UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA

College of Education

University of South Carolina

Education Professor Elected to the ASTE Board of Directors

Dr. Nate Carnes, USC College of Education Associate Professor in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, has been elected to the Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE) Board of Directors for 2012-2014. He will also co-chair the ASTE Awards Committee.

The ASTE is a professional organization composed of more than 800 science teacher educators and scientists worldwide who prepare and provide professional development for teachers of science at all grade levels and promote excellence in science teacher education through scholarship and innovation.

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Carnes was a 2007 recipient of the ASTE’s coveted Outstanding Science Teacher Educator of the Year Award and was previously elected regional director of the organization’s board. His research interests in visual data analysis, science teacher education at elementary, middle, and secondary levels, and inquiry teaching and learning underscore his belief that highly qualified teachers of science are essential to our nation’s future.

“My teaching and research interests extend beyond the borders of science education to middle school issues that include behavior management and motivation. Science education research has documented that ‘we’ begin to lose females and students of color by 4th grade. The school systems across the nation sustain greater losses, some irrevocable, by the end of 8th grade. My work and mission is to avert this tragic trend through the identification and implementation of instructional and technological innovations,” he said.

Carnes’ research is supported by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Association of Research in Science Teaching. His findings on the complexities of science teaching have been published in the International Encyclopedia of Education and The Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering.

“My findings help my colleagues gain insight into perceptions that teacher candidates bring to science education courses and how those perceptions are formed. My use of drawings in my teaching helps teacher candidates confront misperceptions and myths that they hold. This learning process leads teacher candidates to become more informed about the complexities of the science education enterprise. The more informed they are, the more knowledgeable and impactful they will be in raising student achievement.”

The recipient of the College of Education’s Lee Maidment Spirit of Service Award and the Mortar Board Excellence in Teaching Award, the Troy, Ohio, native earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, two Master of Education degrees in science education and classroom teaching from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and a Ph.D. in educational administration from Miami University.

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Meet Staff Member Karen Blizzard

Job title: Administrative assistant, Office of Program Evaluation (OPE)

What I like best about the College of Education: “I like the laid-back atmosphere and the staff and faculty. I am very impressed by the level of professionalism, knowledge, expertise, and diplomacy that goes on behind the scenes.”

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You'd be surprised to know that: “I am a student nurse. The academics are very challenging, but the hands-on nursing is very rewarding. I love gardening, ocean fishing, and the coast of South Carolina. I adore children, so please teach them well. They are our hope for a better tomorrow.”

Words I live by: “Treat others as you would like to be treated; stand up for those less fortunate than yourself who have no voice; do not take life too seriously; and remember the rules on the kindergarten wall: Don't hurt each other, and clean up your mess. Take a nap every day, and wash before you eat. Hold hands, stick together, and look before you cross the street. Remember the seed in the little paper cup. First the root goes down, then the plant grows up!”

I’m proudest of: “My father fought in the Battle of Bulge in WWII, and his unit flag hangs in the Hall of Liberators in the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. His unit was the first to liberate the concentration camp Ohdruf in Nazi Germany. I will forever be proud of his contributions in WWII.”

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College of Education Department Chair Receives USC Social Justice Award

Dr. Gloria Boutte, Yvonne and Schuyler Moore Child Advocacy Distinguished Chair of Early Childhood Education in the USC College of Education’s (COE) Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, is the faculty recipient of the 2012 University of South Carolina Social Justice Award for exemplary teaching, research, and community service to advance understanding of underrepresented groups.

Boutte’s award was presented during the University’s annual commemorative celebrations to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and is given to individuals who exemplify Dr. King’s philosophies through their acts of community service, social justice, or racial reconciliation.

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Throughout her career, diversity and equity issues have been central to Boutte’s teaching, scholarship, and service, from serving on the USC Faculty Senate, as departmental affirmative action officer, director of a center on educational equity, as well as a developer of an undergraduate course on culturally relevant pedagogy and a graduate course on educating African American students. Both courses that Boutte developed are currently offered at the University.

