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Lakmal Walpitage


Three faculty members and five doctoral students from the Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling were recognized at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet on April 19, 2016.

See below for a description of each individual’s award.

Extraordinary Community Service
For students and student organizations that exhibit the Volunteer spirit in the community.

Janine Al-AseerJanine Al-Aseer
PhD Student in Learning Environments & Educational Studies

“I am deeply honored to receive the award and credit the amazing team and cohort I have to work with. I thank John Peters for the nomination!”


UT Alumni Association Public Service
Honors a faculty or staff member whose work has made a significant impact on the Knoxville-area community.

Bob KronickRobert Kronick
Professor in School Counseling & Cultural Studies of Educational Foundations

“This award represents the work of a lot of people.”

 


Extraordinary Professional Promise
Honors awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate professional promise in teaching, research or other contributions.

Wenshu Li

Wenshu Li
PhD Candidate in Evaluation, Statistics & Measurement

 

 


Research and Creative Achievement
Given to senior faculty in recognition of excellence in research, scholarship, and creative achievement.

Steve McCallumR. Steve McCallum
Professor in School Psychology

“During my tenure at the University of Tennessee I have been blessed to work with many talented students and colleagues. The Research and Creative Achievement Award is a tribute to these collaborators; it is as much theirs as it is mine!!”


Excellence in Teaching
Bestowed by the Office of the Chancellor and the Teaching Council of the Faculty Senate to honor outstanding work in the classroom.

Jennifer Ann MorrowJennifer Ann Morrow
Associate Professor in Evaluation, Statistics & Measurement

“I’m incredibly grateful to all of my awesome students who nominated me. Teaching is the best part of my job and I strive to get students as excited about statistics as much as I am.”


Extraordinary Professional Promise
Honors awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate professional promise in teaching, research or other contributions.

Everett PainterEverett Painter
PhD Student in Counselor Education

“I have a great deal of respect for our program faculty. The fact they were comfortable in nominating me is gratifying and means a lot to me. This is a result of their investment and support as much as anything else.”


Extraordinary Professional Promise
Honors awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate professional promise in teaching, research or other contributions.

Kala TaylorKala Taylor
PhD Student in School Psychology
“I am honored to receive this award.”

 

 


Extraordinary Professional Promise
Honors awarded to undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate professional promise in teaching, research or other contributions.

Lakmal Walpitage, ESM graduateLakmal Walpitage
PhD Candidate in Evaluation, Statistics & Measurement

 

 


To see photos of our recent award recipients, please go to the “EPC Award Winners” album on our EPC Facebook page.

*Award descriptions listed from Chancellor’s Honors Banquet program and website.


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Evaluation, Statistics & Measurement

Lakmal is currently seeking his PhD in Educational Psychology and Research with a concentration in Evaluation, Statistics, and Measurement. Originally from Colombo, Sri Lanka, he received his BSc in Statistics at the University of Colombo and came to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2012. We asked him to reflect on some of his past and current experiences. Read his responses below.

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Awards
  • Summer Research Assistantship Award – 2014
    Competitive award offered by the Office of Research and Engagement to carry out the project titled “Cost Analysis of STEMspark Middle School Science Teacher Learning Academies Program: A Preliminary Study”
  • 2nd in ENBIS (European Network for Industrial and Business Statistics) Greenfield Challenge Award – 2013
    Competition was to showcase products that were created to communicate statistics with general public or groups outside the statistical community
Accomplishments
  • Completed the Masters Degree in Statistics through Intercollegiate Graduate Statistics Program while completing the PhD (2014)
  • Co-author of an article published in International Education (2014) journal, and one article is currently under review in International Journal of Educational and Psychological Assessment (2015)
  • Published work in the proceedings of an international statistics conference (2014)
  • Gave presentations at leading national evaluation (American Evaluation Association annual conference) and statistics education (United States Conference in Teaching Statistics) conferences
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Current Occupation

Statistics Consultant (Graduate Research Associate)
Research Computing Support unit, Office of Information Technology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

As a consultant, he provides quantitative research design and data analysis support to faculty, staff, and students across the university.

Personal Interests

Traveling to new destinations in the USA. Watching elephants in the wild. Being a father of two kids.

Future/Vocational Goals

Working in a research organization. Taking a leadership role in Sri Lankan statistical associations.

What sold you on this program/department/university?

Close mentorship in the program; diversity of the programs in the department and opportunity to collaborate with faculty and students in other programs; and location of the university in the beautiful Knoxville area.

What do you think has been the most rewarding/challenging about this program?

Having manuscript editing days in the ESM seminar. This was really helpful to develop manuscripts at a publishable level.

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