School of Education and Human Development
News
Assistant Professor Malone Awarded Anti-Racist Grant
Larissa Malone, Assistant Professor of Teacher Education, was awarded a $15,000 grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation under their Rapid Response Fund: Educators for Black Lives Grant to continue her work promoting anti-racism in education through the support and encouragement of the educators themselves.

USM graduate Dolloff named 2021 Maine Superintendent of the Year
In addition to receiving the state’s top principal and superintendent honors, Andrew Dolloff received Maine’s School Superintendents Association Outstanding Leadership Award in 2017 and the New England League of Middle Schools Outstanding Superintendent Award in 2020.

Foerster ’22 researches the positive effects of reading to people with Alzheimer’s disease
For Kacey Foerster '22, what started as a way to bring moments of connection and joy to her grandfather has become the focus of a study funded through USM's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

Student Scholarship Recognition 2020-2021
We are pleased to recognize the 2020-21 student scholarship recipients through the School of Education and Human Development scholarship programs!

Covid Learning Slide
Rachel Brown, assistant professor and chair of USM’s special education department, helped co-author, COVID Slide: Research on Learning Loss & Recommendations to Close the Gap, which analyzes the effect of COVID using data from over 500,000 students, grades kindergarten through 5th grade, in reading and math.

USM Voices: Student Helps Seniors with Alzheimer’s
Kacey Foerster ‘21 is taking time to help some special seniors in her community.

Learning Pods Lessen Stress During Pandemic
The University’s Andrea Stairs-Davenport, associate dean of the School of Education and Human Development and Professor of Literacy Education, and Flynn Ross, associate professor and chair of the Teacher Education Department, both contributed to the Portland Press Herald’s article about families hiring tutors to lessen stress during the pandemic.

Inequity in Homeschooling
Andrea Stairs-Davenport, associate dean of The University’s School of Education and Human Development and professor of Literacy Education, and Flynn Ross, associate professor and chair of The University’s Teacher Education Department, both contributed to the Portland Press Herald’s article about the inequity of families choosing to homeschool their children during the pandemic.

Maine's Public Schools for the Common Good
The University’s Flynn Ross, associate professor and chair of the Teacher Education department, contributed an opinion piece to the Bangor Daily News with her views on the importance of Maine’s public schools for the common good.

USM storytellers collaborate for new book about the Presumpscot River
USM Professor of Environmental Science and Policy Robert Sanford co-edited the recently published book “River Voices: Perspectives on the Presumpscot” — and he had a raft of USM faculty and staff collaborators on board for the project.