Winograd’s work with Vietnamese researchers and teachers was part of a larger school reform effort underway in Vietnam. Topics including learner-centered approaches, critical thinking and differentiated instruction are all garnering interest among Vietnamese educators.

In a personal narrative, Winograd describes the experience working with his new colleagues at the VNIES in Hanoi.

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Vietnamese researchers discuss metacognition during one of Ken Winograd's presentations in Vietnam (contributed photo)

Supported by a Fulbright grant, I went to Hanoi in December 2012 for two weeks, to work for Vietnam Institute of Educational Services, a group under the aegis of the Ministry of Education and Technology. VNIES is the leading education think tank in Vietnam. It is staffed with 441 researchers, staff developers and administrative personnel. Fulbright supported my travel to and from Vietnam; my hosts in Hanoi supported me while I was there. You can learn more about VNIES at www.vnies.edu.vn.

Vietnam is currently engaged in school reform, from classroom practice to national standards and assessment. Education in Vietnam, unlike the United States, is highly centralized with a long Confucian tradition of teachers lecturing and students learning primarily from the teacher. Education leadership in the country understands the need for comprehensive education reform, and the 2015 Plan currently in development aims to improve curriculum and teaching in the nation’s schools. This includes more learner-centered pedagogies, critical thinking, and differentiated curricula.  Incidentally, climate change is a central focus of the Ministry of Education and Technology. It appears that Vietnam education (like in most countries of the world) is significantly further along than US schools in teaching climate change.

The heart of my work was a series of presentations on metacognition, multiple intelligences, learning theories, active learning and learning styles. The topics were determined by VNIES researchers whose focus is K-12 education with an orienting principle of learner-centered curriculum and teaching.

Ken Winograd with the director of VNIES, Professor Nguyen Loc.

I gave presentations to audiences of 12-20 people, mostly researchers at the institute but also elementary and secondary teachers at the institute’s ‘experimental school.’ The presentations were scheduled for six hours per day for nine of my days with VNIES. Each night, based on my emerging understanding of this new cultural context, I worked to revise my next day’s talk. Predictably, my talks sometimes were ‘off the mark’ in terms of the interests and background of my hosts, as the research problems and questions of the participants revealed gaps in my preparation. For example, one participant wanted more explicit information on assessment in multiple intelligence schools. So, that night, after researching the topic on the Internet, I emailed a document on assessment to one of my contacts, to be translated, printed and ready for distribution at the start of the next morning’s presentation. My presentations and the give-and-take between and among the participants and me led to much learning by everyone.

Vietnam Institute of Educational Services researchers and OSU Professor Ken Winograd (contributed photo)

My presentations were in English, and since most of participants were not English fluent, I had interpreters at all times. Showing PowerPoint slides, I summarized the main ideas in English, followed by a translation in Vietnamese.  I had three translators at different times. I was always appreciative of their skill and resilience, especially when I showed the group instructional videos in English. Typically, we would play the video and stop it after several minutes: first for a translation of the big ideas, my own ‘take’ on that segment which was also translated, and then group discussion (again, translated back to me so I could ‘lead’ the discussion which, in reality, was illusory.). When talking about Piaget and constructivism, I showed a Marilyn Burns video on the teaching of elementary mathematics. This modest 15-minute video led to so much discussion and learning, and it was due, in part, to the excellent work of the interpreters.

My hosts were excited to hear about all things ‘modern’, which is how they characterized anything not traditional (like behaviorist approaches to education, still the dominant mode of teaching in the country). I gave an all-day talk on ‘modern’ learning theories (emphasizing Piaget and, even more, the social constructivism of Vygotsky). For each of my topics, I planned demonstrations of different pedagogical approaches. The most engaging times were when participants, in small groups, developed curriculum. A raucous afternoon of multiple intelligences (i.e., Howard Gardner) curriculum development was especially memorable. I found the Vietnamese to be creative, intellectually curious and quite funny. After two days of multiple intelligences work, a lot of side conversations consisted of people asking each other, “So what’s your strongest intelligence?” They were all in agreement regarding mine.

I observed three classrooms in the experimental school: a first grade reading lesson and a first grade mathematics lesson. I also visited a high school English class, but they were preparing for an upcoming examination so there was no teaching to observe that day. My classroom visits were followed by meetings with the teachers and principal from the school. At these meetings, I was called on to report my observations of the teaching. I was impressed with how the teachers engaged the students in quick-paced (almost Socratic) problem solving questioning. The teachers had a deep understanding of the subject matter and a high-level of fluency in their use of teaching strategies. Although these first grade teachers had 40 students in their classes, the skillful questioning strategies of the teachers appeared to keep students engaged, on task and learning in these whole-group lessons.

I also was taken to a regular elementary school not far from the institute, and I observed a second-grade class on moral education. It was fascinating. The focus of the lesson was ‘respect for parents and grandparents.’ The teacher showed video and slides of different ethical dilemmas, e.g., a young boy watching television while his mother enters the house carrying bags of groceries. The teacher posed the question, ‘What does it mean to act ethically, in this case with one’s elders?’ Students engaged in a variety of learning activities to examine this aspect of ethical behavior. I loved how the teacher engaged students in small group discussion around this topic, and also how she invited students to choose how to show their learning in a variety of modes (role play, original songs, poetry, storytelling): very Howard Gardner!

Before leaving the class, students invited me to the front for questioning (how old are you? Do you have children), and one precocious girl performed an amazing song and dance routine in English. The children asked me to sing a traditional American song. The Vietnamese sing, routinely, in their family and school lives, so it was not a big deal for the students to ask and then listen to me sing. I gave them a hearty rendition of ‘Take me out to the ballgame.’ I recall someone in the back of the room shooting video of my bravura performance. If you read this article and have the video, can you send it to me?

Reflecting on my 18 days in Vietnam, clearly…it was the work and the relationships with the people that were most memorable. I have been working in elementary schools and curriculum for nearly a quarter century, so I was prepared for most questions and problems related to elementary education. Not surprisingly, the participants at my presentations asked insightful questions and challenged my thinking with great indirectness, aplomb and warmth. My hosts are well read in their particular areas of research, and most of them are experienced as classroom teachers. After showing a video of the ‘project approach’ in action in some US classrooms that appeared to have no more than 20 students, a skeptical researcher asked, ‘But how would this work in classrooms of 40-50 students?’ which is the average class size in Hanoi, and 50-60 students in rural schools.  I told her that there are no ‘answers’ to the question but only guidelines and hypotheses for what might work. Another day, one researcher was interested in merging models of multiple intelligence and learning styles, especially models developed by Kolb and also Fleming (VARK). The MI researcher in the group opposed the mixing of these models, but the LS researcher held her ground, pointing to work of some Australian scholar. I encouraged the LS researcher to develop a model and then test it out in the Experimental School. We are continuing to explore possible solutions to her re-modeling of MI and LS over email.

