FACULTY AND STAFF
THERESA CULLEN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Cullen wrote an instructor’s guide for the International Society for Technology in Education preservice teacher e-book titled EdTech for the K-12 Classroom: ISTE Readings on How, When and Why to Use Technology.
BENJAMIN HEDDY, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
Heddy published a new manuscript in Computers & Education titled “Affordances of using mobile technology to support experience-sampling method in examining college students' engagement.” https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131518302653?dgcid=coauthor.
Professor Emeritus Barbara Greene served as a co-author on the manuscript.
KIRSTEN HEXTRUM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES
Hextrum recently published an article in the Harvard Educational Review titled “The Hidden Curriculum of College Athletic Recruitment.” http://hepg.org/her-home/issues/harvard-educational-review-volume-88,-issue-3/herarticle/the-hidden-curriculum-of-college-athletic-recruitm.
Hextrum also contributed to two articles to The Atlantic, “College Sports Are Affirmative Action for Rich White Students” https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/college-sports-benefits-white-students/573688/?utm_source=twb; and “Elite-College Admissions Are Broken” https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/10/elite-college-admissions-broken/572962/.
PHILIP JOHNSON, ACADEMIC ADVISING
Johnson presented “The Practicality of Parallel Planning: The Necessity and Usefulness of a Back-Up Major for Students” at the 2018 NACADA Annual Conference this past September in Phoenix. The presentation won “Best Presentation for OACADA Winter 2017” at the state-level OACADA Conference held at OU in December 2017.
MIRELSIE VELAZQUEZ, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES
Velazquez is featured in the Fall/Winter 2018 edition of proFmagazine. Velazquez talks about her early influences and experiences as a Puerto Rican woman growing up in Chicago and how that led to her interest in the history of education and social justice.
STUDENTS AND ALUMNI
EBONY POPE BIRDINE, PH.D. STUDENT, ADULT AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Birdine received the OU Provost’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. The recipients represent the top 10 percent of all graduate assistants across campus by student evaluations for courses taught during the spring 2018 semester.
ORAL BLANKSON, M.ED., 2014
Blankson joined the Oklahoma Hall of Fame and Gaylord-Pickens Museum in spring 2018, after a career spanning half a decade in higher education fundraising. Previously, Oral was a development assistant at the University of Texas at Austin, and a development officer at the University of Oklahoma.
As a development officer at the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, Blankson is tasked with the opportunity to grow all funding arms of the museum, including annual gifts, major gifts and corporate partnerships.
Blankson sits on the Citizens Advisory Board for Cleveland County, where he and other community leaders serve underprivileged foster students. He has also been involved with Toastmasters International Inc. and is a graduate of Leadership Oklahoma City’s LOYAL Class XIII.
MEGAN DENNEY, M.ED., 2008; PH.D. STUDENT, ADULT AND HIGHER EDUCATION
Denney received the 2018 NACADA Outstanding Advising Award (primary role). Denney is an academic advisor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science in the OU College of Arts and Sciences.
JENNIE HANNA, PH.D., 2018
Hanna published an article titled “Reducing Fear with Recitations: Improving Public Speaking Through Poetry” in the May 2018 edition of English Journal.
Public speaking can be a difficult subject to teach adolescents. The article shows how public-speaking skills can be interwoven with poetry analysis by participating in the Poetry Out Loud program.
MISTY HENRY, B.S. ED., 2014; M.ED., 2018
Henry was honored as part of KFOR’s “Thankful 4 Teachers” program in August. Henry, who teachers at Putnam Heights Elementary, was presented with a $5,000 check as part of the program.
JONATHAN JOHNSON, B.S. ED., 2014; M.ED., 2018
Johnson was named the Esperanza Elementary School 2018-19 Teacher of the Year. Esparanza is part of Oklahoma City Public Schools. Johnson was part of the Urban Teacher Preparation Academy and Debt-Free Teachers program.
SARA NEWSOME, B.S. ED., 2014
Newsome was named the Norman North High School 2018-19 Teacher of the Year. Newsome is a resource teacher at the school.
JASON POUDRIER, PH.D. STUDENT, ENGLISH EDUCATION
Poudrier is a novelist, essayist, poet and Purple Heart recipient of the Iraq War. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in English education and is an instructor with Cameron University. He serves as the director of events for Military Experience & the Arts, and is an award-winning author of two poetry collections, Red Fields (Mongrel Empire Press, 2012), and the chapbook In the Rubble at Our Feet (Rose Rock Press, 2011). His poems have recently appeared in World Literature Today and Blue Streak. His fiction has been listed as a finalist for the New Plains Review Sherman Chaddlesone Flash Fiction contest, semifinalist for American Short Fiction’s American Short(er) Fiction contest, and honorable mention for Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Volume 6.
MADELINE SHIELDS, B.S. ED. STUDENT, ELEMENTARY EDUCATION
Shields was named a semi-finalist in the 2018 Miss Oklahoma competition, held this past June. Shields was crowned Miss Owasso last December to advance to the state pageant.
DYLAN SMITH, B.S. ED., 2015
Smith was named Teacher of the Year for 2018-19 at Bodine Elementary School in Oklahoma City.
KARA STOLTENBERG, B.S. ED., 2013; M.ED., 2018
Stoltenberg was featured in Time Magazine’s “13 Stories of Life on a Teacher's Salary” article. Stoltenberg currently teaches language arts at Norman High. You can read the article at http://time.com/longform/teacher-pay-salary-stories/.
ANDREA SUK, PH.D. STUDENT, SPECIAL EDUCATION
Suk published the article “Opening the Gate to Collaboration” in the summer 2018 edition of Strides, the official magazine of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International.
In addition, Suk was honored with the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award by the OU Graduate Student Senate.
LENA TENNEY, M.ED., 2016
Tenney is coordinator of public engagement for the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. Tenney served as co-creator of the Kirwan Institute’s Implicit Bias Module Series. It is the nation’s first free online implicit bias training for K-12 educators. The training can be accessed at http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/implicit-bias-training/.
HONOR ROLL
The Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education Honor Roll recognizes our generous donors.