2021 Education Graduates
Congratulations to the Class of 2021!
Doctor of Philosophy Degrees and Master's Degrees
- Doctor of Philosophy Degrees
- Master of Arts in Education Degree with Certificate (Master’s Plus)
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Curriculum & Instruction
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Higher Education
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Learning Sciences & Human Development
- Master of Arts in Education Degree: Teacher Leadership
- Quantitative Methods for Behavioral Sciences Certificate
Jason Yeikichi Buell, Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
Dissertation: “Designing for Relational Science Practices”
Dr. Jason Buell completed his doctorate in STEM Education in the summer of 2020. His dissertation was embedded within a long-term research-practice partnership with a local school district that he has been instrumental in cultivating since 2014. By drawing together readings from the philosophy of science, science studies, and science education, Dr. Buell developed a new framework for understanding the types and purposes of models students create to represent their understandings of everyday phenomena as they learn about energy in high school physics, chemistry, and biology classes. He analyzed co-designed formative assessment tasks to better understand the affordances of these tasks in helping students show what they know. During his time at CU Dr. Buell also dedicated his time to supporting the School of Education and CU Boulder community, mentoring countless undergraduate and graduate students, serving as a co-founder of the student-run journal “The Assembly,” as an advisor to the McNair Scholar Program, and a board member of the Teachers of Color and Allies. He is currently a post-doctoral scholar at Northwestern University. Congratulations, Dr. Buell!
Amy Burkhardt, Research & Evaluation Methodology
Dissertation: “On Three Different Classification Tasks With Unobservable Latent Traits”
Amy Burkhardt has earned her PhD in the Research and Evaluation Methodology program where she completed a dissertation entitled “On Three Different Classification Tasks With Unobservable Latent Traits.” A common thread in the three distinct studies that comprise her dissertation is the challenge and affordance of using statistical models to support human human judgment in classificatory tasks. She considers classificatory judgments that arise in the context of the variability in emotions expressed by students in a collection of writing samples from essay responses, the attitudes about testing expressed by individuals on Twitter, and the sophistication with which high school students demonstrate their understanding of important scientific concepts. Each study illustrates Amy’s skillfulness in arriving at creative solutions to complex problems. Amy’s research is truly interdisciplinary, combining skills she has developed in educational research with a specialization she sought out in natural language processing through coursework in linguistics and cognitive science. Amy has been beloved by fellow students and faculty alike for her curiosity, thoughtfulness, and wonderful sense of humor. Congratulations Dr. Burkhardt!
Jeffrey Bush, Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
Dissertation: “Technology Mediated Formative Assessment: Instructional Technology to Support Teaching and Learning Mathematics”
Jeffrey Bush earned his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction, Mathematics Education. In his dissertation, Jeff completed three related studies that examined ways in which mathematics teachers used technology to support student progress towards instructional goals. Using a randomized cross-over trial, and two mixed methods case studies that included video analyses of teacher practice, the findings from this collection of studies offered complementary perspectives documenting how different instructional technologies can mediate the formative assessment process. Given the rapid increase in the use of instructional technology to support teaching and learning during the pandemic, these studies provide specific evidence of ways in which teachers use technology mediated formative assessment to manage the complexity of information they use to adapt instruction and support student engagement and learning. A manuscript for one of Jeff’s dissertation studies was recently accepted for publication in the British Journal of Educational Technology. Dr. Bush is currently a Research Associate for the Institute for Cognitive Sciences at CU-Boulder, where he studies and supports teacher use of inquiry-oriented curricula. Congratulations, Jeff!
Rajendra Chattergoon, Research & Evaluation Methodology
Dissertation: “Using Polytomous Item Response Theory Models to Validate Learning Progressions”
Rajendra Chattergoon has earned his PhD in the Research and Evaluation Methodology program. His dissertation demonstrates how psychometric modeling can be used to evaluate the quality of assessment tasks designed to provide diagnostic insights into student learning. Raj’s work is an extremely valuable resource for science educators in their efforts to develop innovative assessments motivated by cognitive learning theories. The incredibly high quality of his dissertation—described by one famous member of his committee as the best she had ever read—calls to mind an anecdote from earlier in his graduate career in which his fastidiousness was so widely appreciated by his colleagues, that some began to use his name as a verb, as in, “Wow, you really Raj’d that presentation!” Raj is currently working as a research scientist for Lexia Learning where he is coordinating studies for the purpose of evaluating and improving the efficacy of educational technology designed to support English language acquisition among emergent bilingual learners. Congratulations Dr. Chattergoon!
Monica Gilmore, Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
Dissertation: “Translanguaging in Mathematics Learning: Teacher Instructional and Attentional Supports”
Monica Gilmore earned her doctorate in STEM Education. In her dissertation entitled, Translanguaging in Mathematics Learning: Teacher Instructional and Attentional Supports, Dr. Gilmore collaborated with two mathematics teachers to study what they noticed about language in moments of classroom activity, how they responded to these moments, and the spaces for the translanguaging that emerged. A former mathematics teacher, Dr. Gilmore understood the importance of supporting students in bringing all of their linguistic resources to their learning. Dr. Gilmore found that spaces for translanguaging emerged when teachers were paying close attention to student energy, their vulnerability, and opportunities to position multiple languages as a resource. Dr. Gilmore returned to the classroom at Casey Middle School, where she employs her translanguaging perspective daily.