I am appreciative of the Fulbright Program and VNIES for their support of this trip. The VNIES and our College of Education now are exploring a ‘memorandum of understanding’, which will lead the way to continued collaboration and sharing of knowledge by our respective teachers and researchers. I look forward to this important opportunity for international cooperation.

Oregon State education student Vanessa Robinson helps a Lincoln School student design a catapult at a Family Math and Science Night at the school. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Under the watchful eye of Oregon State University student Vanessa Robinson, a Lincoln School student carefully combined tape, a plastic spoon and some small sticks to make his unique version of a catapult. Robinson’s eyes widened as she saw his technique.

“That is a creative solution I’ve never seen before,” she said. “Let’s show your dad.”

Around the pair, dozens of other elementary students and parents were crowded around, working on their own experiments. The gymnasium of Lincoln School was abuzz with laughter, shouting and intense discussions during their once-a-term Family Math and Science Night. A similar event is held at Garfield Elementary. The goal is to have children, families and teachers work together as partners to engage in learning science.

The event is facilitated by a group of enthusiastic soon-to-be teachers who are enrolled in Assistant Professor SueAnn Bottoms’ class on scientific methods. These pre-service teachers don’t get a lot of time to spend actually working with students, which is why Bottoms makes sure that in her class, working with elementary students at Garfield and Lincoln Schools is one of the requirements in her class.

The family night events are coordinated between the College of Education faculty, and the OSU-affiliated programs 4-H and SMILE (Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences). 4-H holds once-a-week afterschool science and math programs at Garfield and Lincoln, and during fall and spring term, Bottoms’ students usually spend about four or five sessions working one-on-one or in small groups with participating children. This allows them to practice their teaching skills, specifically in the area of science education.

Tristyne Brindle, a double degree student in education and human development and family sciences, helps a student with a science project at Lincoln School. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Tristyne Brindle is in the Education Double Degree program, which allows her to receive a degree in Human Development and Family Sciences and Education at the same time. She said she’s benefited from her time in Bottoms’ class.

“These kind of experiences are giving us real life practice for when we are teachers,” she said. “I’ve taught swimming lessons before but I haven’t taught in a classroom.”

Brindle said she was excited about her first chance to teach, but after their first exposure to teaching the kids, all the OSU students were a bit unnerved.

“We said ‘Well that was chaotic.’ We were disappointed in ourselves,” she said, because none of them felt fully prepared. “But it did get easier. It’s been overwhelming but definitely good practice, and I needed it.”

Bottoms’ said that the science methods course allows her students to learn about various approaches to teaching and then put them into practice.

“It gets them doing science with children,” she said. “This is about applying those methods immediately in the classroom and then beginning to process what’s happening and understand it.”

Ana Lucia Fonseca is the 4-H instructor working with students at Lincoln and Garfield for their afterschool science and math program. When she’s on her own, she sometimes has up to 15 children in her class. That makes hands-on learning more difficult. So when OSU students are working in smaller groups with her students, the learning environment becomes much more enhanced.

“That makes a huge difference,” she said. “They can do experiments together that way, and it’s much better to have two to one than 15 to one.”

In addition to giving the OSU pre-service teachers some practical experience, Fonseca said her students benefit from getting some special attention from an OSU role model. A college student can inspire a certain amount of hero-worship from a third or fifth grader.

Jay Well with the SMILE program spends a lot of his time helping coordinate math and science events at various schools. At Lincoln and Garfield, he organizes the family math and science nights, and he spends time preparing the OSU pre-service teachers to use informal education methods that they use to help parents and students work together on activities. Then they create instructional plans around science.

“This is a service learning type of experience for OSU students,” Well said. “They are actively learning while providing a worthwhile service to the community.”

Lincoln and Garfield are two Corvallis schools with the highest level of low-income students and with a large Latino population, which is why they were originally targeted for support with math and science programs. But Well hopes to one day see a similar type of arrangement in all Corvallis elementary schools.

“We have to get the money to fund these programs,” he said, “but if we increase the awareness of what we’re doing, hopefully we’ll be able to do more in the future.”

~ Theresa Hogue

Sandra Perry jogs with Adams Elementary students as part of a program to link OSU College of Ed students with elementary classrooms. (photo: Hannah O'Leary)

When 24 Oregon State University students showed up on the track at Adams Elementary School in mid October, they were quickly swarmed by elementary school kids out for recess. Soon, a huge crowd was making its way around the track.

It was exactly what the college students were looking for, a chance to get out of their OSU classrooms and interact with elementary-aged students. Modeling healthy behavior, and making it seem appealing and fun, is the motivation behind the College of Education double degree students’ trip to Adams.

The students are part of the class “Strategies for implementing health, wellness and the fine arts into the elementary classroom,” (TCE 458). It’s a big title for an even bigger subject, the complicated task that elementary teachers have of incorporating health and arts curriculum into their classrooms, while continuing to emphasize traditional subjects like reading, writing and arithmetic.

Taught by instructor Sandra Perry, the class focuses on health, wellness, and the direct impact teachers have on elementary aged students.

“Classroom teachers spend more time with students than any other adult during the day,” Perry said. “We want to help children develop healthy habits that they’ll incorporate into the rest of their lives.”

Nicolas Bowman, who is a liberal studies and education double degree student, said the class will help him as a future teacher to create a classroom environment that is energized and enriched with elements of education that often are seen as secondary to reading and writing, such as health and wellness.

“As an educator, it is my responsibility to educate and develop my students as a whole person, not just their minds,” he said.

An important first step for the double degree students is to assess their own health behaviors, and recognize what they will be modeling in their classrooms.

“If you walk into class with a big cup of Coke every day, that’s what the children see,” Perry said. “You’re not setting a good example.”

A large part of the students’ work in class is to create a wellness plan for an imaginary classroom, and make a poster or a flyer to express that plan to students, as well as a letter home to parents explaining the classroom wellness policy. Perry said her students are surprised to learn that teachers can set limits on what’s appropriate in their classroom, even if it means forbidding kids from bringing junk food from home.

College of Education students help mentor elementary students and introduce concepts of wellness into the classroom. (photo: Hannah O'Leary)

A great model for implementing wellness in the classroom is Gerhard Behrens, a third grade teacher at Adams Elementary. Behrens initiated the “Adams in Motion” program that led to the donation of a track at the school.

