U汤头条 experts present innovative research at 2025 AERA annual meeting
Faculty, staff and students from the 汤头条 are showcasing their work at the 2025 American Educational Research Association (AERA) annual meeting in Denver this week, April 23-27, as well as during its pre-conference activities. The event is the world鈥檚 largest annual gathering of education researchers and practitioners, and a showcase for groundbreaking, innovative studies in a variety of areas.
U汤头条 President Joan Ferrini-Mundy will receive the AERA鈥檚 Distinguished Public Service Award for her exceptional contributions to education research and policy.
Here鈥檚 a look at some of the presentations, panels and other events that U汤头条 faculty members and students will participate in at the conference:
Tuesday, April 22
- Rebecca (Bec) Buchanan, associate professor of curriculum, assessment and instruction is a presenter at a pre-conference mentoring session for the Supervision and Instructional Leadership special interest group.
Wednesday, April 23
- Interim Dean of the College of Education and Human Development Zeke Kimball is co-author of a paper being presented as part of a roundtable session on 鈥淕enerating Possibilities Via Critical Reflections and Expansion of Methods.鈥 The paper is titled 鈥淎 Duoethnographic Reflection on Moving Toward a Queer and Socially Responsive Interview Process.鈥澛
- Catharine Biddle, associate professor of educational leadership, is presenting a paper she co-authored as part of a roundtable session on 鈥淔amily-School Engagement in Diverse Environments.鈥 The paper is titled 鈥淐aregivers in Recovery: Understanding Experiences of Substance-Impacted Caregivers with School-Aged Children in the Context of the Rural School-Community Relationship.鈥
- Lindsey J. Kaiser, assistant professor of educational leadership,聽 is presenting a paper at a roundtable session on 鈥淚nnovative Methods, Measures, and Theories for Educational Policy Research and Evaluation.鈥 Kaiser鈥檚 paper is titled 鈥淏uilding Trust and Disrupting Power Structures: A Racially Diverse Research-Practice Partnership in Pursuit of Justice.鈥
- Kamal Chawla, assistant professor of education and applied quantitative methods, is presenting a paper he co-authored at a roundtable session as part of the Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis special interest group. Chawla鈥檚 paper is titled 鈥淢achine Learning-Based Techniques to Handle Missing Data in Meta-Regression.鈥
- Anne Fensie, a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program in higher education, is participating in a virtual poster session as part of the Faculty Teaching, Evaluation, and Development special interest group. Fensie鈥檚 presentation is titled 鈥淏eliefs and Instructional Practices Among Faculty in U.S. Bachelor鈥檚 Degree-Gathering Institutions.鈥 Fensie is an adjunct faculty member in the collaborative graduate program in Instructional Technology, which has faculty from the U汤头条 College of Education and Human Development, the 汤头条 at Farmington, and the University of Southern 汤头条. In addition to U汤头条, she has taught at UMF and the 汤头条 at Augusta.聽
Thursday, April 24
- Chawla is presenting a paper he co-authored as part of a roundtable session on 鈥淓lementary Students鈥 Mathematical Cognition: Insights Into Estimation, Relational Reasoning, and Effective Feedback in Mathematics.鈥 The paper Chawla co-wrote is titled 鈥淥ptimizing the 0-100 Number Line Estimation Task: Scale Reduction and its Implications for Elementary Mathematical Cognition.鈥
- Fensie is presenting a study she co-authored at a structured poster session on 鈥淔rom Research to Application: Learning Engineering as a Process for Learning-Sciences-Informed Educational Design.鈥 Fenie鈥檚 poster is titled 鈥淐onceptualizing Learning Engineering.鈥澛
- Biddle is chairing the Rural Education special interest group business meeting.聽
Friday, April 25
- Kathleen Gillon, assistant professor of higher education, and higher education doctoral student Devin Franklin are presenting a paper at a roundtable session on 鈥淣avigating College Access and Rural Identities in Higher Education.鈥 Gillon and Franklin鈥檚 paper is titled 鈥溾楬ow Did I Get Here?鈥 Understanding a Gendered Rurality and Its Role in College Going.鈥澛
Saturday, April 26
- Kimball is co-author of two papers being presented as part of a symposium on 鈥淐onceptualizing the New Accessibility in Higher Education: Leveraging Disruption for Transformative Opportunity.鈥 The papers are titled 鈥淐onnecting Sense of Belonging with Accessibility鈥 and 鈥淐onnecting Intersectionality to Accessibility.鈥
- Kaiser is presenting as part of a paper session on 鈥淚ntersections of Justice, Whiteness, and Educational Renewal.鈥 Kaiser鈥檚 paper is titled 鈥 Paradoxes of Racial Affinity Equity Leadership Coaching: Supporting White Principals Leading Toward Racial Justice.鈥
- Johanna Leslie, assistant director of the U汤头条 Office of Student Financial Aid, and Simon Ferland, director of data and systems for the Office of Student Financial Aid, are presenting a paper as part of a roundtable session on 鈥淣avigating Admissions, Employability, and Financial Support in Higher Education.鈥 Leslie and Ferland鈥檚 paper is titled 鈥淔AFSA Filing Rates: Examining the Negative Impacts of the Problematic 鈥楩AFSA Simplification鈥 Rollout.鈥
- Buchanan is chairing the Lives of Teachers special interest group business meeting.
Sunday, April 27
- Kaiser is chairing a paper session on 鈥淟eading and Supporting Equity-Oriented Practices in Schools and Districts.鈥
- Sarah Howorth, associate professor of special education, and Joo Young Lee, assistant professor of special education, are presenting a paper they co-authored at a poster session on 鈥淚nnovative Approaches and Methodologies for Enhancing Educational Outcomes for Students with Disabilities.鈥 The paper is titled 鈥淩eading Interventions for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic PRISMA Review and Meta-Analysis.鈥澛
- Andrew Hudacs, assistant professor of 4-H teen leadership and workforce development with 汤头条 Cooperative Extension, is chairing a roundtable session on 鈥淓nhancing Student Achievement: Outcomes and Opportunities in Rural Educational Contexts.鈥