Aaron Micah Guggenheim, Curriculum & Instruction: Literacy Studies
Dissertation: “Story through Sound: Narrative Podcasting in an Alternative High School ELA Classroom”
Aaron Guggenheim earned his doctorate in Literacy Studies. A former high school English teacher, Dr. Guggenheim was a valued member of research teams and accomplished graduate instructor during his time at CU Boulder. His dissertation—Story Through Sound: Narrative Podcasting for More Just Futures—is a study in which he co-designed, co-studied, and co-taught a narrative podcasting project with a high school ELA teacher at an alternative high school. He partnered with the teacher to design a curriculum that brought theory around critical literacy and sound studies into the classroom as students used sound and interviews to compose powerful narrative podcasts about issues that they found meaningful in their lives. As he explains, his study reaffirmed his values in building and sustaining meaningful relationships and partnerships with K-12 teacher colleagues and youth as foundational to not only recognizing the realities of day-to-day experiences in classrooms, but also to producing meaningful instructional shifts and opportunities for youth to center their knowledge, stories, and literacies in school. Congratulations, Aaron!
Deena Gumina, Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
Dissertation: “Bilingual Teacher Agency: Possibilities for Action When High Stakes Accountability and Bilingual Language Policies Interact”
Dr. Deena Gumina completed her doctorate in Equity, Bilingualism & Biliteracy in December 2020. Her dissertation is titled, “Bilingual Teacher Agency: Possibilities for Action when High-stakes Accountability and Bilingual Language Policies Interact.” Motivated by her own experiences as a bilingual elementary teacher in Denver Public Schools, and her work as a teacher educator in CU’s elementary teacher education program, Deena used her dissertation to explore the agentive possibilities of bilingual teachers who are caught in a web of constraining policies, including high-stakes accountability policies and restrictive language policies. Importantly, rather than focusing on constraints and harms, Deena’s study focused on the possible. As a result, Deena’s dissertation offers actionable insights that can inform efforts to teach in ways that honor bilingual students’ cultural and linguistic knowledge and practices. During her time at CU, Deena held various positions in, and made critical contributions to, the elementary teacher education program and research and teaching projects within the BUENO Center. Immediately following graduation, Dr. Gumina served as Director of TILDE (Teachers Improving Learning in Dual Education), a professional development project for practicing bilingual teachers. Deena joined the Elementary Teacher Education Program as an Assistant Professor of Practice in Fall 2021. Warmest congratulations Deena!
Sarah LaCour-Yarbrough, Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Dissertation: “You Get What You Get No Matter the Fit: An Examination of Access to Opportunity under a School Choice System”
Sarah LaCour-Yarbrough earned her PhD in Educational Foundations Policy and Practice. In her dissertation, “You Get What You Get, No Matter the Fit: An Examination of Access to Opportunity Under a School Choice System,” Sarah studied the interaction of Louisiana’s various choice policies, analyzing the extent to which these policies provide all high school students with access to quality schools. Sarah arrived at CU already having worked as a classroom teacher and as a lawyer, and she brought that knowledge and professionalism to her studies. She’s already produced an impressive body of research, as well as – last year – an impressive baby, named Charles. When Sarah was finishing up her dissertation, she told her advisor that a key requirement for a future job was that it had to be in a place where she could have horses. Somehow, in the midst of the hiring freezes of the COVID recession, she landed a position at the University of Kentucky – which certainly meets the horse requirement. She’s now an assistant professor in UK’s Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation. She also is Assistant Director of the University of Kentucky’s Education and Civil Rights Initiative.
William Edward Lindsay, Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
Dissertation: “Bridging Reform Ideals: Crafting Coherence with a No-Excuses Charter Network”
Will Lindsay is a consummate teacher educator who is transforming science education both through his teaching and his research. His broad, practical understanding of teaching as well as deep knowledge of educational research and content has tremendous value for future teachers. Will leverages the practices of science to create empowering learning environments. For example, students in his classes learn to advocate for themselves using evidence and consensus rather than appealing solely to the textbook and teacher for answers. These empowering environments help students learn to love themselves through science, rather than in spite of it. Will’s humanistic approach also applies to his research on institutional change. By rejecting traditional notions of success and failure in reform, Will’s research repositions reform into a realistic, ongoing, human experience. Professor Otero said, “A highlight of my career has been the many hours of discussions with Will about his dissertation work. Growing together is an amazing experience.”
Jose Ortiz, Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Dissertation: “Reflection Through Testimonios: Centering the Experiences of Latina/o Students as a Way to Collectively Explore, Understand, and Contextualize Emotions”
Jose Ortiz is committed to educational equality, social justice, and improving the experiences of Latinx students. His dissertation examines how Latinx students within a summer program used a form of narrative known as “testimonios” to make sense of and understand their emotions. Drawing on literature that centers culture and race, Dr. Ortiz demonstrated how students in the CU Aquetza program used testimonios to process their lived experiences. His research findings have important implications for the ways educators incorporate socioemotional learning programs in their classrooms and how to serve Latinx youth. Dr. Ortiz is currently an Assistant Professor of Foundations and Social Advocacy at the State University of New York (SUNY) Cortland.
