Carlton mentioned in APA Monitor

In the March 2013 issue of the APA Monitor, Carlton Fong’s grant activity through the Esther Katz Rosen Fellowship is discussed: http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/03/apf-gifted.aspx

Congratulations, Carlton!

U.S. News Rankings – UT Austin Education and Educational Psychology in Top 10

For the third year in a row, U.S. News & World Report has ranked The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education number one nationally among public university graduate education programs. Also, this is the sixth year in a row that the college has been ranked number one overall in research funding, with research expenditures last year totaling around $61 million.

The College of Education has been the only UT-Austin college or school, of those ranked annually by the magazine, to secure a number one spot.

The 2014 edition of “America’s Best Graduate Schools” ranks the College of Education fourth overall nationally, behind Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins University and Harvard University. After The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education, the next public university to appear on the list is UCLA, which is ranked eighth. The college continues to outrank prestigious private universities such as the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University as well as public peers like the University of California-Berkeley and University of Michigan.

“It’s a testament to the continuing hard work of our faculty and staff that we remain number one among public education graduate programs,” said Manuel J. Justiz, dean of the College of Education. “When U.S. News & World Report began these graduate school rankings, we were 18th among public universities and 27th among public and private universities. The college’s commitment to excellence has been the reason for our steady rise in the rankings over the years, and I would like to thank everyone in our college who’s contributed to this sustained effort.”

The College of Education is one of four colleges and schools (law, business and engineering, in addition to education) at the university that receives annual qualitative and quantitative graduate school ratings from U.S. News World Report.

In addition to ranking the entire graduate school, the magazine also ranks specific education programs within a college or school. Ratings of particular programs are based solely on nominations by deans of other universities, and the nominating deans may choose up to 10 programs that they feel are exceptional in each specialty area.

In this year’s rankings of programs/specialty areas within graduate schools of education, the College of Education ranked:

third among publics and fourth overall in SPECIAL EDUCATION
third among publics and seventh overall in ADMINISTRATION/SUPERVISION
seventh among publics and ninth overall in EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Ready for AERA 2013?

AERA 2013 is quickly approaching, and the MERG will be there in full force, presenting in 10 sessions, chairing fireside chats, and organizing graduate student activities. In case you are a bit daunted by the conference experience, Ariana Crowther has written a newsletter entry on how to make the most of your time at AERA 2013:

Graduate Students Exploring the AERA Annual Meeting
By Ariana Crowther, The University of Texas at Austin

The AERA Annual Meeting can feel overwhelming for graduate student attendants, with so many speakers, paper presentations, and events. However, the Graduate Student Council has organized some events specifically tailored to the needs and interests of graduate students. The first event takes place before the conference on Friday, April 26th and allows graduate students a chance to give back to the area through a service project with COMPASS. COMPASS is a non-profit organization working with low income and homeless families in the San Francisco community for ninety years. Today, COMPASS provides families the tools they need to achieve long-lasting stability and self-sufficiency. We will be working with this organization to help them to continue to serve the San Francisco community by helping them with a beautification project of their facilities.

Kick off the conference right by attending the Graduate Student Orientation to the Annual Meeting and Networking Session, Saturday, April 27th from 12:00 – 1:30 pm in Parc 55, Third Level – Market Street. Graduate students are invited to join the Graduate Student Council as they highlight sessions from this year’s annual meeting that may be of special interest to graduate students. In addition, basic networking skills and opportunities for graduate students to become involved in various aspects of AERA will be discussed. Throughout the conference join the Graduate Student Council and other graduate students in the Graduate Student Council Resource Center, Parc 55, Third Level – Market Street, for Food For Thought Sessions hosting local community groups and artists that focus on local issues and education. Local groups presenting include the San Francisco Mime Troupe, San Francisco LGBTQ Speakers Bureau, and the Mural Music & Arts Project (muralmusicarts.org). These Food For Thought Sessions will take place, Sunday, April 28th from 12:25 – 1:55 pm; Monday, April 29th from 2:45 – 4:15 pm; and Tuesday, April 30th from 12:10 – 1:40 pm.

Be sure to search the online schedule for Fireside Chats that may be of interest to you! The Graduate Student Council and Division Graduate Student Committees have been hard at work creating sessions that speak to the Annual Meeting theme, Education and Poverty, Theory, Research, Policy, and Praxis. Fireside Chats topics range from Division K’s: From the Ivory Tower to the Schoolyard: Conducting Research in Contexts with Underserved Populations Living in Poverty to Division C’s: Why Education is so Difficult to Improve when Income Inequalities are so Great. There are many opportunities for graduate students to become involved on the Division level of AERA as well. See if your Division has any special events geared toward graduate students. Also, seek out Business Meetings of SIG’s and Divisions you are interested in joining. The Motivation in Education SIG Business Meeting is Tuesday, April 30th 7:15 – 8:45 pm, in Hilton Union Square, Continental 2; we hope to see you there!

SPSP 2013 Recap

Ariana and Scott had a wonderful time presenting at and attending SPSP’s annual convention in New Orleans this past weekend. Here’s some of their most memorable moments:

Ariana: “My most memorable part of the conference was hearing Richard Ryan talk about the new directions of Self-Determination Theory.”
Scott: “Two parts were most memorable for me: 1) Richard Ryan discussing the relationships between basic psychological needs, hypo-egoic states, and prosocial behavior. 2) Ap Dijksterhuis proposing Type 3 as a way of thinking that is slow, largely unconscious, and goal-dependent. (Type 1 is fast and automatic, and Type 2 is slow and effortful.)”

Here’s a picture of them presenting their poster on “The Role of Uniqueness Expression in the Effects of Choosing.”

SPSP 2013

At this year’s Society of Personality and Social Psychology’s annual meeting in New Orleans, Erika, Ariana, and Scott are presenting their research. The title of their poster presentation is “The Role of Uniqueness Expression in the Effects of Choosing.” Below is their abstract:

Choosing is a central aspect of people’s lives and a powerful strategy for supporting well-being. This study investigated whether successfully expressing one’s self as unique is a required characteristic of choices that lead to motivational benefits. Participants were asked to engage in a gift-wrapping task and were either provided choices of gift-wrapping materials or not. Choice participants were also informed that their selections were either highly, moderately, or not at all unique. Results suggested that choosing enhanced the motivation only when participants believed that their choices were moderately unique. The effect of choosing was no different from not choosing when selections were perceived to be highly or not at all unique.

Stop on by on Friday, January 18, 6:30 – 8:00 pm to see their poster, and laissez les bon temps rouler!

Happy Holidays from MERG!

The MERG gathered to celebrate the end of the semester and the beginning of the holidays on December 9th. Dr. Patall made a wonderful pasta dish and fresh bread. Rebecca brought amazing grilled vegetables, and the Lee family shared a wonderful new cheese. There were countless desserts: banana pudding, fudge, and chocolate peppermint cookies.

It was a nice time to sit back, relax and reflect on a semester well done.

From the MERG, happy holidays and have a restful and peaceful break!