November 2019

Stacia Carew, who earned an M.Ed. in administration and supervision in 2003, has been named the first principal of Rowe Middle School in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. The school is under construction and will open for the 2020-21 academic year. Carew has served as principal of Bleyl Middle School in the district since 2009.

September 2019

Marissa Moreno, who earned a Ph.D. in higher education in 2019, had a paper accepted for publication in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice. Her paper is titled "Access for Whom? The Impact of Dual Enrollment on College Matriculation among Underserved Student Populations in Texas." Moreno is a lead counselor at the Lee College Advising and Counseling Center in Baytown.

August 2019

Michelle Hall, who earned an Ed.D. in professional leadership in 2018 from the College, has been named assistant principal of Turner Elementary School in Willis ISD. Hall was previously the icoach at Meador Elementary.

Yonelly Gutierrez, a program manager in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, accepted an appointment to the UH Hispanic Alumni Association board in August. Gutierrez, who earned an M.Ed. in higher education in 2019, is responsible for fundraising, evaluation and planning efforts within the organization.   

July 2019

Patrick Lukingbeal, who earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology and individual differences in 2015, has been named executive director of UH Integrated Enrollment Services. Lukingbeal previously served as director of UH Wellness and is currently an adjunct professor in the College’s counseling program.

June 2019

Charles Dupre, who earned an M.Ed. in administration and supervision in 2003, was named the 2019 Region 4 Superintendent of the Year. Dupre is currently superintendent of Fort Bend ISD and an adjunct professor in the College’s Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies.

Aurora González de Freire has received the 2019 Julius Glickman Educational Leadership award from Humanities Texas and the Members in Print award from Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for “Harvey Bear Gets Rescued,” her disaster-preparedness children’s book based on Hurricane Harvey. González de Freire earned a B.S. in teaching and learning in 1997 and an M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction in 2003 from the College.

May 2019

Heather Lowrie, who earned a B.S. in teaching in 1997, was awarded Teacher of the Year at Fort Bend ISD’s Neill Elementary, where she is a fourth-grade teacher. She went on to be a top five finalist for District Teacher of the Year.

Marti Jones, who earned an M.Ed. in counseling in 2013 and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology in 2016, received the Carolyn Payton Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association’s Division 35, Section 1 (the Psychology of Black Women). Jones will assume a tenure-track faculty position at the University of North Texas in August.

Bobby Martinez, who earned an Ed.D. in professional leadership – K-12 in 2014, accepted a position as executive director of school leadership for Alvin ISD beginning in June. Martinez is currently principal of Manvel High School and is an adjunct professor in the College’s Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies.

Lynnette Gilbert, who received an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction – art education in 2017, has accepted a position as a tenure-track assistant professor of art education at Arkansas Tech University.

Heidi Powell, who earned an Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from the College in 2006, recently was hired as a tenure-track assistant professor and is director of the MA Art Education Online Program at the University of Florida. Powell was a director of program development and lecturer at the University of Texas in Austin for five years.

Kathy Brown, who received a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction - art education in 2018, has accepted a position as a tenure-track assistant professor of art education at the University of North Texas in Denton. Her dissertation explored social justice curricular work in art methods courses.

April 2019

Several current and former doctoral students attended and/or presented their research at the 2019 Region 5-Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education Conference in Nacogdoches in April. The conference brought together scholars around the theme of “Social Activism: Making Multicultural Education Intentional for Everyone.”

Students in the Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction program:

• Neha Anand (science)
• Uchenna Emenaha (science)
• Roseline Enemodia (early childhood)
• Rosa Mack (literacy)
• Ananthi Sankaranarayanan (math)
• Sunny Stubbs (literacy)

Students in the Ed.D. in professional leadership program:

• Marisela Martinez (social studies)
• Sarah Straub (social studies ’16); conference coordinator
• Ogechi Ukoha (social studies)

February 2019

Ashley Thompson, who earned a Ph.D. in measurement, quantitative methods and learning sciences in 2016, was selected as a district finalist for Teacher of the Year in Fort Bend ISD. Thompson is a technology integration champion and sixth-grade science teacher at Hodges Bend Middle School.

Four school administrators, who are affiliated with the College of Education, received principal or assistant principal of the year awards from Houston ISD in February:

• Khalilah Campbell-Rhone: secondary principal of the year
  She received an Ed.D. in professional leadership – K-12 in 2014, is an adjunct professor in the College and is principal of Evan E. Worthing High School.
• Thomas James Cotter: secondary assistant principal of the year
  He is a doctoral student in the professional leadership – K–12 program and is assistant principal of North Forrest High School.
• Sean Negron: elementary assistant principal of the year
  He received an M.Ed. in administration & supervision in 2017 and is assistant principal of McReynolds Middle School.
• Amy Poerschke: elementary principal of the year
  She received an Ed.D. in professional leadership – K-12 in 2017, is an adjunct professor in the College and is principal of Durham Elementary.

January 2019

Kenya Ayers, who received an Ed.D. in administration and supervision in 1999, was named president of Tarrant County College Northeast in Fort Worth, effective July 1. She is currently vice president and chair of the board of the Northwest Educational Council for Student Success in Arlington Heights, Ill. Ayers earned an American Council on Education fellowship in 2013 and completed her internship at UH in the president’s office.

Ariel Taylor, who received an Ed.D. in professional leadership – K-12 in 2017, has accepted a new position as an assistant professor of practice at the University of Texas at Austin College of Natural Sciences. She will be teaching courses for the UTeach teacher preparation program for STEM majors.