Huntington Hall
Spring 2024

Research & Creative Showcase

beth ferri sits at her deskThere is much to share in this Spring 2024 Research and Creative Showcase. From our latest faculty awards and grants, to four new books on display on our Faculty Bookshelf, to a host of signature focused publications, I think you will agree that we are off to an impressive start in 2024!

We also are beginning to see the fruits of our SOE Re-design in the inaugural Signature Seed Grant awardees and the cross-cutting signature publications, all of which demonstrate the potential of breaking down our departmental silos and engaging in cross disciplinary research around important educational issues related to equity, inclusion, and antiracism.

We also had a very successful second annual Graduate Student Research Symposium—featuring panel and poster presentations from SOE graduate students—that illustrated the ways our students are taking up our signatures of antiracist and inclusive pedagogy and practice and experiential and digital pedagogy and practice.

I have highlighted* publications that represent faculty and student/alum collaborations, as well as our SOURCE faculty research assistant grants for undergraduate researchers. As we continue to implement our Academic Strategic Plan and work more intentionally to expand research opportunities for students and to advance our research presence in the field, we are finding new opportunities to work and learn together through our research.

It is an exciting and critically important time to be engaging in work that centers our values and our most radical hope for a more just vision of education for all.

Beth A. Ferri, ADR

 

Recent Awards/Honors

 

Jing Lei will become the President Elect of the Society of International Chinese in Educational Technology (SICET).

Melissa Luke received the 2024 American Counselor Association (ACA) Extended Research Award.

Dawn Johnson was named a Senior Scholar Diplomate by the American College Personnel Association.

David Pérez II was awarded the 2023 Pearson Excellence in Higher Education Awards.

 

Grants

 

External Grants

Christy Ashby (PI). Midstate Regional Partnership, NYSED (2024; $7.3M).

David Pérez II (co-PI). S-STEM: Roadmap into Syracuse Engineering Undergraduate Programs and the Profession (RISE UP2), NSF (2024, $100K).

Craig Tucker (PI). Foster Youth College Success Initiative, NYSED (2024, $35K).

Craig Tucker (PI). Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), NYSED (2024, $2M).

SOURCE Faculty Research Assistant Grants

*Ben Dotger (PI), Jen Heckathorn G’22, and Tiago Barreira (co-PIs) received a SOURCE grant for Simulation Physiology Data Science and Center for Experiential Pedagogy and Practice Undergraduate Research Opportunity ($7,750).

Wendy Moy (PI) received a SOURCE grant for Singing for Social Consciousness: Music for the K-8 Classroom ($2,074).

Dalia Rodriguez (PI) received a SOURCE grant for Flat-footed Truths: BIPOC Women’s Testimonials/Testimonios on Love, Spirituality, and Building Community ($8,761).

Xiaoxia (Silvie) Huang (PI) received a SOURCE grant for Designing and Evaluating Virtual Reality Environments to Facilitate Cognitive, Affective, and Motivational Learning Processes ($13,997).

SOE Signature Seed Grants

Bong Gee Jang, Qiu Wang, Dawn Johnson, and Yanhong Liu received an inaugural Signature Seed Grant for their collaborative project, How Can Educational Inequities Caused by Racial Wealth Gap Be Reduced? A Critical Quantitative Analysis of Individual, Home, and School Factors ($4,500).

*Christy Ashby, Ben Dotger, Bong Gee Jang, and doctoral student Emilee Baker received an inaugural Signature Seed Grant for their collaborative project, Benefits of Alumni Mentor Teacher Modeling: An Exploration of Study Away ($4,940).

Joan N. Burstyn Collaborative Research Awardees

Xiaoxuan Qu and Melissa Luke received funding for Cross-Cultural Mentorship in Counselor Education: A Narrative Inquiry.

Stephen Caviness, Lauren Ashby G’23, and Nicole Fonger received funding for their Data Warriors project.

 

Faculty Bookshelf

 
Book Cover of Making Algebra Meaningful

Nicole Fonger’s forthcoming book Making Algebra Meaningful: A Visual Approach to Math Literacy for All is available for preorder (August 2024, Teachers College Press). In her highly visual exploration, Fonger draws on four research “lenses” to explore how to make algebra meaningful by focusing on “ambitious, equitable, and antiracist” algebra instruction.

Cover of Resurrecting Song

Wendy K. Moy published Resurrecting Song: A Pathway Forward for the Choral Art in the Time of Pandemics (2024, Routledge). Documenting both the COVID pandemic experiences and the lessons learned from surviving and thriving this challenging time, Moy’s book showcases the resilience of choral music and helps point the way to new directions for the choral community in the wake of the pandemic.

Book cover of The School Leaders Our Children Deserve

George Theoharis published the second edition of The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: 7 Keys to Equity, Social Justice, and School Reform (2024,Teachers College Press). In this updated edition of his bestselling book on school leadership, equity, and social justice, Theoharis draws on the experiences of successful school principals to show why social justice leadership is foundational for creating more equitable schools.

Book cover of Indebted Mobilities

Susan Thomas published Indebted Mobilities: Indian Youth, Migration, and the Internationalizing University (2024, University of Chicago Press). Following a group of middle class male Indian migrant university students, Thomas explores the concept of “indebtedness,” which keeps the participants in her study tied to both India and the United States and helps them make sense of their experiences as student-migrants.

 

Signature-focused Publications

 

Inclusive & Antiracist Pedagogy & Practice

Barbara Applebaum published “Pedagogical Uptake: Credibility, Intelligibility, and Agency” in Studies in the Philosophy of Education, where she explores the notion of pedagogical uptake under the conditions of systemic oppression with implications for practice.

