Three students from the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling received awards at the Graduate Student Senate Awards Ceremony and Breakfast on April 4, 2018.

photo contributed by the Graduate School

Jennifer Moralejo | Excellence in Teaching

Jennifer is a PhD Candidate in the Counselor Education program and a Graduate Teaching Associate for COUN 480 – Skills for Counseling. She said, “I am honored by this award, it is rewarding to be recognized for something you truly enjoy. The department faculty have been excellent mentors and role models in teaching. It has been an honor to learn from them and have them be such a huge part of my development as an instructor.”

This award is given to graduate teaching assistants/associates for extraordinary performance in teaching.

Erin Garty | Excellence in Service

Erin is a PhD Student in the Learning Environments and Educational Studies program and has been working with UT Service-Learning since 2014 and has served on the Graduate Student Advisory Board the last two years. She said, “I am grateful for this award. It’s wonderful to receive recognition for meaningful work.”

This award is presented to graduate students who are extraordinary campus leaders or participate in service learning and other community initiatives.

photo contributed by the Graduate School

Kala Taylor | Excellence in Research

Kala is a PhD Candidate in the School Psychology program and focuses her research on reading interventions and diversity issues. She said, “I am honored to receive this award, and so grateful for the strong mentors who have encouraged me to grow as a researcher during my time at UT.”

This award is presented to graduate students who have received national and/or international recognition in their fields and show professional promise in their areas of research and creative achievement.

Erin Garty, PhD student in Learning Environments and Educational Studies, was given an Outstanding Graduate Student Award for Graduate Research and Service at the Second Annual Kickoff Breakfast for Graduate and Professional Student Appreciation Week.

“This award was unexpected but much appreciated, and I would like to thank Lisa Yamagata-Lynch and Kelly Ellenburg for giving me the opportunity to work with them on a Smart Communities Initiative service learning project.” – Garty

Garty was nominated by associate professor, Lisa Yamagata-Lynch, who highlighted her efforts with the Smart Communities Initiative (SCI). Garty and classmates worked to determine how to ethically obtain electronic and non-electronic citizen input for the city of Cleveland to use for planning purposes. Garty compiled individual team reports from peers and then spent many hours after the course was over to prepare and design the report for publication. For more information about this experience, please refer to the story “SCI Ethical Needs Report Published.”

The Ethical Needs for Collecting Citizen Input for Future Planning in Cleveland, TN report has been published.

In the summer of 2014, nine students enrolled in Lisa Yamagata-Lynch’s Professional Ethics in Instructional Technology course joined the inaugural Smart Communities Initiative (SCI). The students had diverse backgrounds and represented the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling. During the semester, they worked in small groups, had classroom discussions, and collaborated with the Cleveland city planners to conduct an ethical needs analysis for collecting citizen input.

In April of 2015, Yamagata-Lynch, associate professor, and Erin Garty, master’s student presented the findings from the course were presented at the SCI End of Year Showcase. Yamagata-Lynch and Garty explained that the fundamental ethical concerns included equitable access, anonymity and online community behaviors, ownership and copyright, and policy-related issues such as privacy and security. The report holds many recommendations, resources, and options all tailored to the needs of Cleveland. Garty was charged with creating the actual report, and said her greatest challenge was pulling together contributions from multiple voices and turning it into a cohesive report with a single voice.

“Writing this report provided me the experience of working with multiple stakeholders that added to what I believe I gained the most – practical real-world experience.” – Erin Garty

For additional information please see previous post – Instructional Technology partners with the City of Cleveland.