“I have a strong belief that kids who are well nourished and who exercise will do better,” Behrens said. “It’s a worthwhile commitment.”

Behrens has paired with Perry several times to allow students to visit the school and work directly with his students.

“The OSU students get a chance to interact with kids, not just their textbooks, research reading, or theory,” Behrens said. “It’s messy in a classroom: lesson plans don’t go exactly as you’d expect, kids don’t respond as you might imagine, the chemistry of one day differs from that of another. For an hour, they got to experience that messiness. They also get to hear a veteran teacher’s take on things.”

And the OSU students appreciate the opportunity.

“I have spent over 200 hours observing in classrooms during my education and I cherish every minute of it,” Bowman said. “Making the leap between theoretical work and practical application in any course of study can be challenging and at times frightening.”

This term, the OSU students and Adams students paired up to run around the track and talk about wellness at the same time. Dressed in Beaver gear, the third graders were thrilled to spend time with college students, and the OSU students had a chance to learn all about the many ways in which Adams students practice healthy behavior. These include everything from growing food in the school garden to competing to see who can run the most laps around the track.

Perry said her students come back charged up with what they’ve seen. It brings the lessons of their classroom into a real life setting.

“They come out and they’re so empowered and excited,” she said.

“It is one thing to talk and read about these sort of ideas out in the “real world,” Bowman said, “but to actually seem them in effective practice is completely inspiring.”

~ Theresa Hogue

Education Hall's massive renovation has received a major financial boost from an alum. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Oregon State University’s College of Education has received a $2 million donation from the Joyce N. Furman Memorial Trust, which will enable the university to complete a major renovation and seismic upgrade to its historic Education Hall. Furman graduated from OSU in 1965 with a bachelor’s degree in science education and was a longtime supporter of the university.

Furman passed away from metastatic melanoma in 2009. A passionate advocate for education and for children, she maintained a strong connection to her alma mater and formed a bond with OSU College of Education Dean Sam Stern, who had embarked on an ambitious, and some said, impossible journey to raise money for the restoration of Education Hall.

Bill Furman, Joyce’s husband, said his wife had made a gift toward the restoration of the building during the early stages of the effort and was extremely supportive of Stern and his commitment to the project, even taking the time to call him with words of encouragement.

In fact, it was Stern’s belief in an impossible dream that drew Furman to the project, because she was known for taking on impossible tasks and making them a reality.

“Her motto was ‘Leap and the net will appear,’” her husband said. So after Joyce’s death, Bill continued to cast an interested eye on the Education Hall project. It was Stern’s determination that finally convinced him to donate $2 million through the Joyce N. Furman Memorial Trust to help complete the building, which is currently in the throes of both a seismic upgrade and a major interior renovation. Plans are to name the building in honor of Joyce Furman, whose brother and sister also graduated from OSU.

Joyce Furman

Stern said he was privileged to get to know the Furmans during his earliest days as dean of the College of Education.

“I noticed right away the tremendous depth of Joyce’s caring for kids,” he said. “It is comprehensive. She was always thinking about the welfare of kids and all the different ways in which they can grow.

“I am thrilled that education at OSU will be associated with Joyce and Bill Furman,” Stern added. “It’s more than just the building, it’s about aligning our college with a deep commitment to kids and their education.”

An iconic structure at the campus’s east entrance, the renovated hall will blend historic charm with high-tech touches. The exterior seismic upgrades are being funded by the state, and the interior renovations are being funded by a combination of private donations and university funds.

Bill said Joyce was a passionate advocate for OSU, giving both time and money to a variety of causes on campus. She served on the steering committee for The Campaign for OSU and often brought Bill down from their home in Portland to attend football games, even getting him to wear orange sweaters after he lost a bet to her. He was fascinated with the old stone building where Joyce had taken her education courses.

“It became my school, whether I wanted that to happen or not,” Furman said, himself a graduate of Washington State University and now President and CEO of The Greenbrier Companies headquartered in Lake Oswego, Ore.

Joyce, who was a teacher and IBM systems analyst before meeting Bill, eventually became a full-time volunteer and philanthropist, devoting much of her life to the causes that pulled at her heart, including New Avenues for Youth, an organization which she co-founded to provide services to Portland’s homeless youth.

In addition to supporting the renovation of Education Hall, the Furman Trust has donated $500,000 to the OSU President’s Fund for Cultural Centers and $200,000 to a collaborative program between the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Oregon Humane Society. Earlier gifts from the Furmans supported a classroom in Education Hall, the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, and programs in the College of Liberal Arts.

The recent $2 million gift is part of The Campaign for OSU, the university’s first comprehensive fundraising initiative. Guided by OSU’s strategic plan, the campaign seeks $850 million to provide opportunities for students, strengthen the Oregon economy and conduct research that changes the world. More than $681 million has been committed to date.

~ Theresa Hogue

Larry Flick stands in front of Education Hall, which is undergoing a major renovation. Flick has been named the College of Education's associate dean for academic affairs. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

As its historic home undergoes extensive physical remodeling, the College of Education at Oregon State University is moving ahead on an academic transformation that will focus research and teaching in two key areas.

Education dean Sam Stern said the college is reorganizing its programming to focus on two major areas – science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education, and cultural and linguistic diversity.

As a first step in this reorganization, the college has announced that Larry Flick will become its associate dean for academic affairs. Flick chairs the Department of Science and Math Education in the College of Science and his new duties will span both colleges.

Stern says this kind of cross-college collaboration offers greater potential for innovative work, especially now that the College of Science and the College of Education are part of the same division, the Division of Arts and Sciences. “I think the division arrangement offers to us huge opportunities that are very different than simply merging colleges,” Stern said. “The sooner we move on those, the sooner we can get on with doing some really interesting things.”

As associate dean, Flick is crafting the Category One proposal that will shift the College of Education’s structure toward something mirroring the College of Business and College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, neither of which have formal departments. Though the College of Education will focus primarily on STEM and cultural and linguistic diversity, it will continue to offer its innovative double degree program and provide training to college administrators.

“The double degree has been a real success story, and so has our community college leadership program,” Stern said. “They will enable this college as it reorganizes to have greater impact in these areas.”

The Department of Science and Math Education originally moved out of the School of Education umbrella after the passage of Measure 5 in 1991, which dramatically altered higher education funding. The College of Science was able to absorb and support the department in order to continue its survival, and under the leadership of Dean Sherm Bloomer, it continued to thrive.

