Jan. 12, 2021

MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN

We all hoped for a more positive start to this new year, but then we watched with horror as the mob at the nation’s Capitol put the ugliness and terror of white privilege on full display for the entire world to see.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” Last Wednesday will be a day we can never forget. And now, it is time to double down on our responsibility as educators, and citizens, to advance racial equity and social justice. I am encouraged by the thoughtful guidance from our Ending Inequities Committee, as shared in my last memo, and ask that we each do our part to reject racism and work toward a more perfect union.

As classes resume, your colleagues and our students will need your continued compassion with the ongoing racial tensions and a pandemic ever impacting more people in our circle. With the vaccine being rolled out, I remain hopeful and grateful to work with colleagues dedicated to ending inequities in education and health during this unprecedented time in our country’s history.

Onward with health and heart,
Bob

Banner: “One in a Million” by Vincent Valdez, part of the UH System’s public art collection

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

• Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday — Monday, Jan. 18
• First day of spring classes — Tuesday, Jan. 19
• Job talks — Each one is 10-11:15 a.m. Zoom links in this folder.
  • Higher Education (Louis) — Wednesday, Jan. 13
  • Science Education (Rodriguez) — Wednesday, Jan. 13
  • K-12 (Diem) — Thursday, Jan. 14
  • K-12 (Dennis) — Friday, Jan. 15
  • Higher Education (Jones) —Tuesday, Jan. 19
  • Science Education (Demir) — Wednesday, Jan. 20
  • K-12 (Nelson) — Wednesday, Jan. 20
  • Science Education (Deniz) — Thursday, Jan. 21
  • K-12 (Shockley) — Thursday, Jan. 21
  • Higher Education (Bonner) — Monday, Jan. 25

DEAN’S OFFICE

Business/Finance

•    Managers must complete ePerformance documents to forward to senior managers by Friday, Jan. 29.

Communications

• If you plan to post photos of students on social media, please have them sign a photo release form at the start of the semester (the “six months” option, found on the COE intranet). Email copies or OneDrive link to Kathy Patnaude.

OFFICES OF UNDERGRADUATE & GRADUATE STUDIES

• Please remind students that the COE scholarship application opens Tuesday, Jan. 19. The deadline to apply is Sunday, Feb. 28 at 11:59 p.m. There are scholarships applicable to students in all departments. The UH Writing Center has staff available to assist students with the required essay. This application period is for funds to be distributed in 2021-22.

DEPARTMENTS

Editor’s note: Department kudos will resume in February.

COE IN THE NEWS

• Check out the latest media clips, featuring Ezemenari Obasi (PHLS) and Christopher Burnett (ERC).

STAFF SPOTLIGHT

As director of assessment and accreditation services, Qiong “June” Zhou is our go-to source for data in the College. Born in China, Zhou earned a master’s in instructional design from The University of Akron in Ohio and a Ph.D. in educational psychology with an emphasis in research, measurement and statistics from Texas A&M University in 2013. She started working for the College the next year.

How is your job fulfilling?
I’m very satisfied here. My peers, they’re all wonderful people — very knowledgeable, very friendly. I’m a foreigner, and I feel at home here working at COE.

What do you do in your spare time?
I like cooking spicy food, eating and traveling. I have a 9-year-old daughter, so I spend most of my leisure time with my family. We love Houston very much. Sometimes we go to the beach during the weekend.

What are your future goals?
I would like to learn more about some of the data visualization software. There’s still a lot of things I can improve.

Learn more in the Q&A.

OFFICE OF RESEARCH

Announcements

To ensure that the College of Education’s Office of Research has line of sight to potential projects, an internal proposal routing form is required for all projects in which faculty are identified as senior/key/other personnel members. All applicable sections of the form (found on the COE intranet) must be completed in detail, and the document must be signed/acknowledged.

The completed proposal routing form should be emailed to the research liaison officer in the COE Office of Research to initiate the routing process. The form is electronically routed, using MS Flow, through the approval chain and must be approved by each COE investigator’s department chair and the associate dean of research at least 10 days prior to the application’s submission due date. If the proposal includes buyout(s), approved course buyout(s) must accompany the completed internal routing form to initiate the approval process.

Any questions regarding the internal proposal routing form can be directed to the research liaison officer. Thank you for your understanding.

Awards

• Addressing Racism in the Juvenile Justice System Through a Hybrid Diversion Program. UH GEAR on Racism. $64,890. Virginia Snodgrass Rangel, PI (ELPS).
• Professional Services Agreement/Education Services Center (Region 4). TEA. $30,000 (incl. 8% IDC). Jacqueline Hawkins, PI (ELPS).
• CAREER: Broadening participation in STEM: A qualitative analysis of resilience experiences and strategies of Latina STEM majors in Hispanic serving institutions. NSF. $1,263,472 (incl. 55% IDC). Elsa Gonzalez, PI (ELPS).

Submissions

• (CORRECTION of proposal name) The Radical Reimagining of Preservice STEM Undergraduate Education: Building a Design Collaborative for Community Teacher Equity Development. NSF. $1,300,000 (incl. 55% IDC). Conra Gist, PI (CUIN), Jennifer Chauvot, co-PI (CUIN).
• Letting Everyone Achieve Dreams Service Learning Partnership. Spencer Foundation. $210,472 (incl. 15% IDC). Bradley Smith, PI (PHLS), Hanjoe Kim, co-investigator (PHLS).
• Raising Texas Teachers Through High Quality Clinical Field Experiences. Raise Your Hand Texas Foundation. $24,500 (incl. 5% IDC). Samuel Brower, PI (CUIN).
• SCC-Civic-PG Track B: Equitable Food-Security: Disaster-Resilient Supply Chains for Pandemics and Extreme Weather Events. NSF. $49,994 (incl. 55% IDC). Susie Gronseth, other (CUIN).
• Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers: Building Research and Policy Bridges for Diverse STEM Workforce. NSF. $100,000 (incl. 55% IDC). Conra Gist, PI (CUIN).
• NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning. NSF. $2,999,560 (incl. 55% IDC). Norma Olvera, PI (PHLS); Consuelo Arbona (PHLS), Heather Domjan (CUIN), Jeannette Alarcón (CUIN), co-investigators.
• Collaborative: 21st Century Gender Cognition in Young Children. NSF. $200,537 (incl. 55% IDC). Allison Master, PI (PHLS), Weihua Fan, co-investigator (PHLS).
• A Cultural Growth-Mindset Approach to Interest: Implications for Gender Gaps in Computer Science Participation. NSF. $20,665 (incl. 55% IDC). Allison Master, PI (PHLS).
• Innovative Technology Challenges for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. ITEC-STEM. NSF. $300,000 (incl. 55% IDC). Bulent Dogan, PI (CUIN); Sara McNeil (CUIN), Susie Gronseth (CUIN), Jie Zhang (CUIN), co-PIs.

Questions about the Dean’s Update? Email coecomm@uh.edu and emellon@uh.edu.