Beth A. Ferri co-authored “Expanding Critical Perspectives on Disability and Education” in Teachers College Record. In this invited commentary in TCR’s 125th Anniversary Commemorative Issue, Ferri (and Connor) illustrate the importance of the journal in fostering the development of disability studies in education and pose future directions for the field.

Bong Gee Jang and co-authors published “Science of Literacies: Meaning Making & Critical Pragmatism in the Postdigital Age” in the Journal of Literacy Research. In this special topic of the journal, Jang and colleagues argue for the need to reject approaches to literacy that reify deficit perspectives of minoritized groups and their literacy practices.

Dawn Johnson co-authored “A Path Forward: Addressing Current Issues in Campus Racial Climate Research and Practice” in the Journal of College Student Development. In their anniversary essay, Johnson and colleagues highlight scholarship that informs and offers strategies for pursuing equity-centered work in the context of threats to racial climate on college campuses.

*Beth Myers and Phillandra Smith G’22 co-authored “Narrating Access and Agency: Students with Intellectual Disability Share Their Experiences with Higher Education” in Remedial and Special Education. Their study focuses on factors that students with intellectual disabilities (ID) identify as contributing to their ability to access course content and experience success in their university courses. The pair also co-authored “Instructor Experiences Providing Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Intellectual Disability in Inclusive Higher Education” in the International Journal of Inclusive Education, where they document the experiences of university instructors in modifying course content and implementing accommodations for students with ID and suggest areas for professional development.

David Pérez II and colleagues published “Reimagining Student Success: Using Anti-deficit Approaches to Educate Scholar-Practitioners in Higher Education” in the Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice. Pérez and colleagues explore the value of anti-deficit research and perspectives in fostering student success, particularly for students from minoritized backgrounds.

Digital & Experiential Pedagogy & Practice

Moon-Heum Cho and co-authors published “Predicting Students’ Negative Emotions in College Remedial Mathematics Courses” in the European Journal of Psychology of Education. Cho et al explore the effects of age, motivation, and self-regulation on boredom, frustration, and test anxiety in students enrolled in a remedial math course.

Bong Gee Jang co-authored “Soccer Literacy: A Construct Linking Soccer Video Games Play to Soccer Engagement” in Sport Marketing Quarterly. Jang and colleague investigate whether playing soccer video games promotes soccer engagement or influences players’ self-perceptions of soccer literacy.

*Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Sharon Dotger, and Janine Nieroda, along with emerita Kathy Hinchman and Heather Waymouth G’08, G’19, Keith Newvine ’04, G’08, G’22, Molly Lahr ’14, G’15, and Michael Crosby ’08, G’11 published “Using Design-based Research to Adjust Lesson Study with Pre-Service Teacher Candidates” in the International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies. Applying design-based research methods, the team studied the implementation of lesson study with pre-service teachers to support their attention to disciplinary literacy.

*Tiffany Koszalka and graduate student Garmondyu Whorway published “Development and Validation of a Learner Interactions Observation Checklist (BOC)” in the American Journal of Distance Education. Koszalka and Whorway developed and validated an observational checklist to track learner interaction behaviors during instruction.

*Yanhong Liu co-authored “An Integrated Health and Wellness Model in a College Setting: A Path Analysis Pilot Investigation” in the Journal of College Student Mental Health. Liu and her colleagues (including doctoral candidate Si Gao) examined university students’ engagement in mindfulness and recreation activities, pet therapies, and counseling services as part of an integrated health and wellness program on depression outcomes.

*Derek X. Seward and doctoral candidate Xiaoxuan Qu co-authored “Exploring Classical Adlerian Practitioners’ Professional Identity Development: A Phenomenological Study” in the Journal of Individual Psychology. Seward and Qu explore how practitioners identifying with classical Adlerian principles integrate their theoretical orientation with their professional identities as counselors.

*Qiu Wang and colleagues (including Ruohan Feng G’21) published “Adaptation and Validation of the Mindful Student Questionnaire in Chinese” in Mindfulness. Wang et al tested the psychometric properties of a 15-item, three-factor questionnaire to assess mindfulness among Chinese adolescents in a school setting.

Cross-cutting Signature Publications

*Ben Dotger and co-authors (including Justin Freedman G’18) published “Use of Simulated Discussions of Postsecondary Accommodations to Inform Self-advocacy Instruction” in Learning Disabilities Research and Practice. Dotger and colleagues investigated how participating in SIMs facilitated students’ ability to assess their self-advocacy and identify changes they would make in future conversations with faculty about accommodations.

Alan Foley published the chapter “Understanding Technology Access for People with Intellectual Disability Through Participatory Action Research” in A Research Agenda for Disability and Technology (Edward Elgar, 2024). Foley explores participatory action research (PAR) as an approach to technology development with and for people with intellectual disability and highlights the potential of PAR in challenging ableism and creating more inclusive research and higher education environments.

Publicly Engaged Scholarship

Nicole Fonger launched Data Warriors, a youth-centered, community-engaged research group that brings local high school students, teachers, and SOE faculty and student researchers together to use STEM learning and GIS mapping technologies to advance meaningful mathematics learning and to advocate for environmental and social justice. The group has hosted several community events, workshops, and exhibits focusing on lead poisoning, safe housing, and the longstanding and deleterious effects of urban planning decisions. See examples of Fonger’s antiracist and culturally sustaining algebra work, as well as her blog and sketchnotes.

Courtney Mauldin, along with colleagues Brice Nordquist and Rochele Royster, received a MetLife Foundation-Lender Center Racial Wealth Grant for their project Syracuse Futures, to study how universities and community organizations can partner in offering arts and humanities programming and college and career support to historically marginalized communities.