The University of Central Arkansas College of Education has once again been recognized for its innovative approach to education technology. The College has successfully renewed its Apple Distinguished Schools status for the 2024-2027 period, marking another milestone in its commitment to cutting-edge teaching and learning practices.
This prestigious designation, first awarded to the College in 2018, places UCA among an elite global community of approximately 400 K-12 and higher education institutions known for their exemplary learning environments. The UCA College of Education stands out as the only College of Education in Arkansas to receive this honor and is one of just three Apple Distinguished Schools in the state.
To celebrate this achievement, the College hosted a reception on September 24, attended by College of Education faculty and leadership. Dean Victoria Groves-Scott, Apple Leadership Executive Dr. Charles Long, UCA President Houston Davis, and UCA Provost Michael Hargis delivered remarks, highlighting the significance of this recognition.
As the College of Education continues to lead in training pre-service and in-service teachers to leverage educational technology and innovative pedagogies, it remains dedicated to preparing future educators who will positively impact the world, one child at a time.
Carolyn Ishee:
Carolyn (Floyd) Ishee ‘74 is the recipient of the Alumni Volunteer of the Year Award, which recognizes an alumnus for their dedication and commitment to volunteering, often going above and beyond in their efforts to support the university and its alumni community. Ishee is a retired higher education fundraising professional living in Waveland, Miss. Her UCA and community involvement includes member of UCA Alumni Association Board of Directors; member of College of Education Advisory Council; member and past president of Pass Christian (MS) Rotary Club; past member and past president of Conway Morning Rotary; former Rotary District Governor, District 6170; and UCA Purple Circle member. Ishee called the recognition a great honor. “To be recognized by the place and people who have meant so much in my life; SCA/UCA helped me become who I am today and the friends I have made through my association with the school are among the most important people in my life,” she said. “I am humbled to join with other alumni who have received this honor and it further inspires me to help the institution and the people who have meant so much in my life.”
***The above is from UCA Connect (https://connect.uca.edu/s/1618/bp21/interior.aspx...)
Dr. Charlotte Parham and Dr. Louis Nadelson:
Dr. Charlotte Parham and Dr. Louis Nadelson (Department of Leadership Studies) recently had an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Race Ethnicity and Education. Their article, "Integration or relocation? the lived experiences of those directly affected by Brown vs. Board of education" can be viewed by going to https://www.tandfonline.com/.../10.../13613324.2024.2398478.
Dr. Amy Thompson:
Dr. Amy Thompson (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) was interviewed October 15th live for the Educational Diagnostician's Clubhouse app as part of a panel about the Fall Conference Season. Dr. Thompson discussed UCA's Dyslexia program, her upcoming presentations at the International Dyslexia Association conference, and evidence-based practices. The group meets twice a month on Tuesday evenings to discuss best practices for educational diagnosticians and special education evaluators, with special guests who are experts in the field. The group has approximately 2,000 listeners subscribed.
Dr. Jason Trumble:
Dr. Jason Trumble (Department of Teaching and Learning) was honored at the UCA football game on Saturday, September 14, as the Faculty Member of the Game for contributions to his department and the campus. Dr. Trumble was called out to the football field where he received recognition and a UCA football.
Dr. Brandy Walthall's (Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education) sons, Zac and Walker Walthall, were a part of a 48-hour Film Fest. Their film "Squatter" won several first place awards (Best Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Actress). They also won some second and third place awards. With this being their first time, they did a “Little Rockin’” job!
