The third annual College of Education Graduate Student Conference, held March 30, brought more than 150 students, faculty, and alumni together to share research and dialogue. This year's theme, "Connecting Research to Action: Creating a Space for Educational Collaboration," encouraged discussion across all departments.

"This year's committee wanted to build on the strong foundation created for us by the previous two graduate student conferences," said organizer Ritu Radhakrishnan, doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction. "We hoped to continue to foster not only an encouraging environment for graduate students to share their research, but to also create even more opportunities for faculty and student interactions."

As an annual event, the conference seeks to promote inclusiveness and provide outlets for high quality research. This year, the conference joined with the College to honor Dr. Richard C. Anderson for his contributions to the field with a special Legacy Lecture and reception.

In addition, the organizers created a new award, the A++ Awards (Advocacy, Activism, and Advancement) to honor and recognize faculty whose scholarship, teaching, advising, and public service exemplifies the connection between research and practice. This year's nominees were: Dorothy Espelage, Educational Psychology; Casey George-Jackson, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership; Cris Mayo, Education Policy, Organization and Leadership; Susan Noffke, Curriculum and Instruction; Katherine E. Ryan, Educational Psychology; and Karrie Shogren, Special Education; award recipients were Mayo and Ryan.

 PHOTOS: 

View photos on the College of Education Flickr.