MSUTeach members attend conference
Morehead State University MSUTeach Program members attended the 2017 UTeach Conference, May 22-25, in Austin, Texas.
Attendees included five students and 11 faculty, staff, and administrators. Dr. Mike Dobranski and Dr. Edna Schack, co-directors, invited a cross-section of faculty and students to attend the conference to broaden the perspectives and understanding of the UTeach model.
Administrators attending were Dr. Wayne Miller, College of Science dean; Dr. Chris Miller, College of Education interim dean; Dr. Ahmad Zargari, College of Science associate dean; and Dr. April Miller, Early Childhood, Elementary and Special Education interim chair.
A number of the attendees also were presenters. Dr. David Long, STEM education assistant professor, along with several UTeach colleagues, facilitated a roundtable discussion, “Improving Knowing and Learning in Light of Motivated Reasoning Research.”
Dr. Jeannie Justice, assistant professor of education, was a panelist in a pre-conference session on the MSUTeach Research Methods course. She was assisted by students Taylor Ray of Owingsville, Mary Quisenberry of Morehead, and Eddi Akers of McDowell.
Ray, Rayann Whitaker of Viper, and Stephen Burke of Clearfield, had posters accepted and participated in the student poster session. The posters highlighted research in astrophysics and the MSUTeach Explore Club. Whitaker, Burke, Quisenberry, and Akers are officers of the club. Other faculty and staff attending the conference were Dr. Steve Stubbs, career and technical education instructor; Dr. Lesia Lennex, education professor; and Carol Neeper, Rowan County elementary school teacher.
The MSUTeach group were able to attend a large variety of sessions on courses, recruiting, fundraising, student groups, scholarships and clinical experiences. Several plenary sessions focused on innovative teaching and learning activities, including the use of YouTube and other easily accessible web-based tools for engaging in mathematics and science.
The group ended the conference with a debrief session to gather thoughts from our cross-section of attendees that will be used as the program further develops.
MSUTeach prepares secondary STEM teachers and is modeled on 20 years of success of the UTeach model integrating pedagogy with mathematics and science content.
MSUTeach is made possible by Drs. Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau and a grant from the National Math and Science Initiative. The Volgenaus provided resources totaling nearly $4 million to ensure MSU was fiscally able to be successful as an UTeach site.
Additional information is available by calling 606-783-9036, email to msuteach@moreheadstate.edu, or visit www.moreheadstate.edu/msuteach.