Dr. T.K. Anderson:
Dr. T.K. Anderson is a National Board-Certified Teacher and a Service-Learning Faculty Fellow, dedicated to fostering equity and inclusion in education. In recognition of her outstanding scholarship, Dr. Anderson received the prestigious Robert F. Schuck Distinguished Dissertation Award. Her research on the underrepresentation of Black men in education also earned her the Best Paper Award at the Global Conference on Educational Research (GLoCER). Dr. Anderson teaches a variety of courses in the MAT and CLEI programs, including Leadership Ethics, Leadership for Equity and Inclusion, Research Methods, and Models of Teaching. She is a member of the 2023-2025 Association of Teacher Educators Leadership Team and actively contributes to the field as a reviewer for Action in Teacher Education. Dr. Anderson has published research focused on the representation and retention of Black men in education, and she continues to seek publication for her ongoing work in teacher leadership, representation, and inclusion. Dr. Anderson also serves as a Faculty Athletic Mentor and as an assistant to the BearsTeach program.
*Dr. Anderson is a Clinical Instructor III in the Department of Teaching and Learning
Dr. Amanda Martin:
This semester, I am teaching First Year Seminar (FYS) classes exclusively in the Department of Student Transitions (DST). If you aren’t familiar with FYS classes, they’re designed to provide first-year students with an engaging academic experience while developing essential skills like academic reading, time management, and effective studying. These courses are built around core principles that promote collaboration, faculty-student interaction, and the use of University resources, helping students transition into university-level work and succeed in their first year and beyond.
One of the best aspects of teaching FYS courses is the freedom to explore special topics, and my focus this semester has been on food history. So far, students have had the opportunity to taste the type of tea that Bostonians threw into the harbor, create menus for Gilded Age families, examine how tea and lunch rooms supported the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and explore the role of restaurants in the Civil Rights Movement. Our course will wrap up with a research project that involves analyzing historical cookbooks, and we might even cook a recipe or two! Through these activities, students are developing historical thinking skills—analyzing sources, understanding context, conducting research, and drawing interpretations—which ties neatly into the goals of the FYS program. I encourage CoE faculty to consider developing and teaching an FYS course of their own. It’s a unique opportunity to introduce students to your field while helping them build essential academic skills and create a strong foundation for their future success.
On a final note, thank you to the College of Education for your warm welcome to the DST. I am eager to explore opportunities for collaboration with CoE faculty in teaching, learning and research and I’m excited to be part of your community!
*Dr. Martin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Student Transitions
Dr. Brandy Walthall:
As an undergraduate student in the College of Education at UCA, I told my advisor, “I will be back after my career to work beside you because I want to prepare the next generation of teachers.” After teaching in a kindergarten classroom, an early childhood special education classroom, and a 5th -grade reading classroom, I have fulfilled my words spoken so many years ago.
Throughout the last eight years in higher education, there have been many challenges because I thought I was leaving those behind with the “parents.” However, with each new semester and every student who finishes the program, I feel greater pride knowing that I have been a part of such a transforming experience for education.
Family: Throughout my career and 32 years of marriage, I have fought to make sure I put my family first. My home and life balance has always been an important aspect of my life. I did and do have to
discipline myself to make this work because I am the teacher who brings the students home with me. My children always made fun that they obtained 20 new siblings each year. However, I am so grateful and blessed that my husband, David, and my children, Zac, Walker, and Whitli, supported my dream. They knew I loved my students, but no matter what, they came first.
Vision: My vision as an educator is always to reach the students where they are to teach them. If it doesn’t work the first time, then continue to search until you find what does because every student can learn. Every student deserves success, and I am responsible for ALL students’ success. Throughout my college career, I remember those professors who showed me compassion, those who communicated and listened, those who worked with me and collaborated, and those who did not. I decided to be a professor that students could trust with their communication through my compassion, and we could collaborate, whether it be professionally or personally.
Students: At the beginning of the class, I introduce myself through a slideshow of my family. The slideshow shows activities from my life and my former classroom. I want the students to feel secure and trust the stories I tell from my life as a former teacher. I build that relationship by learning about them, their names, and activities in their lives. I even share my personal cell phone number with my students to build that trust and communication. Communication and trust are the foundation. Having three children who have gone through college and one through our education program has given me a new compassion for what our students endure. We are dealing with adults who are working jobs and going to school to enrich their lives. Some of them have families, and keeping the communication open and having compassion doesn’t mean we are not teaching, it means we are allowing them to grasp the material better because life happens. I would rather a student ask for an extra weekend to finish an assignment than not do it because they will miss the material. If I give them the time, they will gain the knowledge needed.
