College of Education Discovery Summit
Fri, March 22, 2024
We invite you to join us for our annual Discovery Summit – a celebration of how our faculty impact education through their research. Please join Dean Kimberly Lawless, an exciting line-up of faculty presenters, and a host of Education graduate and undergraduate students for an inspiring, interactive evening.
Schedule:
Reception: 5:30 pm - 6:15 pm
Welcome and Introductions: 6:15 pm - 6:30 pm
Presentation Session 1: 6:30 pm - 7:00 pm
Dessert Reception: 7:00 pm - 7:25 pm
Presentation Session 2: 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Presentations/Presenters
Workplace Bullying: The Troubling Truth and a Path Forward
Leah Hollis will inform the audience on the workplace bullying problem in education. Stress related work environments create unhealthy experiences for faculty, staff, and students. After reviewing the problem and impact on those targeted by bullying, Leah Hollis will offer solutions for individuals to cope with the problem.
Profile
Dr. Leah P. Hollis
Associate Dean of Access, Equity, and Inclusion
Dr. Leah P. Hollis, Associate Dean of Access, Equity, and Inclusion, specializes in adult workplace bullying and diversity training. She has penned five books, with a sixth in progress with Oxford University Press. With Dr. Hollis’ research-based knowledge, she has developed interactive workshops, keynote speeches, and policy consultancy for all higher education sectors. Hollis is a national trainer dealing with diversity, unconscious bias, microaggressions, and workplace bullying in higher education. Further, she addresses EEOC and Title VII regulations. Her recent book, Human Resource Perspectives on Workplace Bullying in Higher Education Understanding Vulnerable Employees' Experiences, examines the structural issues contributing to workplace bullying in higher education. Hollis is a Martin Luther King, Jr Fellow with an earned doctorate from Boston University.
Spaces of Be(long)ing: The Family Disability Intersectionality CoLLaborative
The purpose of this project is to cultivate generative spaces for emerging and current scholars in education, special education, and related fields that serve, support, or conduct research with disabled people and their families. With the intent and vision of a collaborative writing as well as community-engaged research practices, this collaborative features autobiographical works among individuals who are narrating their own lived experiences, that of their families, or those they support and serve. Additionally, the research is purposeful so as to include participants from historically and multiply marginalized communities so as to center their lived experiences. We anticipate several outcomes through the research and writing works: 1) to capture stories of students with disabilities, caregivers, and practitioners who describe their own ways of knowing, theorizing, identity affirmations, and life navigation, 2) to implement lived experience within the context of schooling into resources (research articles, book chapters, audio) that people can learn from, in order to advocate for the lives of disabled people, their families, and communities.
LOVE IS PRAXIS: LIVED EXPERIENCE-TO-CLASSROOM LESSONS THROUGH THE VOICES OF DISABLED STUDENTS, PRACTITIONERS, MOTHERS, AND SIBLINGS (co-editor Yuchen Yang, Doctoral Student, Third-Year, Curriculum and Instruction)
Through personal narratives and critical ethnography, this book is a portraiture of disability and love through the lived experiences of disabled young adults, practitioners, emerging professionals, and family members. Drawing from bell hook’s centering of love as transformative praxis, it includes testimonies of people whose lived experience, repositions them as knowledge-bearers, even when their ways of knowing, learning, practicing, and valuing have been discounted by those around them. Each story introduces their life in time and context, valuing them as educators who teach others, both informally and formally. This book is a harmony of generational, familial, collegial, and cultural expressions of love.
Profile
Aimee Granada-Jeronimo
Undergraduate Student, Fourth-Year, Special Education
Aimee Granada-Jeronimo, a senior at Pennsylvania State University originally from Caldwell, New Jersey, is pursuing her undergraduate degree in special education. Inspired by her own learning disability, she is determined to fulfill her lifelong dream of teaching and advocating for students with disabilities. With continued support from her family, including her beloved parents and twin sister, Aimee likes spending time with loved ones, including her dog, and enjoying her passion for cooking and baking. As she begins her teaching journey, she is forever grateful for all the knowledge and experiences she has gained and is excited to continue to learn and grow as an educator.
Profile
Azaria Cunningham
Doctoral Student, Fifth-Year, Curriculum and Instruction
Azaria Cunningham is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum and Instruction at The Pennsylvania State University. Azaria earned her Bachelors, Masters, and Supervisory Certification at William Paterson University of New Jersey. She completed her Bachelors in Integrated Mathematics and Science with a double major in K-6 elementary & (6-8) middle school science education specialization. Azaria worked as a science teacher in the K-12 public school system for six years. Azaria’s research interest resides in understanding how pre-service and teacher educators learn within university-based and school- based contexts through teacher-driven mechanisms such as real-time coaching, mentoring, and supervision practices.
