The American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) 2019 Annual Meeting was held in Toronto, Canada, April 5–9, and UW–Madison faculty, staff, students, and alumni were again well represented.
AERA and its 25,000 members from around the world form an interdisciplinary research association that’s devoted to the scientific study of education and learning.
UW–Madison’s Aydin Bal earned one of AERA’s 2019 awards for excellence in education research. The associate professor of special education with the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education is the recipient of the Scholars of Color Early Career Contribution Award. Bal’s current research projects aim to develop culturally responsive research methodologies and intervention models.
The School of Education hosted its annual AERA Reception on Sunday night, April 7,
at the One King West Hotel & Residence. More than 200 faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends attended the celebration. It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces.
Following are additional highlights:
• UW–Madison’s Maggie Hawkins received the Leadership Through Research Award from AERA’s Second Language Research special interest group (SIG). Hawkins is a professor with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. She was recognized for her engagement with international communities and the innovative contributions of her scholarship, which includes research on issues such as critical theory, social justice, language teacher education, transmodalities, community engagement, and young learners.
• Alumna Laura C. Chávez- Moreno received several significant honors for her dissertation, “A Critical Race Ethnography Examining Dual-Language Education in the New-Latinx Diaspora: Reinforcing and Resisting Bilingual Education’s Racial Roots.” This work received the Division G (Social Context of Education) Outstanding Dissertation Award and earned that same recognition from both the Bilingual Education Research SIG and the Hispanic Research Issues SIG. Chávez-Moreno received her Ph.D. from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 2018 and is a post- doctoral scholar at the University of California–Los Angeles.
• Alumna Yi-Hwa Liou received the Early Career Award from AERA’s Division A (Administration, Organization, and Leadership). This honor is given to a scholar in the first five years of her/his career who has made outstanding research contributions to the field of educational leadership, administration, and organization. Liou earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2010 and today is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Management at the National Taipei University of Education.• Alumna Kathryn Kirchgasler received honorable mention recognition from AERA’s Division B (Curricular Studies), in that group’s Outstanding Dissertation Award competition. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in 2018. Her dissertation is titled, “Tracking Disparities: How Schools Make Up Scientific Americans and Pathologized Others.” Kirchgasler is beginning a position this fall as an assistant professor with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction.