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24 March 2022
Our snapshots this month open with Alum Khari Brown, who was awarded the John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award for his work with Capital Partners in Education and his dedication towards equitable educational reform. Prof. Barbara Brizuela, along with colleagues Post-doctoral Researcher Susie Strachota, current Ph.D. STEM Education student Sophia Raymond, and current MS Math Department student Kylee Hartman-Caballero, received the Provost's Office Springboard grant - Sophia was also selected as a 2022 CADRE Fellow. Faculty member Brian Gravel, STEM Education doctoral student Yume Xu, and SMFA graduate student Flor Delgadillo introduce "Joy Block," a regularly scheduled feature of the school day where students and teachers focus on activities that bring them joy. Set aside some reading time for Director of Art Education, Susan Barahal's recently published chapter, "Peripheral Primacy: Metallic Illumination and Material Illusion in the Aussem Hours."
If you have items to suggest for future issues, please send them to me, April Bergeron.

snapshots

Khari Brown
Alum Khari Brown, MAT '01, was awarded the 2022 John Thompson Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award. Georgetown University honored Khari during a live virtual ceremony held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Georgetown University news article states: "The Legacy of a Dream Award, celebrated in honor of Dr. King's life and legacy, identifies emerging local leaders who are working to solve key issues in Washington, DC. Georgetown has awarded top local talent to reinforce its engagement within the city and recognize the award's namesake, John Thompson Jr., the legendary Georgetown head basketball coach emeritus, mentor, advocate, community leader and DC native."

Khari coached basketball for both Tufts and a local high school. It was during his high school coaching experience, that Khari began tutoring the players who required additional assistance in order to qualify to play basketball in college. "That was a moment when I realized the educational system was failing too many high potential young people," Khari says. "And that I wanted to spend a career in education working more directly with youth and preparing them for their futures."

Khari graduated from the MAT Program in 2001 and went on to accept a position at
CPE, Capital Partners for Education, a non-profit that provides mentoring and college and career success programming to low-income students in Washington, DC.  Khari is now CEO of CPE, and is continually striving to serve the "academic middle" - breaking down barriers for low-income students, empowering college and career growth, and ensuring that every student receives one-on-one mentoring. CPE has expanded from serving 50 students a year to 470 and now boasts a 61% graduation rate, which is nearly triple the rate of similar students nationally.

Faculty member
Steven Cohen was Khari's MAT program advisor. Recently reaching out to Steve to inform him of the great news, Khari shared: "I never would've thought 24 years ago when I started in the MAT program at Tufts that I'd wind up here, and it never would've happened without mentors like you. Thanks for helping me find my way all those years ago and get on a path where this award could be possible, and for continuing to be a friend."

Additional information regarding Khari's work with CPE is included in the
Georgetown University award announcement.
Barbara Brizuela, Sophia Raymond, Susie Strachota
& Kylee Hartman-Cabellero
Barbara Brizuela, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Education, along with her colleagues, Suzie Strachota, Post-doctoral Researcher in STEM Education, Sophia Raymond, current Ph.D. STEM Education student, and Kylee Hartman-Cabellero, Math Department MS student, received funding for her study, Developing and Piloting a Measure for Mathematical Mindsets and Identities through the Provost's Springboard Program. Barbara is developing an assessment that helps capture how students' experiences in algebra impact how they view themselves as mathematics students and learners. The project is a springboard for a larger study in which Barbara will propose to investigate the specific constraints and affordances of two learning environments for Algebra 1: a compacted approach, in which students take Algebra 1 in middle school, and a regular approach, in which students take Algebra 1 in high school.
Brian Gravel, Yume Xu,
& Flor Delgadillo
Growing relationships through play, making, and gardening
The Department of Education has a long-standing partnership with the Malden Public Schools, through MAT programs, research in STEM Education, and outreach programs. Together, we are building from this sustained relationship to explore issues of play with technology in STEM learning, funded by LEGO Foundation global initiative for technology and play in classrooms.

Responding to mental health needs during the pandemic, Malden High School has initiated "Joy Block" - a regularly scheduled feature of the school day where students and teachers gather to do things that bring them joy, such as yoga, knitting, and a growing interest in different forms of gardening. Faculty member and Director of Elementary STEM Education,
Brian Gravel, with STEM Education doctoral student Yume Xu and SMFA graduate student Flor Delgadillo, alongside partner teachers Ashley Freeman, Kathy Maglio, and Chris Giordano are exploring different aspects of gardening together in a new Joy Block offering. With the teachers and students, they are exploring DIY hydroponics systems that can be built with accessible materials that students can take home. They are also exploring control systems that sense light, CO2, pH, etc. in the environment.

