July Faculty and Staff Briefs

NOTABLE

Amanda Tazaz, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) completed year one of the Children's Board of Hillsborough County Successful Start project, during which 150 teachers from 20 Hillsborough County Public Schools joined the Cognitively Guided Instruction teacher training program.

Ashley French and Heather French (Learning Systems Institute) conducted a pre-K2 math assessment project with Florida teachers in Tallahassee.

Vilma Fuentes, Ph.D., Program Director for the FSU Ukraine Task Force, led FSU’s efforts on the BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program. During their month-long stay at FSU, the group visited numerous facilities on campus and met with professors, deans, faculty, and staff from all over campus.

Adrienne Barnes-Story, Ph.D., Ana Marty, Ph.D., and Marion Fesmire, Ed.D. (Learning Systems Institute), working on the USAID Tunoze Gusoma (Schools and Systems) Activity, reported accomplishments on the activity which included pre-primary teacher preparation and professional development systems were improved to develop emergent literacy, 48 teacher guides for Early Childhood Education are in procurement for teacher training colleges, and the pre-service team began developing refresher training materials for an upcoming training.

Adrienne Barnes-Story, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) traveled to Rwanda and met with the team on the USAID Tunoze Gusoma (Schools and Systems) Activity to plan for year four of the implementation of the activity.

HONORS AND AWARDS

Stephanie Zuilkowski, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) was named an Associate Editor for the American Educational Research Journal (AERJ) Net Journals by newly appointed Editor-In-Chief Motoko Akiba (College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences) of the Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies.

Bhushan Dahal (Learning Systems Institute) was a Guest of Honor at the Global Youth Festival in Uzbekistan, where he represented Nepal.

PRESENTATIONS AND CONFERENCES

Jim Reynolds, Carrie Meyers and Zaida McGinley (Learning Systems Institute) hosted Florida K-5 teachers interested in exploring the foundations of artificial Intelligence and its potential to transform the classroom. The professional learning course was part of the InSPIRE FSU initiative.

Colleen Ganley, Ph.D. (Learning Systems Institute) presented a poster on the National Science Foundation-funded Math Lions project at the Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society 2024 Convention in Washington D.C.

Jim Reynolds and Rob Lengacher (Learning Systems Institute) presented at the 58th Annual Conference and Trade Show for the Florida Association for Career and Technical Education.