Profile
Ruby Humphris
Masters student, Second-Year, Special Education
Ruby is a Chicana cisgender woman who was recently accepted to Penn State University’s SPLED PhD program . She is a Project Future scholar,and will begin the pursuit of a SPLED PhD in the Summer/Fall of 2024. She was a Project BRITE scholar while pursuing her Master’s in special education also at Penn State University. Ruby obtained her undergraduate degree in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State University. Ruby has had the opportunity to work and volunteer with individuals and families with varying disabilities over the past 20 years in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and across central Pennsylvania. Enhanced by her own lived experience as she has traversed the special education landscape with several of her children, her research interest lies in the development of collaborative and culturally responsive and holistic transition services for students enrolled in SPLED programs, with particular attention to familial engagement. Ruby is a mother of 9 children who are the absolute joy of her life and are the reason she is committed to the cultivation of collaborative and inclusive spaces for all families. In her free time she enjoys singing Karaoke, camping with her family, and teaching Spin classes.
Profile
Dana Patenaude
Doctoral Student, Third-Year, Special Education
Dana Patenaude, M.Ed., BCBA., LBS is a white cisgender woman doctoral candidate at The Pennsylvania State University. Previously, Dana worked as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst in an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) clinic in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During this time, she created and supervised verbal behavior-based programs for children on the autism spectrum and worked closely with their families to create socially significant goals and objectives. Dana currently serves as a diversity and inclusion consultant for an ABA clinic, ensuring their practices and protocols are inclusive for both staff and clients. Dana is currently working on an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Leadership Project in which professionals in the Special Education and Communication Sciences and Disorders fields work to advance knowledge and increase community engagement in AAC. Dana’s research interests include effective collaborations and creating methods of perception measurement that value the voices and opinions of children with speech-related disabilities or limited speech. Dana enjoys walking her dog and spending time with her family in her free time.
Profile
Jenna Spencer
Undergraduate Student, Third-Year, Special Education
Jenna Spencer , a Junior at Pennsylvania State University from Hershey Pennsylvania, is pursuing her undergraduate degree in special education with a minor in deafness and hearing loss studies. Inspired by her own diagnosis of autism later on in life. She is determined to fulfill her lifelong dream of teaching, advocating for students with disabilities and giving them better support and education than she received. With continued support from her family, including her beloved parents and friends, Jenna likes spending time with loved ones, including her four dogs and 3 cats, and enjoying her passion for helping those affected by cancer. As she begins her student teaching journey, she is forever grateful for all the knowledge and experiences she has gained and is excited to continue to learn and grow as an educator.
Profile
Rebecca Zinn
Undergraduate Student, Fourth-Year, Special Education
Rebecca Zinn is a junior studying Special Education at Pennsylvania State University. Growing up in a small town in the suburbs of New York City, Rebecca quickly learned that her older brother was different from the other older brothers she knew. Her brother’s story, alongside her parents' determination to give him his best chance, inspired Rebecca to start working with children when she was in middle school, and continuing that teaching, learning, and advocacy for the rest of her life. When she isn’t working with students or towards her degree, Rebecca spends her spare time involved in Jewish organizations, working as a Lifeguard, or playing guitar.
Profile
Courtney Kehoe
Undergraduate Student, Fourth-Year, Special Education
Courtney Kehoe is a current senior at Penn State University, originally from Rockledge, PA in Montgomery County. She is in the undergraduate Special Education program, graduating in Spring 2024. She has wanted to teach for as long as she can remember and is looking forward to pursuing her dreams in her beloved hometown this coming year. When she is not in the classroom, she enjoys listening to music, watching Philadelphia sports with her family, and spending time with loved ones.
Profile
Karla Armendariz
Doctoral Student, Third-Year, Communication Science and Disorders
Karla, a Mexican cisgender female, is a doctoral candidate and bilingual speech-language pathologist. Her expertise lies in augmentative and alternative communication research, particularly for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities, with a specific focus on culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Karla's deep commitment to her work is reflected in her hands-on experience within the community, having served as a paraprofessional, worked with a theater company for exceptional students, and served as a program director for a nonprofit dedicated to supporting autistic adults.
Profile
Ava Herr
Undergraduate Student, Third-Year, Special Education
Bio forthcoming
Profile
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Nayma Sultana Mim
Doctoral Student, First-Year, Special Education
Nayma Sultana Mim is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in Special Education from Pennsylvania State University after earning her bachelor’s and master’s degree in special education from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. As a South Asian Muslim international student in the United States, Nayma currently focusing on the experience of South Asian families who are seeking special education services for their children aiming to strengthen teacher education through her research works. Nayma is the youngest daughter of her parents and has two elder sisters who pushed her to achieve her dreams amidst of thousands financial and social challenges. She is married to a wonderful man, Oheen who also prioritizes her dreams and supports her in her hardest days. Nayma loves to cook traditional foods, wear traditional clothes, enjoy watching crime documentaries, and socialize with her loved ones physically and virtually in her spare time.