But now, as the entire university reorganizes into divisional structures, and new opportunities arise for cross-departmental and cross-college collaboration, Bloomer and Stern are seizing the opportunity to place the department back under the umbrella of the College of Education, while keeping its College of Science ties.

Faculty in Flick’s department will eventually be administrated by the College of Education, although they will remain members of the College of Science. In the future, faculty may even move into the newly remodeled Education Hall, but for now, the shift is more theoretical than physical.

“This is an investment by the College of Science in education, and Dean Sherm Bloomer has voiced his interest in creating a robust STEM research program that will attract external funding,” Flick said.

Bloomer said this move emerged from “trying to think about what would be a sensible focus for our effort in education at OSU.”

“It’s clear that a focus on science and technology and mathematics and engineering is a pretty sensible thing to do,” Bloomer said. “We can do that in the context of some of the other things the College of Education has done in terms of their diversity work and training people for positions in public education, those can all be elements of programming. STEM is the unifying focus.”

Flick said OSU officials hope the Department of Science and Math Education’s affiliation with the College of Education will bring greater visibility to its efforts.

“We have always existed in a very comfortable and collaborative way in Science, but nobody knows where we are,” Flick said. “We will be on a much bigger platform (after the reorganization). I think it’s also going to be a big plus for the College of Science to have this investment in education and therefore also be recognized. It won’t be just be the College of Education, it will be the College of Education and the College of Science when it comes to (grants and programs).

“Frankly I think that will position OSU uniquely in the country in that respect,” Flick added. “This is a very high profile kind of connection.”

Bloomer said faculty input has been crucial to the process of shifting the Department of Math and Science Education back under the wings of the College of Education. “We’re doing this as a collaborative effort, as a faculty-led process,” he said. “We’re trying to have the faculty design what this is going to look like.

Flick said he and his colleagues believe OSU will be poised to increase the number of STEM teachers it produces, which is “a huge need in Oregon and the country, for that matter.”

“Recruitment is something we need to learn how to do better – both students interested in teaching and those interested in pursuing doctorates in these scholarship areas,” Flick said. “It’s hard to do if you’re small and hopefully with a bigger profile and more people we’ll get much better at that.”

A stronger STEM focus provides multiple benefits, including increasing the number of students who become math and science educators themselves, and increasing the overall ability of students in science and technology.

“If you look at workforce development assessments, what you see is that you need STEM professionals trained at a level and a depth that the U.S. is not producing,” Bloomer said. “There aren’t enough people and they haven’t been deeply enough trained.”

Bloomer said OSU is positioned to make a big difference in solving that problem.

“For us it makes sense,” he said, “because we as a university are by far the largest science and engineering institution in Oregon.”

From left, Deanna Schultz, Teresa Holland, Jo Anna Downey and Stephen Strom all commute together in Holland's truck from the Portland Airport to their community college leadership doctoral classes at Silver Falls, as part of the Oregon State University's College of Education program. Downey flies in from California to take classes, and Schultz and Strom come from Alaska. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

The program is entering its 19th year, and has produced more than 100 graduates who work in college leadership programs throughout the country.

Teresa Holland, Vice President for Administrative Services with Yakima Valley Community College, provides the transportation for the group. Since she already commuted from Yakima to Silver Falls, Ore., where the program is based, and since she happened to have a ‘big truck,’ she was the logical choice to pick up her three classmates who arrive by plane.

“In the beginning it really seemed to be a logical choice since we all got along great and were interested in conserving resources,” Holland said. “Now I couldn’t imagine not picking everyone up. It has become one of the informal rituals that will help us succeed. Not to mention with all of us in the truck together the drive flies by.”

Her passengers include Jo Anna Downey, Dean of Fine Arts at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, Calif., Deanna Schultz, Assistant Professor of Career and Technical Education with the University of Alaska Anchorage, and Stephen Strom, Associate Dean of Technology for the Community and Technical College at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Holland says she chose the OSU Community College Leadership Program because of its exceptional national reputation, and despite the difficulties of juggling career, family and school, she said it’s been a very worthwhile experience.

“I have grown both personally and professionally. As a current community college administrator I have gained valuable resources and knowledge that I can apply daily to my job,” she said. “The program has also provided opportunities for me as a student to meet, learn from and interact with successful community college leaders.”

And the drive is such fun, Holland said, that she’s missed the exit off I-205 before after getting into a particularly intense conversation with her friends.

Students travel to the Silver Falls conference center at Silver Falls State Park on the first weekend of every month during the academic year. The exception is once a year when they travel to the Corvallis campus to attend the Carpenter Lecture, and in the summer when they are on campus for a week.

From left, Teresa Holland, Jo Anna Downey, Stephen Strom and Deanna Schultz rarely find themselves on the Oregon State Corvallis campus. They take classes once a month in Silver Falls and live out of state. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

“Last summer Deanna and I stayed on campus in the residence hall,” Holland said. “Talk about a fun time!”

Deanna Schultz agreed that although balance is sometimes difficult to achieve, spending time with her colleagues in the program has been very helpful.

“This is really difficult, especially because of the distance we travel and the need to leave a day before classes start each month. I spend many late nights the week prior to class in order to meet deadlines,” she said. “The best support of all, though, has been our cohort members.  I couldn’t have done it without them.”

She also appreciates the cohort model used in the program, which has really enhanced her experience.

“I have been a community college adjunct, staff person, and full-time faculty member, with limited leadership opportunities. This program is pushing me personally and professionally to find my voice as a leader and a researcher,” she said. “The cohort model allows us to get to know each other well so we feel comfortable challenging each other, pushing each other to consider different perspectives.”

Jo Anna Downey said having the chance to commute together has solidified strong friendships between the group.

“We have become friends and trusted colleagues which I think will continue long after the program ends. Having the time to drive together allows us to share personal issues, as well as solicit professional advice,” she said. “We all have different positions at our respective colleges (VP, Dean, Associate Dean and Department Chair) which has allowed us to see different viewpoints and provide context in which to make decisions.”

Those varied viewpoints also came into play when the group worked on writing an article together, which is now set for publication. The article, “Enhancing student learning: Collaborative partnerships between academic and student affairs,” came out of a group class project. It will be published in Community College Enterprise, Spring 2010 issue.

“The genesis of the article came from a group project in one of our classes on instructional leadership,” said Stephen Strom. “The four of us worked on a paper and presentation focused on enhancing student success through active collaboration between academic and student affairs organizations. The CCLP encourages its students to work at developing manuscripts for publication.”

Schultz said she’d recommend the Community College Leadership Program to others.

“The cohort model works.  Only those people who have gone through the process understand the challenges and the rewards,” she said. “And even though we have spent little time on campus, the faculty help us feel a part of the OSU family and I am proud to be a Beaver.”