María de los Ángeles Osorio de la Rosa Cooper, Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
Dissertation: “Defining Participation In Support of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students’ Education: A CBPR Perspective”
María de los Angeles Osorio de la Rosa Cooper earned her PhD in Equity, Bilingualism and Biliteracy. Using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) to guide her work, she joined a research collective known as “Las Comadres.” Together, they designed and conducted a study aimed at identifying and articulating root causes of the tumultuous relationships and chronic and historical distrust between Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American families and school district educators in one local school district. CPBR emphasizes research that is done with communities and not on them. The study examined parent participation and engagement in multidimensional ways and from different stakeholder’s perspectives through interviews, documents, and historical analysis. Findings revealed extensive funds of knowledge that participating families employed to be involved with and support their children in school. Most of this knowledge was unknown and/or not acknowledged by school officials who tended to focus on the need for school-centric parent participation and engagement as a means to compensate for perceived family deficits. Findings suggested a need for dual capacity building between families and schools and recommended a set of community-generated actions that the district could enact to transform school experiences of Latinx Spanish speaking students in positive ways. ¡Felicidades Angeles!
Mary Ann Quantz, Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Dissertation: “Advocating for Gender and Sexual Diversity in ANTI-GSD Contexts: The Experiences of K-12 Educator-Advocates in Religiously Conservative Communities”
Mary Quantz earned her PhD in Educational Foundations Policy and Practice. In her dissertation, “Advocating for gender and sexual diversity in hostile contexts: The experiences of K-12 educators in religiously conservative communities,” Mary analzyed interview data with teachers through a queer theoretical lens. She developed an innovative way of calculating a community’s “Religiously Conservative Score” and connected that with the localized challenges experienced by teachers who work to proactively create safer learning environments for LGBTQ students by enacting ‘queer gestures’ to build ‘queer futures’. Mary’s leadership in the SOE and mentorship of other PhD students will be sorely missed. She was a founding member of the student-run journal, The Assembly, and helped develop teaching supports for other graduate students who teach EDUC 3013 -- School and Society. Her commitments to equity and justice-oriented teaching is continuing as she returns to the classroom. She is currently a high school English teacher in St. Vrain Valley School District. Warm congrats, Doctor Quantz!
Jody Ann Slavick, Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
Dissertation: “Negotiating Tensions as Bilingual Teacher Advocates: Reflecting on the Past and Transforming the Future”
Jody Slavick earned her Ph.D. in Equity, Bilingualism and Biliteracy. Using Freire’s Critical Pedagogies, Dr. Slavick explored the agency of three veteran bilingual teachers who advocated for themselves and their students through the rise and fall of bilingual programming in their district. Dr. Slavick engaged the focal teachers in a series of interviews and critical reflection sessions to problematize, dialogue, problem-solve and act on past and current tensions in their school environment. Findings revealed that the teachers experienced the most tensions when relating to administrators who held divergent racial and linguistic ideologies from the teachers. Her findings resulted in practical and scholarly implications to support bilingual teacher advocates as they navigate daily tensions that they face in their school environments. Dr. Slavick is currently working as a Professional Research Associate and Director of Professional Development within Literacy Squared, a biliteracy project housed within the BUENO Center in the University of Colorado’s School of Education.
Maravene Taylor-Heine, Learning Sciences & Human Development
Dissertation: “Learning, Identity, and Power in a Multi-Voiced Movement for Education Reform”
Maravene Taylor-Heine has completed her doctorate in Learning Sciences & Human Development. Her dissertation is titled Learning, identity, and power in a multi-voiced movement for education reform. In her study, Mara focused on the development of youth activists through their engagement in the Opt-out (of standardized testing) movement, which was a predominantly white, middle-class movement framed as a collective action for social justice. It was especially vibrant in Colorado where she conducted her research. The questions that led her dissertation focused on how diverse groups of people – across age, race, and socioeconomic background – can develop solidarity to engage in progressive social movements. Grounded in her roots in feminist methodology and theory, Mara’s study draws critical attention to what often goes unnoticed, undervalued, and taken for granted. Her analysis considers how whiteness functions as a discourse that silences discussions of race and renders them unimportant. Mara’s research provides insight into how young white people develop identities and skills as activists for progressive change; it also offers practical advice for how we can better support young people in their activist efforts. Warmest congratulations Mara!
Kelsey Mills Tayne, Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
Dissertation: “Understanding and Designing for Youth Learning as and for Socioenvironmental Action”
Kelsey Tayne earned her doctorate in Learning Sciences & Human Development and STEM Education. Kelsey’s dissertation research addresses a significant, if not the most significant, socio- environmental issue facing us today: climate change. The focus of her dissertation is on how to support youth in engaging in scientifically-grounded action on climate change. Coordinated action across scales of practice, as Kelsey argues, is necessary to effect real change on the climate crisis. However, the discourse around action is often focused on personal behavior change. This is a limiting approach that blames individuals for problems that are structural, cultural, and historical. Addressing problems like climate change that have deep and tangled roots can overwhelm youth and make them feel hopeless. Taking this as a starting point, Kelsey worked with educators to co-design learning environments that supported young people in imagining and enacting collective solutions for a sustainable future. Her approach generates radical hope and possibility with youth at its center. Congratulations Kelsey!
