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HGSE Community Celebrates Honors

In the first half of 2018, a number of Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty, students, and alumni were recognized for their hard work and achievements with awards and fellowships.

Below is a look at a small portion of the prestigious honors awarded to members of the HGSE community:

  • Anjali Adukia, Ed.M.’03, Ed.M.’12, Ed.D.’14, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, was named a 2018 William T. Grant Scholar. With the award, she will investigate whether different approaches to school discipline, such as restorative justice, police officers in schools, or bans on corporal punishment, either exacerbate or reduce racial and gender inequality in students’ behavioral and academic outcomes, specifically for the young men of color who are disproportionately impacted by such practices. Adukia was also named a NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow for her research on understanding factors that influence educational decisions for children, families, and teachers in developing contexts.
  • Assistant Professor Luke Miratrix and Adrienne Keene, Ed.M.’10, Ed.D.’14, an assistant professor of American studies and ethnic studies at Brown University, were also named NAEd/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellows. Miratrix’s primary research focus is on causal inference methods. Keene focuses on college access, transition, and persistence for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian Students, including the role of pre-college access programs in student success.
  • Sherelle Ferguson, Ed.M.’09, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, was named a 2018 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellow. Her dissertation uses qualitative methods to investigate how non-economic factors contribute to inequality in higher education.
  • Meria Carstarphen, Ed.M.’99, Ed.D.’02, superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools, was named Georgia’s Superintendent of the Year by the American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees Local 1644 and the Georgia Federation of Public Service Employees She also received the 2018 Outstanding Alumna Award at Tulane University.
  • Associate Professor Sarah Dryden-Peterson, Ed.D.’09; Elizabeth Adelman, Ed.M.’08, Ed.D.’18; and their co-author Negin Dahya were honored at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) with the Palmer O. Johnson Memorial Award for their article, “Pathways to Educational Success Among Refugees: Connecting Locally and Globally Situated Resources.
  • Sylvia Hurtado, Ed.M.’83, was also honored at AERA with the Social Justice in Education Award, given to an individual who has advanced social justice through education research and exemplified the goal of linking education research to social justice.
  • Abena Subira Mackall, Ed.M.’15, Ed.D.’18, was awarded the Promising Scholarship in Education dissertation fellowship at AERA for her research, "It's on Me": Adolescent Arrest, Alienation, Isolation, and the Transition to Adulthood.
  • Professor Meredith Rowe, Ed.M.’99, Ed.D.’03, was named among 12 fellows by The Learning Sciences Exchange. The fellowship was awarded to mid-career professionals who are sparking new ideas and fostering breakthrough approaches for communicating the insights of early learning. 
  • Senior Lecturer Katherine Merseth, M.A.T.’69, Ed.D.’82, was awarded the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Harvard University’s commencement in May. The prize recognizes faculty who are excellent educators who inspire beyond the classroom.
  • Associate Professor Natasha Kumar Warikoo, Ed.M.’97, received a 2018 Oliver Cromwell Cox Book Award honorable mention for The Diversity Bargain.
  • Ed.L.D. candidates Mark Kabban, Ed.M.’17, and Lance Huffman were named 2018 Meade Fellows. The Meade Fellowship provides an opportunity for HGSE students to travel to Washington, D.C., visit leading education and related organizations, and meet with chief architects of change in education policy.
  • Ph.D. candidate Raquel Lynn Jimenez, Ed.M.’13, was awarded a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. Ph.D. candidates Gladys Aguilar, Ed.M.’18, Carlos Alberto Aguilar Gonzalez, Rosa Guzman, Ed.M.’18, and Julia Jeffries received honorable mentions.
  • Ph.D. candidate April Boin Choi, Ed.M.’13, was named a 2018–2019 Djokovic Science and Innovation Fellows by the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. She will be investigating neural and behavioral development in infants at risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and early interventions that can promote positive long-term outcomes in children with or at risk for ASD.
  • Ed.D. candidate Ashley Lee, Ed.M.’10, and Ph.D. candidate Andrew Westover were awarded the Ethics Pedagogy Fellowship from the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University.
  • Ph.D. candidate Celia Reddick, Ed.M.’15, received the Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship for her dissertation research on educational policies for refugees in Uganda and Kenya. 
  • Ph.D. candidate Clint Smith, Ed.M.'17,  received the Bearing Witness Fellowship from the Art For Justice fund, awarded to "writers of exceptional talent, enabling them to complete projects that speak to the human cost of mass incarceration." In 2017, Smith was also recognized by the American Poetry Review, Forbes 30 under 30 list, and Ebony Magazine's Power 100 list.
  • Ed.L.D. candidates Yasmene Mumby, Charisse Taylor, and Bonnie Lo are 2018 recipients of the HGSE Education Entrepreneurship Fellowship with the Harvard Innovation Lab. Their venture, ColorFULL, focuses positive representation of youth of color in media and curriculum.