~ Theresa Hogue

College of Education Assistant Professor Jessica White leads a graduate student seminar on teaching for TAs. Students from left, Ian Pfingsten, Catherine Searle and Evan Bing-Sawyer look on. Date: Feb. 15, 2010 (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Oregon State University graduate students teaching introductory biology labs are now being taught how to be more effective teachers, engage their students in critical thinking, and even craft their own curriculum.

The students are part of a Graduate Teacher Training Program supported by a portion of a four-year Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant the university has received. The training program is operated by members of the Biology Program and the College of Education.

When Bob Mason was a graduate student, he remembers being assigned to teach a course with no preparation.

“They said, ‘Here’s your section, knock ‘em dead,’” he recalled. “That’s not really an exaggeration.”

Now chair of the Biology Program in OSU’s College of Science, he recognized a strong need to better prepare graduate students who are teaching a class or leading a lab section for the first time.

“Not just anybody can get up in front of a class and teach effectively,” he said. And better preparing graduate students to be TAs doesn’t just benefit the graduates. It also benefits the undergraduate students, many of whom are not science majors but are taking introductory courses because they’re part of the baccalaureate core requirements.

Students Mattie Squire, left, Gwen Bury, center, and Sarah Moore discuss teaching techniques in a seminar aimed at helping TAs become better teachers. Date: Feb. 15, 2010 (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Mason said that across the country, interest in pursuing science as a career is lagging. He suggested that students who are taught by innovative, enthusiastic TAs might encourage more of them to become interested in science.

For the last five years, College of Education assistant professor Jessica White has been looking at the graduate student experience, and more specifically, what keeps some students in their graduate programs while others leave.

“There’s a much lower persistence to degree completion rate among graduate students than there is among undergraduates,” White said.

Part of the research involved interviewing graduate students at OSU and MIT about their assistantship experience, whether it be research or teaching. White said it appeared that being a TA both helps and hinders graduate student retention. It helps because students reinforce their own learning through teaching, but it can also add a lot of stress and strain to their lives.

“I had students in my office crying and telling me how woefully unprepared they felt and they felt they weren’t delivering the student experience they wanted to,” White said.

So when Mason approached her about helping craft a TA training program for graduate students, she was excited to participate.

College of Education Assistant Professor Jessica White leads a graduate student seminar on teaching for TAs. Date: Feb. 15, 2010 (photo: Theresa Hogue)

“It was a great dovetail to the research I’d already done, and took one vein of what we’d found and allowed me to go into greater depth about what the TA experience is like,” she said. “This allowed me to take it from the theoretical into practice, and that’s really exciting.”

After two years of planning, in Fall 2008 they launched the pilot TA training program. Each term, approximately 30 graduate TAs who teach introductory biology labs attend a weekly Monday night seminar. The graduate students come from the departments of zoology, botany and plant pathology, microbiology, molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry and biophysics and environmental science.

Additionally, a number of undergraduate teaching interns in biology take the seminar. The undergraduates either want to become teachers, or plan on going to graduate school and recognize they could benefit from the program.

White teaches the one-hour seminar, with assistance from two experienced mentor TAs. The topics include anything from creating a good syllabus to how to work with a student who has a disability, to how to deal with issues of academic dishonesty. In addition to the nuts and bolts, graduate students also learn pedagogy, including how to probe critical thinking and engage students in collaborative learning.

“They’re very practical and they very much want to see an application they can implement that week,” White said. “We may present some theory but always with an eye in mind toward effecting change or improving their daily work in the classroom.”

Graduate student Sarah Eddy participated in the program as a mentor TA, having had three experiences teaching in the introductory biology series. When she first began teaching, her nerves often got the better of her.

“I was self deprecating and obviously nervous while presenting to the students, I would defer to the other TA in the room, even though I was supposed to be the lead TA, and didn’t know how to write effective quizzes or grade student papers efficiently,” she said. “I definitely did not think about important components of teaching such as setting the tone in the classroom, developing a syllabus, being explicit in my expectations, etc.”

Mattie Squire examines a worksheet in a graduate student seminar on teaching for TAs. Date: Feb. 15, 2010 (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Although she had years of experience by the time she took the seminar, Eddy said she has benefited in a number of ways from the training program.

“I’ve learned that students generally do not learn best by passively listening to lectures. Instead they need opportunities to engage with and test their knowledge of the concepts pertinent to theirs labs,” she said. “With this knowledge, I have begun designing activities to incorporate into my introductions that allow students to apply the concepts I’ve introduced before they even begin the hands-on portion of the lab.”

Eddy’s experience with the program has already provided her with tangible benefits. She won the 2009 OSU Frolander Outstanding GTA award, and directly credits the program for her win.

For White, one of the most satisfying parts of the program is watching the students take hold of new ideas and learn how to apply them to their teaching experience.

“They really want to be good teachers,” she said. “They’re incredibly engaged in this experience. The classes are a whirlwind of participation and ideas.”

Former OSU graduate student Anthony Graziani is now a faculty member at Santa Rosa Junior College, and said the time he spent in the TA training program at OSU has helped him in his new position.

“The TA training program was an extremely worthwhile experience,” he said. “Not only did it serve its immediate purpose, making me and other TAs more effective in the classroom, but the skills and knowledge obtained were extremely valuable as I prepared and proceeded through the academic interview process and now as I face the challenges of my new position.”

Graziani said learning how to write syllabi, developing a good rapport with students and accurately assessing student learning was a daunting task, but the program helped him become more confident in his own teaching, as well as helping him become aware of areas where he needed improvement.

“I find myself continually referring back to the notebook I kept for ideas about learning activities, writing exams, and “shrinking” large classrooms just to name a few,” he said.

Mason said the Hughes grant runs out this academic year, but the university has applied for a renewal. The grant renewal application will include a curriculum design piece that would allow graduate students to redesign the introductory biology series with more inquiry-based, hands-on investigations, and would give undergraduates the chance to do real research.

He said the graduate TAs have already demonstrated they’re capable of creating exciting new approaches to undergraduate teaching, and he’s excited to move forward.

“It’s one of the best projects I’ve been involved with in my life.”

~ Theresa Hogue

New College of Education instructor Donna Drake-Clark (photo: Theresa Hogue)

With three decades of experience, Drake-Clark will be tailoring the program to meet the needs of commuter students who work full-time, and reflect the changing face of adult education.

