Dear Lynch School Community,
Throughout the Lynch School’s history, we’ve valued community and put our mission at the center of the remarkable work we do. As a result, this is a collaborative place, where students and faculty members regard one another as partners rather than competitors. This legacy leads to a question that has engaged me throughout my first year as dean: can a school of education both compete at elite levels—where there is great weight placed on individual success—and still be mission-driven and collaborative? The Lynch School has taught me that the answer is yes.
Read more from Stanton Wortham, Charles F. Donovan, S.J., Dean »
City Connects: Whole child approach helps low-income children thrive
Rooted in developmental science research, City Connects is a national model that addresses the out-of-school challenges, such as poor health care or lack of enrichment programs, which prevent low-income students from learning and thriving. Using a “whole child” approach across multiple dimensions—intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical—the program measures lasting effects on students in school and later in life. In this video, City Connects staff Mary Walsh and Julia MacEwan and Lynch School of Education and Human Development faculty Henry Braun, Eric Dearing, and Deoksoon Kim discuss this program that builds “the proverbial village around the child.”
Braun, Pullin elected to National Academy of Education
Both have earned recognition for what they have accomplished during rich and varied careers. But neither Boisi Professor of Education and Public Policy Henry Braun, director of Boston College’s Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy, nor Professor of Education Law and Public Policy Diana Pullin, who holds a joint appointment at the Lynch School and Boston College Law School, has pursued a conventional scholarly career. Both Braun and Pullin were surprised to learn in February that they had been elected to the National Academy of Education (NAEd), a prestigious assembly of more than 200 elite researchers, dedicated to scholarship that addresses pressing concerns in education.
AERA: Where ideas on education collide
In late April, Lynch School faculty, graduate students, and alumni joined some 18,000 others in San Antonio, Texas, at the annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) meeting. The largest educational research organization in the world, AERA conferences, says Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools and former AERA president, are where education “ideas collide.” (Pictured: Cochran-Smith and doctoral candidate Shawn Savage)
Teaching science through theater
Professor Mike Barnett has made his reputation as an innovative teacher, continually seeking out new platforms—in classrooms and laboratories, greenhouses and farmers’ markets, and urban gardens— in which to explore new ways of engaging young people in STEM learning. Recently, Barnett turned his sights on the stage. Working with fellow Boston College faculty, Boston-area playwright Walt McGough, and the Watertown Children’s Theatre at the Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts, Barnett oversaw the creation and production of a one-act play, The Important Thing About Earthquakes. (Pictured: McGough, Watertown Children’s Theater Producing Artistic Director Meghan Hill, and Barnett)
New Lynch School website
The Lynch School of Education recently launched its new website with bold images, compelling videos, and a responsive mobile design. The updated site features stories of faculty research and student involvement that are easier to see, read, and navigate.
The James S. McDonnell Foundation awarded Buehler Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor David Miele and a team of educational and cognitive psychologists from around the country a $4.6-million grant to incorporate insights from the “science of learning” into teaching practice and student achievement.
The National Catholic Educational Association gave Roche Center Executive Director Patricia Weitzel-O’Neill its 2017 C. Albert Koob Merit Award for her contributions to Catholic education.
Tiffany Cooper Gueye ’00, Ph.D. ’07, chief executive officer of BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), one of the nation’s leading nonprofit providers of quality expanded learning programs for children in grades pre-K–8, received an honorary Doctor of Science in Education degree from Boston College at the University’s Commencement in May.