facebook

2022 Salute to Faculty Excellence Reception

Last night we hosted our annual Salute to Faculty Excellence Reception. Five faculty recipients were awarded based on their achievements. Congratulations to those awarded!

Dr. Selcuk Acar for the Faculty Research Excellence

Dr. Acar has published 16 journal articles in the last three years and is the lead author in 9 of them. He is also the author of four book chapters. Additionally, he was the recipient (PI) of a large grant from the Department of Education. His work has been cited over 1,600 times since 2019.

Todd Duncan

Dr. Duncan earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in the Urban Superintendency from the University of Southern California. He earned a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in Bilingual Education (Spanish/English) from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned a B.A. in Liberal Studies from California State University, Long Beach. Before joining the faculty at UNT, Dr. Duncan served as Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership at Texas A&M University, Central Texas where he taught many of the courses in the Educational Leadership program. He was the primary professor for the principal practicum/internship for the Master’s degree in Educational Leadership with principal certification and also served a term as program coordinator. Prior to his work at A&M Central Texas, he taught as an adjunct professor for Wayland Baptist University and Concordia University teaching in their educational administration programs and the curriculum and instruction programs when needed. Dr. Duncan served as a mentor for teachers in early childhood programs through a state funded grant entitled Texas School Ready Resource Grant through the University of Texas Health Sciences Center. Prior to his work in higher education, Dr. Duncan served in K-12 administration as a middle school principal, elementary school principal and in central office administration as administrator of assessment and accountability and Coordinator of Curriculum Based Assessments. Prior to his work in administration Dr. Duncan served as a bilingual education teacher in grades 1-5.

Dr. Duncan is married to his wife of 39 years and has 2 sons and a daughter. He and his wife currently have their hands full keeping up with their young grandson. Hobbies include bowling and making music whenever the opportunity affords. We also enjoy going to movies as a family and grilling on holidays or other warm summer evenings.

Rachel Ranschaert

Dr. Rachel Ranschaert centers both her teaching and research around justice-oriented teacher education. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and began her career as a middle school teacher in Arizona and Texas. She then went on to the University of Georgia, where she earned her Ph.D. in Educational Theory and Practice and her certificate in Interdisciplinary Qualitative Research. At the University of Georgia, she worked as a teacher educator in the Middle Grades Program.

Her research focuses on the intersection of justice-oriented teacher education and sociopolitical discourses surrounding schools as they manifest in policy, news media, and curriculum. She has also done work related to both middle grades education, school-university partnerships, and qualitative methodologies. Her work has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and  published in Educational Studies, School-University Partnerships, Middle School Journal, The Middle Grades Review, Journal of Media Literacy Education, and several books, most recently Progressive Neoliberalism in Education. Outside of teaching and research, she enjoys cooking, yoga, and reading fiction and poetry.

Head Start to Healthy Lifestyles with SNAP-Ed

The major purpose of Head Start to Healthy Lifestyles (HSHL) – SNAP-ED is to identify different factors for making healthy food choices with limited budget and developing physically active lifestyles for Head Start preschool children and their families. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which evidence-based nutrition and physical activities impact young children’s body mass index, physical activity, sedentary behavior, and healthy food choices in Head Start Sites.

Pages