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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 �鶹ӰԺ 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-�鶹ӰԺ, 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 �鶹ӰԺ. 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 �鶹ӰԺ’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!