Tafadzwa Tivaringe, Curriculum & Instruction: Literacy Studies
Dissertation: “The Possibilities and Limits of Using Education as a Lever for Structural Transformation”
Tafadzwa “Taphy” Tivargine completed his doctorate in Learning Sciences and Human Development. He completed a 3-article dissertation titled “The Possibilities And Limits Of Using Education As A Lever For Structural Transformation.” His first study, published in Education and Evaluation Policy Archives, analyzed nationally representative data from South Africa and found that structural factors limited the impact of a university degree on labor force participation among certain groups. His second study, published in the Journal of the Learning Sciences, drew on ethnographic research in South Africa to understand the development of a multigenerational movement fighting for more just education policies. His third article, based on data from alumni of college support programs in the United States, examines the role of social networks in facilitating career success. Together this empirically rigorous work helps us understand how education policy can be a vehicle for addressing inequality by empowering marginalized groups across diverse international contexts. During his time at CU Taphy has also contributed immeasurably to public scholarship through his skillful evaluation of CU Engage programs and his dedication to collaborative partnerships with the Research Hub for Youth Organizing. Makorokoto Amhlophe Taphy!
Christine Marie Zabala, Curriculum & Instruction: Literacy Studies
Dissertation: “The Role of Queer Literacies in a University's Required Diversity Course”
Christine Zabala earned her doctorate in Literacy Studies. An experienced writing teacher in college and university contexts, Dr. Zabala has led and supported several research projects, coordinated CU Boulder’s online composition hub, and been a graduate instructional leader for the Center for Teaching and Learning. Her dissertation—The Role of Queer Literacies in a Required Diversity Course—is a study of her own teaching, investigating the impact of curricular and instructional innovations related to critical pedagogies and queer literacies in a course taken by many undergraduates on campus. She brings a deeply reflexive approach to her analysis of her course design and students’ responses to the critical goals and relational methods she employed, including the sudden shift to online in the wake of Covid 19. As she argues, failure and discomfort in teaching and learning can and must be reframed as generative, necessary aspects of undergraduate courses, particularly when the content requires students and instructors to do the vulnerable work of critical examination of self, others, and systemic oppressions. This work holds significant implications for scholarship in queer literacies, as well as for universities’ pursuit of courses intended to address diversity as required components of undergraduate curriculum. Congratulations, Christine!
Curriculum & Instruction: STEM Education
- Peter Brandes
- Weijie Deng
- Katherine Ford
- Lauren Gaona
- David Mark Lohndorf
- William Petterson
- Dylan Price
- Jessica Shuster
- Brook Tingey
Curriculum & Instruction: Secondary Humanities
- Patrick Bailey
- John Barkidjija
- Corey Ferraro
- Gabriel Fishman
- Max Funk
- Jack Garraty
- Mark Goodman
- Ashley Hershey
- Brian Johnson
- Charles Kaas
- Jacob Marsing
- Kelly Murphy
- Lauren Ogg
- Kenneth Santiago
- Taylor Schalk
- Kimberly Scherner
- Katherine Stirling
- Brett Wildstein
Curriculum & Instruction
- Erica Bednar
- Emily Bonder
- John Flanagan
- Michelle Frierson
- Jaqueline Gonzalez
- Marilyn Hartzell
- Elise Hill
- Taylor Lucio
- Jessica Mould
- Nicole Neitenbach
- Andreia Ribeiro de Noronha Sales
- Kelsey Taylor
- Chayenne Theberge
- Elise Volpi
- Rebecca Wild
Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
- Jaclyn Ballesteros
- Erin Toba Beauregard
- Christina Benton
- Angela Bergmann
- Megan Boss
- Emily Breese
- Vicki Davis
- Kara Dreyfuss
- Katherine Ebinger
- Farrah Emami
- Jodi Fitzgerald
- Marnie Greene
- Merce Guixa-Casellas
- Adriana Gutierrez
- Stephanie Gutierrez
- Brittney Gutierrez Meraz
- Tori Hardy
- Laurel Hauck
- Mark Haxton
- Carly Hillmer
- Bethany Isackson
- Faith Jessup-Scott
- Amanda Jones
- Tessa Konik
- Megan Kreiter
- Bradford Lardner
- Joelle Marzolf
- Kyle Mason
- Taura McClanahan
- Claudia Menendez
- Matthew Moeller
- Will Moore
- Amanda Morrison
- Michelle Morrison
- Michael Newcomb
- Connor Payne
- Melinda Phipps
- Laine Preston
- Nathan Savig
- Gabrielle Schauer
- Emily Schlehuber
- Suzanne Spezzano
- Natalie Stockley
- David Vermilion
- Erica Wagner
- Eric Walz
- Katie West
- Bailey Winter
- Mark Wright Jr.
Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
- Megan Allen
- Johanny Amaya
- Justin Boos
- Elizabeth Niemerowicz
- Katayoun Mohammadi Arbati
- Jonathon Sawyer
- Nicole Simmons
- Abigail Tracer
- Kalia Watson
- Eliza Williams
Higher Education
- Monica Armstrong
- Hannah Childers
- Rachel Kammen
- Cherise Lamour
- Genevieve Borst McNellis
- Ulises Mendoza
- Hannah Simonson
- Kendra Thibeault
- Madelyn Wright
Learning Sciences & Human Development
- Danielle Shaw Attaway
- Rosalie Bigongiari
- Eduardo Fiallos
- Lianna Nixon
- Patrick Williams
- Rachel von Holst
Kristen Sim
-
Jennifer Lyu
-
Tafadzwa Tivaringe
Bachelor of Arts Degrees, Undergraduate Licensure, Minors, and Certificates
- Isabelle Burke
- Sadie Caven
- Genessey Cowles
- Taylor Crossen
- Rachel Emmitt
- Grayson Filler
- Riley Hovinen
- Ashlyn Jennings
- Cassidy Kamby
- Katherine Keeton
- Jessica Laurita
- Megan Monahan
- Kyra Mowbray
- Sophia Nickles
- Brittany O'Connor
- Aidan Purdy
- Penelope Sanches
- Erin Bender
- Mercedes Derenne
- Jack Miller
- Matthew Parone
- Jessica Steinbaum
- Sara Swain
- Abigail Ward
Elementary
- Hope Chantel Archibeque
- Emily Baier
- Jessica Buckner
- Emma Dugan
- Gabrielle Garcia
- Filitsa Kamenis
- Bethany Morton
- Emily Ruzzo
- Erinn Shea
- Sarah Whitehead
- Kathryn Julianna Woodin
English
-
Ana Robles
Latin
-
James Tranchetti
Mathematics
- Maggie Hartman
- Madsen Micklow Lozuaway-McComsey
- Simon Pasillas
- Rachel Swanson
- Christopher Taylor
Music
- Eva Aneshansley
- Ariel Yu-An Chien
- Caleb Dixon
- Mallory Graves
- Mira Hickey
- Nicholas Johnson
- Zachary Kambour
- Dylan Anthony Koester
- Christopher Norwood
- Nathan Park
- Sean Derek Rahusen
- Kayla Schlieper
- Holly Sidney
- Justin Slaman
- Zachariah Smith
- Declan Wilcox
- Katelyn Wojniak
Science
- McKinley Coppock
- Elena DeAndrea
- Ryan Espuga
- Rebecca Kah
- Zujey Miranda-Gandarilla
- Katherine Patterson
- Blaire Rodriguez
- Levi Ruby
- Haya Al Nusif
- Leah Baer
- Jaime Baran
- Shea Barnhart
- Alexandra Corboy
- Kara D'Alessandro
- Marjorie Daniel
- Jessica Demolina
- Skylar Fendrick
- Elizabeth Frambes
- Mengyue Gu
- Natalie Gwinn
- Sophia Hartmann
- Sydney Herzog
- Macey Hills
- Katie Joella
- Lily Kahn
- Kaycie Kolk
- McKenna Kuhlman
- Elijah Lancaster
- Hannah Ledezma
- Darby Logan
- Taylor Mantey
- Madison McConnell
- Riley McKibbon
- Caitlin McPherson
- Amanda Miller
- Ana Padilla Aparicio
- Clementine Perkins
- Victoria Real
- Lauren Robinson
- Keren Slepack
- Giavanna Stavros
- Abigail Walker
- Sailor Ward
- Lindsey Watson
- Zoe Wilhelmsen
- Laura Wysocki
- Zahra Abdulameer
- Ariel Ahdoot
- Evan Alvarado
- Hope Archibeque
- William Ascik
- Brandi Bain
- Rohan Baishya
- Isabel Barton
- Julian Becker
- Jacob Bennett
- Blair Bohuny
- Parker Bowman
- Avery Bren
- Jenna Brethauer
- Grace Brooks
- Colton Buckingham
- Blair Bund
- Teresa Burgwald
- Allison Burt
- Zachary Byington
- Iralynn Carmona
- Lindsay Carter
- Max Carver
- Magdalena Castillo
- Jessica Chavez
- Lizette Chavez
- Cheyenne Cheshier
- Curtis Chiaverini
- Amanda Chila
- Emma Cohen
- Kayleigh Cornell
- Reece Damron-Elson
- Hoa Dao
- Lydia Dazzo
- Isabelle Dean
- Jessica Demolina
- James Denbow
- Cole DeRudder
- Jaclyn Drzewinski
- Garrett Dunn
- Holden Easterling
- Ehidiame Eichie
- Mira Elhindi
- Jeffrey Erickson
- Emily Fields
- Samantha Fiori
- Erin Forrister
- Jacob Fuhrman
- Alicia Garcia
- Riley Gibson
- Grace Glyman
- Maxwell Goin
- Sydney Gonzalez
- Sasha Hall
- Lindsey Hamblin
- Abigail Hanson
- Karissa Hayes
- Tatum Heritage
- Anna Hess
- Macey Hills
- Rachel Hopfenberg
- Katy Humble
- Breanna Hurst
- Owen Jack
- Julia Jacobson
- Jay Jammal
- Annika Jank
- Cole Joseph
- Ellie Kavanaugh
- Katherine Kelly
- Austin Kim
- Dakota Kisling
- Alexander Kryuchkov
- Debbie Landman
- Nativa Law
- Jordana Levine
- Isaiah Lewis
- Lan Li
- Molly Little
- Evan Lombardo
- Alec Lungberg-Young
- Cailyn MacRossie
- Nicholas Maddalone
- Erin Malloy
- Eden Marquis
- Jannessa Marston
- Alexandra Martin