The project is motivated by curiosities around how learning happens across the setting of people's lives, where making and technology offer ways to deepen STEM inquiry and relationships. The partnership will involve the
Malden Community Garden, The Farm-a food-for-free effort, and youth programming at the YMCA. They are eager to expand this work with the SMFA, New Entry Farm, and the Jean Charles Academy, founded by alum Nakia Navarro (G'20).
Sophia Raymond

Current STEM Education Ph.D. student, Sophia Raymond, was  recently selected as a 2022 CADRE (Community for Advancing Discovery Research in Education) Fellow. Sophia shares: "The CADRE Fellows program provides professional growth opportunities for early career researchers whose primary research centers on issues of diversity, inclusion, equity, and/or justice in pre-K-12 STEM education. As a third-year doctoral student who explores issues of mathematical identity as it relates to these same topics, the CADRE Fellowship has given me the unique privilege to work with other likeminded scholars who aspire to make significant impacts in our respective fields within STEM education. The CADRE Fellowship offers a series of professional development and networking activities to interact with current and past Fellow, as well as with researchers in various educational roles (including the NSF), to gain insight into the tools we need to be both successful and effective in the field."
Susan Barahal

Art Education Director and Faculty Member
, Susan Barahal, co-authored a chapter in the recently published book, Illuminating Metalwork: Metal, Object, and Image in Medieval Manuscripts, published by De Gruyter. The chapter explores the interconnections between two long-standing interests of hers: metalsmithing and early modern art. "Peripheral Primacy: Metallic Illumination and Material Illusion in the Aussem Hours" focuses on the metalwork and elaborate jewelry depicted in the little researched, yet extraordinarily decorative, early sixteenth century illuminated manuscript know as the Aussem Hours. The chapter discusses the manuscript's depicted artwork and techniques and their empathic impact on viewers.


For detailed chapter and order information please visit: 
Peripheral Primacy: Metallic Illumination and Material Illusion in the Aussem Hours (degruyter.com)

opportunities


The annual Guterman Lecture, made possible through the generosity of the Guterman family, honors the memory of our late colleague Mary Guterman and his extraordinary ability to communicate sophisticated mathematics to broad audiences.

Cosponsored by the Department of Education, the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT), and the Department of Computer Science.

Tufts Students,

Now is the time to thank your professors who found particularly creative and effective ways to use technology in one of your courses. Think of an instructor whose use of technology in a course you've taken this year has substantially improved your learning or enhanced your experience and
nominate them for a Teaching with Technology Award (and be entered to win a  pair of Bose Quiet Comfort Noise Cancelling Earbuds)!

Nomination period runs from March 21 - April 1. Winners will be selected by the university-wide committee. Please use the
nomination form to submit a nomination TODAY! For more information on the awards and to learn more about past recipients, see the Teaching with Technology Awards website.
In case you missed this...
View Event Recording
Willful Defiance: The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline
Join Tisch College for a conversation with the author of Willful Defiance: The Movement to Dismantle the School-to-Prison Pipeline, Mark R. Warren, and activists Zakiya Sankara-Jabar and Lorraine Wright. Warren's book tells the story of how Black and Brown parents and students organized to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline in their local school and built a movement that spread across the country. Willful Defiance examines organizing processes in Mississippi, Los Angeles and Chicago while showing how parents and students of color changed exclusionary discipline policies that suspend and expel students of color at disproportionate rates and policing practices that lead students into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.

 

For a list of Global Tufts Month Events occurring during this final week visit their March Event Calendar.
 
Reminder
Complete the Campus Survey on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Deadline to complete the survey extended to Thursday, March 31
On February 14 you received an email from Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officers Dr. Rob Mack and Dr. Joyce Sackey requesting that you complete the Tufts University Campus Climate Survey on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. This survey supports Tufts efforts to acknowledge the current experiences of Tufts students, faculty, and staff, and to transform Tufts into a more equitable and inclusive community for all. Your response will be anonymous, and results will only be shared in aggregate. The deadline to complete the survey has been extended to Thursday, March 31. Please direct any questions to Associate Director for Diversity and Inclusion Education Tiffany House at tiffany.house@tufts.edu.
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