A Year in Review

The start of the New Year is the perfect time to reflect and celebrate successes from the past year. 2017 was a phenomenal year for the College with a long list of accomplishments. This list represents a sample of the amazing “hits” from 2017. We have selected 52 to represent the hard work that took place every week of the year. This is a team effort; this list is only possible because of you! Thank you all for your contributions!

  1. The College awarded more than $530,000 in student scholarships from donor gifts.
  2. Amy Adam, Steve Adams, Tina Edholm, Rosemary Fleharty, Betty Kissane, Betsy Knapp, Patti Kohnen, Theresa Metz, Michelle Mueller, Vicki Robb, Sankalp Shivaprakash, Kristel Schlemper, Aaron Schnurman, and Mike Urban received the Porter Graham Staff Excellence Award.
  3. Lauren Arend, Marjorie Dorime-Williams, Rose Metro, Michael Williams, Ashley Woodson, and Xinhao Xu began their faculty careers with the College and two faculty members were promoted to professor and seven to associate professor.
  4. The TESOL International Association Awarded Assistant Teaching Professor Nikki Ashcraft the D. Scott Enright Interest Section Service Award.
  5. Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) served 398 districts, 466 Missouri high school buildings, and 5,718 students.
  6. Our incredible new website and social media efforts expanded our reach (e.g., the top Facebook post had a 43,000+ reach and the top tweet had 14,900 impressions).
  7. SPED Professor Tim Lewis received the Distinguished Faculty Award from the Mizzou Alumni Association.
  8. Enrollments grew 18% for juniors entering the teacher education program in the past two years to address the teacher shortage crisis.
  9. Alumni established and funded an endowment to celebrate the impact of Veralee Hardin’s distinguished career in the College.
  10. Success Stories with Rob Lowe, featuring Professor Wendy Reinke and Professor Keith Herman‘s work at FACE, and Zac March with Mizzou K-12 Online, filmed on campus. (See final production in 2018.)
  11. With Director of eMINTS Christie Terry’s leadership, the gift of the Nureva Span System inspired the development of new innovative research, teaching, and engagement spaces.
  12. ARC continued to reinvent itself through innovative services including our new online store, the BINDERS tool in partnership with The Connector, and expanding NEE to over half the school districts in the state of Missouri.
  13. Professional staff continuously stepped up to the plate through our restructuring, reorganization, process improvement, and physical space moves.
  14. Associate Teaching Professor Leigh Neier received recognition as Tri-Chair of the United Way campaign for the past three years.
  15. Research funding doubled in the last four years to $20 million, and the Third Annual Research Day had 175 participants and 68 poster presentations.
  16. The Missouri Partnership for Educational Renewal added new districts and expanded collaboration to new regions.
  17. Library Science celebrated its 50th anniversary.
  18. ParentLink provided community and research-based information and support services to rural counties in Missouri through their WarmLine service via telephone, text, e-mail, and Facebook pages.
  19. Assistant Professor Sarah Buchanan received Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Best Dissertation Award.
  20. Statewide Cooperative EdD program celebrated its 20th anniversary.
  21. Assistant Research Professor Karen O’Connor received the Top PIQ (Professionalism, Initiative and Quality) Award from the Thompson Center for Autism.
  22. 2017 marked the second consecutive year an undergraduate researcher was selected to represent Missouri at Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C.
  23. U.S. News and World Report ranked the College #30 for graduate programs at public institutions.
  24. With Assistant Teaching Professor Jennifer Fellabaum-Toston’s leadership, the Statewide Cooperative EdD program was the inaugural winner of the Program of the Year Award by the Carnegie Project of the Education Doctorate.
  25. In its third year, the Dorsey Scholars program welcomed its third cohort and expanded to 14 current Dorsey Scholars.
  26. Ashley Woodson, Brad Curs, and Casandra Harper Morris were the inaugural recipients of three new faculty endowed fellowships.
  27. The College eliminated $2 Million in expenses and eliminated deficit spending for the first time in four years to secure a more stable financial future.
  28. Assistant Professor Angie Zapata received the 2017 Children’s Literacy Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English Early Career Award.
  29. Missouri Prevention Center celebrated its 10th anniversary.
  30. The College honored 18 recipients at the annual awards banquet.
  31. Professor Janine Stichter was part of a team that developed a virtual reality platform for students on the autism spectrum with funding from the National Science Foundation.
  32. Professor Erica Lembke received U.S. Department of Education and IES grants to explore early writing and algebra intervention.
  33. The number of online graduate students grew by 15%.
  34. Dean Chval hosted the College’s first Ask Me Anything.
  35. Mizzou K-12 Online enrolled more than 3,500 students in Brazil.
  36. The Quantitative Graduate Certificate Program, developed by Teaching Professor Robbie Scholes, was officially approved and Assistant Teaching Professor Matt Easter developed all the courses for the first year.
  37. Outreach units in the College generated more than $11 million of the $20 million in research expenditures.
  38. The College was #4 on campus for dollars & participation on the first Mizzou Giving Day.
  39. Assistant Professor Nianbo Dong received the NSF Early Career Award.
  40. Heart of Missouri RPDC recognized the Regional Teachers of the Year.
  41. Recent alumni taught in schools in Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Belgium, China, India, Morocco, Rwanda, South Africa, South Korea and Taiwan to expand our global impact.
  42. Columbia Business Times recognized Associate Professor Ty Douglas as one of the 20 under 40 recipients.
  43. 15% of the May 2017 graduating class participated in Teach or Study Abroad, compared to the national average of less than 5% for education majors.
  44. Professor Delinda Van Garderen launched a new NIH grant to strengthen STEM literacy materials at the middle school level.
  45. Assistant Teaching Professor Brandon Orr and Sandy Sites continued to build the positive coaching program into the largest graduate online program at Mizzou.
  46. The College welcomed 35 international graduate students from 20 countries.
  47. SPED hosted the first Facebook live for prospective students.
  48. Adventure Club celebrated its 20th anniversary with the College.
  49. Associate Professor Chad Rose established the Mizzou Education Bully Prevention Lab, which now employs 20 Mizzou students and helps Missouri schools.
  50. Professor Betsy Baker received the UM System’s Thomas Jefferson Award.
  51. Professor Joi Moore, Director of SISLT, received AECT’s James Brown Book award with co-authors.
  52. Associate Dean Matt Burns acknowledged as the most productive in research publications in school psychology.
  53. Extra Credit! Our wonderful students, alumni and friends shared pride in being #MizzouMade.