- Anthony Martinka
- Jake McGrath
- Jeans Mobley
- Brooke Moreilhon
- Zoe Morton
- Alexander Moses
- Lauren Murley
- Savannah Murphy
- KaDarrian Nixon
- Marwa Osman
- Akosua Otoo
- Kaelin Pallavicini
- Evelyn Palma
- Nicholas Pantlin
- Christina Pappas
- Mehul Patel
- Nina Patterson
- Caroline Peck
- Brian Phan
- Jace Pivonka
- Laura-Elena Porras-Holguin
- Harper Powell
- Claudia Quezada
- Derrion Rakestraw
- Caroline Remington
- Alexandra Reuter
- Savannah Reyes
- Melia Reyther-Espinoza
- Logan Robertson
- Leo Rocha
- Jonathan Rogers
- Emma Scheetz
- Kyle Seiler
- Anna Sernka
- Tayler Shaw
- Molly Shea
- William Sherman
- Abhishek Shrestha
- Daniel Slovis
- Lauren Smith
- Dominic Snyder
- Tristan Snyder
- Caroline Sogard
- Emma St. Geme
- Jasmine Szabo
- Veda Tappin
- Fatima Tensun
- Travis Torline
- Cindy Turgeman
- Katherine Vesper
- Maryfher Villarreal
- Kara Wallace
- Madison Wifall
- Nina Williams
- Chase Willie
- Frances Witt
- Hannah Woodson
- Madeleine Woolgar
- Alexander Kryuchkov
- Devin Lindsey
- Madison Risi
- Joseph Rutten
- Madison Wells
Community Scholars
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Penelope Sanches
-
Elysse Waka
- Cynthia Corral-Robles
- Hailey Ettinger
- Maymuna Jeylani
- Juan Lomeli Ortiz
- Katie Lynch-Dombroski
- Taylor Olson
- Nina Patterson
- Brendon Pease
- Violet Stoudt
- Francesca Torsiello
- Nick Yibo-Fan
- Lizette Chavez
- Hoa Dao
- Ehidiame Eichie
- Alicia Garcia
- Pilar Garcia
- Debbie Landman
- Jannessa Marston
- Evelyn Palma
- Melia Reyther-Espinoza
- Danait Senbetay
- Bimpe Thillot
- Huyen Trang
- Cindy Turgeman
- Victoria Acuña
- Hailey Breaker
- Emma Brown
- Iralynn Carmona
- Marcos Fontes
- Janessa Marston
- Nathan Roura
-
Zahra Abdulameer
-
Marwa Osman
Outstanding Graduates
Leadership & Community Engagement
Sara Swain is receiving dual degrees in Leadership and Community Engagement and Ethnic Studies; with a minor in Dance and a certificate in Hip Hop Studies. Sara best exemplifies the values and commitments of the LDCE major. It advances a vision of leadership that focuses on working with others to build capacity and bring about social change. It is guided by the values of social justice, addressing inequality, and democratic participation. Sara is a different kind of activist. You will not see her on the stage making fiery speeches, rather she works in the background, following the lead of and supporting the vision of BIPOC activists and regular community members. Her activism in Hip Hop aims to disrupt the pattern of majority white dancers profiting from black culture and to elevate the ways in which hip hop is a tool for racial healing. She has worked to transform the Verve Collisionz Street Dance Team (RSO) from a group that formerly concentrated on performance to a group that pursues dance and critical race theory.
Elementary Education
Rachel Emmitt is a dedicated and deeply reflective student and teacher candidate who has excelled academically, in some cases producing the strongest academic work instructors had seen from an undergraduate student. Rachel also earned high praise from her mentor teachers, who laud her professionalism, instructional talent and rapport with children. The program faculty know Rachel as a quietly observant and reflective person with a shrewd eye towards injustices in schools and society and a deep joy and appreciation for working with children. Rachel takes in everything she reads and hears from others, engages deeply with ideas, and observes the dynamics of schooling closely so that she can mull things over and then generate deeply reflective standpoints with a sharp critique of injustices. In addition to being strengths for Rachel’s work with children and families, Rachel’s thoughtful, observant, and critically reflective standpoints are gifts that Rachel will bring to professional learning communities as she inspires those around her to teach in ways that can change the world for better. We can’t recommend her highly enough for this award.