To that end the program has been changed from a three-year to a two-year masters program, offering a combination of in-class and on-line teaching to accommodate the schedules of the students. The program is focused on students who will be teaching adults in a variety of settings, from the corporate world to community colleges to non-profit organizations and elsewhere.

It is designed to give students the tools they need to tailor programs aimed specifically at adult audiences.

For years, Drake-Clark worked in human resources and loved what she did. As part of Merrill Lynch, the New York Times Company, and Toyota Financial Services, she did much more than make hiring and firing decisions. She focused on organizational development, training, and assisting employees in making the right choices for their careers.

But after tiring of the corporate world, Drake-Clark switched gears and earned a master’s degree in human resource and organizational development, and a Ph.D. in adult education from the University of Georgia. Once on the job market, the College of Education at OSU caught her eye. She knew Darlene Russ-Eft was chair of the Adult Education and Higher Education Leadership Department, and had read some of Russ-Eft’s work in class.

“I knew she was a pretty big deal,” Drake-Clark said, adding that she was so interested in working with Russ-Eft, she pursued the non-tenure track position without having stepped foot in Oregon before.

“It was,” Drake-Clark said, “a step of faith.”

As program lead, her biggest task will be refreshing the Adult Education/Organization and Human Resource Education Program, which is a master’s degree program. Changing times are shifting the focus of the program, Drake-Clark said, toward offering a broader look at what adult and human resource education is – in part to make the program more adaptable to the changing economic picture for corporate America.

“People want to make themselves more recession-proof,” Drake-Clark said. “They want to say, ‘Okay I can do more than just training. I can also do executive coaching. I can also do organizational development. I can look at your employees, what makes them satisfied about their jobs, what they’re not satisfied with. Then I can help you come up with action plans.’”

The cohort of students involved in the program are already working full-time jobs, ranging from nurse education to non-profit organizations.

“The skills people learn in this program are beyond just training and development, because not all learning takes place in a training room,” Drake-Clark said. “Adult learning happens in many places, like on the job. Organizations need to make sure their on the job training is consistent, and that the people who are conducting it are not teaching their own idiosyncratic ways, but what the worker should be doing.”

But even after the ivy was removed, another obstacle presented itself. The bare front yard was steeply sloped, and needed a lot of ingenuity to become something attractive.

“I didn’t know anything about gardening,” Cohen said. But a lifelong educator who is now an associate professor with the College of Education at Oregon State University, Cohen was accustomed to tackling difficult problems in a very straightforward way. She began reading everything she could get her hands on about gardening, and taking advice from friends who knew what they were doing.

“I dreamed about plants,” she said, as she began immersing herself in the world of gardens.

She poured over garden catalogs, plotted her dreams on graph paper, and called old college buddies for suggestions. The best advice she received was that gardens are never complete – they’re always a work in progress.

“What a great idea! Nature takes its course,” she said. “Some things work and some don’t.”

Nora Cohen of the College of Education spends her free time in her garden, which is full of lilies, peonies, hostas and campanulas, including some OSU-colored flowers. She likes to bring bouquets from her yard to co-workers at OSU. (photos: Theresa Hogue)

What worked for her front yard was creating a series of tiers, lined with rocks, in a stair-step fashion, so that plants had a level space to grow. Then she began experimenting with plantings to see what thrived, and what got tossed out.

“I’m even allowing some spontaneous natives, like mulleins, to grow,” she said. “I think they’re very dramatic. If nature helps, and it has some attraction, why not? I’m learning to be really relaxed about it.”

Being relaxed isn’t easy, especially because Cohen’s yard seems to be a series of challenges. Just when she got the right mix of perennial flowers, thickets of hostas and lots of roses and peonies scattered about, the neighborhood deer moved in and made a Sunday brunch out of the yard.

And when a neighbor’s pine tree fell on their house this spring, and their own began leaning dangerously, they suddenly ended up with a bright and bare patch of yard where cool shade once dominated. This dramatic shift means what once worked on that side of the yard is no longer right for the space.

Despite the challenges, Cohen feels deeply connected to her yard. She also has a cutting garden on a farm she and her husband own in Fall Creek. Between the two gardens she’s able to harvest big bouquets for friends, family and co-workers during a large portion of the year.

In fact, after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Cohen turned to her garden for comfort, and found flowers helped her in ways that words couldn’t. She went to her farm and picked a large number of bouquets, and then went knocking on neighbors’ doors back in Corvallis, delivering bunches to everyone. It gave her and her neighbors a chance to connect, and even cry a little, after the events of the day.

“It’s become a tradition. Every Sept. 11 I pick 30 bouquets of dahlias and zinnias, whatever is available.”

She has planted fruit trees along the parking strip in front of her house so that passersby can enjoy fruit as they walk. The fruit from the trees and shrubs on her farm she uses to make into jam, which she often gives away as gifts. She’s made enough that she now sells the jam to co-workers, and uses the proceeds to donate to the Linn-Benton Food Share. She was able to make $400 last year for the food bank.

And in addition to the bounty she shares with friends, there’s the satisfaction of stepping back and just watching the garden through all its phases.

“There’s just always something magic.”

~ Theresa Hogue

Magaña loved going to school, but he sacrificed anyway – his father could no longer afford the cost of rent, meals and tuition for six children outside of home. So Magaña stayed to farm with his other brothers and sisters and parents, and gave up dreaming of an education.

Mario Magana is 4-H Regional Extension Educator, but the road to his success was long.(photo: Justin Smith)

The idea that Magaña would one day go to college, get an advanced degree and become a faculty member at a university seemed impossible. But Magaña did it, through a combination of determination, help from others, and a desire to create a better life for his daughters.

Magaña has been working as a 4-H Regional Extension Educator at Oregon State for the past nine years, creating, developing, and implementing educational programs and camps for Latino youth around Oregon. “I wanted to help Latino kids and families succeed, especially those who are in the same or worse situation that I was before. I wanted to give them educational and safe activities to go to,”Magaña said.

For Magaña, the road to an education was a long one. He came to the US when he was 20, enticed by a cousin who told him stories about cars, dancing, and – what particularly hit home with Magaña – money. “In the 1980s in Mexico there was a depression,” Magaña says. “We tried to raise crops, and we weren’t able to make back what we invested. My friends and family started going to the US. So I left too.”

Magaña came to the US without a visa, walking hours to cross the border. He spent the trip from Chula Vista, Calif. to Los Angeles in the trunk of a car. He arrived in the state of Washington in the middle of winter, ill-equipped for the harsh climate. When Magaña found a job, he gravitated toward what was most natural to him, agricultural work – picking apples, cherries and asparagus, driving tractors, tracks, and pruning fruit trees.

