021, and, according to department chair Christopher Dromey, “it was a team effort.”
Dromey credits the program’s faculty for the success: “We have high-quality faculty and great teachers. We’re doing good research. It’s a well-oiled machine.”
This accreditation will benefit both current and future students, Dromey says, and demonstrates the commitment of communication disorders faculty: “They really care deeply about the program, and they want the students to succeed.”
Educational Leadership and Foundations
Students Forge Legislative Bonds
McKay School doctoral education students deepened their understanding and forged valuable connections during a visit to Utah’s legislature during its 2023 general session, led by Professor Bryan Bowles from the BYU Department of Educational Leadership and Foundations.
Witnessing government in action helped students know better how policy is made, as it will directly affect their work in schools. Students attended an education appropriations meeting and full debates on the house floor and met with state senators. The dynamic, ever-shifting nature of the legislative process was exciting to students. “You really don’t know until you go there and see what happens,” says Bowles.
Teacher Education
Professor Teaches at African School
Teacher education professor Ryan Nixon returned this summer to a school he attended years ago as a doctoral student.
This time as a teacher, Nixon, who chairs the BYU Teacher Education Department, was a facilitator this past summer at the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education in Durban, South Africa (SAARMSTE). SAARMSTE hosts 40 to 50 doctoral students annually, plus about 30 faculty.
At the workshop, student get help with the design, data collection, analysis, and writing of their own research projects. They share their work, get valuable feedback, and build connections within the international research community. Nixon says he loved sharing his knowledge with SAARMSTE participants, most of whom are from southern Africa.
“Only two were from the United States; one was a doctoral student and the other was me,” he says. “It was amazing to work with the students and to learn about their projects. I left with ideas of how to mentor my graduate students in their writing and in designing research projects.”
Instructional Psychology and Technology
Boosting Curriculum Design in Peru
Richard West is deepening ties between the McKay School and a venerable university in Peru and enhancing student learning in the process.
In July, West and colleagues from BYU’s Center for Teaching and Learning—Ken Plummer and Richard Swan—visited the Universidad Nacional de San Augustín (UNSA) in Arequipa, Peru, to teach a workshop to 120 UNSA faculty on “backward” design. Using this method, designers begin with a course’s goals and then design curriculum to meet those goals. It was a repeat visit for West, who in 2018 taught a workshop on design-based learning strategies and hosted UNSA professors at BYU later that year.
West returned to Peru at the end of the summer with Plummer, Swan, and four graduate students to evaluate how effectively UNSA faculty were implementing backward design strategies. He said students Gloria Mora, Stephanie West, Berenice Ventura, and Karina Jackson did “a great job” collecting data from dozens of faculty and presenting a report to university leadership.
“It made for a very enriching experience in which I learned by doing with excellent guidance,” Ventura says of the trip. “This trip also helped me broaden my vision of how different universities and educational systems work and what it takes to make changes that will impact the institution as a whole.”