SOE News Briefs: Faculty & Student Accolades
Accolades for Graduate Students
Erin Dixon, PhD ’15
The School Science and Mathematics Association (SSMA) honored Erin Dixon, PhD ’15, visiting lecturer in science education, with a national award for her outstanding dissertation, completed for her degree in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction.
Dixon’s work compared two methods of science instruction: inquiry teaching and direct teaching. The SSMA Dissertation Award recognizes exceptional doctoral degree research in the fields of science education, mathematics education or integrated science and mathematics education.
Abby Hodges
Abby Hodges was awarded the James Kopp Scholarship Award and also won the poster competition presented by the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis this spring. Hodges is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Educational Psychology, studying Applied
Behavior Analysis.
The Kopp Scholarship provides Hodges with funding to attend the national conference and present her research, focused on the relationship between autism and food selectivity. Studies show that using behavioral interventions can help children consume more food but Hodges aimed to also increase the variety of food consumed. Hodges conducts research with clients at Baylor’s
Clinic for Assessment, Research and Education (CARE), part of the Baylor Center for Developmental Disabilities (BCDD).
Laura Phipps
Laura Phipps, graduate student in School Psychology, was awarded the 2016 Outstanding Graduate Student Award (specialist level) by the Texas Association of School Psychologists.
Phipps, who completed undergraduate studies at James Madison University in 2013, said she chose Baylor’s school psychology program because of the unique program features, including the opportunity to work at Baylor’s Clinic for Assessment, Research and Education (CARE).
Keith Kerschen
Keith Kerschen, a PhD candidate in Curriculum and Teaching, was awarded the Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award from the Baylor Graduate School. Each semester, Baylor’s Graduate School awards three graduate instructors for excellence in classroom teaching.
Kerschen received this honor in the fall for his classroom teaching in the Spring 2016, when he taught American Educational Thought to School of Education undergraduates. Kerschen graduated from Kansas State University with a BS in education and taught high school mathematics for four years while earning his MA in education from Baker University.
Faculty in the News
Dr. Laine Scales
Dr. Laine Scales, professor of higher education who teaches in the School of Education’s PhD program in higher education and leadership studies, was among three Baylor faculty members honored for teaching excellence and named a “Master Teacher.”
Scales joined the Baylor faculty in 1999 as assistant professor of Social Work, has served as associate dean in the Graduate School since 2004 and joined the School of Education in 2008.
Her teaching and administrative focus is on faculty development, including professional development of graduate students.
Dr. Rishi Sriram
Dr. Rishi Sriram laid out a bold vision for student talent development as the keynote speaker at the Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience of the National Resource Center.
The convention provides a forum for higher education professionals to collaborate and share innovative ideas. The 2017 conference, held in February, drew more than 1,800 attendees from 47 states and 23 countries.
Sriram is associate professor and director of the master’s program in Higher Education & Student Affairs (HESA) in the Department of Educational Leadership.