Alumni News

Kristin Cipollone (PhD in ECPS, 2012) was promoted to associate professor with tenure at Ball State University.

Miao Li (PhD in ECPS, 2013) was promoted to professor at Shandong University, China.

Rima Aranha (PhD in ECPS, 2013) is the director of Strategic Initiatives (graduate and professional divisions) and the coordinator of Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Touro College. Touro College is a Jewish-sponsored independent institution of higher and professional education. The College was established primarily to enrich the Jewish heritage, and to serve the larger American community. Prior to her current roles at CETL and in the Provost’s Office, she served as research professor and then associate director at the Lander Center for Educational Research, in the Touro College Graduate School of Education. 

Rachel Dominguez (PhD in ECPS, 2020) has been appointed by the Superintendent of the Buffalo Public Schools to his Health Advisory Council, which will oversee the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Virginia A. Batchelor (PhD in ECPS, 2001) professor in the Division of Education at Medaille College, is the author of Stop Calling Me That! My Name is Araminta (Lillion Lee & Lil Lion Reads, 2015). Her research has been published in a collection on the challenges facing African American girls’ and urban female students.

David Cantaffa (PhD in ECPS, 2009) is a provost fellow for teacher education at the State University of New York (SUNY). Previously, he worked as an assistant dean for teacher education and director of the Teacher Education Institute at the University at Buffalo for 12 years (2004-16).

Qiongqiong Chen (PhD in ECPS, 2014) is a researcher and administrator at the Southern University of Science and Technology, People's Republic of China. She is the author of the book Globalization and Transnational Academic Mobility: The Experiences of Chinese Academic Returnees (Springer, 2017).

Kristin Cipollone (PhD in ECPS, 2012), assistant professor of elementary education at Ball State University, is a co-author of the book Class Warfare: Race, Class and the College Admissions Process in Top-Tier High Schools (University of Chicago Press, 2014). She was selected to participate in AERA Division G’s early career mentoring seminar, a competitive program for pre-tenure higher education faculty. Scholars selected for this seminar receive mentoring from senior scholars and foundation officers on a range of topics including teaching, scholarshi, and seeking funding. Cipollone, as part of a team at Ball State University (Pat Clark, Jon Clausen, Wilfridah Mucherah, Susan Tancock and Eva Zygmunt), has also been awarded the 2015-16 AERA Division K Innovations in Research on Diversity in Teacher Education Award. This award recognizes research that demonstrates innovation in addressing issues of diversity in teaching and/or teacher education. The award was given in recognition of the schools within the context of community programs that addressed the need for culturally responsive, community-engaged teachers by immersing early teacher learners in the low-income, African American neighborhood in which they were teaching.

Ana Luisa Muñoz García (PhD in ECPS, 2014) was appointed an assistant professor in the School of Education at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile. Previously, she worked as an assistant professor in the School of Education at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Santiago, Chile.

Julie A. Gorlewski (PhD in ECPS, 2008) was appointed associate professor and chair of the Department of Learning and Instruction at the University at Buffalo. Previously, she was an associate professor and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at Virginia Commonwealth University, a position she has held since 2016. Gorlewski published Democracy and Decency: What Does Education Have to Do With It? (Information Age, 2016), as well as the article, co-authored with Eve Tuck, "Racist Ordering, Settler Colonialism, and edTPA: A Participatory Policy Analysis" in the Journal of Educational Policy. She was featured in a keynote colloquium at the annual meeting of the American Educational Studies Association in November 2016 and has presented at the annual convention of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Gunilla Holm (PhD in ECPS, 1987), professor at the University of Helsinki, is the director the Nordic Centre of Excellence "Justice through Education in the Nordic Countries," a multidisciplinary, cross-national research center that started its activities in 2013 as part of NordForsk’s "Education for Tomorrow" program. JustEd consists of 14 partner universities in all Nordic countries, as well as international partners in France, Italy and Australia. The research at JustEd focuses on issues related to agency, marginalization and diversity in education, as well as on the influence of governance, policies, politics and marketization on educational equality. The center fosters contacts and collaboration between all the Nordic countries and highly recognized international partners. Activities include mobility programs for doctoral students, postdocs and senior researchers, as well as fellowships for guest researchers. A researcher education component is also part of the center, with doctoral training and an annually recurring summer school, as well as seminars and biannual conferences, extensive international publishing and dissemination, and the preparation of joint applications for research grants. Since 2013, JustEd has organized summer schools for doctoral students and three international conferences, of which the final conference gathered over 150 participants from 24 countries in May 2018. From 2013 to 2016, JustEd researchers published over 600 peer-reviewed publications and presented more than 900 papers at conferences. Based on their research, JustEd researchers published a set of policy implications, which was sent to all the ministries in the Nordic countries, and decision makers at national and local levels. JustEd will officially end its activities at the end of December 2018. Holm received the GSE Distinguished Alumni Award in 2019.

Heather Jenkins (PhD in ECPS, 2011) is the managing director of service impact and evaluation at City Year in Boston. City Year is a national organization that works within public school systems to bridge the gap between what students in high poverty schools need and what their schools are designed and resourced to provide in regard to academic, social and emotional support. Previously, she was the director of academics and program evaluation, and the director of high school prep at Buffalo Prep, a non-profit education organization serving under-represented youth in grades 5-12.  

Chien-Chen Kung (PhD in ECPS, 2012) is an assistant professor of the Department of Arts and Design, the National Taipei University of Education, Taipei, Taiwan. Previously, he was a certified assistant professor and a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Sociology, National Taipei University, New Taipei City, Taiwan; before that, he was an adjunct assistant professor at the Department of Arts and Design, National Taipei University of Education, Taipei City, Taiwan. National Taipei University of Education (NUTE) is a university located in Daan District, Taipei, Taiwan that predominantly focuses on teacher training. NTUE is organized into three colleges: Education, Humanities and Arts, and Science. NUTE offers courses and programs leading to officially recognized higher education bachelor degrees, and master degrees in several areas of study.

