Students, staff and faculty members from Penn State's College of Education share recent research and career achievements.

• Katerina Bodovski, associate professor of education (educational theory and policy) in the Department of Education Policy Studies (EPS), is co-author on a new article, “An active investment in cultural capital: structured extracurricular activities and educational success in China” in Journal of Youth Studies. Her co-authors are Minda Tan, assistant professor at Shandong Normal University in China and a graduate of the doctoral program in EPS; and Lianglang Cai, also a faculty member at Shandong Normal University.

• John Cheslock, associate professor of education (higher education) in the Department of Education Policy Studies and senior research associate in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, has been named associate editor for the American Educational Research Journal, the flagship journal of the American Education Research Association.

• Jose Cossa, associate professor of education (adult education) in the Department of Learning and Performance Systems, was recently featured in a virtual philosophy forum sponsored by the Miami Institute for the Social Sciences.

• Sebrina Doyle Fosco, a doctoral fellow in the Educational Leadership program, was awarded a grant from the College of Education’s Equity Team for her proposal, “Cultivating mindfulness and compassion skills in first-year seminar instructors to support anti-racist and equitable practices in the classroom.”

• Research by Erica Frankenberg, professor of education (educational leadership and demography) in Department of Education Policy Studies and director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights was cited in an article in the Boston Globe, “Legislative bills take aim at school segregation in Mass.”

• Maithreyi Gopalan, assistant professor of education (education and public policy) in the Department of Education Policy Studies, is co-author on a paper with Lang (Kate) Yang, assistant professor of public policy and public administration at The George Washington University, on the long-term impact of campus shootings on school districts. Their study is the subject of an article, “New Study: After School Shootings, Well-Off Families Flee and Enrollment Drops. Low-Income Kids are Left to Confront the Aftermath” in The 74.

• Royel Johnson, assistant professor of education (higher education) in the Department of Education Policy Studies, published a brief, “Black Youth in Foster Care and the School-Prison Nexus” for the Office of Community College Research and Leadership.

• Andrea “Andii” Layton, a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Education Policy Studies, has been admitted as a member of the University Council for Educational Administration's Graduate Student Council.

• Beverly Lindsay, professor emerita of education, has been selected as an evaluator for the Canadian government’s National Research Chairs (NRC). NRC nominees will be reviewed by researchers, who are recognized as world leaders in their fields, in order to award chairs to Canadians who are outstanding global researchers. Lindsay's expertise is in higher education and international policy studies.

• Allante Moon, a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education program, was awarded a $1,000 grant from the Africana Research Center in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts for a proposal for her pilot research this summer.

• David Passmore, professor emeritus of education, presented a paper, “The imperative for sharing research data,” online at EdTech 2021 sponsored by the Irish Learning Technology Association.

• Kelly Rosinger, assistant professor of education (education and public policy), and her InformEd States colleagues published a policy brief, “A national analysis of the impact of performance-based funding on completion outcomes among historically underrepresented students.” InformEd States is a clearinghouse for policy analysis, original research, data and rigorous evidence on the equity and effectiveness of state higher education funding policies. Rosinger’s co-authors for the brief are Justin Ortagus, an assistant professor in the School of Human Development and Organizational Studies in Education and director of the Institute of Higher Education at the University of Florida, who received a doctorate in higher education from Penn State in 2015; Robert Kelchen, an associate professor of higher education in the Department of Education Leadership, Management and Policy at Seton Hall University; and Nick Voorhees and Garam Chu, who are doctoral students in the Higher Education Administration & Policy program at the University of Florida.  

• Sam Tanner, associate professor of education (literacy education) at Penn State Altoona, was recently interviewed for an episode of Jabbedu Education Podcast, “Examining Whiteness and Anti-Racism in our Schools.”

• Isaiah Zukowski, a doctoral student in the Lifelong Learning and Adult Education program, is the lead author on a new paper, “Public health crises compounded: A high school equivalency context in the time of a pandemic” in International Review of Education. His co-authors are Zachary Parker, a doctoral student at McGill University; Daisy Shetterly, an academic coordinator, and social studies and academic writing teacher for Minmahaw Higher Education Program; and Kimberly Valle, an education professional for Congreso de Latinos Unidos.  

"Around the College" highlights accomplishments by faculty, staff and students in the College of Education, including publications; research presentations at conferences and workshops; and awards, grants and fellowships. Please share your news with us and your colleagues by emailing edrelations@psu.edu.