Jon Hale and Linda Herrera, professors Education Policy, Organization & Leadership, have been elected to the University Senates Conference. The organization consists of members from the Urbana-Champaign, Springfield, and Chicago campuses of the University of Illinois system.

The Senates Conference is a statutory body that provides the major link between the faculties of the U. of I. system campuses and works for the greater good of the University of Illinois System and all of its universities. The Senates Conference acts as an advisory group to the Board of Trustees through the President, to other administrative officers, and to the senates themselves on matters of university-wide concerns.

Hale and Herrera will serve for the 2025-26 school year.

Watson will rise to the principal position from her district role as director of school improvement in Unit 4.

EPSY Chair Kyle Christiansen's piece Support Higher Ed Because Higher Ed Supports You, was published in the May 20th edition of the News-Gazette.

Paige Sawatzky and Colleen Yopp were both selected as this year's awardees by the Student Alumni Ambassadors.

Paapa Nkrumah-Ababio and Chris Getowicz have been selected for the summer 2025 cohort.

Bunch was recognized for her book, The Magnitude of Us.

Shirley Moreland and William Villaflor were honored for their work in the classroom.

The session will provide info on Illinois' new partnership with Universitas 21

Lee Ragsdale is the Reentry Resource Program Director for the Education Justice Project.

Lee presented her research at the annual competition on April 8.

Anderson is an adjunct professor at George Mason University and CEO of Onyx Equity Education Consulting.

Y. Barry Chung is Dean of the College of Education at San Diego State University.

He will receive the award on Thursday, April 17 at the Ebony Excellence Awards Ceremony.

Ng has been on the faculty at the University of Kansas in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

One will center on black educators in the South, and another on human-centered design and Artificial Intelligence.

Nicholas Leonardi, a fourth-year PhD candidate in Curriculum and Instruction, has been selected as one of thirty doctoral students to join the 2025 cohort of emerging scholars at the Sandra K. Abell Institute for Doctoral Students (SKAIDS). SKAIDS supports the professional development of science education doctoral students by pairing them with experienced faculty mentors. The 2025 Abell Institute will take place at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, from July 21 to July 25.

The Office of Community College Research and Leadership (OCCRL) was the recipient of the 2025 Presidential Citation of Excellence Award from The Council for the Study of Community Colleges at this year’s CSCC Conference, where the theme was “working in solidarity for equitable community college futures.” Presented by outgoing CSCC President Dr. Xueli Wang, OCCRL was recognized as a transformative leader and ray of hope in the field of community college research, leadership and practice.

Projects from Dean Chrystalla Mouza and postdoctoral researcher Jadyn Harris Laixely were selected for funding.

Tamara Bertrand Jones, associate dean for faculty affairs, will speak at the two day event in May.

Michele Schutz, assistant professor SPED, was selected for her involvement in the Goldstick Lecture Series since joining the department in 2022.