Dr. Cinthia Salinas, Ruben E. Hinojosa Regents Professor in Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was awarded the Jean Dresden Grambs Distinguished Career Research Award by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and will be presented with the distinction at the organization’s annual meeting in Boston in November. NCSS is the largest social studies education organization that embraces the K-20 teaching and learning. The award is meant to recognize professionals who have made extensive contributions through their research to significant areas of social studies education.
Dr. Salinas is a member of the C&I Social Studies Education program teaching graduate courses in the area and across the department and also contributes to the Urban Teacher Social Studies Secondary Education Program. Her research focuses on critical historical inquiry in elementary bilingual and secondary education late arrival immigrant ESL classroom settings. She also examines broader understandings of citizenship education through the civic identities, agency, and membership of others. Aside from publishing her work in social studies journals like Theory and Research in Social Science and broader journals like the Bilingual Research Journal, most recently she co-edited Teaching Culturally and Linguistically Relevant Social Studies: Examining Research and Practice with and for Emergent Bilingual and Multilingual Youth.
Department of Educational Leadership Associate Professor Dr. Denisa Gándara is this year’s recipient of the Association for the Study of Higher Education’s CPPHE Excellence in Public Policy award. This honor recognizes excellence in work at the nexus of academic scholarship and policy practice. Dr. Gándara’s research primarily focuses on higher education, finance, policy and politics. Her work is nationally recognized and she was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Board for Education Sciences. Dr. Gándara also serves on the Board of Directors for the Institute for Higher Education Policy and is an associate editor for The Journal of Higher Education and an editorial board member for the Journal of Postsecondary Student Success.
Juan Gonzalez, an Educational Leadership and Policy doctoral student, was featured as a Fulbright Program spotlight this month for his work aimed at expanding access to educational opportunities for students of low-income and minoritized communities. The Fulbright Program is an international academic exchange program which hopes to increase mutual understanding and support positive relationships between the U.S. and the people of other nations.
Gonzalez served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant (ETA) in Argentina, where he worked in the northern province of Tucumán teaching English to university students of Indigenous backgrounds in the wake of severe flooding and infused his lessons with performing arts, even co-directing a community production of Grease. This opportunity, combined with his personal experiences and observations from past involvement in community organizations, inspired Gonzalez’s mission to support educational access for marginalized communities. Gonzalez’s doctoral research is focused on higher education accessibility for low-income Black and Latinx men. He serves as a research assistant for Project MALES, a research and mentoring initiative, and is a Fulbright Student Alumni Ambassador.
Dr. Jackie Pedota, a recent graduate and current Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, has been awarded the Bobby Wright Dissertation of the Year Award by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). She will be recognized at ASHE’s annual conference in November for her dissertation, titled The Institutionalization Paradox: How Investments in Campus Cultural Centers Simultaneously Marginalize Them, which was chaired by Dr. Liliana Garces. ASHE is a scholarly association that brings together students, faculty, administrators, and professionals to advance the study of higher education.
Pedota’s research examines issues within higher education at the intersection of race, power, and organizational change, focusing on how racialized organizational dynamics reinforce and reproduce systemic inequities for minoritized campus communities. Currently, she serves as Co-PI, alongside Dr. Garces (lead PI) and Dr. Eliza Epstein (Co-PI), on a Sloan and Trellis Foundation-funded project that examines how the implementation of state laws restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts shape racial inclusion policies and practices in higher education.
UT’s Center for Community College Student Engagement (CCCSE) released a new report titled Supporting Minds, Supporting Learners: Addressing Student Mental Health to Advance Academic Success, which explores the mental health and well-being of community college students. CCCSE is a service and research initiative within COE’s Department of Educational Leadership. The report’s findings highlight the mental health challenges that many community college students experience and the impact that this has on their academic journeys. One takeaway included that sixty percent of participants in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement reported feeling bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things and sixty-six percent reported feeling nervous, anxious or on edge. Additionally, more than half of the respondents said emotional and mental health struggles had impacted their academic performance in the last four weeks.
“Given the impact mental health concerns have on academics, colleges should take a more active role in both understanding and addressing students’ mental health and well-being,” said Dr. Linda García, CCCSE’s Executive Director and Department of Educational Leadership Assistant Professor of Practice. “Community colleges have an opportunity to be the place where students find the mental health support they need.”
