ELPA Connects
Spring 2020
Included in This Issue:
- Exciting News for the Department
- Faculty and Student Publications and Presentations
- ELPA Alumni Spotlight
- Information for Prospective Students
- What Are You Reading?
- Recent ELPA Graduates
EXCITING NEWS FOR THE DEPARTMENT
Dr. Channing Named Interim Department Chair
As of January 2, 2020, Dr. Jill Channing was named the Interim Department Chair for ELPA. In this new role, Dr. Channing has many goals. As chair, she intends to support faculty and to ensure academic excellence and equity. She wants students to have meaningful experiences in our programs and apply their learning in their lives now and in the future. Dr. Channing also wants the faculty to feel supported and respected as professionals. Some of her specific goals are to organize a leadership symposium for students to present and engage in academic discussions on relevant leadership topics; to create an additional staff position of online coordinator to support our online programs by developing web content and marketing and recruiting for our programs; to bring in a speaker for a Roy Nicks sponsored lecture; and to disperse more scholarship and fellowship money to support students in ELPA programs. This summer, she will be working with faculty to engage in a program unit review as we work toward continuous quality improvement and identify specific ways we can improve courses, programs, and instruction. Dr. Channing hopes to create mutually beneficial collaborations with educational leadership departments at other institutions.
Having worked at ETSU since August 2018, Dr. Channing is proud to be a member of the ELPA Department and has volunteered to serve as interim department chair because she believes leadership opportunities are above all service opportunities. Dr. Channing truly cares for all of her colleagues and would do nearly anything for any of them!
Dr. Scott Joins Wilkes Community College Board of Trustees
Dr. Pam Scott, professor and graduate program coordinator for East Tennessee State University’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, has been appointed to serve on the Wilkes Community College Board of Trustees.
Scott was nominated by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on July 2, 2019, and was sworn in as a member-at-large on August 8. Her first official event as a Board of Trustee member included attending a ground-breaking ceremony for an expansion of one of the regional institution’s campuses.
“Community colleges are uniquely positioned to serve students of diverse ages and backgrounds with a variety of goals, as well as strengthening community connections through the arts and recreation,” Scott said. “I have high regard for the role community colleges play in the educational landscape and am honored to have the opportunity to be a part of Wilkes Community College’s continuing success.”
Scott is an experienced educator having served as a middle grades and high school teacher, a school administrator, assistant superintendent, and university professor in North Carolina and Tennessee. Scott joined the faculty of ETSU’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2006 and is currently a professor and program coordinator for school leadership. Scott’s teaching focuses on transformational and servant leadership while her research explores adaptive leadership. In addition to providing consultation services for school districts and leadership academies, she has presented and published for a number of national and international organizations and publications. Scott’s book delving into adaptive leadership and the complexity of decision making will be published in the spring of 2020.
Wilkes Community College, located in Wilkesboro, N.C., serves Wilkes, Ashe, and Alleghany counties, an area with a population of approximately 108,000 residents. Founded in 1964, the regional community college provides educational services and workforce training, as well as serving as a recreational and cultural hub with a 1,100-seat cultural arts facility, a world-renowned music festival, and a main campus on approximately 150 acres featuring distinguished gardens and recreation facilities.
Dr. Bill Flora
Dr. Don Good
Dr. Susan Epps
Dr. Boyd Newly Inducted to Johnson City Schools Hall of Fame
FACULTY AND STUDENT PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Faculty Publications and Presentations
Dr. Terence Hicks is the co-editor of a newly released book, “First-Generation College Student Research Studies.” The authors examine topics such as college choice, social experiences, dual credit on academic success, lifestyles and health status, professional identity, and teaching practices. Hicks states that the collection of empirical studies in this text contributes greatly to the research literature regarding the role that educational leaders have in educating first-generation college students. Dr. Hicks has conducted research analysis on college student self-efficacy, STEM, college retention, high school to college transition, spirituality among college students, psychological well-being of first-generation college students, and higher education administrators. He has published his research in more than 100 scholarly publications and presentations. This is his eighth book.
Community College Leadership Certificate Students and Dr. Channing Present at International Community College Conference
Dr. Jill Channing and Community College Leadership Graduate Certificate students Ms. Jennifer Cooke and Ms. Kori Ebenhack presented at the League for Innovation in the Community College Conference, the foremost international conference for professionals dedicated to improving and enhancing teaching and learning, leadership and management, and the community college experience.
Ms. Ebenhack and Dr. Channing presented two sessions, “Can Leadership Be Taught? What Community College Administrators Have to Say,” an original research study on learning leadership, focusing on community college administrators’ responses; and “Strategic Planning and Benchmarking for Dummies,” a forum on strategic plan development using a single value-laden/principled approach. Ms. Ebenhack is the Vice President of Student Services at Rogue Community College in Grants Pass, Oregon.