It took him nearly a decade before he was able to continue his education at a High School Equivalency program at Washington State University, which he’d heard about on the radio while harvesting apples. By this time, Magaña was married and had two daughters, and any life change he made would mean big implications for his family.

During the program, Magaña caught the attention of one of the counselors, who told him he should continue his education. He urged Magaña to apply to college so he could set a good example for his daughters. “When the counselor asked me for my social security number [Magaña and his wife, Norma, achieved legal status in 1987] so he could fill out a college application for me, I gave it to him only to please him, to make him happy,” Magaña says. He never thought anything would come of it. He didn’t think anything could.

A year later, though, Magaña got a call from a staff member at Oregon State’s College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP). He had been accepted at Oregon State University.

There were still difficult decisions to make. Magaña and Norma had a new car, were buying a home, and she was seven months pregnant. Who would pay for the car, and their house in Washington?

In the end, they returned the car, and agreed that Magaña would attend Oregon State for one year, to see if he’d make progress.
Initially college was just as daunting as the other decisions Magaña and Norma had been faced with. Magaña’s English was limited. So he sat in front of his classes with a tape recorder and listened to his lectures over and over again, and even listened to them in bed at night. He made a couple of friends who shared their notes with him. He bought a Spanish/English dictionary and used it so much it wouldn’t close anymore.

“After the first year, things started getting easier. I was at least able to understand the lectures,” Magaña says. “After two years I finally understood what my counselor was saying – I could do whatever I wanted.”

After an internship with 4-H in Yamhill County, Magaña decided what he wanted – to work with Latino kids. He got help from Scott Reed, then assistant Dean at the College of Forestry, applying for a Master’s degree in forestry (with minors in adult education and Spanish) at OSU. He focused his thesis project on the story of Mexicans working in Oregon’s forestry industry.

Reed had been impressed with Magaña when the two had met, when Magaña was an undergraduate PROMISE Intern in the College of Forestry. “He’s very intelligent and driven,” says Reed. “Mario creates pathways for people. He’s improving the lives of people who interact with him, and he’s doing it one family at a time.”

Currently, Magaña is hoping to develop a program that allows Extension educators to travel to the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacán so they can learn the language and better understand students from Mexico.

Ultimately, Magaña wants to create programs in those Mexican states that will minimize immigration to the US. “I always ask the questions, ‘How can we make land in Mexico more productive? How can we make more technological advances to create jobs so that people don’t feel the need to come here, so that the family fabric in Mexico isn’t torn apart.”

Magaña has certainly become a role model for his daughters. Two of them – Ariz and Laura – currently attend OSU. Laura, a junior majoring in bioresource research , is a Bill and Melinda Gates Scholar, meaning her college education through the Ph.D. level is fully funded. Magaña isn’t sure whether his third daughter, Itzel, will attend OSU when it’s time to choose a college, but he’s confident that she’ll continue her education.

“My long-term goal is to help families to succeed and sustain our Mexican culture,” he says. “I want all families to be able to have what mine did.”

~ Celene Carillo

Daughter follows father’s footsteps

When the Gates Foundation letter arrived, Laura Magaña was facing a challenge tougher than any of her advanced-placement classes: managing five lively pre-teens at the 4-H Latino Olympic Summer Camp in Salem.

As a camp counselor, the Crescent Valley High School honor student was supervising middle-school girls. After each hectic day, she looked forward to winding down at evening campfire. One night, an unexpected visitor appeared. It was Laura’s mom, a mysterious letter tucked inside her purse.

In the fire’s golden light, a dazed Laura stood while the assistant camp director read the letter aloud. The 100-plus campers and counselors held their collective breath.

Laura had been chosen as a Gates Millennium Scholar. The award—given to outstanding minority students—would send her to college for up to 10 years, from her bachelor’s degree through her Ph.D., all expenses paid. Her strong academics (3.92 GPA) and leadership had been amply rewarded.

That moment was thrilling not only for Laura, but also for the Latino youths who witnessed it—living proof that college was within reach. The young campers were eager to hear her story and learn her strategies for landing scholarships. Laura took the stage. “They bombarded me with questions,” she says.

On a post-camp survey, several parents mentioned “the girl who received a full-ride scholarship” as highly motivating to their children. That was three years ago. The story has since become legendary in 4-H circles, spurring many kids to apply to summer camp and let their dreams soar.

“The main focus of the summer camps is making kids aware of career options and educational opportunities,” says Laura’s father, Associate Professor Mario A. Magaña, who brings Latino professionals—engineers, educators, lawyers, researchers—to speak to the campers. “We hear over and over that kids didn’t have much interest in higher education before going to camp. But afterwards, they share all their new dreams with us.”

Cultural identity is further enhanced by lessons in Mexican history and heroes, taught by Mexican teachers, as well as traditional dancing and singing passed down from the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

“Kids who grow up in the U.S. get disconnected from their culture,” says Magaña. “Most Latino kids lack this identity piece. They don’t know who they are—are they Mexican, Chicano, Latino or American?”

Laura is now a junior at OSU, majoring in bioresource research in the College of Agricultural Sciences and minoring in ethnic studies.

~ Lee Sherman

Kathryn Ciechanowski is examining how language skills can be woven into other classroom lessons. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Ciechanowski, who teaches ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and Bilingual Education in the College of Education, has been working with third grade teachers and ELL (English Language Learner) instructors at Lincoln School in Corvallis for more than a year. She is currently assisting them in developing and implementing content for their classrooms that infuses language development into their social studies and science teaching.

“We just finished the science component, and it was amazing,” Ciechanowski said. “I have been blown away with the kids’ ability to use language structures in a really authentic way.”

For instance, when teachers want to increase their students’ use of “ly” adverbs such as ‘slowly’ and ‘carefully,’ they emphasize the use of those adverbs when students learn how to describe scientific experiments.

The students’ attention is captivated by the experiments themselves, so much so that they may not realize they’re expanding their vocabulary and language skills as they work on their science projects.

“It’s so engaging,” she said. “It’s a very natural time to do language development as opposed to the drill and kill method.”

In addition to the dual-immersion (Spanish and English) classroom, Ciechanowski is also working with an English-only third-grade class at Lincoln that has a number of English Language Learners, and an ELL specialist who works with those students on their language acquisition. She is using the same approach in that classroom, and making sure the ELL instructors are part of the conversation.

When teachers are developing their curriculum, they talk with Ciechanowski about what language skills they need to develop and how they can find natural connections to content that provide a rich context for teaching the skills. Because the learning experience is intensified by pairing English language development with other disciplines, Ciechanowski believes the quality level is increased, meaning students are picking up their skills in a shorter time and in more meaningful ways than if they simply sat down with a language skills worksheet.

