Blog

From Burton Blatt to Barbie—and Everywhere in Between

If you were told that a School of Education alumnus began his post- graduate career as a summer intern at Warner Bros. in Los Angeles, got a permanent job with the media giant because he just kept showing up for work, was then promoted and promoted until he became chief of the company’s domestic movie […]

Five Questions for Chrissy Chamberlain ’05

A former Syracuse Orange rower, Chrissy Chamberlain graduated in 2005 with a B.S. in English and Textual Studies and Inclusive Elementary and Special Education. Also holding a master’s degree in Instructional Design and Technology from San Diego State University, she is a Certified Professional in Talent Development. Chamberlain joined FICO in 2007 as an education […]

Nicole Fonger headshot and cover of book

Professor Nicole Fonger’s New Book Celebrates “Making Algebra Meaningful”

Using her “sketchnotes” method of communicating ideas about mathematics literacy and algebra concepts, Professor Nicole Fonger’s new book seeks to support all learners as they experience algebra as meaningful. Fonger will celebrate the publication of Making Algebra Meaningful: A Visual Approach to Math Literacy for All (Teachers College Press, 2024) on Sept. 12, 2024, with […]

Headshots of six new faculty members

School of Education Welcomes Six New Faculty Members

Syracuse University School of Education welcomes six new faculty members in fall 2024, with expertise in counseling and counselor education; faculty development; instructional design, development, and evaluation; inclusive science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, and music education. “I very much look forward to collaborating with our new faculty members, who help to fulfill the […]

Trey Augliano ’27 Named 2024-2025 Intelligence++ Innovation Scholar

Trey Augliano ’27, a student in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, has been selected by Syracuse Libraries as its inaugural Intelligence++ Innovation Scholar for the 2024-2025 academic year. This prestigious recognition highlights Augliano’s dedication to innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly working with diverse communities. Intelligence ++ is an innovative, interdisciplinary initiative at Syracuse University […]

Shafreya Wilkins ’25: Inclusive Education Fosters Ambition

Shafreya Wilkins ’25 has a vision for the future: operating her own food truck with mini dishes, such as tacos, sliders, truffle fries and slushies for the kids. For Wilkins—who is especially fond of seafood…calamari, oysters, shrimp, sushi… “I love it all,” she says—the food studies program at Syracuse University’s David B. Falk College of […]

A group of students in the SENSES Lab

SENSES Lab: Creating Space for Building Community and Pursuing Dreams

Heading down into the basement of Steele Hall, you’ll find students coming and going from Room 001. Some are gathered in a lounge area, one likely controlling the aux on a TV, while others are in DJ or DIY recording booths or working on computers equipped with digital audio workstations. It’s the SENSES Project, a […]

Inside Higher Ed Features InclusiveU: Supporting Student Success for Learners With Disabilities

(Inside Higher Ed | July 20, 2024)  The number of students enrolled in higher education who have a disability has grown over the years, but they still face barriers in completing a certificate or credential. A May report from the US Government Accountability Office found only 21 percent of students with disabilities graduate from college, compared to 38 percent of students […]

Kamille Montgomery chatting with another student

Kamille Montgomery ’24, G’25: Part of a Movement to Recruit More Underrepresented Teachers

Building a diverse teacher workforce is a top priority for Syracuse University’s School of Education—and students such as Kamille Montgomery ’24, G’25. A member of the school’s Baldanza Fellows program, which recruits and retains underrepresented teachers, she understands the importance of students seeing themselves in their classroom role models. “I want my students to know […]

Donna Walton hero image

Reflections: Donna Walton G’85

In the Reflections series, the School of Education asks alumni to look back on their distinguished and fascinating lives and careers. As a young person, Donna Walton had dreams of international stardom. But as she writes on her website, “[A]ll it took was one diagnosis at the age of 18 to turn her life upside […]

School of Education Alumni Take on New Leadership Roles

Riley-Tillman Named WSU Provost and Executive Vice President T. Chris Riley-Tillman G’96, G’99 has joined Washington State University as Provost and Executive Vice President. Before joining WSU, Riley-Tillman was Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Missouri, where he served as Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Institutional Effectiveness; […]

A group of teachers and guests address a classroom

Center on Disability and Inclusion Helps Dr. Weeks Elementary Celebrate Neurodiversity

A special curriculum theme on neurodivergence resonated with students at Dr. Weeks Elementary School in the Syracuse City School District (SCSD), supporting the school’s goal to raise awareness about autism and other forms of neurodivergence and to promote acceptance about those who learn differently. Caley Kutz G’12, the 15:1 self-contained fifth-grade special education teacher, along […]

Emily Wood Earns NYS Counseling Scholarship

Emily Wood, a student in Syracuse University School of Education’s School Counseling master’s degree program, has been awarded a 2024 New York State School Counseling Association (NYSSCA) Graduate Student Scholarship. “This award recognizes all the good work Emily has been doing with students in the Syracuse City School District,” says Melissa Luke, Dean’s Professor of […]

Counseling Students Receive AARC Award for Refugee Mental Health Project

A team of Counseling and Counselor Education graduate students from Syracuse University’s School of Education have received a select award from the Association for Assessment and Research in Counseling (AARC). The 2024 Multicultural Assessment and Research in Counseling award goes to Kahyen Shin, Eunji Park, Sarah Litt, and Xihe Tian. This annual grant honors AARC […]

Two people making zasar

A Photo Essay—and Recipe: Professor Michael Gill’s Fermentation Stories Project Gets a Taste of Zasar

Fermentation is something Syracuse University School of Education Professor Michael Gill thinks deeply about. The process is the subject of his latest research and has inspired a recent project to explore family and cultural connections to recipes handed down through the generations and across nations. The project—Fermenting Stories: Exploring Ancestry, Embodiment, and Place—kicked off in […]

Saraswati Dhakal lighting a candle

Saraswati Dhakal G’24 Embraces Role as Mental Health Counselor and Advocate

Before pursuing a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the School of Education, Saraswati Dhakal G’24 served as a transplant coordinator and operation theatre nurse at the Human Organ Transplant Centre in Bhaktapur, Nepal. In that role, Dhakal coordinated the center’s renal transplant services, delivering care and treatment to patients, while providing counseling […]

A young woman stands in front of Syracuse University's Carnegie Library

Stand-out Graduation Dress? You’ve Got to Hand It to Rory Livingston ’24

When Dean Kelly Chandler-Olcott learned about the special dress Rory Livingston ’24 wore to the Syracuse University School of Education Convocation on May 11, she wanted to know more about it. Making the dress was a handful—but not in a bad way. Livingston, an Inclusive Elementary and Special Education program graduate, sent Chandler-Olcott some photos […]

AI & College Teaching: Professor Jing Lei Quoted by Forbes

Are You Ready To Use AI In Your Teaching? (Forbes | June 17, 2024) College faculty are uncertain about the use of AI. Most talk related to AI among non-science faculty pertains to how students might be using it to cheat rather than how they can use it to streamline their own work or how […]

Two SOE Doctoral Students Receive ACES Graduate Awards

Two doctoral students in Syracuse University School of Education’s Counseling and Counselor Education program have been recognized by the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES). First year doctoral student Xihe Tian and second year student Eunji Park are among 20 ACES graduate student members receiving a 2024 Graduate Student Award Grant from the ACES […]

Five Questions hero image for Jaime Castillo

Five Questions for Jaime Castillo G’16

Jaime Castillo is a 2016 graduate of the School of Education’s Counseling and Counselor Education doctoral program. He also holds a B.S. in Psychology from Penn State University and an M.S. in School Counseling from the University of Scranton. A Licensed Mental Health Counselor, he is currently Director of Counseling Services at SUNY-Geneseo. Castillo describes […]

dean shakes graduate hand at convocation

School of Education Receives Gift to Fund Indigenous Teacher Preparation Scholarships