Catherine L. Lalonde (PhD in ECPS, 2007) was appointed the assistant provost of Paul Smith’s College. Previously, she was an assistant professor and NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education) coordinator for the education department at D’Youville College in Buffalo, a position she held since 2007. Lalonde has co-published research related to critical media literacy, such as Public Pedagogy for Private Profit: The Hidden Curriculum of Reality TV (Sense Publishers, 2017), and assessment, such as (Dis)positioning Learners: Rubrics and Identity in Teacher Education (Information Age Publishing, 2015), and published about food preparation and access, such as Raising Critique about Unhealthy Food Access Among Marginalized Youth in Communities and Schools (Routledge, 2014).

Illana Lane (PhD in ECPS, 2003) is the chief assessment and learning officer at Medaille College in Buffalo. In this position, she organizes and supervises the efforts of institutional effectiveness and student learning assessment, including review and revision of the process as necessary.

Teresa Lawrence (PhD in ECPS, 2009) previously served as the superintendent of the Grand Island School District in Buffalo and received the GSE Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016. In 2015, she was identified by Business First as one of Western New York’s Women of Influence; was recognized by the Western New York Women in Educational Leadership as the 2010 Outstanding Educational Mentor; and was honored by the School Administrators Association of New York State as the 2004 Outstanding Educator of the Year.

Miao Li (PhD in ECPS, 2013), assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Shandong University, People's Republic of China, was invited to have discussions about her book Citizenship Education and Migrant Youth in China: Pathways to the Urban Underclass (Routledge, 2015). Her full interview is available online. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. She was the recipient of an International Peace Scholarship (2010-12).

Margaret C. McCarthy (PhD in ECPS, 1994) is a full professor at Canisius College in Buffalo. She has served as department chair, dean of the School of Education and Human Services, and is currently the Vice President for Academic Affairs. She co-edited the book Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation (University Press of America, 2014), and also authored two chapters in the book.

Andrea Nikischer (PhD in ECPS, 2013) is an assistant professor in the Department of Adult Education at Buffalo State College. She was awarded a Buffalo State Emerging Scholar Award in 2014 and her publications include "Differential Access to High School Counseling, Postsecondary Destinations, and STEM Careers" with Lois Weis and Rachel Fix Dominguez in Teachers College Record.

Amira Proweller (PhD in ECPS, 1995) is an associate professor of educational policy studies and research and the chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Research in the DePaul University College of Education. Her research interests and publications have focused on the politics of schooling, youth culture and identity formation, teacher socialization in urban contexts, and most recently, a university-community partnership examining the role of Jewish teen girls' engagement with social justice within the context of an out-of-school program oriented around youth participatory action research. She teaches undergraduate, master's and doctoral level courses in social and historical issues in education, sociology of education and qualitative research methods.

Jennifer M. Rosenberg (PhD in ECPS, 2003) is an associate dean and the director of admissions, enrollment planning, and undergraduate advisement in the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and a recipient of the 2017 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service.

Ramona R. Santa Maria (PhD in ECPS, 2009), an assistant professor in the Computer Information Systems Department at Buffalo State College, and her research team have received the notable CS4HS grant from Google each year since 2011. This grant supports professional development for teachers interested in computer science teaching in grades 6-12. Each year, 25 new teachers are accepted into the program and 20 CS4HS alumni are invited to return. For more information, visit http://cs4hs.buffalostate.edu.

Crain Soudien (PhD in ECPS, 1996) is the chief executive officer of the Human Sciences Research Council. Previously, he was the deputy vice-chancellor at the University of Cape Town, where he remains an emeritus professor in education and African studies. His publications in the areas of social difference, culture, education policy, comparative education, educational change, public history and popular culture include three books, three edited collections and over 190 articles, reviews, reports and book chapters.

Amy Stich (PhD in ECPS, 2010), assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at Northern Illinois University, received a 2016 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. This prestigious program encourages outstanding researchers at the postdoctoral level to pursue critical research questions in education. The project investigates the structure and social consequence of postsecondary tracking by using qualitative, multi-case study. By focusing on stratification within universities rather than between them, this research contributes to our understanding of deepening levels of inequality in the postsecondary system. In addition, this research aims to contribute to conversations surrounding educational policies and practices that seek to improve access, opportunities and outcomes for underrepresented students in higher education. Her first book, Access to Inequality: Reconsidering Class, Knowledge and Capital (Lexington Press, 2014) was reviewed in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

Francisco Vasquez (PhD in ECPS, 2003) was elected chair of the board of directors of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of the John R. Oishei Foundation, also in Buffalo, NY. Vasquez is currently the president and chief executive officer of Child and Family Services. He previously served as executive vice president of People Inc.

Daniel C. Vélez (PhD in ECPS, 2012) was appointed interim vice president for student affairs at Shippensburg University. Previously, Vélez was the interim vice president for student affairs at Buffalo State College. He served Buffalo State within the student affairs division in various positions of progressive responsibility, including coordinator of Latino/Caribbean student services, assistant to the vice president for student affairs, interim associate vice president for enrollment management, and associate vice president for student success. In recognition for consistently superior professional achievement, he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Professional Service in 2012. Vélez has been a leader in the Hispanic community with service to organizations such as the Hispanic Heritage Council of Western New York Inc., Alianza Latina of the Evergreen Association, El Museo Francisco Oller y Diego Rivera, and the Buffalo Latino Lions Club. Vélez was recognized by Mayor Byron Brown in 2013 for his work in education and numerous contributions to the Hispanic community.