“It’s amazing how they can pick up and learn language structure,” while immersed in the fun of watching chemical interactions, she said.

Lincoln is the perfect school to watch this development because this school year, the Corvallis School District decided dual-immersion programs should have an integrated English language development component. In the past, students were pulled out of their classes for brief periods to focus solely on English, but Ciechanowski said that previous research indicates that is not the most effect way to ensure students adequately learn English skills.

Ciechanowski has been making audio recordings of students in the classrooms as well as taking digital photos of their work in order to document their progress in language skills. She’s also worked with the teachers to develop tests that give them an indication of how well the integrated approach is working. Because the school year is still in progress, the results aren’t in, but it appears that the students are experiencing growth in their language abilities, she said.

Her research is funded by the Oregon Department of Education, and ideally, the work can become a model for other districts and other classes, even those who do not have a dual-immersion component. Many young native English speakers do not have a grasp of academic English,which can be taught through the language integration process as well.

“This can be done in a normal classroom.”

~ Theresa Hogue

Melissa Cadotte, left, a Cheldelin Middle School social studies teacher, joins Kay Stephens, faculty for Language Arts Licensure for the College of Education, and Amy Knoke, a language arts instructor at Corvallis High School, as they admire Stephens’ batik quilt, one of many that a College of Education alumni quilting group has made over the last year. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

For a handful of former masters students, it was time for their monthly quilting bee, a chance to learn new sewing techniques as well as talk over their latest classroom challenges and bounce ideas off each other. The women were formerly students in the same College of Education cohort, and have now been friends for years.

During the weekday, the women have their own classrooms to preside over, but once a month, they go back to being students, under the tutelage of their former mentor Kay Stephens, Coordinator of Language Arts Licensure for the College of Education.

As masters students in the College, the women began quilting with help from Stephens, an avid seamstress. Upon graduation, the women wanted to continue their quilting lessons, so they began to meet in 2007, and formed a sort of informal quilting bee.

Melissa Cadotte, a social studies teacher at Cheldelin Middle School in Corvallis, holds up one of the quilts she’s made.

“We started with t-shirt quilts, Stephens said. “It took us from January to June. They were huge.”

At first the quilting group was simply about expanding skills, like piecing complicated patterns and learning how to hand-dye fabrics. But the group has grown to be much more.

Last November, they decided to move on from making quilts for friends and family members, and start piecing quilts for those in need. They’ve now decided to make quilts and donate them to the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV) for the women and children who use the center’s safe house. They’re using fabric donated by various OSU faculty and staff members, as well as designs from donated quilt books and magazines.

And when the women gather to sew, they aren’t doing it in silence. Many times, the quilting bee quickly turns into a discussion on best practices. Since they’re all now language arts teachers in Oregon schools, they have a lot to discuss with each other.

For Stephens, the chance to listen to teachers currently in school gives her a chance to refresh her own teaching, as she has been out of a K-12 classroom for years.

“You keep me in touch with what’s going on in the classroom,” she told the group.

She’s also pleased at how quickly her sewing students pick up on new lessons.

Kilee Sowa, a teacher at Memorial Middle School in Albany, works on a quilt for a soon-to-be math teacher, based on a Sudoku pattern.

“They’re so easy to teach,” she said, because they are teachers themselves, and readily absorb the lessons she’s providing for them.

And as all teachers know, learning is a life-long process, and the monthly quilting session is another way to keep those neurons firing.

“Kay could charge us a lot (for lessons),” said Kilee Sowa, who teaches at Memorial Middle School in Albany. “But we pay her in fine company.”

~ Theresa Hogue

Mike O’Malley of the College of Education helped student Genevieve Menino learn how to make connections between herself, her subject and her students. (photo: Jim Folts)

“If you don’t make that personal connection, students won’t connect with the subject matter,” he says. “I’m energized by connecting with the students.”

O’Malley has passed that energy along to Genevieve Menino, who graduated last year with a double degree in Education and Family and Consumer Sciences. Even when the day’s subject matter might be a bit dry, she says O’Malley would find a way to make it interesting.

“You can tell when a professor has a passion for what they’re doing,” she says. “O’Malley brings his passion for education into the classroom.”

During her student teaching at an Oregon City high school, Menino saw the value of connections from the teacher’s perspective.

“When you connect with the subject and your students, they’re more likely to remember and understand it,” she says. “It makes them feel important and want to put out better work.”

Like most mentoring relationships, the one between O’Malley and Menino developed naturally as she took more of his classes. At one point, she was stressing out over the 18-credit load she was taking so she could graduate on time.

“It’s hard to learn when you’re stressed,” she says. “He was always very nice about working with me and helping me not to worry.”

For O’Malley, being a mentor also means being a role model. He always brings a copy of the New York Times and a current book he’s reading to class, encouraging students to explore, stretch their minds and “become who they are,” he says.

“If you can be a role model and make connections with your students, then you’ve done your job.”

As an added bonus, mentoring is fun.

“It’s burnout prevention,” O’Malley says. “Being a mentor produces more energy than you have to put into it.”

~ Gary Dulude

She knew that OSU’s College of Education had a strong program in College Student Services Administration, and she was offered an assistantship that paid for her education.

The combination made OSU her ideal choice, and Azhderian said she’s fallen in love with the school since she arrived.
But one thing Azhderian discovered that OSU lacked was a thriving network of support specific to female graduate students.

“There’s a real need here for that niche,” she said, and after becoming inspired by an internship at the OSU Women’s Center, Azhderian decided to take on the creation of such a network herself.

The Graduate Women’s Network will provide advocacy for female graduate students, networking opportunities, and the chance to advance knowledge and skills that can lead to a more successful graduate level experience.

“Graduate school is a funny time, in some ways I have not felt as supported,” as much as she was during her undergraduate experience, she said. During graduate school, women may have a more difficult time finding peer support, funding for education, and finding advice about things like job searches, health care and sometimes, operating in fields predominated by men.

Although the group is in its early stages, Azhderian is already organizing activities including brown bag lunches, speaker panels, and workshop opportunities for graduate students to come together in more informative ways.

As a graduate student herself, Azhderian finds that female students will seek out support in their own departments, but she envisions the network as crossing departmental and college lines, to provide a broader net of support to students from all areas.

“The big focus right now is providing advocacy and support,” for female graduate students, she said.

The program will be housed in the Women’s Center. For more information, see http://oregonstate.edu/womenscenter/gwn.html

~ Theresa Hogue