“When devising my current platform for the endowed chair at the University of South Carolina, my co-chair and I decided to focus on children whose needs are least likely to be met by schools and to advocate on their behalf,” Boutte said. “While acknowledging common underachievement patterns for other groups that are marginalized, our resounding priority was on African American students who have consistently and pervasively fared less well than any other ethnic group.”

At the national level, Boutte’s work addresses policy issues on early childhood, language diversity, and the education of African American males. Recently, she co-planned and co-lead a statewide, action-oriented conference on closing the achievement gap, which involved school teams consisting of educators, parents, students, policymakers, and community members.

Noteworthy indicators of the national and international stature of Boutte’s research is evidenced by numerous invited and/or keynote addresses in academic venues and schools in the U.S., Australia, Ghana, and South America. She has served as Visiting Scholar for the Centre for Equity and Innovation in Early Childhood in Melbourne, Australia, where she shared her research on critical literacy with postgraduate students. Additionally, she was invited as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Choco in Colombia, South America, and was a Fulbright-Hays participant in Ghana, West Africa.

Most recently, Boutte and Dr. Susi Long co-directed a Fulbright-Hays Groups Abroad project in Sierra Leone. The project – Sankofa: Understanding Sierra Leone’s History, Language, and Culture To Teach Future Generations – involved 13 educators in intensive firsthand learning experiences in Sierra Leone. Sankofa focused on building knowledge and collecting materials to be used in the construction of curriculum for K-12 classrooms and preservice teacher education in the U.S.

“This work is a significant part of my life’s purpose, which is to see the humanity in everyone and to work toward equity in schools and society. It is noble, but thankless, work for the most part. It is great to be honored for this work. I am thankful for the COE’s and USC’s leadership and appreciation for social justice work.”

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COE Program to Be Featured on ESPN-U

Caleb Lott provides medical attention to a football player. Lott will be featured in a story on ESPNU this week for his efforts that helped save a high school player's life.

The USC College of Education's Graduate Athletic Training Program will be featured on an upcoming "SEC Academic Special," slated to air at 5 p.m., Wednesday, January 4, 2012, on ESPN-U. USC's athletic training education program will be highlighted in this ESPN special, which features outstanding SEC academic programs.

Tune in for the academic segment featuring USC's graduate athletic training student Caleb Lott, whose timely intervention helped save the life of Brennen Barber. Barber, a defensive lineman at Mid-Carolina High School in Newberry County, sustained a life-threatening head injury during a scrimmage last fall.

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As a result of his injury, Barber underwent successful surgery at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital. Lott was instrumental in determining the extent of the initial injury and activating an emergency action plan that resulted in Brennen's successful recovery.

Lott is part of USC's graduate athletic training program, where certified athletic trainers are assigned to provide health care to athletes at local high schools, USC sports teams, Benedict College, S.C. State University, as well the USC Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Department. Lott's story also appeared in an August 2011 edition of The State newspaper.

The Department of Physical Education and Athletic Training offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in athletic training and teacher certification in physical education. Learn more about the department and potential careers in athletic training and physical education by visiting www.ed.sc.edu/pe.

The program is expected to re-air, and a video copy of the story will also be available on the USC Web site (www.sc.edu) in the USC Web/video box.

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Department of Educational Studies Chair Announced

Erik Drasgow is the new chair of the USC College of Education’s Department of Educational Studies. The professor of educational studies will lead the department’s three program areas: Counselor Education; Educational Psychology, Research, and Foundations; and Special Education. A fourth program, Educational Technology, is jointly governed by the University of South Carolina Aiken and Columbia.

“I’m proud of the growing national accomplishments of our departmental faculty,” Drasgow said. “I look forward to continuing our movement toward national prominence in scholarship and preparing the next generation of leaders and scholars to meet the needs of our state.”