MA+ Teacher Licensure
Corey Ferraro embodies our commitment to teaching for equity and justice. Inquisitive and reflective, Corey is an exemplary student who embraces every learning opportunity and considers always how what he is learning applies to his work as an educator. He pushes himself and his classmates to think more critically about course content and brings a positive, yet realistic, outlook to his work. As a student teacher, Corey holds a deep sense of care for every one of his students. He draws upon his commitment to social justice to create a transformative and affirming classroom space for students. Corey is the type of teacher that students approach easily. He works with students to uncover the many unspoken complicated, truths that exist inside them and the history books. It is inspiring to see Corey's students making their own apps to conceptualize the Industrial Revolution or analyzing historical art. Throughout what has been such a difficult year for many of us, Corey has demonstrated such grace and positivity in both the university and secondary classrooms. Corey's quiet competence and devotion to assuring that all students learn make him an extraordinary educator.
Literacy Studies
Erica Bednar brings diverse experiences and professional roles to her work as a Language Arts Secondary Teacher. Her passion for literacy education is evident in her efforts to support students to gain confidence as readers and writers. She creates a community of trust where they could share their work and develop as authors. At the Literacy and Media Lab (an after-school experience held in our program, prior to COVID-closures), she facilitated lessons on critical examination of websites and created lesson resources and reviews of digital tools. All of her work centers students as critical thinkers, while she simultaneously plans for specific supports with evidence-based reading strategies. Her collaboration with colleagues in her cohort included generous support and feedback in their teaching craft, but also a willingness to learn from their expertise in other grade levels. In the Processes in Writing course, she engaged not only as a deeply committed author herself but as a careful listener who valued and held with care the writing contributions of her peers. She is invested in understanding literacy development across the lifespan, and across cultural and linguistic practices.
Humanities Education
Jax Gonzalez is the outstanding graduate of the Curriculum & Instruction MA in K-12 Humanities. At every turn, Jax has demonstrated their commitment to K-12 teaching, anti-oppressive pedagogy, and justice-centered teacher education. Jax’s passion for K-12 education led them to pursue an MA degree in curriculum and instruction while also completing a PhD in Sociology at CU Boulder. Jax enthusiastically opted to take additional coursework in theory, pedagogy, and practice related to K-12 teaching, collaborate with classroom teacher colleagues and students in schools, and complete an MA capstone project, while designing a dissertation study that will engage in questions of how teacher education programs can prepare teachers to center equity and social justice in their classrooms. Congratulations, Jax!
STEM Education
Lauren Gaona has been a deeply reflective, committed and hardworking student over the course of her program. Lauren was an excellent student who brought interesting perspectives to class discussions and always listened to and built on the ideas of her peers. Lauren was recognized by her mentor teachers for her excellence in promoting social justice and modeling inclusiveness in her classroom. For example, at the beginning of the semester, Lauren wrote and mailed notes home to parents about the amazing things their children were doing in her classroom, and continued this practice throughout the semester. Lauren always pushed her students to reach their unique potential by getting to know each of their stories and strengths. She remained inspired and engaged, despite constant change and challenges, and teaching both hybrid and virtually. She challenged her students at every level to do quality work, and they responded well. Lauren is well-loved and respected by her colleagues and students, committed to lifelong learning, and a phenomenal asset to the education profession.
Educational Equity & Cultural Diversity
Michelle Lopez is a proud Chicana from Denver who has been teaching in Denver Public Schools for over ten years, and currently works as a 4th grade ELA-S/ELA-E bilingual teacher at Garden Place Elementary. She completed her Master’s degree with a culturally and linguistically diverse endorsement with the TILDE Bilingual Cohort through the BUENO Center in the summer of 2020. Michelle leads by example. She is thoughtful, critical, and eager to improve her practice. She consistently pushes her colleagues to make their practice more critical and culturally relevant, and often engages them in conversations about how to use education as a means to disrupt systems of oppression. Michelle draws on her experiences as a Chicana growing up in Denver to relate to her students and their families and to motivate her advocacy and activism through her teaching. For example, Michelle took what she learned from her own grandparents to inspire a family journal project that she now completes with her families each year, where she asks them to document their stories with their children and then she draws on that knowledge to inspire her own curriculum and instruction.
Educational Foundations, Policy & Practice
Justin Boos is graduating from CU Boulder with a Master’s degree in Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice. Justin has been a standout contributor in our program. He enriched our collective learning by sharing valuable insights from his ongoing community engagement work in his home state of Oklahoma. Justin’s experience made him a leader in class discussions and activities, but he was also able to connect his learning back to his community engagement. In particular, Justin drew from his collaborative work to start the Comanche Academy, a culturally responsive tribal charter school. He regularly shared how decolonizing theories of education--including Sandy Grande’s work, Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought, helped him be a stronger advocate for Tribal Education in his hometown. His innovative Capstone project explored how a Tribal Charter School might be equally accountable to Comanche tribal leaders and traditional educational entities. These recent efforts build on Justin’s long career working for educational equity, including his time co-directing the CU Boulder Upward Bound Program, which serves Native and Indigenous students from over a dozen tribal communities across the United States.
