Boilermaker Educator

Summer 2023

Phil Vanfossen

Message from the Interim Dean

It’s a pleasure to share with you this latest edition of our e-magazine, Boilermaker Educator. This issue celebrates the scholarly excellence and productivity of folks in the College, as well as some fun facts about a few of our award-winning faculty and students. Let me highlight several and then you can “read all about it”:

  • Purdue University Faculty Awards Convocation: 17 College of Education faculty were recognized with 20 awards! College of Education faculty represent just 3% of Purdue’s total, but accounted for 15% of the total awards handed out!
  • The Dean’s Advocacy Council (DAC) met in May and the highlight of the day was our tour of the recently opened Center for Research and Equipment for Assistive Technology in Education (CREATE). Co-directors Jasmine Begeske and Jennifer Smith gave a presentation and a hands-on demonstration of adaptive technologies. I wish I had taken a video of the DAC members playing with bubble machines and cutting with adaptive scissors…
  • Indiana GEAR UP (INGU) represents the single largest external grant ever awarded to the College of Education—$24.5M! Led by research professor Virginia Bolshakova, INGU has two main goals: (1) to increase the number of students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education, and (2) to conduct research to better understand student STEM learning, persistence, and entry into college and careers.
  • Our Spring 2023 Teacher Pinning ceremony: We welcomed our newest alumni in May alongside us as Boilermaker Educators. Pay particular attention to the last line of the Teacher’s Creed: “I am a teacher. I change the world one student at a time.”

As I have shared previously, I’ve been using a metaphor from economics to encourage folks to share their successes. We can’t be viewed as a commodity seemingly interchangeable – like a bushel of wheat – with other Colleges of Education. Each and every story that follows celebrates what makes Purdue’s College of Education quinoa rather than wheat!

Please follow us on social media for regular news updates! And I wish you a great start to the 2023-24 school year – Boiler Up!

Phillip J. VanFossen
Interim Dean, College of Education

AWARDS AND GRANTS

Congratulations Jasmine Begeske AEAI President’s Award Recipient

Begeske receives AEAI President’s Award

Students work in the CREATE lab

CREATE: “All teachers need to know about assistive technology”

Wayne E Wright (left) Virak Chan (right)

Wright, Chan co-awarded Alatis Prize for research on multilingual education in Cambodia

Marcia Gentry

Gentry posthumously awarded 2022 LuAnn Aday Award

Congratulations to Jennifer Smith & Jasmine Begeske, Recipients of the Purdue University 2023 Focus Award - Faculty.

Smith, Begeske receive 2023 Focus Award for promoting accessibility, inclusion

Congratulations Trish Morita-Mullaney Purdue University 2023 Trailblazer Award Recipient

Morita-Mullaney receives a Purdue 2023 Trailblazer Award

Collaboration and News

Loeb Fountain in front of Beering Hall

STEM educators converge on Purdue campus for annual conference

Indiana GEAR UP students get outside the classroom and learn about water quality and biodiversity in the local school swamp.

Indiana GEAR UP: Creating doors and opportunities for students

Kristen Seward, Nielsen Pereira, and three other faculty standing at a podium in front of a grey backdrop.

Seward, Pereira give lecture honoring Gentry for LuAnn Aday Award

Nielsen Pereira

GER2I, Pereira & Seward: Changing life trajectories and influencing education

New “Boilermaker Educators”: Teacher Education Pinning Ceremony participants (Photo: Tate Kirgiss)

Newest teachers honored in College’s Teacher Pinning ceremony

Dan Shepardson

Retirement tribute to Dan Shepardson

Jordanian delegation toured the Purdue campus on a beautiful spring day, including a stop at the John Purdue statue.

Purdue’s College of Education hosts group of Jordanian higher educators, scholars

Fun & Different

A group of Indy 500 racers holding jugs of milk and smiling.

Boilermaker Educator serves twice as Indy 500 “Milk Person”

Siblings Brenda Sarmiento-Quezada and Alex Sarmiento, born and raised in Mexico City.

Brenda Sarmiento-Quezada featured on Netflix’s Taco Chronicles

Message from Tammy Maynard

Your visionary contributions have directly impacted the lives of our students, faculty and staff, providing them with extraordinary opportunities for growth, learning and discovery. Thank you!

Please consider giving to the College of Education – through your generosity, you will be supporting these initiatives:

  1. College of Education Dean’s Discretionary Fund (Area of Greatest Need) RF1134
  2. College of Education Scholarships Fund 003106
  3. College of Education Student Diversity Initiatives 006334
  4. College of Education Dean’s Advocacy Council Student Emergency Fund 027844

Tammy Maynard
Senior Director of Development

Tammy Maynard