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Drasgow, a board-certified behavior analyst, has taught at Schools for the Deaf and Blind in New York and in Florida and is the coauthor of No Child Left Behind: A Guide for Professionals and Educating Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders in General and Special Education, which was translated into Korean in 2010.

His research interests include language and communication intervention for individuals with severe disabilities, autism, positive behavior support, and special education policy and law, and his research findings have been published in the Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Exceptional Children, and Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities.

A much sought after consultant and presenter, Drasgow is the recipient of University of South Carolina Educational Foundation Research Award for Professional Schools and a principal investigator of Project POSTS, the Preparation of Secondary Transition Specialists, a five-year, $1,125,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to prepare secondary transition specialists at the graduate level, to help transition youth with disabilities from school to post-school environments, and to serve as instructional leaders throughout South Carolina. The grant will help improve special education services and results for children with disabilities through collaborative partnering, and 80 percent of funding will provide student support through stipends and tuition.

Drasgow earned a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, an MS in education of the hearing impaired from St. Mary’s School for the Deaf/Canisius College Teacher Preparation Program in Buffalo, N.Y., and a BA in psychology and English literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo.


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Education Scholar and Researcher Impacts Community Health

College of Education assistant professor Bethany Bell works to improve the health of South Carolina’s children and families.

The former community health educator brings her public health background and training to bear in each of her academic and research endeavors.

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Bell serves as co-investigator on two nutrition-related projects. The first project, the Midlands Family Study, focuses on understanding how community and household factors impact very low food security (VLFS) in children. Funded through the University of Kentucky and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the project will produce a description of modifiable household and community conditions associated with VLFS and recommend strategies to eliminate it. Dr. Sonya Jones is principal investigator.

The second project, Identifying Food Deserts in the Rural South: A Comparison of Food Access Measures, evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of key measures of access used for the identification of food deserts by U.S. federal and policy-relevant agencies and is funded through the Research Innovation and Development Grants in Economics, Center for Targeted Studies at Mississippi State University’s Southern Rural Development Center. Dr. Angela Liese is principal investigator.

"My work impacts the community when applied researchers can use more advanced statistical procedures in their work," Bell said. "With a better understanding comes the ability to inform policies and other community activities focused on improving the health of South Carolinians."

In addition to her work in educational psychology, research, and foundations in the Department of Educational Studies, Bell collaborates with researchers in USC’s Arnold School of Public Health, the College of Social Work, the College of Nursing, and at The Ohio State University. She is also an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities and a member of the USC Research Consortium for Children and Families. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on health and educational disparities and how social determinants such as school, neighborhood, and policy influence education and health outcomes.

Bell’s collaborative research findings have been published in the American Journal of Public Health, The Journal of Early Intervention, and Social Science & Medicine.

The recipient of the College of Education’s Early Career Award in Research, Bell earned a BA in sociology from Mary Washington College, her MPH from the University of Oklahoma, and her Ph.D. in a self-created dual specialization of educational measurement and research and community and family health from the University of South Florida.

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USC Education Professor Receives Grant to Improve Child Care and Preschool

Dr. Herman T. Knopf, associate professor of early childhood education in the USC College of Education’s Department of Instruction and Teacher Education, has received a one-year $204,281 grant from the South Carolina Department of Social Services/U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to improve community-based child care and preschool programs statewide.

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The Building a Statewide System for Inclusion project will use the Ages and Stages Questionnaire Online (ASQ), an adaptation of the popular development screening tool for young children, along with targeted training and technical assistance, to support the inclusion of young children with developmental delays in community-based child care and preschool programs throughout South Carolina.

Knopf is collaborating with the USC School of Medicine’s Center for Disability Resources on the project. He presented his initial findings on the use of the ASQ Online at the Child Care Policy Research Consortium in Washington D.C. The consortium is a national forum of leading researchers in the field of child care policy research funded by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, Office of Policy, Research, and Evaluation.

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