Learning Sciences & Human Development
Lianna Nixon’s creative approach to climate science communication embodies our School’s highest ideals. In her Master’s capstone, she has woven together her interests and expertise in environmental and social justice, the arts, and how to design for transformative learning. Lianna has been studying climate science communication and pushing herself to examine questions of power, justice, and learning in her work. Lianna’s discipline and her humility deeply shape how she engages with her project and with the people with whom she works. In her MA project, Lianna focused on the rapidly changing Arctic and the impact of these changes on the global climate system. Working with the Multi-Disciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC), Lianna participated in the world’s largest Central Arctic research expedition to date. Her role with MOSAiC focused on documenting, through photographs and film, the complex, beautiful, and dynamic Arctic socio-environmental context. Lianna explored best practices to communicate Arctic climate science and how to situate climate communication planetarium documentaries with equity and social justice frameworks. Lianna Nixon’s research invites us to understand, to experience, and to take action for a better world.
Higher Education
Katharine Lindauer graduated in Summer 2020 with a Master’s degree in Higher Education. Katharine works as an academic coordinator in the Herbst Academic Center, supporting CU student athletes in a variety of sports. Katharine drew on her work in advising and athletics throughout her time in the Master’s in Higher Education (MAHE) program, charting rich connections between coursework and practice, and completing an exemplary Capstone project. Her project reviewed the research on student advising--especially the trend towards “proactive” advising models--with a critical eye, raising incisive questions about power and control for student athletes. Beyond the quality of her academic wormk, we also have been so impressed by how generous and encouraging Katharine has been to her classmates. She completed her degree during its earliest and scariest moments of the pandemic. Nonetheless, she offered grace and compassion to herself and others, giving generously of her time to support other students as a peer reviewer, friend and colleague. Katharine brings these human qualities--of care, generosity and warmth--to her sharp and incisive work as a scholar, and her deep and thoughtful work with student athletes on campus.
Outstanding Dissertation
The awards committee voted to recognize Taphy Tivaringe as this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Dissertation award. The committee appreciated the exciting contributions to both policy studies and learning sciences in Tivaringe’s dissertation titled, “The Possibilities and Limits of Using Education as a Lever for Structural Transformation.” Tivaringe’s three-article dissertation reflects high-quality, innovative scholarship, holds potential for significant contributions to learning sciences and education policy, and advances School of Education's commitments to democracy, justice and evidence-based policy and practice. One nominator wrote, “I am most impressed by the rigorous and nuanced approach he takes to examining the social world and the role of education in it. Indeed it is remarkable that in the arc of the 3-article dissertation, some of which is already published in top-tier journals, he manages to offer a sobering yet powerful analysis of both the possibilities and limits of public education in efforts to improve social mobility for historically marginalized groups... His interdisciplinary approach, moreover, is also impressive, and fitting, for the complexity of social problems he analyzes in the dissertation, drawing on the learning sciences, sociology and education policy, youth social movements, and studies in political economy and labor markets.” Congrats, Dr. Tivaringe!
Outstanding Teaching
The awards committee was impressed by this year’s nominees and elected to honor two graduating students with the Outstanding Teaching award: Will Lindsay and Christine Zabala. Both of these nominees demonstrated innovative teaching and leadership supporting others’ pedagogical development.
Dr. Zabala focused her efforts in the EDUC 3013 School and Society context as well as serving as the lead GPTI for the Center for Teaching and Learning. As her professional development project in that role, she designed and launched "Communities of Practice for Graduate Student Instructors", a series of regular virtual gatherings for School of Education GPTIs and TAs, or any doctoral students who are interested in teaching at the college level. Her goal was to create a space for graduate student instructors to discuss dilemmas of practice, learn about resources for students on campus, and informally build community with peers.
Dr. Lindsay focused his efforts in science education spaces working with the Learning Assistant program and our teacher licensure programs. He also established a full program for returning LAs to help them maintain community and continue to learn through their field experiences. He designed and hosted biweekly professional learning sessions with six groups of ~10 returning Learning Assistants (LA) during the Fall 2020 semester. The program he established has stood the test of time and continues after he graduated and moved on to other things.
Both of these students got consistently positive teaching evaluations from their students and showed strong commitments to helping others continue to improve their teaching practices. They are both wonderful models of caring, engaged educators committed to justice and equity in their teaching. Congratulations to you both!
Outstanding Community Engagement & Public Scholarship
The outstanding Community Engagement and Public Scholarship award goes to Dr. Jason Buell. During his time as a doctoral student, Buell engaged in and led many efforts to improve the climate and experience for his peers at CU Boulder. He led many “lunch and learn” sessions as part of SAGE, the graduate student organization in the School of Education, and helped to create the student-led journal focused on public scholarship, The Assembly. Even after taking a postdoctoral position at Northwestern University in the summer of 2020, Buell has continued to provide vital mentorship and support to the SOE community through attending and presenting at STEMinars and serving as a buddy to STEM Education PhD finalists. His nominators shared, “Dr. Buell went above and beyond as a student to actively contribute to the formation of a better community. His abiding care, thoughtfulness, and wisdom have helped countless fellow students, teachers, and community members.” Thank you for your service and congratulations!