May 2017

- Vivian Smith, a member of our College of Public Service Staff working in the Social Work program received a grant from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning for a project with Dr. Jerry Wallace, Director of the Male Minority Recruitment Program and the East Side University Adult Education and Development in the Third Ward of Houston. 

- Beverly Alford, Franklin Allaire, Nina Barbieri, and Laura Mitchell will serve as Book Review Editors for the Journal of Family Strengths beginning in Fall, 2017. 

- Related to his work with twice gifted and gifted and talented curriculum, education, and advocacy, Matt Fugate has been appointed to the Planning and Steering Committee, for the Gifted Plus State Conference for the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented (TAGT). Matt will also serve as the Publications Chair of the Research Division for TAGT and the Publications Co-Chair for the Special Populations Network of the National Association for Gifted Children. 

- Krista Gehring is participating on a panel titled "Comics in Academia" at the Comicpalooza conference at the George R. Brown Convention Center in May. 

- Ron Beebe co-edited a book titled, Expanding Opportunities to Link Research and Clinical Practice: A volume in Professional Development School Research along with Professor Emeritus, Janice Nath. the book is now available from Information Age Publishing, Inc.

- Kevin buckler's manuscript, "Pondering personal privacy: A pragmatic approach to the Fourth Amendment protection of privacy in the information" was published in the Contemporary Justice Review.

- Bernardo Pohl's paper, "Narratives From the Field: Special Education at the Margins of Social Justice," was accepted for presentation at the American Educational Research Conference. 

- Heather Echols and Kristen Shuck, students in Diane Miller's course and members of the Be-A-Teacher Club have received a grant from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning to fund their project titled, "High-5 Community Library Program."

- Jace Valcore has conceived and will offer an interactive workshop and continuing education credit to improve understanding of gender and sexual diversity and provide guidance on how to serve LGBTQ clients and students. The workshop will take place at UHD on May 26, 4-7 p.m.

- Matt Fugate's symposia, "Making Gifted Education More Inclusive," and "Cross Cultural Instrumentation for Gifted Education Research and Programs" have been accepted for presentation at the 2017 World Council for Gifted and Talented Children Conference. 

- Matt Fugate has been invited to present at the Hormel Foundation Gifted and Talented Symposium and the Louisiana Lagniappe Conference; He will share his work on twice-exceptional students, understanding underachievement in gifted students, and identifying and helping Attention Divergent Hyperactive Gifted Students succeed.

- Ron Beebe's paper, "Unexpected Outcomes: Classroom-based Research and Social Justice," was accepted for presentation at the American Educational Research Association Conference.

- Update on Urban Education graduates: Jacob Cerda was honored by his school in Galena Park ISD as Rookie Teacher of the Year. Brittany Walker and April Townsend were honored as Teachers of the Year by their schools in Alief ISD. 

- Urban Education students, Ignacio Gamez and Guadalupe Barrera presented their project, "Changing the Statistics of minority Children by Training STEM Teachers for Elementary Schools" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Laura Mitchell presented her project, "Reach Aloud and Classroom Library" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- John Kelly and Urban Education students, Danielle Herrera, Nara Roth, and Rahlita White presented their project, "County Juvenile Detention Center/UHD Literacy Project: A High-Impact Practice" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Stephen Wernet presented his project, "Collaborative Research Projects in a HIP-Writing Intensive Course" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Angela Goins and her students, Marjorie Victor, Daisy Morales, and Angela Ramon presented a round-table quick talk, "Service Learning Experience for SOCW 3331 at Sheltering Arms Working With Older Adults with Dementia" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Heather Goltz and Dawn McCarty presented a round-table quick talk, "The Disparities in Health in America Summer Workshop and Social Work Course: A Strategy for Embedding 'Diversity' into Competencies-Based Education" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement showcase.

- John Kelly, Laura Mitchell, and Bernardo Pohl presented a round-table quick talk, "the Impact of a Service-Learning Project Involving Pre-Service Teachers Working With Incarcerated Youth" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Maria Bhattacharjee, Irene Chen, and Susan Paige presented a round-table quick talk, "E-Bilingual Library to Support Reading in Our Community" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase.

- Stephen Wernet and Megan Hopwood presented a round-table quick talk, "Information Literacy and Informatics in a Gateway, Core Course" at the High-Impact Practices and Community Engagement Showcase. 