Ms. Cooke and Dr. Channing presented “Minding the Gap: Working Toward Equity for Underrepresented Students,” a literature review of best practices for serving underrepresented student groups and strategies for academic equity work. Their second session, “Zoom into Student Engagement and Learning,” was highly attended, as many were interested in communicating with and teaching students via Zoom, as well as telecommuting, due to the recent Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Ms. Cooke is a Biology Instructor and Lab Coordinator at Northeast State Community College in Blountville, Tennessee.
While at the conference, the Center for Community College Leadership sponsored a booth where they and promoted Center activities, Clemmer College programs, and East Tennessee State University to conference participants.
ELPA Faculty and Graduate Student Present at Eastern Educational Research Association Conference
Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis faculty members Drs. Jill Channing and James Lampley, as well as recent Educational Leadership Ed.D. Higher Education graduate Dr. Jeffery Phillips, presented at the Eastern Educational Research Association Conference. Dr. Channing presented a qualitative study “‘It Was Just the Right Thing to Do:' Women Higher Education Administrations Theorize Ethical Leadership,” which focused on how women higher education administrators theorize ethical leadership and how their ethical leadership philosophies were reflected in their leadership practices.
Drs. Lampley and Channing collaborated on a study titled, “The Relationships between Gender and Graduation Rates, Types of Dissertation, and GRE Scores for Ed.D. Graduates,” using descriptive, parametric, and non-parametric methods to determine the relationships between gender and academic and graduation factors.
Dr. Phillips presented his dissertation research, “Factors that Contribute to PK‐12 Teacher Retention in One Midwest School District.,” He found that multiple factors influenced teacher retention and that no one aspect was more important than any other, so it appears that each aspect of the work environment needs to be maintained at an acceptable level. Dr. Phillips’s research draws specific connections between what school leaders can do to improve teacher satisfaction and teacher retention. Significantly, Dr. Phillips traveled throughout a school district, visiting 17 sites to conduct his research.
Student Publications and Presentations
Scott Lamie, ELPA Ed.D. Student, Presents at FETC (Future of Educational Technology Conference)
Student Creativity + Digital Presentations in the Math Classroom = Student Interest
High school math courses don't exactly have a reputation for being spaces where students can share their creativity. In an attempt to address this issue after years of more traditional instruction, Lamie decided to adjust many of his assignments to allow students to focus more deeply on a smaller number of questions and to use various technologies to package their explanations in ways that speak to an audience. These simple changes have led to an increase in student interest, a greater depth of student understanding, and more interesting grading sessions for Lamie and his brick-and-mortar colleagues who have added these assignments as well.
Mr. Lamie is a current ELPA Ed.D. student and teacher at Anderson Elementary School.
ELPA ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Dr. Ginger Christian, ELPA Alumnus, Presents at FETC (Future of Educational Technology Conference)
Makerspaces: Creating A Culture for Innovation
This session highlights the transformation at Anderson Elementary from a traditional model to a school of innovation and a three-year journey from one Makerspace to a school-wide initiative where teachers have expertise in coding, robotics, digital arts, and STEM labs. As a Title 1 School, where 80% of students receive free and reduced lunch, we embrace innovation in education. Participants will learn about vision, strategic plans, grant opportunities, professional learning, leadership, and a university partnership focused on technology across the curriculum. Achievement and growth scores continue to rise and in 2019 four VEX Robotic teams competed at regional and state competitions.
Dr. Christian is an ELPA alumnus, adjunct faculty member, and principal at Anderson Elementary School.
INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
WHAT ARE YOU READING?
Professional Titles:
DR. CHANNING - Geeky Pedagogy (Jessamyn Neuhaus) and Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria: And Other Conversations About Race 5th Anniv., Revised Edition (Beverly Daniel Tatum)
Personal Selections:
DR. CHANNING - The Decameron (Giovanni Boccaccio)
DR. GOOD - The Good Sheriff: A Life of Servitude, Faith, and Survival (Daniel J. Good and Sandi Huddleston-Edwards)
RECENT ELPA GRADUATES
Ed.D. Graduates
Amber Beane
Rachel Ellis
Christopher Feathers
Bradley Herrell
Joseph Aaron Hurd
Diedre Johnson
Jennifer Mayes
Cheryl McHone
Robert Meier
Amanda Rice
Willie Robinson
Misty Sweat
Lucas Winstead
M.Ed. Graduates
Stacey Bogle
Patricia Caughran
Heath Cox
Anthony Johnson
Sara Leimkuhler
Anthony Walls
East Tennessee State University
Clemmer College of Education
Email: elpa@etsu.edu
Website: https://www.etsu.edu/coe/elpa/default.php
Location: 501 Warf-Pickel Hall
Phone: 423-439-4430