Special Points
of Interest
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• A Fond Farewell
• Outstanding
Staff Award
• Graduate
Spotlight
• Quest for
Quality
Awardees
• EPI Center
News
Inside this Issue:
Greetings
1
EPI Center
2
Farewell
3
Honors and
Awards
4
Student
Organizations
8
Grant
Programs
12
Study Abroad 14
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The Educator’s Voice
VOLUME 3, ISSUE 1 DECEMBER 2014
Greetings from the College of Education
!
!
The College of Education has engaged students in online learning for several
years. Historically, our first online program was the superintendent
certification program. This program was the first of its kind and was a
significant start. Over the next several years, graduate courses were changed
to the online format. Whole programs followed. Today, all of the College’s
master level programs are online. To ensure the quality of the candidate
learning experience, the College has been improving each online course by
aligning the course with the Quality Matters (QM) standards. We hope to
submit several courses this year for national recognition by QM.
!
Our online graduate programs are receiving recognition. Recently, the
programs were nationally recognized by US News and World Report, The
Best Schools, and Nonprofit Colleges Recognition of Students before Profits.
These recognitions attest to the faculty members’ dedication to creating world-
class courses and providing world-class support for our candidates. You can
read about these awards by logging on to the College of Education website
( http://www.angelo.edu/dept/ceducation). The undergraduate program has
several areas where online courses are offered to the students in Special
Education and secondary pedagogy. The “Introduction to Special Education”
course, created by Dr. Banker, is nationally recognized by QM.
!
Faculty have garnered recognition for their use of technology. Dr. Kim
Livengood has been recognized by Blackboard for the development of an
exemplary online course using the Blackboard Learning Management System
(LMS). Dr. Deborah Banker has been recognized by 2014 Quest for Quality
in the category of Exemplary Faculty Practices. This recognition was based
on Dr. Banker’s use of Second Life in preparing special education teachers.
!
Other faculty recognitions include Dr. Christine Purkiss, who received the
2014 Chapter Counselor Award for the West Region by Kappa Delta Pi. Dr.
Purkiss, as counselor, mentors students in the Mu Gamma Chapter of Kappa
Delta Pi, and the Chapter has garnered several national awards and