Faculty accolades, February 2020

Mirka Koro — ASU Graduate College Outstanding Doctoral Mentor

Mirka Koro, professor of qualitative research and director of doctoral programs for Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, was named the Outstanding Doctoral Mentor by the ASU Graduate College for 2019–20. Koro will receive the award in a Feb. 24 ceremony. Zachary Reeves-Blurton (EdD ’19, Educational Leadership and Innovation), program manager of mentoring initiatives and professional development engagement at the Graduate College, says, “Through these awards we are recognizing faculty mentors that take a much more holistic approach to the mentoring relationship, to the personal, to the career and to the long term.”

Hans van der Mars — NAKHE Distinguished Scholar Award

Hans van der Mars, professor of physical education teacher education and sport pedagogy, received the Distinguished Scholar Award at the 2020 national conference of the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education last month in Indian Wells, California. The NAKHE award recognizes scholars who make significant contributions to kinesiology and physical education in higher education through multidisciplinary scholarly pursuits.

Karen Harris, Steve Graham — Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities Lecture

Karen Harris and Steve Graham will present the annual Helen A. Kellar Institute for Human disAbilities Lecture at George Mason University on March 23. Harris and Graham are the Mary Ellen Warner Professors of Education at MLFTC. Harris’ topic will be “Self-Regulated Strategy Development in Writing: Lessons learned and policy Implications from an evidence-based practice.” Graham will address “Changing Writing.” The two, who are wife and husband, were also recently announced as co-winners of the Council for Exceptional Children’s 2019 Jeannette E. Fleischner Career Leadership Award, which honors those who have advanced the field of learning disabilities through direct services, policy development, community service, research or organizational leadership.

Keon McGuire — film panelist, “Pushout”

Keon McGuire was a panel member for a discussion that followed a Feb. 8 community screening in Phoenix of the documentary, “Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools.” An assistant professor in the MLFTC division of leadership and innovation, McGuire is also a 2019 National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. His fellowship is allowing him to pursue his research agenda of identifying opportunities to rethink notions of masculinity and what it means to be a man — primarily in ways that lead to resisting and dismantling patriarchy, sexism and homophobia.

Sarah Salinas — AERA David L. Clark Scholar

Graduate research assistant Sarah Salinas, a PhD student in the Education Policy and Evaluation program, was selected for the 2020 class of scholars in the David L. Clark National Graduate Student Research Seminar in Educational Administration and Policy. The Clark seminar is organized by the University Council for Educational Administration, the American Educational Research Association and SAGE Publications. It brings emerging educational administration and policy scholars and noted researchers together for two days of presentations, generative discussion and professional growth. The seminar will be part of the AERA annual meeting in San Francisco in April.

Wylie, Mawasi, Gee — ISLS paper selection

The International Society of the Learning Sciences announced acceptances for papers and presentations for its June conference. Assistant Research Professor Ruth Wylie, and Areej Mawasi, a PhD student in Learning, Literacies and Technologies, were co-authors of two full papers accepted:

• “Systematic Literature Review on Narrative-Based Learning in Learning Environments Mediated by Educational Technology and Digital Media”
• “Using Design-Based Research to Improve Help Giving in Middle School Math Classroom”

They were also co-authors of one poster acceptance, “Fostering Science Identity Through Transmedia Storytelling: A mixed methods approach.”

Wylie and Mawasi were also co-authors, along with Elisabeth Gee and Earl Aguilera, of a short paper accepted for the conference, “Neutrality, ‘New’ Digital Divide, and Openness Paradox: Equity in learning environments mediated by educational technology.” Gee is the Delbert and Jewell Lewis Chair in Reading and Literacy at MLFTC. Aguilera earned his PhD in Learning, Literacies and Technologies from ASU in 2018, and is now an assistant professor at California State University in Fresno.