Spring 2024 faculty and staff accolades

Bagley Nature Area panoramic view of Duluth in April

Please join us in congratulating faculty and staff in the College of Education and Human Service Professions for their spring 2024 accomplishments.

Promotion and Tenure

On May 10, 2024, the University of Minnesota Board of Regents approved the following individuals within the College of Education and Human Service Professions for promotion and/or tenure:

  • Lara LaCaille, promoted to full professor in psychology
  • Julie Slowiak, promoted to full professor in psychology
  • Kinga Balint Langel, promoted to associate professor with indefinite tenure in education
  • Viann Nguyen-Feng, promoted to associate professor with indefinite tenure in psychology

Publications

Elizabeth Boileau, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences and her colleague published, "Learning to embrace outdoor pedagogy: Early childhood education student experiences of a nature-focused practicum," in the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education. 

Boileau also contributed "Multispecies entanglements in an urban park" to the book, Multispecies Thinking in the Classroom and Beyond.

Matt Dingler, assistant professor in the Department of Education, published "Bootstraps, redlines and wage-theft: using Monopoly to critically examine American wealth inequality," in Social Studies
 Research and Practice.
 

Chuck Fountaine, professor and department head of the Department of Applied Human Sciences, writes the "Take Ten" column for the American College of Sports Medicine Health & Fitness Journal. He published the following columns:

Jessica Hanson, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences, worked with a team at Washington State University and the University of Colorado to publish a qualitative paper that evaluated the impact of an intervention with American Indian women titled, “Reach, Acceptability, and Sustainability of the Native Changing High-Risk Alcohol Use and Increasing Contraception Effectiveness Study (CHOICES) Intervention: A Qualitative Evaluation of an Alcohol-Exposed Pregnancy Prevention Program" in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.”

Hope Kitts, assistant professor in the Department of Education, published "‘It’s Like Freire is Haunting Me’: The Value of Study Groups for Critical Teacher Professional Development" in Professional Development in Education.
 
Julie Slowiak, professor in the Department of Psychology, along with co-authors from Georgia and South Carolina, published an article titled, “Conceptualizing Job Burnout Through a Behavioral Lens: Implications for Organizational Behavior Management” in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management. 
 
Slowiak, along with co-authors Becca Osborne and Jordyn Thomas (UMD undergrad alums '22), and Adna Hassan (current UMD MAPS student) published an article titled, "Burnout, Help Seeking, and Perceptions of Psychological Safety and Stigma Among National Collegiate Athletic Association Coaches" in the International Sport Coaching Journal. 
 
Slowiak, and Mariah McDonough (UMD MAPS alum '23) published an article titled, “Job Burnout, Work Health Management Interference, and Organizational Health Climate Among Employees with Varied Levels of Work Ability” in the Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation. 
 
Amy Smallwood, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences, published, "The Sublime Reimagined: Moving Towards Deeper Human–Nature Relations in Outdoor Adventure Education" in the Journal of Experiential Education. 

Grants

Samantha Burlingame, clinical instructor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, received a Parkinson's Voice Project Clinical Education Grant.

Julie M. Slowiak, professor in the Department of Psychology, and UMD colleagues received a Community Action Research Grant for $40,000 titled, “A Partnership with Rural Critical Access Hospitals to Create Interventions into Working Conditions to Prevent Burnout." This is an interdisciplinary research team working together to study and develop interventions to address the burnout crisis in rural healthcare in Northern Minnesota. Co-investigators on the project include: David Beard (professor in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies), Kim Dauner (professor in the Department of Economics & Health Care Management) and Kathryn Van Wert (assistant professor in the Department of English, Linguistics, and Writing Studies). 

Presentations

Elizabeth Boileau, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences presented:
  • "Documenting Children’s 'Worlding': Towards the Development of Common Worlds Pedagogical Documentation Practices" in May at the Canadian Outdoor Learning Conference in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
  • "Documenting Children’s 'Worlding': Towards the development of pedagogical documentation practices that account for children’s common worlds experiences in early childhood education settings," in January at the 12th World Environmental Education Congress in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Boileau was also a panelist for:
  • "Science and Community Responsibility" in March as part of the Duluth Lyceum.
  • "Life After Grad School: A Career Talk Discussion Panel," a NatStart Alliance Graduate Student Network Virtual Event in January. 
 
Hope Kitts, assistant professor in education, will present, "Teaching As Healing: Whiteness Studies at a Predominantly White Institution" at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in Honolulu, HI in late May.
 
Estephania Nuñez, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences, presented, “Disparities in Access to Athletic Training Services in the Secondary School with Consideration to Socioeconomic Status: A Critically Appraised Topic” at the American College of Sports Medicine (Northland Chapter) meeting in Duluth in March.
 
Amy Smallwood, assistant professor in the Department of Applied Human Sciences, presented, "The Agentic Environment: Moving Towards a More Place-Inclusive Pedagogy" at the 10th International Outdoor Education Research Conference in Tokyo, Japan in March.

Awards

University of Minnesota President’s Award for Outstanding Service

This award recognizes faculty and staff who have provided exceptional service to the University, its schools, colleges, departments, and service units. Such service must have gone well beyond the regular duties of a faculty or staff member, and demonstrate unusual commitment to the University community. 

  • Karen Nichols, associate director for the Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies in UMD’s Department of Social Work.

UMD Outstanding Team Award

Children’s Place early childhood educators received UMD’s Outstanding Team Award. The award is designed to recognize individual employees or work teams who have implemented a special project during the year in supporting the mission of the campus/unit and have significantly enhanced departmental, collegiate, or campus goals and objectives.

  • Madi Carlson
  • Jill Engstrom 
  • Brian Kline
  • Dani French
  • Leslie McFadden
  • Allyson Paulsen
  • Abby Schmidt

Spring 2024 CEHSP Staff Award
Recognizes excellence in leadership on the job, customer service, and quality of service.

  • Sara Lien, MSW field director in the Department of Social Work 
  • Ann Miller, director of CEHSP Advising and Academic Services

Jolene Hyppa-Martin, associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, received the Spirit of Minnesota Speech-Language-Hearing Association Award. This honor is given to members whose dedicated service to the Association and the profession has been an inspiration to others.

Jodie Riek, associate professor and Paul & Mary Ann Schmidt Endowed Professorship in Early Childhood Development in the Department of Education, was officially selected as a Global Leader in the 2024/25 cohort with the World Forum on Early Care and Education. As a Global Leader for Young Children, Jodie joins an elite group of early childhood leaders and practitioners from around the world engaging in a process of learning, networking and advocacy.

Additional Accomplishments

Chuck Fountaine, professor and department head for the Department of Applied Human Sciences, taught "Resistance Training for Seniors" in the winter and spring sessions for the UMD University for Seniors program. He was assisted by Exercise & Rehabilitation Sciences students Grace Thornton, Julia Shaw, Ben Long, Abbey Galvin, Maggie Saiko, Madison Mularky, Chloey Evans, and Phillip Grubbs.