Class Notes

Erin Kroll is teaching 2nd grade at Twin Peaks Charter Academy in Longmont, CO.

Darrell Jackson is Assistant Professor at the University of Wyoming Law School, where he uses critical race theory and legal analysis to research issues of access and retention for historically marginalized communities in higher education.

Derrek John Eldredge graduated from the Navy School of Music, where he completed basic training and played in one of the Marine Corps's bands.

Ben Domingue received the AERA Division D Outstanding Quantitative Dissertation Award. An article based on his dissertation will appear in Psychometrika. He is spending the year in Colombia, developing a model for the national education evaluation agency (ICFES) that will assess the effectiveness of higher education programs.

Magda Chia is Director of Support for Underrepresented Students for the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, leading efforts to ensure the assessment system is designed to serve the needs of all students.

This year, Adam Creapo (MEdu) moved from the classroom to administration. After teaching in Adams 12 and Denver Public Schools classrooms he is now an assistant principal and CareerConnect pathway director at Northfield High School. He lives in Denver with his son, Colt, and his wife, Amanda, whom he met while serving as the Buffs’ volleyball PA announcer.

Tiya Trent (Edu MA) is currently working at the University of Colorado Boulder in the TRiO SSS Program. She works with first generation, low-income students as well as students with a disability or have experienced homelessness or foster-care. They serve as an Academic Community for them. She has been back on campus for 3 years now. Trent is also heavily involved in the community in the Denver area. Last year, Trent along with three other Black women planned the first March for Black Women Not Forgotten Denver, CO. They plan on doing the same this year. Trent also mentors young Black women in the Denver area around college readiness and life skills.

Holly Yettick is the director of the Education Week Research Center, which conducts both stand-alone studies for clients and original research for Education Week, America's education newspaper of record.

Jeffery Willett is the Assistant Director for Student Services in the MBA office at the Leeds School of Business. A staple accomplishment at the University of Colorado includes winning the Marinus Smith Award in 2011, which recognizes exemplary staff and faculty who have shown caring and concern for their students.

Megan Bollen is teaching middle school Geography and Ancient Civilizations at a Hmong charter school in the Milwaukee Public School District, Wisconsin. She is also teaching an evening World Geography course at Alverno College.

Shelby Palko was hired right at the end of her student teaching and she is happily working as an 8th Grade Literacy teacher at Aurora West College Preparatory Academy in Aurora Public Schools. "I am still so happy to be teaching and yet to have my new teacher breakdown. I like to think it is because I was so well prepared by my great School of Education teachers!"

Erin Zekis is currently in her first year of teaching at Arrupe Jesuit High School. She teaches 9th grade physics and 9th grade math seminar. This is also her student teaching placement, so she has been there just over a year now. "It has been hard, and I have learned a lot!"

Diana Blau is teaching 2nd grade at Fairmont Elementary in Denver Public Schools. She is a teacher leader who serves on the School Leadership Committee and is actively involved in planning and delivering professional development.

Jennifer Phillips is working for the Colorado Department of Education as a Senior Consultant in the Unit of Federal Programs Administration.  In addition to working with Titles I and II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Jennifer is also the state coordinator for Colorado's Mathematics and Science Partnership program.

Claire Legrand is teaching 5th grade at Cesar Chavez Academy in Denver through the Teach for America program.

Sarah Berger was awarded a Knowles Teaching Fellowship for her promise as a Secondary Science Teacher.

Subini Annamma is Assistant Professor of Special Education at Indiana University at Indianapolis. She was honored with the 2013 Outstanding Doctoral Candidate Award from the CU-Boulder School of Education.

Sara Staley (PhDEdu), a graduate in curriculum and instruction, and Bethy Leonardi (PhDEdu), a graduate in educational foundations, policy and practice, won the Kalpana Chawla Award from the CU Boulder Alumni Association for their work on topics of gender and sexual diversity in schools. The two research associates and instructors at the CU Boulder School of Education founded A Queer Endeavor, an initiative providing educators with guidance, vocabulary and tools for developing school cultures that are safe, supportive and accepting of LGBTQ youth.

Juli Sarris (PhDEdu) is a 2021 Fulbright scholar at the University of Prishtina, Kosovo. She will be teaching second language acquisition theory, English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign Language methods, and advanced EFL literacy. Sarris teaches at many colleges along the Front Range, including CU Boulder, and lives in Boulder with her husband and two adult children.

Vincent Basile (PhDEdu) was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor in the School of Education at Colorado State University.