Presentation # 1: A Multi-Year Engaged Scholarship Autism Project with India – MATADOR ROOM
Presenters: Nora Griffin-Shirley, Professor, Educational Psychology & Leadership; Devender Banda, Professor, Educational Psychology & Leadership; TTU College of Education
Texas Tech faculty from the College of Education work with international partners from four universities in India to identify personnel needs in the area of autism and disabilities. This project has led to the development and implementation of training programs that prepare personnel to teach children with disabilities.
Presentation # 2: Engagement to Benefit Youth in South America
Presenters: Elizabeth Trejos-Castillo, Professor, Human Development and Family Studies, College of Human Development and Family Sciences
Dr. Trejos-Castillo's scholarship focuses on the influence of individual characteristics and contextual factors on adolescence development, toxic-stress, trauma and resilience on ethnic/racial minorities and vulnerable youth using a mixed method cross-cultural/cross-national comparative lens and Participatory Action Research (PAR). During the past 25+ years, she has been working closely with several local community, statewide partners, national and international collaborators (e.g., Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, India, Spain) to support the well-being and positive development of youth.
Presentation # 3: Promoting Health and Well-Being in South Africa
Presenter: Wilna Odewage-Theron, Professor, Nutritional Sciences, TTU College of Human Development and Family Sciences.
Dr. Oldewage-Theron's research interests include household food insecurity and malnutrition in resource-poor communities in Africa. During the last 15 years, she has been engaged with several of these communities to explore various interventions, including food fortification, dietary diversity, nutrition education, as well as more recently soy research interventions.
Presentation # 1: The School-Wide Community Read-Aloud and Book Give-Away: Building Lasting Relationships with Schools and Communities – MESA ROOM
Presenters: Ana Torres, Instructor, Teacher Education; Rene Saldana, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Instruction; TTU College of Education
For the past five years, Rene Saldana and Ana Torres have worked to promote literacy in several elementary schools that serve predominantly economically disadvantaged Latino and African- American students. They will discuss their successful implementation of the School-Wide Community Read-Aloud and Book Giveaway, which involves community members coming to read a book to students, and each student receiving his or her own copy of the book for home library. Saldana and Torres will discuss the results of a survey conducted with those involved in these read-alouds in order to better serve students in the future.