Dr. Selcuk Acar
Dr. Acar was selected for the APA Division 10's Daniel E. Berlyne Award.
The Berlyne Award is given in recognition of outstanding research by an early career scholar (i.e., within 10 years of final degree).
Selection Committee: COE FAC committee for "Faculty Research Excellence Award"
Dr. Veronica Jones Baldwin
Dr. Baldwin was awarded a Spender Foundation Small Research Grant
Funding: $50,000.
Project: “Resistance or Racism? Unpacking Critical Race Theory Bans in a Sociopolitical Era of Anti-Racism”
Date: March 2022
[Co-investigator: Dr. Kaleb Briscoe (Mississippi State University)]
Dr. Peggy Ceballos and Dr. Angie Cartwright
Dr. Ceballos and Dr. Cartwright received funding from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration - Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training Grant
[Co-PI: Dr. Chandra Carey- Associate Dean, College of Health & Public Service]
Funding: $1,483,228.00 (4-year: 2021 $332,990; 2022 $256,889; 2023 $385,179; 2024 $408,169)
Project: “ Expanding cultural and linguistically appropriate services into integrated care and behavioral health settings”
Dr. Christina Dearman
Dr. Dearman received a grant from the Sid W. Richardson Foundation
Funding: $157,800.00
Date: 2022-2023
Project: This grant is last-dollar support applied to the student financial aid packets to offset the cost of attendance for the 2022-23 academic year. Students are from FWISD and are seeking degrees and certifications in education.
Dr. Sarah Deemer
Dr. Deemer was awarded an External Research Grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Funder: NHLBI - Program to Increase Diversity in Faculty Engaged in Behavioral and Sleep Medicine (PRIDE)
Funding: $12,600
Role: Primary Investigator (100%)
Date: 1/1/2022 - 12/31/2022
Project: Understanding physical activity behaviors among Hispanic Adults: a positive deviance approach
Dr. Colleen Eddy
Dr. Eddy was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
[Co-PI: Dr. Zhenhua Huang (UNT College of Engineering)
Funding: $75,000
Project: "Capacity Building: Creating and Sustaining a Pathway for Engineering Majors to be STEM Teachers"
Abstract: This research project will investigate engineering majors, especially students of color, interest in becoming and retaining them as STEM teachers. From this research, they will develop a framework for recruitment, retention, and reshaping graduate teacher certification for engineering students to become STEM teachers.
Dr. Wesley Edwards
Dr. Edwards was awarded funding for his research from the Communities Foundation of Texas W.W. Caruth, Jr. Fund
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: $225,000
Duration: 2 years
Project Title: Investigating North Texas Teacher Pipelines: Analysis of New Teacher Careers and Student Outcomes
Abstract: The purpose of this project is to examine whether new teachers who are prepared through programs with a focus on recruiting, training, and placing students from a geographically local context, have higher retention rates and larger impacts on student achievement compared to teachers prepared through non-localized programs. At the intersection of leadership, policy, and practice, the results of this study will provide important evidence about north Texas teacher pipelines, with an explicit focus on outcomes for new teachers of Color and the students they serve.
Dr. Lauren Eustler
Dr. Eustler received the ETR&D 2021 Editors Reviewer Excellence Award presented in recognition of exemplary academic services in support of the Educational Technology Research & Development Journal.
Dr. Brittany L. Frieson and Dr. Karisma Morton
Dr. Frieson and Dr. Morton were accepted into the NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) Cohort with Marin Woodard, a recent UNT undergrad alum
NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) - NCTE
The PDCRT project, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was developed to create a space within NCTE to support early childhood Educators of Color and educators who teach Children of Color, children who are emerging bi/multilinguals, and children from low-income households in studying about culturally relevant pedagogies and generating, implementing, documenting, evaluating, assessing, and disseminating classroom practices and process reflections from work done in preK to fifth-grade classrooms.
Marin Woodard is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in education and a certification in special education. Woodard is a first-year fourth-grade math and science teacher in Denton ISD and is excited to show students that cultural diversity is for all people in all subjects. Woodard is excited to be a black woman in the STEM field and to be able to teach students that scientists and mathematicians can look like anyone.
Dr. Jerraco L. Johnson
Dr. Johnson received an External Research Grant from NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Funding: $18,975.00
Project: “The Association of Parental and Child Physical Activity by Weight Status in Preschool-Age Black Children”
This is a project that will look at secondary data from NHANES and will contribute to Dr. Johnson’s skillsets using secondary data. This is a project associated with the NIH obesity and health disparities (OHD) PRIDE program where he is currently a fellow.
