The purpose of the GSEAA shall be to  promote the welfare of the GSE alumni, as well as scholastic and social camaraderie among members, 

develop widespread interest and pride in education, support the GSE, and promote understanding and cooperation among the faculty, students, and alumni.

 The Executive Board of the GSEAA stands with Dr. Wanda J. Blanchett, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, in her call to “take a stand in our communities, to bring an end to the systemic racism and dehumanization that Black and other communities of color face every day.” To this end, and in support of the RUAA’s recommendations, we will focus our programming “to engage GSE alumni around topics of equity, inclusion, and diversity.” 

Each year the GSEAA presents three awards for outstanding doctoral dissertations. Faculty nominations are received for the recent graduates and all nominated dissertations are reviewed

by a committee of both GSEAA Executive Board members and GSE faculty. Using a rigorous criteria and following collaborative discussion, three awardees are selected and traditionally invited back for GSE Convocation and to receive their award.

One of the 2020 awardees was Dr. Jennifer Applebee who earned her degree from the GSE in 2019.  Below is a synopsis of her dissertation work:

STUDENT USAGE OF OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE LEARNING MATERIALS IN ALGEBRA 2 

Dr. Applebee’s study described the implementation of Open Ended Resources (OER), which are free openly licensed materials that may be used for educational purposes, in a developmental Algebra 2 class for community college students who were non-STEM majors. Through surveys, interviews, and final exam data no significant differences were found in the outcomes of students who used the OER resources and those who used the traditional resources. Students generally had positive reactions to the OER materials used in this study, particularly the videos, and faculty believed that students interacted with the OER materials with greater frequency than students who used traditional materials. 

Currently Dr. Applebee is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Middlesex County College (MCC) where she primarily teaches Statistics.  Since completing her dissertation, Dr. Applebee has championed Open Educational Resources in her department and helped facilitate the adoption of OER in MCC’s Statistics courses.  In addition to teaching, she is involved in the College’s accreditation Self Study process, co-chairs the Developmental Mathematics committee, and collaborates with colleagues in the English department on the accelerated learning programs recently implemented in both departments.

October 29, 2020, 7 - 8pm

Join us as  author Eileen Sanchez and Dr. Michael Hicks discuss Freedom Lessons, the book marking the anniversary of the desegregation of schools in Louisiana, known as The Crossover. This event is co-sponsored with The Samuel De Witt Proctor Institute for Leadership, Equity, and Justice at the GSE.   Part of the Coffee & Conversation Series, the discussion will underscore lifelong learning, the value of diversity, and the belief that life changing events can result in meaningful connections from one generation to another.