Visitors from Florida A&M University with members of the UCEC: (l-r) Dr. John Yun, UCEC Director; Edward Williams III, UCEC Graduate Student Researcher; Dr. Mark Howse, FAMU; Dr. Bernadette Kelley, FAMU; Dr. John W. Chambers, FAMU; Dr. Patricia Marin, UCEC Associate Director; and Dr. Endya Stewart, FAMU.
For the second year, a team of faculty and administrators from the College of Education at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida visited UC Santa Barbara on March 25 and 26. Hosted by the UC Educational Evaluation Center (UCEC), this visit is part of the UCSB–FAMU Partnership “Connecting Networks, Expanding Opportunities” funded by the UC Office of the President’s UC–HBCU Initiative. This program strengthens the academic network between UCSB and FAMU.
During the visit the team will meet with UCSB faculty, administrators, and students to further collaboration between the two institutions and prepare for the second year of the Summer Research and Graduate Admission Pathways Program: the UCSB–FAMU Educational Evaluation Research Scholars Program.
The visiting FAMU team is comprised of Dr. John W. Chambers, Dr. Mark Howse, Dr. Bernadette Kelley, and Dr. Endya Stewart. Dr. John W. Chambers is a Professor of Psychology. Dr. Mark Howse is the Director of University Assessment and an Associate Professor of Mathematics Education. Dr. Bernadette Kelley is an Associate Professor in the College of Education at FAMU and the Director of the Secondary Education Division. Dr. Endya Stewart is an Associate Professor of Secondary Education and Foundations and a Research Associate for the Data Use Research Institute, Teachers for a New Era at FAMU.
“Connecting Networks: UCSB and FAMU” supports academic and co-curricular activities designed to train students in educational evaluation, prepare them for doctoral work, and encourage them to consider a UC graduate program by exposing them to the many opportunities and networks the UC has to offer. This program was one of only eleven proposals funded by the UC Office of the President’s University of California–Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative (UC–HBCU) in 2011. Dr. John T. Yun and Dr. Patricia Marin, Director and Associate Director of the UC Educational Evaluation Center, serve as the co-Principal Investigators for this program.
The University of California Educational Evaluation Center utilizes the system-wide expertise of nationally-recognized scholars to address educational problems through the rigorous evaluation of potential educational solutions. Through these evaluations, the UCEC contributes to the knowledge base of effective policies and practices (PK–20 and beyond) with the goal of improving data use and decision-making. The combined experience of the UCEC Site Directors offers content and methodological expertise to successfully conduct national, state, and local educational evaluations, as well as provide training to those seeking to develop evaluation expertise.