Dr. Danielle Keifert
Dr. Keifert was awarded a Spencer Foundation Small Grant
Funding: $50,000
Project: “Families Learning, Being, and Doing (LBD)”
Abstract: The LBD Study partners with young children (ages 3-5 years) and caregivers to tell stories collaboratively through documenting, interpreting, and sharing about how young kids are learning and thriving in families taking COVID precautions. Through these partnerships, they will develop new methods of co-observation that more ethically distribute the responsibilities and rewards of engaging in research among researchers and participants to contribute more ecologically valid learning theory contextualized in the family's knowledge systems.
Dr. Keifert was also named a Journal of the Learning Sciences (flagship journal) Reviewer of the Year for 2021.
Dr. Jean Keller
Dr. Keller was awarded an external grant funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
Funding: $132,888.00
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Date: September 1, 2021 - August 31, 2022
Project: "Work Study Mentorship Programs"
The purpose of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Work-Study Student Mentorship Program (WSMP) is to provide employment to eligible students with financial need to mentor, tutor, or advise students at participating institutions of higher education or high school students within local school districts and nonprofit organizations. The primary goal of the program is to improve and increase student access, success, and completion of higher education and to provide employed WSMP students with an opportunity to gain and strengthen career readiness skills. Student mentor, tutor, and advising positions are funded by a combination of state appropriations provided by the Texas College Work-Study (TCWS) Program.
Dr. Daniel Krutka
Dr. Krutka and co-authors won the 2021 McJulien Scholar Award presented by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) for the following conference paper submission:
Greenhalgh, S. P., Krutka, D. G., & Oltmann, S. M. (2021). Gab, Parler, and Reconsidering learning on social media. The paper was presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) annual convention.
Published paper:
Greenhalgh, S. P., Krutka, D. G., & Oltmann, S. M. (2021). Gab, Parler, and (mis)educational technologies: Reconsidering informal learning on social media platforms. Journal of Applied Instructional Design, 10(3). https://doi.org/10.51869/103/sgdkso
Dr. Brittany L. Frieson and Dr. Karisma Morton Dr. Frieson and Dr. Morton were accepted into the NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) Cohort with Marin Woodard, a recent UNT undergrad alum NCTE Professional Dyads and Culturally Relevant Teaching (PDCRT) - NCTE The PDCRT project, initiated by the Affirmative Action Committee of the Early Childhood Education Assembly (ECEA) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) was developed to create a space within NCTE to support early childhood Educators of Color and educators who teach Children of Color, children who are emerging bi/multilinguals, and children from low-income households in studying about culturally relevant pedagogies and generating, implementing, documenting, evaluating, assessing, and disseminating classroom practices and process reflections from work done in preK to fifth-grade classrooms.
Dr. Hyunny Ro (Hyun Kyoung Ro)
Dr. Ro received an NSF Hispanic Serving Institution grant
Role: Co-PI
Funding: $799, 904
Project: “The Journey of Inclusion, Identity, and Intersectionality”
Abstract: The Journey of Inclusion, Identity, and Intersectionality (JoIII) project employs an asset-based approach to promote ethnic and gender equity and inclusion for Latinx students and communities in engineering. With this grant, North Central Texas College (NCTC) and University of North Texas (UNT) will develop partnership to implement research-informed policies and practices to change institutional culture and to better serve Latinx students for their pathways and success in for engineering and computer science (ECS). The three “I’s—Inclusion, Identity, and Intersectionality—serve as the unifying theme of the JoIII project. The researchers will modify both institutions’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and will offer new programs to incorporate an asset-based approach to promote Latinx students’ pathways and success.
Dr. Stephanie Silveira
Dr. Silveira was awarded a grant from the University of North Texas Research Seed Funding
Role: Principal Investigator (PI)
Funding: $10,000
Date: 2022-2023
Project: “Exercise Program Preferences and Theoretical Correlates of Exercise Behavior Among Hispanics with Multiple Sclerosis”
Dr. Silveira also received funding from The Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers Pilot Awards
Total Award: $40,000, UNT Award: $20,409
Role: Co-PI
Date: 2020-2022
Project: “Examining Patterns and Correlates of Wellness in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis who use Wheelchairs”
This study is an epidemiological examination of health behaviors and wellness outcomes among adults with multiple sclerosis who use wheelchairs for mobility.
Marin Woodard is a recent graduate of the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in education and a certification in special education. Woodard is a first-year fourth-grade math and science teacher in Denton ISD and is excited to show students that cultural diversity is for all people in all subjects. Woodard is excited to be a black woman in the STEM field and to be able to teach students that scientists and mathematicians can look like anyone.
Dr. Tao Zhang
Dr. Zhang received a grant from the Texas Health & Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Role Principal Investigator (PI)
Date: 2021-2026
Project: Head Start to Healthy Lifestyles (HSHL) with SNAP-Ed. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) Priority Project
Dr. Zhang received a Curriculum and Instruction Honor Award and was the Winner of the 2022 Innovative Paper Award from the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America). He also received a Toulouse Scholar Award from the University of North Texas.