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MaryEllen Elia, New York State Commissioner of Education and alumna from the Department of Learning and Instruction, was invited to UB by GSE to discuss future plans for the State Education Department. Elia was given an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award for her extraordinary service, outstanding leadership and exemplary contributions to the education profession. The award was presented by the GSE Alumni Association.

Students in the Graduate School of Education held their annual research symposium to address research and practice that is contributing to the field of multiculturalism. This event is completely organized by students from the departments of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology (CSEP); Educational Leadership and Policy (ELP); Information Science; and Learning and Instruction (LAI). The title of this year’s symposium was “United We Stand, Divided We Fall: Centering Diversity and Social Justice in our Research Field and Practice.”  

Chris Banas, a GSE alumnus (EdM ’12, Spanish Education), brought 27 Amherst High School students on a mission trip to Costa Rica to engage his students interculturally, as well as improve their Spanish proficiency. Banas has been a Spanish teacher in Amherst High School since 2016. Previously, he worked at Health Sciences Charter School for four years where he did two service learning trips to Puerto Rico.  

Randy Yerrick, professor from the Department of Learning and Instruction, and Andrew Olewnik, an adjunct assistant professor from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, have received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to help engineering students become better problem solvers. The grant also helps students connect their coursework and their professional preparation, and GSE will measure whether the project has lasting effects.

Africa S. Hands won the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Research Grant Program Competition, allowing her to continue her research on how library and information science graduate programs prepare students for the job market.

GSE recognized that school districts across the state were seeking support implementing K-12 computer science coursework and in finding certified teachers, in response to public desire to see these skills formally taught, as well as a state mandate that schools offer computer science. New York State has also begun to mandate that teachers of computer science courses be certified in New York’s K-12 Computer Science.

The Burnham-Nobles Digital Archive, a database documenting racially motivated violence targeting African Americans in the Jim Crow South, was recently established thanks in part to University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education alumna Gina Nortonsmith’s expertise, guidance and leadership.