  • Ed.L.D. candidates Cynthia RosarioCharisse TaylorCourtney Van Cleve, and Michael Vea were named Gordon Ambach Fellows.
  • Ph.D. candidates Tara Nicola and Jane Kang, Ed.M.’03, received GSAS Summer Predissertation Fellowships from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
  • Ph.D. candidate Benjamin West, Ed.M.’14, was awarded the Partnering in Education Research (PIER) Fellowship, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. This fellowship is designed to train Harvard University doctoral students on how to conduct quantitative education research in partnership with school districts and state education agencies. Ph.D. candidates Christopher Cleveland, Tara Nicola, Yu Lena Shi, and Wendy Wei also receiver PIER Fellowships.
  • West was also awarded the William T. Grant Fellowship for Junior Researchers of Color, which is intended to help researchers of color reach higher levels on the career ladder. He will work with Matthew Kraft, professor of education at Brown University, on evaluation studies related to social-emotional skill development.
  • Ed.L.D. candidates Mariel Novas, Dia Bryant, and Stefan Lallinger were selected for the inaugural cohort of the RIDES (Reimagining Integration: Diverse and Equitable Schools) Leadership Fellowship. Novas was also named among the 2018 Rappaport Public Policy Fellows and is working at the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Advancement this summer.
  • Julissa Muñiz, Ed.M.’16, was awarded the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, a graduate school fellowship for outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants in the United States. Muñiz, who is pursuing Ph.D. in human development and social policy in Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy. 
  • Sarah Engle, Ed.M.'18, and Bene Webster, Ed.M.'18, were named finalists in Teach For America’s Social Innovation Award. They also won a fellowship from 4.0 Schools (Tiny Fellowship) to support the fall pilot of their socioemotional learning organization, UsPlus.
  • Jose Iniguez, Ed.M.'18, and Linda Sun, Ed.M.'18, were named Broad Residents in Urban Education.
  • Ria Fay-Berquist, Ed.M.’16, received the High Tech High Graduate School of Education's New School Creation Fellowship, and is in the early stages of founding The Savanna School, a project and design-based high school for youth exiting the justice system (along with Karen Cueva, Ed.M.'16 and Jon Flowers, Ed.M.'16). Jon Flowers, Ed.M.’16, also received the fellowship for the 2018-2020 cohort.
  • Sarah Cole, Ed.M.’17, and Kia Turner, Ed.M.’17, graduates of the Harvard Teacher Fellows Program were given the NCTE Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award.
  • Pavee Ramanisankar, Ed.M.’18, was named a finalist in the President’s Innovation Challenge for FinWeGo, a workplace financial wellness platform that helps employers provide affordable, convenient and responsible credit to their employees.
  • Sneha Shrestha, Ed.M.’17, was selected as one of the 2018 Boston Artists-in-Residence by Mayor Marty Walsh.
  • Tony DelaRosa, Ed.M.’18, won a Tiny Fellowship from 4.0 Schools to help bring his organization, Boston Pulse, to scale.
  • Joseph Quisol, Ed.M.’18, won the Live Arts Boston (LAB) Grant from the Boston Foundation for original music.
  • Marissa Gutiérrez-Vicario, Ed.M.’13, the founder and executive director of Art and Resistance Through Education (ARTE), was named a Behrend Fellow, 92Y Women in Power, for rising leaders in New York City’s visual arts sector.
  • Ed.L.D. candidate Christine Dahnke was named a 2017 Rappaport Institute of Greater Boston Public Policy Fellow.
  • Moira Pirsch, Ed.M.'12, received an Excellence in Teaching Assistance Award from Columbia University, as well as an Outstanding Dissertation Award from AERA. 
  • Ben Wild, Ed.M.'16, was awarded a three-year fellowship with the School Empowerment Network’s New York City Charter Leader Fellowship.
  • Autumn White Eyes, Ed.M.’12, received the Intercultural Leadership Institute (ILI) Fellowship, a year-long intensive leadership program for artists, cultural bearers, and other art professionals.
  • Alice M. Liou, Ed.M.’17, was awarded the Point Foundation Scholarship for doctoral studies in social studies and education.
  • Anna West, Ed.M.’11, won Louisiana State University's 2018 Distinguished Dissertation Award in Arts, Humanities, and Social and Behavioral Sciences for her doctoral dissertation, “In the School, Not of the School”: Co-Performing Critical Literacies with English Amped.
  • Lynn Glixon Ditchfield, Ed.M.’03, was awarded a Vision Fellowship to attend the European Graduate School – Division of Arts, Health and Society. As part of the fellowship she is compiling, editing, and designing a creativity-based curriculum guidebook on immigration.
  • Vivian Poey, Ed.M.’00, associate professor at Lesley University, received the Massachusetts Art Education Association Higher Education Art Educator of the Year Award for 2018.
  • Manuel Rustin, Ed.M.’04, was one of five recipients of the 2018 Teachers of Excellence Award, presented annually by the Rotary Club of Pasadena to educators who excel in their profession. He teaches history, government, and economics in the Arts, Entertainment and Media Academy at John Muir High School in the city.
  • Rose DiSanto, Ed.M.’00, won Communication Arts Magazine’s ‘Design Annual’ national juried competition in spring 2018.
  • Deborah Bial, Ed.M.’96, Ed.D.’04, founder and president of the Posse Foundation, served as commencement keynote speaker at Kalamazoo College in Michigan.
  • Comedian Jane Condon, Ed.M.’74, was commencement speaker at Wilson College in North Carolina.

If you are a member of the HGSE community and recently have won an award or achieved a special honor, please email marin_jorgensen@gse.harvard.edu.

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