Teaching: I love to teach! When COVID hit, it was very difficult for me because of the online teaching. I love teaching face-to-face. I am a hands-on teacher. I enjoy using teaching strategies that are out of the box. An example of one of those out-of-the-box teaching strategies would be when I taught the writing class. The students walked into the class to a crime scene of the Boston Massacre. In the classroom, the students found numbers where evidence was found and labeled for the crime. The students were required to go through the evidence, which included a website with videos of first-hand account witnesses telling their stories of what they saw. After going through all of the evidence, the students had to write an opinion paper on who started the Boston Massacre and back their opinion with evidence from the crime scene or witness testimonies.
My Dream: I would like to share my dream. I dream of each of us appreciating ourselves and embracing our differences. Each of us is so different. Each of us has such great strengths. I would love to see each person’s strengths being celebrated. We have all been brought together for a purpose, and it isn’t because we are exactly alike but different. It is so in my weakness you are strong. I want you to shine in my weakness. I want to celebrate your strength even though I know your strength is my weakness, but that is why it is so amazing we are a team. As you work together this week, find the colleague who completes you.
*Dr. Walthall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Elementary, Literacy, and Special Education
Dr. Matthew White:
Is there anything like autumn on the campus of UCA? You can step right outside of Mashburn Hall and see the fall colors, hear the football team and band practice, feel a cool breeze, and hear the old bell chime across campus. We are surrounded every day by students who bring so much energy and character to our institution, and this seems to be most true in the fall. The school year begins, and we have a front row seat as a new wave of learners experience new people, new ideas, new possibilities, and even a new version of self. When I walk around the older parts of our campus, my mind wanders at all the people who have walked between these buildings over the years. Each falling leaf seems to carry with it a whisper of past semesters, long gone academic endeavors, old friendships and relationships, and fleeting moments of inspiration. Maybe it is nostalgia as we approach the upcoming holidays, but on such a walk around campus recently, my mind went to the first UCA alum (and first professional educator) I ever knew- my great-grandmother, Martha Aitkens Holman.
Martha Holman was born in Jackson County, Arkansas in 1913. She was a “schoolteacher” most of her adult life. She even started out in an old-fashioned, one-room schoolhouse! Throughout her career, she taught in many Arkansas districts, including Beedeville, Tuckerman, Tomberlin, and England. She married my great-grandfather, and he later became an educator as well. They settled in my eventual hometown of England, Arkansas with her teaching in the elementary school and him teaching high school civics. State laws, teacher licensing requirements, and employer expectations changed over the years (as they still do today), and my Grandma Holman found herself enrolling in Arkansas State Teachers College (now UCA) in the summer of 1959 to earn a degree in the profession she had already been working in for decades. Despite still having her own children at home and working full time as a teacher, she drove the 120-mile round trip to Conway on certain Saturdays throughout the school year and attended sessions during the summer for five years to earn a degree in her field. She graduated in August 1964 at the age of 51, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education. Her major was “Broad Field in Elementary Education.” Her second oldest child also graduated from ASTC the same year. After earning her degree, Grandma Holman taught for many more years, even while caring for her husband who was forced to retire from teaching due to debilitating medical issues. I have heard that my grandmother taught summer classes at the school for Black students when my hometown schools were segregated. When our local schools desegregated in the early 1970s, a prominent group of white teachers left to start a private school in town to avoid integration. My grandmother stayed at the public school and taught for another decade before retiring.
