Message from the Dean: April 2024
Dear SOE Billiken Alums,
I hope that this message finds you well and you are enjoying the spring weather. Here on SLU’s campus, there was much excitement as students, faculty, and staff experienced the solar eclipse together on April 8, and now we all move forward to a successful completion of the Spring 2024 semester. Toward that end, we in the School of Education are busy making plans for the May 16 pre-commencement ceremony. We are pleased to share that Ian Buchanan, Ed.D., a longtime St. Louis educator and currently the CEO of Nia Education Group, has accepted our invitation to serve as our keynote speaker at our ceremony. We are eagerly anticipating Ian’s pre-commencement speech. And, at the full SLU ceremony on May 18, the headline speaker will be a lesser-known, up-and-coming actor named Jon Hamm.
In this newsletter, we are pleased to share that we in the School of Education are quickly moving forward with the Rising Teachers program and have hired Karen Collins-Adams, Ed.D., as project director. We are actively recruiting school staff at partner schools for the Summer 2024 cohort. While I don’t want to look too far ahead, I truly can’t wait until many of these school paraprofessionals begin to cross the stage to receive their SLU diplomas in 2026 and beyond!
On the research front, we also highlight the good work of several faculty members of the School of Education. Christa Jackson, Ph.D., has published two book series — one is a set of children's books focused on underrepresented mathematicians and their mathematical contributions, and the second book series targets educators on ways they can simplify STEM through the Integrated STEM Practices. J. Cameron Anglum, Ph.D., is working with other researchers to study the impact of pandemic-era student and teacher mobility on outcomes. We are also pleased that Amrita Chaturvedi, Ph.D., will present the fourth annual Education for Flourishing Conference on April 19. And several School of Education members are being honored this spring with prestigious SLU awards.
As always, please let us know if there are ways that we can support you better or communicate with you more effectively. We look forward to seeing you on campus for the 2024 Homecoming and Family Weekend, Sept. 27-29, when we will begin our centennial celebration. The SLU School of Education, first established in 1925, will be celebrating 100 years of educating educators throughout the 2024-25 academic year.
Best wishes,
Gary W. Ritter, Ph.D.
Dean, School of Education