2026 autumn Impact Update
Grants, honors and awards
Strategic plans amplify mission impact and elevate us from excellence to eminence. That’s why our newest plan, built with widespread input from across our college community, is already elevating our momentum. We are aligning our resources to advance our purpose to support education, health and wellness and economic vitality.
We structured our plan around six core areas: academic excellence, student success, research and innovation, outreach and engagement, talent and culture and operational excellence. The plan fuels the groundbreaking work happening across our college every day.
The following achievements showcase some of our latest work — tangible proof of how our intentional leadership and collective purpose are supporting innovation and excellence.
Academic Excellence
Appova wins Fulbright to Türkiye
Aina Appova, Associate Professor of Secondary Education specializing in mathematics education, Ohio State Marion Regional Campus, has been awarded a prestigious 2026–2027 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award to Türkiye. The Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award is one of the most competitive and respected international exchange programs.
Through her research, Appova aims to improve K-8 preservice teachers’ development of multiplicative and algebraic reasoning content. Her work in Türkiye will contribute to international dialogue in mathematics education while building meaningful, cross-cultural and institutional partnerships.
Ford and Moore most prolific authors on research about gifted education
Donna Y. Ford, Distinguished Professor of Gifted and Special Education, and James L. Moore III, Professor of School Counseling, were named in the top 10 of most prolific authors of research articles on gifted education. The analysis looked at 3,577 research articles on gifted education from the Scopus database published between 2005 and 2025.
During that period, Ford had the most publications — 61 — which was far ahead of all other researchers. Bibliometric analysis is now considered a critical tool for defining the intellectual pathways and patterns in gifted education research. The study was published in the journal Social Sciences and Humanities.
Granello honored by International Association of Wellness Counseling
Paul Granello, Associate Professor of School Counseling, won the Top Counselor Educator Award from the International Association of Wellness Counseling. The IAWC Wellness Counseling Counselor Educator of the Year Award recognizes a counselor educator who has made a significant impact on wellness counseling through teaching, mentorship, research, and advocacy.
Granello is honored for integrating wellness principles into counselor preparation and inspiring emerging counselors to adopt a holistic, strengths-based approach. He demonstrates a wellness focus on excellence in teaching, mentorship, scholarly contribution, professional leadership and advocacy.
Moore recognized by national organization
James L. Moore III, Professor of School Counseling, has received a new award from the National Career Development Association. In July, he was inducted as a Fellow, the first and only recipient from Ohio State to receive this honor.
As further recognition, the National Career Development Association, a division of the American Counseling Association, inducted Moore in 2026. Since 2018, multiple faculty were inducted each year as fellows. This year, Moore had the distinction of being the sole honoree.
Student success
New Applied Behavior Analysis MA gaining high enrollment
The college’s Special Education faculty, under the leadership of Professor Peter Paul, Professor Sheila Morgan and Clinical Assistant Professor Alana Telesman, have launched a new master’s program in Applied Behavior Analysis.
With accreditation by the Association for Behavior Analysis International Accreditation Board, the program is in great demand.
As practitioners, graduates gain the knowledge and skills needed to develop and implement evidence-based behavioral interventions. These interventions aim to improve socially significant behavior across a wide range of diverse learners in applied settings.
$1.9M grant to boost Ohio behavioral health through scholarships
Beverly Vandiver, Professor of Human Development and Family Science, and Brett Zyromski, Associate Professor of Counselor Education, received a grant from the Ohio Behavioral Health Scholarship Program to fund 129 students to earn master's degrees with full tuition paid. The purpose is to expand the region's pipeline of specialized clinicians to address behavioral health needs.
Students may choose the college’s new master’s track in Counselor Education concentrating on either Clinical Mental Health Counseling or Clinical Mental Health Addictions Counseling. Or they may choose Couple and Family Therapy with specialization in behavioral health.
Outreach and External Engagement
Gilson honored by Council for Exceptional Children, conducts outreach
Carly Blustein Gilson, Associate Professor of Special Education, won the 2026 Martin J. Kaufman Distinguished Early Career Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children, Division for Research, in May.
Gilson’s recent research focus is on developing inclusive postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She also has a major grant award from the U.S. Department of Special Education, via the University of Oklahoma, with Matthew Brock, Professor of Special Education.
They are creating professional development that helps educators and support teams better prepare students for the transition to higher education and employment.
Research and Innovation
Study shows most parent violence is waged again school administrators
A study by Eric Anderman, Professor of Educational Psychology, has shown that parents direct more threats to school administrators than teachers.
Seventy-seven percent of administrators reported such experiences, nearly 3.5 times the rate reported by teachers.
A member of the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Violence Against Teachers and School Personnel, Anderman conducted the study with faculty colleagues at DePaul University; University of California, Berkeley; Rutgers University; Hunter College; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; and University of California, Los Angeles.
Bruno honored for research as Nutrition Fellow by national society
Rich Bruno, the Kennedy Endowed Professor of Human Nutrition, was recognized as a 2026 Excellence in Nutrition Fellow by the National Society for Nutrition at the organization’s July conference in National Harbor, Maryland.
Bruno’s research has had a significant impact on the field during his career. His findings have also delivered meaningful service to society. With over two decades of experience as a nutrition biochemist and registered dietitian, he is internationally recognized for advancing an understanding of the cardioprotective benefits of bioactive food components and functional foods.
How educational media develops early childhood STEM interest
Rebecca Dore, Director of Research, Crane Center on Early Childhood Research and Policy, is co-principal investigator on a new grant from the National Science Foundation. Working with James Bonus, associate professor of communication, she will examine how educational media on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube shape interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among children ages 2 to 5.
The researchers aim to provide new insight into how digital media can serve as an informal learning environment before children enter formal schooling.
$1.22M grant data about faculty religious identities now open access
The impact of this grant project conducted by Matthew J. Mayhew, the Flesher Professor of Educational Administration and Higher Education, continues.
The Including Faculty on Religious, Spiritual and Secular Mattering (InFORM) project is a national, mixed-methods study, supported by the Templeton Religion Trust. With religious perspectives prominent in United States conversations, the focus is to clarify how these college and university faculty identities shape their teaching, research and service.
The InFORM team surveyed 1,048 faculty members from 274 colleges and universities across the United States. The team also conducted 100 in-depth interviews with faculty representing a wide range of religious, spiritual and secular worldviews.
The de-identified InFORM data and supporting documentation is now publicly available through the Association of Religion Data Archives. Researchers may conduct additional analyses and extend the project’s contributions.
Mayhew inducted as Fellow by Association for Study of Higher Education
Professor Matthew Mayhew will be inducted into the second class of Fellows of ASHE in November. The ceremony will take place at the association’s annual conference.
Mayhew is being recognized for his outstanding teaching and research, as exemplified by the InFORM study described previously. He is also engaged in multiple other studies, including Bridging Academic Training Through Experiential Research and Innovation, funded by the National Science Foundation, and Drive to Thrive: Student Success in Career and Technical STEM Education, funded by the ECMC Foundation.
Crossley, Pinkerton receive national research award
Lisa Pinkerton, Clinical Associate Professor, and Jared S. Crossley, Assistant Professor at Ohio State Marion Regional Campus, both specializing in Elementary and Secondary Education, received the December 2025 Children’s Literature Assembly Research Award.
Their winning study examined how international wordless picturebooks foster empathy, intercultural understanding and visual literacy.