CEHD Research In Press: March-April 2024

NEWS 

Richard Hoberg has been selected for a Fulbright U.S. Student Research Grant in Norway and to be an American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) Fellow for the academic year of 2024-2025 .  His project is titled “Investigating Equity in the Reorganization of Norway’s Rural Schools”, which will be conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. Richard’s selection reflects his demonstration of leadership and contribution to society. Richard is a PhD student in the Department of Educational Foundations and Research.  His research investigates factors that affect decision making in the management of Norwegian rural schools. The proposed study is based out of NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) in Trondheim, Norway.  After completing his Fulbright study, Richard will extend his research into comparing his findings with and supporting Midwestern and North Dakota schools.

Fulbright is the flagship international academic exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government.  Alumni have become heads of state, ambassadors, university presidents, and CEO’s. They also include 62 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 80 MacArther Fellows. The American-Scandinavian Foundation is the leading cultural and educational link between the U.S. and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. ASF’s award program for study and research abroad has been the Foundation’s most long-standing commitment to educational exchange. During the past 100 years, over 4,000 fellowships and grants have been given to Americans in the Nordic region (Denmark, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sámpi, and Sweden) and Scandinavians in the US engaged in study, research, or creative arts projects. A special thank you goes to Richard’s recommenders: Dr. Melissa Gjellstad (UND) who also offered Richard guidance on the ASF fellowship and Drs. Diana D’Amico Pawlewicz (UND), Mariann Villa (NTNU, Trondheim), and Anna Rapp (NTNU) who are also advising Richard on the project.  Of special note, Richard is the first UND student in recent history to win an ASF Fellowship.

Dr. Ryan Flinn’s pilot study entitled “Examination of multicultural orientation among peer support specialists as a mechanism for promoting positive working relationships and improved substance use outcomes in emerging adults” was recently funded for $10,000 by the NIDA-funded Training Institute at the Initiative for Justice and Emerging Adult Populations (JEAP Initiative; R24DA051950) at Chestnut Health Systems, the Oregon Social Learning Center, and Sponsors, Inc. https://www.jeapinitiative.org/

Drs. Harry Liu, Lee Ann Williams, and Tanis Walch received a $9,800 Small Innovative Grant from the North Dakota State Council on Developmental Disabilities. The funding This research project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an adaptive pickleball-based intervention program for enhancing motor skills, physical activity, and social interactions among 8-12-year-old children with developmental disabilities (DD).

Laura Look is a Higher Education doctoral student in the Doctor of Education in Educational Practice and Leadership program and a Director in the School of Graduate Studies at UND. Her dissertation-in-practice (DiP) proposal, entitled Exploring Mentoring Expectations: A Quantitative Analysis of Faculty and Student Perspectives in Graduate Student Mentoring, has received a Gold Award for the 2024 NAGAP Graduate Education Research Grant. The award from the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management will provide $2,500 to support Laura Look’s DiP research, recognition at the award ceremony for this year’s 2024 NAGAP GEM Summit in Louisville, KY, complimentary NAGAP membership for one year, and registration with travel support for the 2025 GEM Summit in San Francisco, CA. Laura Look will present her DiP findings at the 2025 GEM Summit in California and submit her research paper made available to all NAGAP members.

Dr. Laura Link was recently interviewed for The 74 Million’s news article Why is a Grading System Touted as More Accurate, Equitable So Hard to Implement?   Laura’s current research on classroom grading is featured alongside the partnership work she’s conducting with K-12 school districts across the U.S. to improve grading and reporting practices. Her article Is Standards-based Grading Effective? was the catalyst for this story.

Dr. Lee Ann Williams book Fundamentals of Case and Caseload Management has now officially been published.

The CEHD Research Conference took place on April 2 at the Memorial Union Ballroom at UND. The event included over 80 research posters, 12 research talks, and presentation of the three CEHD Excellence in Research Awards (see below). The conference was described in an article by UND Today.

SPOTLIGHT

CEHD Research Excellence award winners:

The Inspire Graduate Student Research Excellence Award recognizes significant achievements in research impact by a CEHD graduate student. The 2024 recipient is Andrea Doyon, who is a PhD Counselling Psychology. Andrea’s research areas: healthy intimate partnerships, including the primary prevention of sexual assault and the promotion of sexual consent behaviors.

The Aspire Early Career Award for Excellence in Research Award recognizes significant achievements in research impact from early-career faculty within CEHD (10 years since PhD). The 2024 recipient is Dr. Ethan Dahl, Assistant Professor of Counselling Psychology. Dr. Dahl’s research areas include disabilities, integrated care within rural communities, suicide prevention, microaggressions and social exclusion, social isolation, and general behavioral health. Since arriving at UND 1.5 years ago, Ethan has 5 published empirical journal articles (3 first author), 2 empirical journal articles under review, 2 funded external grants ($5,053,840), 5 research presentations, and 8 poster presentations.

The Excellence in Research & Scholarship Award honors a CEHD researcher who has made an outstanding contribution to their field by publishing a high-quality research artifact, written as first or senior author, accepted or published within the past five years. Essentially this is the “best scholarly product” award. The 2024 recipient is Dr. Emily Midkiff, Assistant Professor of Teaching & Leadership for her publication, Equipping Space Cadets: Primary Science Fiction for Young Children (2022) in Univ. Press of Mississippi. Analysis of 350 books, survey of teachers and librarians, read-aloud recordings with elementary school students, large-scale statistical analysis of school library records across the United States. Science Fiction Research Association Book Award

LATEST SCHOLARSHIP

CEHD faculty are in bold, and CEHD students are underlined. 

Publications

Zaman, M., Summers, R., Boese-Noreen, S. (2024, March). Elevating ELLs in a science classroom: Evidence-informed strategies to support language development used by a high school teacher. The official publication of Teachers of English as a Second Language Association of Ontario, Contact Magazine. link

Presentations

Russell, T., & Flinn, R.E. (2024, March). Q-Chat: Engaging in Queer & Trans Research. (Discussant: J. Maliskey). Invited presentation for the University of North Dakota Pride Center, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Waagen, T., Flinn, R.E., Hacker, M. (2024, March). Substance use disorder 101: Screening and intervention with physical therapy patients. Invited presentation delivered to Dr. Steven Halcrow’s Prevention, Wellness, and Health Promotion course, Physical Therapy Program. University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Votava, K. & Johnson, C. North Dakota State Leads for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) 2024 Virtual Public Policy Forum, virtual, February 25-26, 2024.

Chinkondenji, P., Kufeyani, S., Kaunda L. & Matondo, F. (2024, April 5). 10 Years of African Girlhood Rooted in Participatory Social Transformation: (Auto)ethnographies of the Everyday in Rural Malawi. Research presented at the 2024 Girlhood Studies Collective (GSC) Symposium. Hosted by GSC in collaboration with the Department of Childhood Studies & the Gender Studies Program at Rutgers University, Camden. (Virtual)

Chinkondenji, P. (2024, May 21). Drop-out or Push-out?: The Complexities of Education, Gender, Race and Motherhood in Educational Policy and Practice. In Conversation with the CEO webinar series, American Association of University Women (AAUW). (Virtual)