By the time I came around in the 1980s, Grandma Holman was in her seventies, widowed, and retired, but she still worked as a substitute teacher at times. She was a doting grandmother with a warm demeanor, quick wit, and an encouraging way about her. I am certain all of these were evident in her teaching practice as well. As a child, I remember seeing her bookshelf full of old elementary textbooks. She identified as a fifth grade math teacher, but by the looks of it, she had taught it all throughout the years. She had the heart of a teacher, even when her mind began to fade. One summer when she was well into her 80s, she walked several blocks to her old school, entered the office, and asked to see her class roster for the upcoming year. Looking back, what stands out to me most about my grandmother as an educator was the number of people from that community who told me over the years about the impact she made in their lives. I attended the same elementary school from which she had retired, and enough of her former colleagues were still around to tell me how admired she was. As I grew older, I would often encounter people around town who would reminisce about the impact my great-grandparents had on them as teachers. A stranger in the gas station would share some funny story from my great-grandfather’s civics class in the 50s, or I would hear from a friend’s mother how she still remembered fondly my great-grandmother teaching her to spell Wed-nes-day in the 60s. My grandmother earned the nickname Machine Gun Holman in an era where teachers still paddled students, but the real impression she left on the lives of her students was that of a caring, kind teacher who believed in them and helped them to become whoever they were.
Looking through some old papers after Grandma Holman passed, I was shocked to see she had earned B’s and even one C (PE, I think) in her classes at UCA . Her oldest daughter, my grandmother, explained that her mother had been a wonderful teacher and a capable student, but she simply was going back to school later in life with her family and career coming before her classes. When I walked across this campus recently on a beautiful fall day, I thought of her walking here 65 years ago, smiling her warm smile but also tired and busy and willing to take a C in a class if it meant she could continue working in her calling. When I saw those old-timers in my hometown growing up, they had no idea my superstar-educator grandmother did not always make great grades in college. And I doubt they would have cared. Now I get to work here training teachers and school leaders on the same campus she attended. And like my great-grandmother, many of my students are tired, stressed, and overwhelmed just trying to hold it together so they can finish and do the work they love. I want to say to them, “It’s ok. You can do this. Learn all you can, even if your work is not always perfect. Grandma Holman made a C once, and she still impacted a bunch of lives. You will too!” So as the leaves fall and another academic year unfolds, I am reminded that the work we do today, like that of my great-grandmother, will leave a lasting mark. Let's continue to inspire and be inspired!
*Dr. White is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership Studies
Dr. Ranita Dement:
Dr. Ranita Dement was recently introduced as a new College of Education Dean's Advisory Council member. Dr. Dement is a graduate of UCA, with a Bachelor's degree in Special Education. She holds a Doctorate in Education Leadership and Policy from the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Dr. Dement has served students as a teacher, assistant superintendent, and consultant. She considers herself a lifelong learner, and will be a great asset to the Advisory Council.
Carl A. Frizell:
Carl A. Frizell, a late-diagnosed autistic and neurodivergent self-advocate in the PhD for Change Equity and Inclusion Community Leadership Concentration, has recently had three important articles accepted for publication, focusing on neurodiversity acceptance:
- "Expanding Inclusion: Acknowledging the Intersection of Physical Disabilities and Neurodivergence in Medical Education" in Academic Medicine (September 2024).
- "Embracing Change: Expanding the Retention, Outreach, Alignment, and Diversity (ROAD) Framework to Address Neurotypical Ableism in Physician Assistant/Associate Education" in the Journal of PA Education (August 2024).
- "Unmasking the Intersection: Race, Neurodiversity, and Identity in Clinical Practice" in the Journal of the American Academy of PAs (August 2024).
Ms. April McGee:
Jessieville Middle School was one of 200 schools from 40 states across the country to receive a $5,000 grant through the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries. This year, the Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries awarded $1 million in library grants.
April McGee, UCA Library Media and Information Technologies Alumnus, said she will use the funds to update and diversify her school library's collection.
“When a child opens a book, they open up a world of possibilities. I’m grateful this year’s Laura Bush Foundation grants give librarians the opportunity to update their collections, and they give students the chance to find a new genre or subject that interests them,” Mrs. Laura Bush said.
*Photo of Ms. McGee is from the Jessieville Public Schools website.
