News

 

Visit this site regularly for News from the School of Education, including our quarterly e-newsletter and links to media stories about the School.

 

If you are a member of the media and would like to reach the School of Education, please contact Sofia Dupi, Communications Coordinator, at (914) 773-3943 or via e-mail

 

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Newsletter

The School of Education issues a quarterly e-newsletter to highlight the news and achievements of our faculty, staff, current students and Alumni.

Current Issue - Spring 2013

To join our mailing list, please click here.

Links to the School's recent news stories

 

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News from the School of Education

April 2013

Pace University School of Education Initiates College Prep Program to Help Students Develop Individual Learning Strategies for College Success

4.22.2013 - The Pace University School of Education is pleased to announce the launch of Headways, an innovative new college preparatory program this summer. Headways prepares students (including those with learning challenges) for the demands of college and work settings
after high school by creating opportunities for students to explore and understand their individual learning profiles and identify
a personalized set of technology tools and digital strategies for academic success. The program runs from August 5-16 at Pace's Pleasantville campus. For more information, please see the program page here or click for the Headways application (Word file).

 

Center for Literacy Enrichment Celebrate Clifford's 50th Birthday with White Plains Schools

4.20.2013 - The Center for Literacy Enrichment hosted a 50th Birthday Party for Clifford, the Big Red Dog, at Post Road School in White Plains on Saturday, April 20. More than 200 children and their families attended the event, complete with games, arts & crafts, snacks and stories!

Pictured from left, Sister St. John Delaney, Director of the Center for Literacy Enrichment, White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach, and Clifford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 2013

Pace University Launches New Graduate Program for Inclusive Adolescent Education

Open House and Seminar on March 18 to Launch New Program, Highlight Changing High School Needs

3.1.2013 - High school education is changing. Today’s youth are coming of age in a time of higher state standards,  tougher academic testing and a world requiring advanced skills to compete globally. Schools need teachers prepared to help ALL students meet today’s challenges to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Pace University’s new graduate program in Inclusive Adolescent Education is designed for professionals and college graduates who want to become teachers of grades 7-12, but do not hold a degree in education. Program graduates will become dually certified adolescent education and special education teachers prepared to drive student success in the rigorous high school environment, while focusing on the social, behavioral and academic development of all students.

Pace will host Opportunities in Inclusive Adolescent Education, an informational open house and seminar on Monday, March 18 from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Butcher Suite of the Kessel Student Center on the Pleasantville campus. Learn more about challenges facing high schools today, the benefits of becoming a dual-certification teacher, and the new  Inclusive Adolescent Education Program, also known as the STARS Program - Skilled Teachers Achieving Results for Students. The evening is free of charge, and attendees may register by calling Donna DeAngelo at 914-773-3873 or online by visiting www.pace.edu/STARS.

The program is now accepting applications for Fall 2013 and will be offered on Pace’s Pleasantville campus. The STARS Inclusive Adolescent Education Program was developed with a $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs by School of Education Professors and Co-PIs Leslie Soodak, PhD, and Roberta Wiener, EdD. Drs. Soodak and Wiener were leaders of a program development effort that involved a large number of School of Education adolescent and special education faculty. The STARS Inclusive Adolescent Education Program at Pace University is one of the newest fully integrated inclusive secondary teacher education programs of its kind in the metropolitan area, and is one of few programs nationally.

 

February 2013

School of Education Students Return from Guatemala

2.24.2013 - Six School of Education candidates have returned from a week-long trip Guatemala, where they traveled to attend the 9th International Literacy Conference located in Guatemala City. Accompanied by Professor Ainsley Adams and Brian Evans, EdD, the students made presentations on mathematics and science concepts through the use of literacy to an international audience of teachers. Sister St. John Delany, PhD, helped organize the trip, but was unable to travel with the group at the last moment. Read more in our newsletter

Check out our Facebook photo album for highlights from the trip, or our complete Picasa album.

 

Get Ahead This Summer and Work towards Middle School Certification!

