AERA Submissions!

Dear AERA Members,

I am writing to encourage you to participate in the 2013 AERA Annual Meeting to be held Saturday, April 27 – Wednesday, May 1 in San Francisco, California. William G. Tierney, AERA President and Kristen Renn, Chair, 2013 Program Committee are pleased to announce this year’s Annual Meeting Theme: “Education and Poverty: Theory, Research, Policy and Praxis”. Now is the time to advance a paper or session submission for consideration by a division, special interest group, or committee and to volunteer as a chair or discussant.

Deadline for Paper and Session Submissions is July 22, 2012
Please review the Call for Submissions as it contains important information about this year’s Annual Meeting theme and submission requirements. Please login to advance a paper or session submission. Please pay special attention to the six elements that must be addressed in the narrative paper submissions even if the results, conclusions, or findings are not complete or final at the time of the submission.

Also, please indicate your preferred type of session and willingness to present in alternative formats at the time of submission. The roundtable format introduced at the 2010 Annual Meeting was very well received. I encourage you to consider presenting in this format, as well as the poster session format, both of which allow for greater interaction than a paper session.

Volunteer to Serve as a Chair or Discussant by August 31, 2012
Please review the Call for Volunteer Session Chairs and Discussants and consider volunteering. Please login to volunteer as a chair or discussant. The quality of the AERA Annual Meeting depends on education researchers with appropriate expertise who serve as chairs and discussants for paper sessions and roundtables.

Please contact the Meetings Team at annualmtg@aera.net or (202) 238-3200 with any questions and I look forward to your participation in an enriching 2013 Annual Meeting.

Kind regards,

Laurie Cipriano, CMP
Director of Meetings

Division C Graduate Student Seminar

Before the 2012 AERA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, twenty-one graduate students participated in a two-day seminar, which included mentoring and a variety of panel presentations. Co-chaired by Dr. Susan Yoon (University of Pennsylvania) and Dr. Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia (Duke University), the seminar was a huge success, and we thank them for all their work and dedication!

One of the many highlights was getting paired with a faculty mentor with similar research interests. The mentors graciously offered us advice regarding our academic careers. In addition they provided concrete feedback on our CVs, research statements, and a manuscript in preparation. Their help was invaluable, and we will treasure their mentoring for many years to come as we finish our graduate careers.

Second, the seminar consisted of a wide range of panel presentations ranging from how to interview for faculty jobs, how to establish a research program and applying for funding, the work-life balance, and a presentation from journal editors. The panelists’ expertise and personal experiences were very insightful, and we are eager to put them into practice!

There were also many opportunities for networking with the other faculty mentors and other graduate students as we were grouped by common research interests. I’m personally excited to have established a variety of collaborative relationships with like-minded peers and faculty members.

On behalf of the other graduate students, I want to thank all the mentors and all those that made this seminar such a memorable experience! I highly recommend that other graduate students apply for this next year – you won’t regret it!

Below is a picture of some of the graduate student participants at the Division C Business Meeting and Reception with Vice-President Gale Sinatra, and a picture of me and my mentor, Ellen Usher (University of Kentucky).

Carlton Fong

The University of Texas at Austin

Division C Campus Liaison

New Representatives Introduction

Dear Division C Graduate Students,

We hope your semester is wrapping up nicely!  As we complete yet another year of graduate work we have much to reflect back on and much to look forward to.  The 2012 AERA conference held in Vancouver, British Columbia was a wonderful experience.  There were many great sessions and events hosted by Division C including: Dr. Richard Clark’s Fireside Chat, the New Beginnings session, Musician Mark Gabriel Hasselbach’s Jazz band at the business meeting, and  the graduate student social; it’s difficult to put into words how great of an experience we had.  It was great to see many familiar faces at the business meeting and to meet new graduate students and faculty.  Thank you to our colleagues who organized the events, including Yin Wah Kreher, Angela Shelton, Jennifer McGee, and Brittney Hott.  They were integral in creating these engaging events that took place during AERA.  We want to take the time to thank you four for your service on Division C GSC and wish you luck in your future endeavors.

There have been changes in the structure of the Graduate Student Council (GSC).  The executive board made the decision to streamline the GSC and have two positions instead of the previous four.  During the Division C Business Meeting at AERA this was proposed and voted upon by Division C members.  Starting this year there are now two co-representatives.  The new co-representatives are Ariana Crowther and Benjamin Heddy.  We are honored to be able to serve Division C, AERA, and the GSC in this capacity.

As your new Division C graduate student leaders, we have several goals this year.  Our first goal is to increase overall graduate student participation in Division C.  Our second goal is to have a campus liaison at every university or college where we have a Division C faculty member.  Our third goal is to improve communication between graduate students across the country.  We will be increasing our presence on the Facebook page, the graduate student blog, and Twitter.  To help us reach our goals we are looking for graduate students with the desire to become involved with AERA.  Division C is the second largest division in the American Educational Research Association.  We are committed to improving graduate student access and service opportunities for our members.  Please feel free to contact us at any time!

We seriously hope that you communicate with us and assist us in building a new and improved Division C for future graduate students to enjoy.  Hope you have a restful and productive summer.

Best,
Benjamin Heddy
heddy@usc.edu
Ariana Crowther
acrowther@utexas.edu

Bye for Now & AERA 2012 Fireside Chat Slides

From left: Yin Wah Kreher, Dr. Richard E. Clark, Angela Shelton.

I write with much gratitude as I deliver this, my swansong, as the 2011-12 Division C Senior Representative, a position I officially handed over on April 17, 2012 to the new co-reps. I have had a wonderful journey. I learned so many things and made so many friends. I met so many people - new, emerging, and senior scholars through my position and AERA itself. I thank you all for reading this blog and following us. At Vancouver, I even met somehow who I had seen first on this blog through the digital image she sent me!

On my first trip to AERA in 2010, I was stepping into the Junior Rep position. I was tasked with getting this blog going and to use social media to connect with more of our members. We began slowly, but over time I'm pleased that it has served its primary purpose: to connect students and people from many parts of the world to Division C's mission. I leave with no regrets. I feel that our team has accomplished what we had set out to do. I thank my mentors, my team-mates, Dr. Gale Sinatra and Dr. Lisa Linnenbrink-Garcia. Suffice to say, I happily pass the baton on to the next team. I wish them much success.

A Captive Audience.

Of course, not forgetting my primary purpose for this post: to deliver Dr. Richard E. Clark's Fireside Chat slides to you. At the wonderful Chat session, those who were present requested for the slides. Here is the link to Dr. Clark's slides:

Dr. Richard E. Clark's Slides: Turning Research into Results - Handling the Complexity of Learning

With this, I bid you all the best in your studies and look forward to meeting you at future conferences!

Note: All photos are provided by Angela Shelton. Parts of this post are also cross-posted on my own blog.

New AERA Website

Its finally here! AERA has updated the website. This is a recent change so some links may not be working when you access it, but will be working very soon. It looks much easier to navigate.

I would encourage you to also log into the Annual Meeting Portal and create your own schedule. You can search the online schedule and add activities to your personal calendar. Doing this ahead of time - trust me - will make AERA much less intimidating.

Also check out the Program Mobile Application to use when you get to Vancouver. It is suggested that you download it in advance of arriving.

2012 AERA Division C Graduate Student Social

The date for the Division C Graduate Student Social is Sunday, April 15th.

Major Divisional Events and Poster Sessions at Vancouver

Click on the link below for more details:

http://aera-divc-gsc.blogspot.com/p/conference.html

OR, click on the tab on this blog: Div C@Conference