Impact Update - January 2024

Mollie Blackburn, professor of Secondary Education, received the ELATE's Britton Award at last autumn’s annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) for her book titled Moving Across Differences: How Students Engage LGBTQ+ Themes in a High School Literature Class from SUNY Press.

The Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center, directed by Barbara Boone, earned a 2023 Partnership Organization Award for Promising Partnership Practices from the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. The engagement center, which operates under the college’s Center on Education and Training for Employment, received reviewer praise for its professional learning sessions for schools. They were considered well planned on topics that are challenging to districts and schools nationwide.

Matthew Brock, associate professor of Special Education, is completing a Fulbright Specialist position with the Autism Association of Mongolia. He was interviewed by multiple media outlets in the country, including this interview with Jargal Defacto, the host of three nationally televised programs in Mongolia.

Thomas Capretta, senior research associate, Ohio Statewide Family Engagement Center, a project of the college’s Center on Education and Training for Employment, was appointed to the State Advisory Panel for Exceptional Children for a three-year term. The panel advises the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce in meeting the needs of these children and providing stakeholder input into the development and implementation of policies, rules and practices.

The college’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Education Research and Policy, in partnership with the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University, launched the Big Ten Early Learning Alliance — an initiative among 14 universities to collaborate on early childhood research and promote the use of scientific evidence in policy and practice. Laura Justice, professor of Educational Psychology and Crane Center executive director, is a co-chair, along with Professor W. Stephen Barnett of the NIEER.

Sherman Hanna, professor of Consumer Sciences, was named the author with the most citations for his articles published in the Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning between 1990 and 2022. The article, “A Bibliometric Review of Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning Between 1990 and 2022," documents that Hanna had 35 articles in that span of time, compared to the next highest number of 21.

Samuel Hodge, professor of Kinesiology and Adapted Physical Education, took the helm as the first African-American president of the National Academy of Kinesiology last autumn. Hodge is well-known in the field. He is a Fellow of the academy, and his work in the organization and the field has propelled him into this position. He was inducted as a Fellow into the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education in 2016, the second-ever class of fellows for that organization. He was also the first African-American to receive the SHAPE America Scholar’s Award in 2016.

Sophia Jeong, assistant professor of Elementary and Secondary Education, and colleagues published the most-read article, in the journal CBE-Life Science Education, published by the American Society of Cell Biologists. Titled “Literature Reviews, Theoretical Frameworks, and Conceptual Frameworks: An Introduction for New Biology Education Researchers,” it has been downloaded more than 45,000 times since its publication in September 2022.

Timothy San Pedro, associate professor of Elementary and Secondary Education, was elected to the Board of Trustees for the National Council of Teachers of English Foundation. As a board member, he will review research proposals received from the field and support management of fiscal resources of the foundation.

Sue Sutherland, professor of Physical Education, and Brian Turner, professor of Sport Management, were both inducted as Fellows of the National Academy of Kinesiology this past autumn. The academy is the premier national association for academics who study the science of movement. Their induction brings the college’s Fellows to eight in the academy, strengthening the kinesiology program.