2.22.2013 - Work towards certification this June & July! Middle School courses enable adolescent teachers with initial certification to extend their

certification to grades 5 and 6. Childhood teachers with initial certification may pursue the certification in a particular subject area (i.e. English, history, math, science, social studies) in grades 7-9.

Pace University offers the two courses that New York State requires as part of the requirements for the extension, with convenient evening summer courses available on our Pleasantville campus in June and July -- perfect for current students, alumni and practicing teachers!

• Middle Childhood/Early Adolescence, Community, Culture & Identity (May 30-June 24)
• Differentiating Curriculum and Instruction: Middle Childhood Education (July 8-August 1)

For more information about the courses, contact Dr. Christine Clayton at cclayton@pace.edu or 914-773-3805. For questions about registration, contact Donna DeAngelo at ddeangelo@pace.edu or 914-773-3873.

Download our flier to share with friends and colleagues! (PDF format)

Courses for Classroom Teachers This Summer!

Join us this summer to enhance your classroom practice and confidence in implementing the new Common Core standards. Convenient evening and online courses to suit your summer schedule!

Learn More about our Summer 2013 Courses for Inservice Teachers

 

 

Dr. Joan Walker's Research Named Best Published in 2012

Innovative Research Leads to Development of Free Online Course on Parent-Teacher Interactions

2.18.2013 -Pace University School of Education professor Joan Walker, PhD, has won a prestigious award for best research article of the year – research that has led to the development of an innovative online course on parent-teacher interactions.

Dr. Walker is the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) Article Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), the premier professional organization for American teacher education.

The award recognizes exemplary scholarship published in the JTE in the areas of teacher education or of teaching and learning with implications for teacher education, and will be presented March 2 at the AACTE's 65th Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Dr. Walker will be honored with her co-author, Dr. Benjamin Dotger from Syracuse University, for their article “Because Wisdom Can’t Be Told: Using Comparison of Simulated Parent-Teacher Conferences to Assess Teacher Candidates’ Readiness for Family-School Partnership” from the January/February 2012 issue of JTE. The article describes the study of teacher candidates’ communication strategies in parent-teacher conference scenarios via online video case studies.

The award review committee noted how the focus on teacher-parent interactions addresses a critical component that is overlooked in many teacher preparation programs. The committee further lauded the excellence in scholarship and innovative approach that is an effective model for preparing educators throughout the nation.

“This award comes at an ideal time,” said Dr. Walker. “Since the original publication, I have expanded this work into a free online course that I am eager to share with teacher educators, teachers and K-12 administrators across the country. The three part interactive course uses real-life, classroom-based challenges, video examples and other tools to help beginning teachers successfully conduct parent-teacher conferences. The future of teacher professional development is online and it is exciting to be recognized as a leader in this new direction."

"Pace University is embarking on a much more research focused trajectory, and Professor Joan Walker's research award highlights the strong academic programs in our School of Education,” said University Provost Uday Sukhatme, ScD. “She has created a model approach to online learning. We are very proud of her accomplishments."

In addition to experience as a classroom educator, Dr. Walker earned a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Vanderbilt University and completed post-doctoral research in the Vanderbilt-Northwestern-University of Texas-Harvard/MIT Engineering Research Center (VaNTH ERC) at Vanderbilt University. She is director of research for the American Dream Academy, a program active in Phoenix, Arizona, that has educated more than 14,000 parents--mostly Hispanic--about partnering with their children's school.

To receive more information about the open course ware contact Dr. Walker at jwalker@pace.edu.

Learn more about Dr. Walker's research on parent-teacher communication and the related online course by reviewing the JTE article, accessing a sample case study from the online program, or viewing a brief video about the project.

 

January 2013

The Pulse The Professor Is In: Q&A with Brian Evans

1.16.2013 -Pace University's The Pulse blog interviews New York City Chair Brian Evans, EdD.

