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Ashley Martucci, associate service professor in the College of Applied Human Sciences, School of Education, is one of five faculty members be named as a recipients of the University’s 2023-24 Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program.

The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program at WVU is designed to stimulate scholarly initiatives through the creation of an academic community within the institutions in the Big 12 Athletic Conference. The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program offers WVU faculty members the opportunity to travel to member institutions to exchange ideas and research. Faculty may work on collaborative research, consult with faculty and students, offer a series of lectures or symposia, acquire new skills, or take advantage of a unique archive or laboratory facility.

A unique student-driven project recognizes the power of literature to transform individuals and societies while supporting the freedom to read and write. The West Virginia University Higher Education Student Association’s mission underscores educational, vocational and personal development for people who are imprisoned.

WVU HESA recently collaborated with the Appalachian Prison Book Project as part of their engagement in the 2022 WVU Week of Purpose. APBP focuses on challenging mass incarceration through books, education and community engagement.

In recognition of what it means to be a Mountaineer, the West Virginia University Alumni Association will celebrate recipients of the 2022 Homecoming and Alumni Service Awards during Homecoming Week, Oct. 24-30.

Jihad Dixon (’17, ’19) will receive the John F. Nicholas Jr. Award during the Homecoming festivities. Dixon, higher education program graduate, was highly involved in many aspect of campus life. He was the president of the WVU NAACP and the Higher Education Student Association, a resident assistant at Dadisman/Stalnaker Halls, a diversity ambassador within the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion , a member of Mountain Honorary, a student representative of the WVU Student Conduct Board and WVU Residency Committee, and a student senator and executive leader in the Student Government Association.

The National Rural Education Association recently announced its five-year research agenda, and West Virginia University’s Erin McHenry Sorber is at the center of the team that helped develop the major priorities and for current and future rural education research.

McHenry-Sorber is one of six members of the NREA’s subcommittee that designed a research agenda to help plot a path for rural education with the goal of shedding light on innovative rural practices, addressing unique rural challenges and continuing to build on the strengths of rural people and places.

A passion for influencing children to thrive prompted Amber Nichols to shift gears in her career to become an educator.

Nichols chose the WVU Master of Arts in Teaching program because it supported her goal of becoming a teacher. She says she always knew that she wanted to motivate children. “I thought that was going to be a career in children's broadcasting. However, being a teacher and working with children in my classroom generates a deeper, more meaningful effect on their lives,” she said.

Braelyn Young, senior in the elementary education program, is serving as a 4th grade student teacher at Big Elm Elementary School in Harrison County, W.Va. for the 2022-2023 school year.

During senior year, student teachers are placed with a mentor teacher and class. This arrangement allows student teachers to move from theory to practice. They experience having their own classroom with guidance from their mentor.

Elementary education graduate Josephine Valentine is one of five West Virginia University alumni selected for a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to teach English or conduct research abroad over the next year while building cross-cultural relationships.

“I am looking forward to the opportunity to build community abroad while continuing my work in education,” Valentine, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., said. “Creating a safe space for students to learn is so important to me. I am excited to connect with my students in Spain and their cultures while providing authentic opportunities for them to practice English.”

With a new school year underway, three West Virginia University education experts discuss the ongoing challenges of staffing schools, which the president of the National Education Association labeled a “five-alarm crisis.”

Donna Peduto, executive director of West Virginia Public Education Collaborative , has held positions with the West Virginia Board of Education and the state Department of Education, and was the state coordinator for West Virginia's first Innovation Zones Initiative.

A West Virginia University instructional design expert is looking to break the code of the traditional elementary school classroom.

Here is what Ugur Kale envisions: In an upper-elementary classroom in West Virginia, kids are learning about food access. It’s an issue that affects many of their families, who might purchase groceries with WIC or live nowhere near a supermarket.

The West Virginia University School of Education and Mountaineer Mathematics Master Teachers project have selected 12 middle and high school math teachers from across West Virginia to serve as the third cohort of M3T fellows. The group will join the project’s statewide mathematics teacher leadership program for the next five years.

Moving into its third year, the M3T project works to support and retain skilled and experienced secondary math teachers by empowering these teachers as leaders in their school districts and across the state. The program also aims to create a model of networked and teacher-led improvement and teacher leadership development statewide and share that emerging strategy across the country.