The Academic Minute for 2018.09.24-09.28 – St. John’s University Week

Academic Minute from 9.24 – 9.28

Monday, September 24th
Liz Chase – St. John’s University
Clinical Practice Programs
An assistant professor, in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Chase holds an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University; an M.S.T. from Pace University; and a B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University. Before joining St. John’s University’s School of Education, Chase worked for 15 years in public schools in Harlem and the South Bronx. She taught in the classroom for ten years and worked for five years as an academic dean where she managed and supported all of the teaching and learning initiatives. While she was teaching, and later as a dean, she also pursued her doctorate in Curriculum Studies at Teachers College. Her dissertation explored counter narratives of achievement from the perspective of teenage mothers in high school. Her research interests include school achievement, teacher training in urban settings, and collaborative models of support between teachers and coaches. Her most recent research project involved an in-depth analysis of the experience of school success and failure for students who are traditionally labeled as “at risk.”

Tuesday, September 25th
Don McClure – St. John’s University
Skilled Practice in Teacher Education
Donald R. McClure, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education at St. John’s University. He holds his Ph.D. in Curriculum, Instruction, and Teacher Education from Michigan State University; his M.Ed. from the University of Notre Dame; and his Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University. McClure also served as an elementary and middle school teacher for eight years in Louisiana, Illinois, and Ireland. McClure’s research interests span the areas of social studies education and international education. He explores how culturally and ethnically diverse students make sense of citizenship, national identity, and national belonging.

Wednesday, September 26th
Daniel Ness – St. John’s University
The Play-Procedure Continuum
Daniel Ness holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; an M.S. and M.A. from Columbia University, Teachers College; an M.A. from Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; and a B.A. from SUNY at Albany. He is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. Dr. Ness specializes in spatial development and cognition in STEM curriculum from birth through adolescence. He has taught courses in human development, developmental and cognitive psychology, mathematics, natural sciences, and mathematics and science pedagogical content. He has also developed assessment techniques for diagnosing mathematical and scientific thinking. In addition, Dr. Ness has authored numerous articles on the development of mathematical thinking and spatial and geometric thinking from birth through adolescence. His book, Spatial Intelligence: Why It Matters from Birth through the Lifespan (Routledge) was published in 2017, and his edited book, Alternatives to Privatizing Public Education and Curriculum, has been awarded the 2018 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. Dr. Ness’s most recent book project examines the efficacy of what he refers to as visuo-constructive play objects (VCPOs), which include, but are not limited to, play blocks, bricks (e.g., LEGOs), planks, and other constructive play materials.

Thursday, September 27th
Mary Beth Schaefer – St. John’s University
Minding the Gaps in an Extended Clinical Practice
Mary Beth Schaefer is Interim Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in the School of Education and Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. She holds a doctorate in Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania. She recently published articles in “Urban Education” and “The Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy.” Other recent outlets for her research include journals such as Middle Grades Research Journal, Middle School Journal, Research in Middle Level Education, Tamara, and Voices in the Middle. The focus of her research is on middle grade students’ college and career readiness and responses to literature. She and co-author Lourdes M. Rivera currently have a book under contract with Palgrave on the research and practice of infusing career development into the academic programs of middle and high schools.

Friday, September 28th
Jeff Sovern – St. John’s University
Consumer Confusion
Jeff Sovern is a Professor of Law at St. John’s University in New York City where he teaches Civil Procedure, Consumer Protection and Introduction to Law.  The New York Times has called him “an expert in consumer law,” a statement echoed by the Chicago Tribune, and Mother Jones.

Professor Sovern writes for three overlapping audiences. For the public, he has published numerous op-eds, including essays in The New York Times (here and here), the Christian Science Monitor, the American Banker (here, here and here), the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (here, here, here, here, here and here), The New York Daily News, The Hill (here, here, here, here and here), CNN.com, Politico, Commonwealth, and a variety of blogs.  Professor Sovern can be heard on public radio’s Academic Minute and discussing privacy issues during an hour-long interview on the University of California—Irvine’s radio show “Privacy Policy” initially broadcast on July 26, 2006.  He has also published 40 letters in The New York Times. He has been quoted in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, U.S. News and World Reports, Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Daily News, Mother Jones, The Oregonian, National Law Journal, Law360.com, The Huffington Post, the ABA Journal EReports, by the Associated Press, Washington Post, and on CBS News.