Ten faculty members from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development were awarded global engagement funding for the current and upcoming academic year from the Office of Global Engagement. These awards reflect Peabody’s commitment to worldwide collaboration that enhances learning and development in diverse contexts and translates discoveries into more effective practice and policy.
Vanderbilt Global Scholars in Residence
In spring 2025, Peabody faculty members will host three Global Scholars in Residence:
- James Booth, Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Educational Neuroscience, will host Jérôme Prado, an expert in the cognition and neuroscience of math learning from the French National Center for Scientific Research. Prado has developed an online training course on the learning and teaching of mental arithmetic. He plans to adapt this course for elementary education master’s degree students, including interactive activities to enhance their understanding of arithmetic teaching and encourage discussion on the educational differences between France and the U.S.
- Ellen Goldring, Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair, professor of education and leadership, and vice dean, will host Audrey Addi-Raccah, an expert in the sociology of education and education policy, with a focus on inequality and school improvement in the Israeli education system. She will collaborate with doctoral students and faculty to study institutional resilience in schools and educational systems, and to develop a school resiliency index addressing inequality in education using large-scale data from the U.S. and Israel.
- Krista Mehari, assistant professor of psychology and human development, will host Drishti Sharma, senior manager of health systems and policy research at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), New Delhi, India. Sharma will work with researchers and students at Vanderbilt on projects relating to youth safety from a global perspective.
In spring 2024, Peabody faculty members hosted two Global Scholars in Residence:
- Bethany Rittle-Johnson, professor of psychology, hosted Serkan Özel, associate professor in the Department of Mathematics and Science Education at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey. Özel collaborates with academic, industry, and non-governmental organization partners to empower students, with a particular emphasis on leveraging innovative STEM education approaches to uplift those from disadvantaged communities. He also works with educators on implementing social justice classroom practices to support the educations of ethnically minoritized students in Turkey. Read the article about Özel’s visit to learn more.
- Huili Hong, professor of the practice of teaching and learning, co-hosted Li Wei, professor of applied linguistics and director and dean of the Institute of Education at University College London, with Noel Enyedy, professor of science education and chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning, and Melanie Hundley, professor of the practice of teaching and learning and associate department chair. During Li’s visit, he gave a talk on translanguaging, a philosophy of multilingual communication, which, in practice, allows multilinguals to naturally integrate and flexibly use all their languages and other communication resources to develop and convey meaning. Read the article about Li’s visit to learn more.
Global Engagement Travel Grants
Five faculty members received Global Engagement Travel Grants for spring and June 2024:
- Jason Chow, associate professor of special education, will attend the Network Meta-Analyses Course at the University of Oxford.
- Brian D. Christens, professor of human and organizational development, will present “Linking collaboration to community capacity-building: a network approach” at the Conference of the International Network for Social Network Analysis in Edinburgh, Scotland.
- Xiu Cravens, professor of the practice of education policy, was invited to the Asia Educational Leadership Roundtable 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand, and will be a facilitator for multiple panel discussions.
- Brian Kissel, professor of the practice of literacy, will present “Creating spaces to promote antiracism and activism through children’s writing” at the summer 2024 conference of the United Kingdom Literacy Association, meeting at the University of Sussex, Brighton, England.
- Sophia Vinci-Booher, assistant professor of psychology and human development, will present “Learning through the hands: How handwriting supports early letter learning” at the 2024 International Mind, Brain and Education Society Conference in Leuven, Belgium.
Global Engagement Research Seed Grants
Two faculty members received Global Engagement Research Seed Grants for fall 2024:
- Jason Chow, associate professor of special education, received a grant for “Infrastructure for a global evidence and implementation research synthesis collaborative.”
- Xiu Cravens, professor of the practice of education policy, received a grant for “Collaborative applied research for teacher development through improvement science in the Asia Pacific region.”