- Diane Miller hosted students Rebecca Lavergne, Heather Echols, and Monica Banda along with Christal Burnett, Amelia Hewitt, Leigh Van Horn, Ron Beebe, Louis Evans, and Steven Villano at the Houston Public Library Foundation Annual Benefit Luncheon. Diane was awarded the table in honor of her work on Houston Public Library literacy initiatives. 

- College of Public Service Advising Center Advisor, Mercedes Gonzales, presented a session titled, "I'm Just an Advisor: Proactive Advising Model Applications to Enhance the Advising Experience" at the UHD Advising Symposium. 

- College of Public Service Advising Center Advisor, Lee Smith, presented a session with Spencer Lightsy titled, "Collaboration to Improve Transfer Thursday" at the UHD Advising Symposium. 

- Department of Urban Education Pathways to Teaching Advisor, Tream Charvis, presented a session titled "Molding the Mindset of Students and Advisors" at the UHD Advising Symposium.

- Distance Advisors Kimberly Constantine and Maria Estrada, and Urban Education faculty member, Diane Miller presented a session titled, "Distance Education: The 5C's of Student Success" at the UHD Advising Symposium. 

- Angela Goins received an award from the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence for her High-Impact Practice proposal titled, "Research in Aging-Issues That Impact the Growing Older Adult Population in the U.S. and its Implications for Society."

- Heather Goltz received an award from the Center for teaching and Learning Excellence for her High-Impact Practice proposal titled, "Introducing Undergraduate Students to Health Disparities Research and Public Health Practice."

- Rebecca Pfeffer received an award from the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence for her High-Impact Practice proposal titled, "Educating Locally About Human Trafficking Globally: A Community Research Showcase."

- Leigh Van Horn, Rebecca Pfeffer, and Laura Mitchell, along with FTIC students in Criminal Justice and Urban Education and students from the Urban Educator's Literacy Society and the Professional Society for Criminal Justice Students hosted a Family Literacy Event at the House of Tiny Treasures on April 6, 2017.

- Christal Burnett and her students in the evening BED 3311 Foundations of English as a Second Language (ESL) course hosted President Munoz for a brief visit on April 24th. 

- Hsiao-Ming Wang's paper, "Citizens' Perception of Contract Deputy Program: An Exploratory Study in a Southern Urban County in the United States" was accepted for presentation at the Asian Association of Police Studies Annual Meeting. 

- Diane Miller's program, Camino a la Universidad engaging five UHD students in the mentorship of twenty 7th and 8th grade female students at Arnold Middle School will visit the university on May 15th. 

- Lisa Carpenter and her mentor, Ashley Blackburn, were honored at the 2017 Community Engagement Luncheon for their project, "Money Management Course" at the Santa Maria Hostel. 

- 2016-2017 Service Learning Faculty from the College of Public Service were recognized during the 2017 Community Engagement Luncheon; Barbara Belbot, Maria Bhattacharjee, Damaris Cortez, Angela Goins, Heather Goltz, Judith Harris, Shanaz Savani, Dana Smith. 

- College of Public Service Partners from Santa Maria Hostel, Sheltering Arms Senior Services in the Fifth Ward Enrichment Program attended the 2017 Community Engagement Luncheon. 

- Thank you to the following for your participation in the well-attended College of Public Service Open House on April 8, 2017: Myrna Cohen, Maria Bhattacharjee, Damaris Cortez, Nina Barbieri, Mayra Santos (UE student), Jacque Camarillo (SW student), Keylin Galardo (CJ student), Anna Esparza, Mercedes Gonzales, Terrilyn Ratcliff, Barbara Belbot, Beth Gilmore, Angie Goins, Lee Smith, and Krista Gehring. 

- Nina Barbieri received notice that her Service Learning Proposal for CS 3306 was accepted for course designation and funding in the Fall, 2017 semester by the center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.

- Maria Bhattacharjee received notice that her Service learning Proposal for two sections of PED 3314 was accepted for course designation and funding in the Fall, 2017 semester by the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning.

- Laura Mitchell received notice that her Service Learning Proposals for READ 3317 and PED 3314 were accepted for course designation and funding in the Fall, 2017 semester by the Center for Community Engagement and Service.