Dr. Angeline Barretta-Herman. Photo by Elias Adams.
Dr. Angeline Barretta-Herman, Professor Emerita of Social Work, presented “Tracing the Development of Social Work Education, 1937-2010” at the Joint World Congress of Social Work and Social Development: Action and Impact, July 8-12, 2012 in Stockholm, Sweden. Her presentation was part of a network titled “Trends and Challenges Facing Social Work Education Worldwide: Findings of the International Association of Schools of Social Work 2010 Census Project.” Barretta-Herman is the principal instigator for that project and is aided by a team of researchers from England, Canada and Kenya.
Dr. Muffet Trout, Teacher Education Department, College of Education, Leadership and Counseling, is the author of Making the Moment Matter: Care Theory for Teacher Learning.
Dr. Muffet Trout. Photo by Mike Ekern.
Three years in the making, Making the Moment Matter is Trout’s first book and a self-study of her own teaching practice. It takes a look at the development of relationships in educational settings through a series of narratives: four chapters chronicling four different relationships, in which Trout uses Nel Noddings’ care theory to analyze her own teaching style.
The content lends itself to class discussions, seminar settings, field experience and clinical practice; its audience includes and extends beyond educational researchers, teacher educators and student teachers.
Dr. Todd Dinkelman, University of Georgia, praises the book:
“Making the Moment Matter is a wonderful contribution to the literature on meaningful teacher education. Grounded in Nel Noddings’ relational ethic of care, this finely written book explores both the moral foundations and the lived realities of facilitating teacher development through pedagogical caring. Trout’s theoretically rich, carefully designed, and engaging inquiry could not be more timely. In an era when reform talk in teaching and teacher education is increasingly characterized by reference to outcomes, accountability and “value added” measures, this book reminds us that better teaching is a process centered on caring relationships. Her work has a great deal to offer many different readers—educational researchers interested in models of well-crafted studies of practice, teacher educators looking for insights into the complex work of teacher development, and others who wish to learn more about the manner of relationships that stand at the heart of education.”
Dr. Aaron Sackett. Photo by Tom Whisenand.
Making the Moment Matter is available internationally online at Sense Publishers and in the University of St. Thomas bookstores.
Dr. Aaron Sackett, Marketing Department, Opus College of Business, presented a poster, "The Effects of Natural Time Cues on Hedonic Evaluations − or, How Sunsets Ruin Movies," at the annual meeting of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making, held Nov. 16 to 19, in Minneapolis. Undergraduates Andrew Bennington '12 and Samantha Drager '13 were coauthors on the project. At the same conference, the president of SJDM, George Wu, spoke in his presidential address, "Beyond the Status Quo: Understanding the Role of Alternative Reference Points,” about work in which he and Sackett have collaborated.
Dr. Kim Vrudny. Photo by Mark Jensen.
Dr. Kimberly Vrudny, Theology Department, College of Arts and Sciences, is the author of a chapter, "AIDS, Accountability, and Activism: The Beauty of Sue Williamson's Resistance Art," published in She Who Imagines: Feminist Theological Aesthetics, Laurie Cassidy and Maureen H. O'Connell, eds., (Liturgical Press), which is a volume prepared in honor of Elizabeth A. Johnson and her significant feminist work, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse.
