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Brief updates about what’s new in the School of Education

New wellness institute brings together communities in research-practice partnerships

The Renée Crown Wellness Institute, established by Colorado philanthropist Patricia Crown, is committed to building a world in which health and wellness are valued, promoted and protected for all children and youth. The five founding faculty members include Professors Sona Dimidjian, Erik Willcutt and Yuko Munakata from the College of Arts and Sciences, and Professor Ben Kirshner and Dean Kathy Schultz from our School of Education.

The institute supports research-practice partnerships in which researchers, families, teachers, young people and community members work together as equal partners. Kalonji Nzinga, assistant professor of education and a recipient of the institute’s inaugural seed grant program, will lead the Lyripeutic Storytelling Project in collaboration with local teachers, students, artists and researchers.

“We cannot address the challenges we face in isolation,” said Dimidjian, the institute’s director. “By working across traditional boundaries on our campus and with community partners, we can co-create and study programs to help children, young people, families and educators thrive throughout their lives. These partnerships improve the quality of our science and scholarship, and expand the impact of our collective work.”

Innovative online Teacher Leadership program launches

Designed to address the teacher shortage in Colorado, particularly in rural communities, the School of Education launched an entirely online Teacher Leadership program this fall. This affordable program offers stackable graduate certificates that can lead to a master’s degree.

These certificates are designed with ideas from educators to help meet teachers’ needs. The curricula directly relate to teachers’ everyday practices while translating into practical tools that teachers can use in their own classrooms, schools and communities.

School of Education faculty program director Emily Gleason and faculty advisor Dan Liston worked with a series of focus groups with rural teachers in northeast Colorado to develop the content for the certificates: Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning; Teaching Culturally/ Linguistically Diverse Students; Cultivating Compassion and Dignity in Ourselves and Our Schools; and Leading for Change in Science Assessment Practice.

Right: Dean Kathy Schultz at a northeast Colorado Place-Based Partnership Gathering at the School of Education with Bret Miles, former northeast Colorado BOCES executive director; Kendra Anderson, elementary principal at Akron School District; and Rob Sanders, superintendent at Buffalo School District.

Moving into our new campus home in the Fleming Building

The School of Education community began the move into our new campus home, the Fleming Building, this summer. Our newly renovated building brings our inventive educational practices at the heart of our programs into the heart of our learning spaces.

Opening up to a student lounge, community space and locally created art on the first floor, the new building prioritizes community building to further strengthen the collaboration among students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners. The building will eventually house all our students, faculty, staff and research centers through a two-phase process planned to be completed in 2022. We look forward to hosting you when we are open for visitors!