An anonymous benefactor has given $150,000 to the Syracuse University School of Education to provide scholarships for Native American students preparing to become inclusive education teachers. The School of Education Indigenous Teacher Preparation Fund will provide scholarships to at least seven undergraduate students in its first cohort, which will matriculate by the 2026-2027 academic year. […]

School of Education Mourns the Passing of Professor Emeritus Alan Goldberg

Syracuse University School of Education mourns Professor Emeritus Alan Goldberg, 90, who passed on June 1 at Inova Hospital in Alexandria, VA. A distinguished faculty member in the Counseling and Human Services program, in 2006 he spearheaded SOE’s Holocaust and Genocide Education initiative, which includes the Spector/Warren Fellowship for Holocaust and Human Rights Education. Alan […]

Nikkia Borowski G’20 Speaks to EdWeek about English Learners with Disabilities

(EdWeek | May 13, 2024) Students with disabilities face a gamut of challenges when it comes to accessing high-quality K-12 education, including a shortage of specialized teachers. The nation’s growing English-learner population faces outsized needs as their English-language proficiency scores remain lower than pre-COVID-19-pandemic averages, and immigrant English learners in particular require more trauma-informed instruction. […]

Emilee Baker G'24 hero image

Emilee Baker G’24 Looks Ahead to Unique Postdoctoral Researcher Role

When she was a special education teacher, Emilee Baker G’24 could see that the educational system was failing students with disabilities. To address that challenge, she decided to pursue doctoral studies in Syracuse University School of Education, supported by a Project INCLUDE grant. She will graduate this spring and, in August, she’ll pursue a new career as a […]

Three people have their photo taken on a smartphone

Inclusive Works Holds InclusiveU Networking Breakfast

The InclusiveU Business Engagement Group held its 2024 Inclusion Works Networking Breakfast on May 9, 2024, inviting the local business community to Syracuse University’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management to meet with graduating InclusiveU students. View the photo essay: Now they are graduating, InclusiveU students are looking for integrated, meaningful employment—just like any other […]

Two School of Education Students Among Record Number of Fulbright Recipients

School of Education students Julianne Strauss ’23, G’24 and Elizabeth Vanek G’24 are among 14 Syracuse University students and alumni named as 2024 recipients of awards through the Fulbright US Student Program. Five students were also chosen as alternates. This is the largest number of US Student Fulbright recipients that Syracuse University has had in […]

A group of students give a presentation

7 Student Teams Win Prizes to Advance Their Intelligence++ Disability, Inclusion Innovations

Seven student-designed products, services, and technologies meant to assist people with intellectual and developmental disabilities won recognition and seed funding at the Intelligence++ Showcase on April 25, 2024. The showcase is the culmination of the two-semester Intelligence++ (DES 400/600) course taught by Don Carr, professor and Program Coordinator for Industrial and Interaction Design in the […]

Professor David Pérez II Awarded Pearson Excellence in Higher Education Award

David Pérez II, an associate professor of Higher Education in the School of Education at Syracuse University, has been awarded an Exemplary Teaching and Learning award from educational publishing and services company Pearson Education Inc. The awards recognize “the brilliance and hard work of faculty members [who] inspire us … honoring those who are doing […]

Christian Bevilacqua ’24 Awarded Prestigious Critical Language Scholarship

Christian Bevilacqua ’24, a Social Studies Education and Geography major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), and School of Education, is one of five Syracuse University undergraduates selected as recipients of the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), through which they will immerse themselves in intensive language study […]

Headshots of three SOE Remembrance Scholars: Mason Garbus, Mason Romero, and Josh Spodek

Three School of Education Students Named 2024-2025 Remembrance Scholars

Three Syracuse University School of Education students are among 35 chosen as 2024-2025 Syracuse University Remembrance Scholars. Mason Garbus of Hannibal, NY, is a music education major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) and the School of Education (SOE). Mason Romero of Olathe, KS, is a music education major in VPA and […]