Profile
Millie Rodriguez
Doctoral Student, First-Year, Special Education
Millie Rodríguez is a Special Education PhD student at Penn State. She is an experienced educator and perpetual learner. She received her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, English and Communications from Penn State, a Master of Science in Education, Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Scranton, and a post-baccalaureate certificate in Educating Individuals with Autism from Penn State. Millie taught English/Language Arts and Reading Intervention for fourteen years. Millie grew up in Queens, NY, and now lives in State College with her three children and furry baby. In the future, she looks forward to pursuing research related to twice exceptionality and transition to higher education.
Engaging Community in the Development and Implementation of the Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy Project for Early Childhood Education
This project, in collaboration with Dr. Christy Tirrell-Corbin at the University of Maryland, aimed to engage early childhood educators and community members of a local suburban Maryland elementary school serving predominantly Latinx and Black students and their families. The goal of this community-based participatory research was to engage in, and understand, the evidence-building cycle of program development, implementation, and effectiveness evaluation of the Trauma Sensitive Pedagogy (TSP) curriculum for early childhood educators. Given that most context- and community-specific relevant factors are often missed with the implementation of large-scale trauma-informed interventions, our project involved the voices of the many school and community participants in designing TSP. Evidence-informed mechanisms of change were infused alongside community-level factors that were tested at the pre-scale-up stage to understand what program components required consistency in delivery and what considerations can be made to tailor delivery based on community needs.
Profile
Charles Alvarado
Doctoral Student, Educational Psychology
Charles Alvarado is in the 4th year of his doctoral program in Educational Psychology and in his second year as a Child Maltreatment T32 predoctoral fellow with the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network at Penn State. Since starting the program, Charles has focused his work on understanding the effects of adversity on reading comprehension processes using cognitive and neuroimaging methods. Thus far, he has published a first-author paper in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect titled, “Methodological inconsistencies confound understanding of language measurement in the child maltreatment population: A systematic review” and is working with his mentors and colleagues to develop two additional first-author papers. He is currently awaiting news regarding his most recent presentation submission for the American Psychological Association annual meeting, “Assessing heterogeneity in parent-child neural synchrony amid experiences of childhood adversity” and has contributed as a reviewer to academic journals, such as Child Maltreatment, Child Abuse & Neglect, and Journal of Child and Family Services. As he moves towards the end of his program and fellowship, Charles is considering a career in academia to continue his research pursuits and for opportunities to mentor undergraduate students. As a former middle school science teacher, he looks forward to collaborating with school stakeholders to inform and improve implemented trauma-informed initiatives.
Profile
JiHyo Kwok
Third-year Undergraduate, Neuroscience
Originally from South Korea, this is JiHyo's third year participating in LASR (Learning, Adversity, and Self-Regulation) Lab. She is primarily interested in brain development of childhood, adolescents within history of adversity and their cognitive, emotional development.
Sustainable Professional Learning for Indigenous Character Education Partnership between Navajo Nation Department of Dine Education and Penn State University
The purpose of this project is to gain valuable insights into the ways research institutions can partner with Indigenous nations/communities to support Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. The partnership has followed the lead of the Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education’s (NNDODE) goals to create curriculum and assessments for Diné content standards to support the implementation of the Diné School Accountability Plan as the Navajo Nation becomes a state education agency and restructures the educational relationship with the U.S. Department of Education. Our project team’s specific task is to create and implement curriculum and assessments for the Diné Character Building standards. We currently work with 7-10 Navajo Nation teachers and the Office of Diné School Improvement who have participated in two summer workshops, two mid-year meetings, and monthly meetings throughout the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic school years. In the presentation, I will expand on two important considerations as to why this research and work is important:
1. There is a fraught historical relationship between research universities and Indigenous nations/communities that include assimilative education, colonizing research, and exploitive partnering. This project is a process of healing this relationship and has the potential to inform educational, research, and partnership theory and practice for other research universities and Indigenous nations/communities.
2. The Navajo Nation’s inclusion of Diné content standards that supports Diné character building in their schools is creating a pathway for other Indigenous nations to follow. There is very limited research on Indigenous character building curriculum and assessments in the literature. To do this work through Indigenous ways of knowing is difficult because we are trying to use it in a Western educational structure. There are parameters we are working within and findings ways to stretch them.
Project Team:
Dorthea Litson, Educational Specialist, NNDODE Office of Diné School Improvement, and Dr. Logan Rutten, Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, and PSU COE Alumni