From traveling to Uganda to help teachers develop their mathematical problem solving abilities to hiking the Himalayas, it’s a wonder Brian R. Evans, EdD, has time for anything else. But when he isn’t traveling the world, Evans serves as the department chair and associate professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Education. He is also the co-chairperson for the Institutional Review Board and  director of Pace’s Summer Scholars Institute, which brings ambitious high school juniors and seniors to Pace for an early college experience.

At the School of Education, his primary focus is on pedagogical and content courses in mathematics for both pre-service and in-service teachers at the adolescent and childhood levels. He recently became the first Faculty Resident at Pace and serves as managing editor for the Journal of the National Association for Alternative Certification.

What was your favorite class as a student? Least favorite?
My favorite class was mathematics history. I really enjoyed this class and I now teach a mathematics history class at Pace. I’m also currently working on a mathematics history book. Mathematics and history are two of my favorite subjects, so the combination of the two is quite attractive to me.

I really didn’t take a course in college that I didn’t like. However, my least favorite class, if I had to choose one, was probably [computer] programming. I like computer science, but I often found myself very frustrated when the programs I wrote didn’t run correctly and I couldn’t figure out the problem. I liked the class, but found that aspect frustrating.

What one thing or person made you passionate about your current career?
If I focus on the teaching perspective of my career, it was my high school geometry teacher and a mathematics college professor who inspired me to teach. Both had the same approach of injecting humor into the classroom and had such an easy going demeanor that made learning very pleasurable. If I focus on research, there was an education professor with whom I still collaborate on research projects who really inspired my writing.

What quality do you most value in your students?
My classes are most enjoyable for me when my students are independent thinkers who engage in critical thinking and inquiry. Probably the most important quality of a college education is the enhanced ability to think critically.

What’s your advice to students to make the most out of their time in college?
My advice is for students to take advantage of opportunities they would later regret not taking when the opportunity is gone. For example, while I’ve traveled quite extensively on my own, I never participated in a study abroad program and now wish I had. I know others who took part in study aboard programs and felt it was one of the most rewarding experiences in their lives.

If you had to do it all over again and took another path, what profession would you like to attempt? What profession would you not like to do?
If I were to go back, I would still choose the position I’m in now. However, if I chose something different, medical school would have been a rewarding path to take. I would not like to have gone into any career in which helping people wasn’t a major focus, like it is with education and medicine.

What is your favorite book/TV show?
It’s difficult to choose only one book, but generally I like reading non-fiction about politics, philosophy, and travel. I don’t watch a terrible amount of television, and I generally watch the news or a documentary. However, currently I might say Big Bang Theory. It’s a show about nerds in academia. What’s not to like?

What would you do if you had an extra hour every day?
Only one hour? That’s difficult because I’d like many more hours. I wish I had more time to volunteer. I don’t volunteer nearly as often as I did before I became so busy. I do quite a lot of reading for my career, but not much reading for pleasure anymore. Having some time to read for pleasure would be welcome, hence my need for more than one hour.

What is your favorite journey/experience?
I love to travel everywhere. I’ve been to all seven continents and all 50 U.S. states. Probably one of my favorite trips was to Antarctica, given how remote and beautiful the continent was.

What is your favorite saying/words to live by?
I [find] this question difficult because there has been so much said throughout history that would fit this question. If I had to choose just one quote, it would be, “Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”–Aristotle

If you could have any five people, living or dead, imagined or real, as guests at a dinner party, who would you choose? If living or dead is not an issue, nor is language and period context, there are so many from which to choose. One of the things I love about reading books is that one can read the words of thinkers who are long gone to the world, but whose ideas persist. It’s the next best thing to actually sitting down to dinner and having a conversation with them. To make the task easier for me I’ll choose living people in which it wouldn’t be impossible to have at a dinner party, albeit unlikely. I would choose Stephen Hawking, Noam Chomsky, Barack Obama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Andrew Wiles, and Richard Dawkins. That’s six, but there’s always room for one more at a dinner party.

Written by Pace student Sarah Aires ’14