Dale Ballou, associate professor of public policy and education, has been asked to serve on a committee to advise the Institute of Education Sciences on the strategy to evaluate the use and impact of education stimulus funding (for example, Race to the Top funds), and whether the projects being funded improve schooling.
Sandra Barnes, professor of human and organizational development, has been elected president of the Association of Black Sociologists.
Leonard Bickman, Betts Professor, was awarded a Fulbright Senior Scholarship to study in Australia from September 2010 to January 2011.
John Braxton, professor of education, received the 2009 Chancellor’s Cup from Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos during Homecoming week in October. The Chancellor’s Cup is given annually for “the greatest contribution outside the classroom to undergraduate student-faculty relationships in the recent past.” The faculty member’s contribution “shall be one of educational importance, relevant to the central purpose of the university.” Braxton’s research centers on the college student experience, the sociology of the academic profession and academic course-level processes. He is currently involved in developing programming for Vanderbilt students after they leave The Commons and become upperclassmen.
Bruce Compas, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Psychology and Human Development, has been appointed chair of the Psychosocial Development, Risk and Prevention Study Section of the National Institutes of Health’s Center for Scientific Review.
David Dickinson, professor of education, served as a featured guest speaker at the sixth International Convention on Early Child Development in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in January. In March, he, Ellen Goldring and Karen Harris were selected as American Education Research Association Fellows “in recognition of their exceptional scientific or scholarly contributions to education research or significant contributions to the field through the development of research opportunities and settings.” They were inducted in May during AERA’s 91st annual meeting in Denver, Colo. Goldring, holder of a Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair, is chair of the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, and Harris is Currey Ingram Professor of Special Education.
Corbette Doyle, lecturer in organizational leadership, received the 2009 Plus 1 Award from the Professional Liability Underwriting Society. She joins the ranks of CEOs of major insurance companies who have received the award and is the award’s first female recipient.
Steve Elliott, Dunn Family Professor of Educational and Psychological Assessment, received a three-year appointment to the Educational Testing Services visiting research panel. Steve has also been appointed director of research and scientific practice of the Society for the Study of School Psychology.
Robert Jiménez, professor of language, literacy and culture, has been named a winner of the Joyce Morris Article Award from the International Reading Association for his article in the area of the history of reading instruction.
Mark Lipsey, director of the Peabody Research Institute, was appointed by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen to the Governor’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council in February. The new council will collaborate with and coordinate the services of state and local government agencies and non-governmental entities in the criminal justice system to increase public safety. The council is composed of 19 members representing state and municipal officials, the judicial system, law enforcement and other stakeholders.
Velma McBride Murry, Betts Professor of Education and Human Development, has been appointed as a member of the Board on Children, Youth and Families of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.
Deborah Rowe, associate professor of education, has won the Dina Feitelson Research Award from the International Reading Association for her article, “The Social Construction of Intentionality: Two-Year-Olds’ and Adults’ Participation at a Preschool Writing Center.” The article was published in 2008 in the journal Research in the Teaching of English. The award was presented in April at the International Reading Association’s annual meeting in Chicago.
Beth Shinn, professor of human and organizational development, co-authored Toward Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs (Oxford University Press). The book received the 2010 Social Policy Edited Book Award from the Society for Research on Adolescence.