Hired

Matthew Burns

Matthew Burns joins the college’s Department of Educational Psychology as associate professor in school psychology. Burns received a Ph.D. in leadership from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Mich., and is a certified school psychologist in Michigan. Since 1999, Burns has worked at Central Michigan University as assistant and then associate professor of special education, during which time he received that institution’s Provost Award for Outstanding Research. His research has included pre-referral intervention teams and the use of curriculum-based assessment to evaluate students with reading difficulties.

Carole Gupton, interim director of the college’s office of Continuing Professional Studies, has been hired as director of that office for the next two years.

Lori Helman

Lori Helman is a new assistant professor in literacy education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She received a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction (literacy studies) from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she worked as an assistant professor and research and teaching assistant prior to joining the college. She is bilingual in Spanish with 16 years of bilingual teaching experience at the elementary school level, and has been a literacy coordinator and bilingual teacher in the Santa Cruz City Schools, Calif. Her research centers on early literacy development with a focus on students who are English language learners.

Gillian Roehrig

Gillian Roehrig joins the college’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction as an assistant professor in science education. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, Tucson, where she has worked as an instructor and teaching assistant. Most recently, she worked as an instructor at San Diego State University. Her research interests include effective professional development for secondary science teachers in urban, diverse settings, and incorporating “science as inquiry” into secondary and college science courses, focusing on the role of curriculum and technology.

Bhaskar Upadhyay

Bhaskar Upadhyay has been appointed assistant professor in science education in the college’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction. He received an Ed.M. in science education at Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y., and a Ph.D. in science education from the University of Texas at Austin, where he worked as an assistant instructor. Upadhyay is pursuing research in how teachers and students think about science and its relationship with technology and society, and on students’ cognitive processes in understanding science.

Transitions

Julie Kalnin, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, left the college in May to work at a charter school in St. Paul.

Susan Oswald has left her position as associate development officer to become a senior gift officer at Minnesota Public Radio. Oswald (B.S., ’87, elementary education) joined the college five years ago as alumni relations director.

Sheila Ruhland, assistant professor in the Department of Work, Community, and Family Education, left the college in May.

Susan Watts-Taffe has left her position in the college as associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She currently resides in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Promoted

Kenneth Bartlett, assistant professor in the Department of Work, Community, and Family Education, and Canan Karatekin, assistant professor in the Institute of Child Development, have both been promoted to associate professor with tenure.

Mary Bents has been promoted from assistant dean and director of Student & Professional Services to associate dean for undergraduate and professional programs.

Kathleen Cramer, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has been granted tenure.

Jean King, associate professor in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration, and Thomas Stoffregen, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology, have both been promoted to full professor.

Changing leadership

Professor John Romano has replaced Professor Frances Lawrenz as chair of the Department of Educational Psychology.

Michael Wade, professor and director of the School of Kinesiology, has replaced Roland Peterson, professor of agricultural education, as chair of the Department of Work, Community, and Family Education. Wade remains director of the School of Kinesiology.

Honored

Mary Bents, associate dean for undergraduate and professional programs, has been elected president of the Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (MACTE).

Julie Black Elk, graduate student in counseling and student personnel psychology, won honorable mention from the American Psychological Association’s Division 45 (Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues) for her poster presentation, “Warriors Within.”

An article by Sandra Christenson, school psychology professor, “The Family-School Partnership: An Opportunity to Promote the Learning Competence of All Students,” was selected by the American Psychological Association’s Division 16 for the 2003 Article of the Year Award in School Psychology Quarterly.

College staff received several Maroon and Gold Awards for Communications Excellence at the University of Minnesota Communicators Forum 14th annual conference, May 5. Winning units and the projects for which they won: The Institute on Community Integration: poster; Student & Professional Services and Communications: Web content; Communications: Link magazine, Link magazine article, and newsletter. In addition, Communications staff member Rebecca Noran’s contributions to the Weisman Art Museum’s exhibition, Frank Gehry, Architect: Designs for Museums, received three awards.

Patty Finstad, director of the University of Minnesota Child Care Center (UMCCC), and Richard Weinberg, professor in the Institute of Child Development, were honored with the University of Minnesota President’s Award for Outstanding Service in spring 2004.

Willard (Bill) Hartup, professor emeritus in the Institute of Child Development, received the first award for “Distinguished Contributions to the Advancement of Research and Theory in Behavioural Development” from the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development at its biennial meeting in Ghent, Belgium, July 14.

Richard Joerger, assistant professor in the Department of Work, Community, and Family Education, received the distinguished service award from the National Farm and Ranch Business Management Education Association at its 2004 annual meeting in June.

Zero to five for 30 years

This October, the University of Minnesota Child Care Center (UMCCC) is celebrating 30 years of providing high-quality childcare to staff, students, and faculty of the University. Several events are planned around the theme of “UMCCC Past, Present, and Future,” including “Ages and Stages Zero to Five,” with Leanne Sponsel (Working Family Resource Center), Oct. 28, noon–1 p.m., Weisman Art Museum. Other events will include a reception for alumni and friends of UMCCC, and curriculum-based activities for presently enrolled children and their families. For more information on the celebration, contact Mary Leinfelder at leinf001@umn.edu.