We are continuing the process, begun last term, of developing our SEHD Strategic Plan and will soon move toward implementation. The process of holding more than a dozen lunches and dinners with faculty, staff, undergraduates, graduate students, and alumni has revealed some significant strengths. Specifically, our School has excellent interdisciplinary expertise in educational, physical, and psychological domains, enabling our faculty and students to address individual, organizational, and social challenges across the lifespan.
We are also a leader in terms of our breadth and depth of community engagement. Many of my colleagues have partnered with schools, community organizations and entities to create transformational change – it is truly inspiring. We have a clear strength in terms of our focus on equity and access, particularly with regard to multicultural and multilingual settings, like what we find here in South Florida.
In addition, we have current and emerging expertise in the science of learning, an area that is increasingly important to develop for optimizing classrooms and pedagogy to serve the students and teachers of tomorrow. Please stay tuned for our plans for how we will achieve preeminence in these areas and certainly contact me if you wish to be involved in supporting our efforts.
In recent months, a number of our faculty members have received prestigious awards and fellowships and have received funding for innovative research. Faculty research funding sources include the UM U-Link Program and the prestigious Provost’s Research Award Program, as well as several federal and foundation grants. Building our infrastructure to support successful applications for external funding is one our primary strategic goals. Our faculty members’ accomplishments will be highlighted here and in future editions of Engage!
I am also pleased to report that after a highly successful site visit from expert reviewers, our Athletic Training Program has received the maximum 10 years of continuing accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE). This accreditation will carry over to the new Athletic Training Master’s program, which means starting in the summer of 2020 we will have an accredited graduate AT program. Kudos to our AT Program Director Dr. Kysha Harriell and all of our AT faculty members and students. Finally, I am thrilled that after much planning and effort from multiple people across the University, including a robust working group, the SEHD offered the first two Intergroup Dialogue courses for undergraduates this year. We strongly believe that teaching students how to engage in respectful dialogue and shared understanding across differing social identities, life experiences and developing perspectives – is a critical skill that is neglected in this current technological age but is an important one for our students to obtain before leaving UM. The feedback we gain from our intrepid pioneering students involved in this new effort will be used to roll out IGD courses available to all UM students starting in the fall 2019 term.
Clearly, this is an exciting time in the SEHD! We would happy to hear from you about any or all of our efforts, initiatives and accomplishments.
Best,
Laura
