The University of Miami Future Educators of America Honor Society is sponsoring a screening of the documentary “Beyond Measure” on Wednesday, February 24 at 6 p.m. at the Whitten Learning Center, room 120.  Following the screening, a panel discussion featuring UM faculty and the principal and assistant principal from West Lab Elementary School will be held. Learn more about the film, and RSVP.

 

 

Special to UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (February 10, 2016)—Isaac Prilleltensky has been appointed vice provost for institutional culture at the University of Miami. As vice provost, his primary responsibility will be the ongoing implementation of the University’s culture transformation initiative. In addition to this new role, Prilleltensky will continue to serve as dean of the School of Education and Human Development and report to the provost.

Prilleltensky will focus on developing programs to actualize the values embraced by the University community. In addition, he will be in charge of evaluating the culture transformation initiative. He will also serve as a resource for the team that has been established by President Julio Frenk to create the framework for a culture of belonging at the U.

“This position will be critical to aligning University efforts to be one U—to be a place where each individual feels valued and has the opportunity to add value at the U,” said President Frenk. “Isaac’s lifelong dedication to the study of individual, organizational, and community well-being will be a tremendous asset as we work together on this important initiative.”

In the past, the University has worked with external consultants in the fields of service excellence and culture to create a foundation for culture change. Phase two of the culture transformation initiative brings these efforts inside the U, with Prilleltensky at the helm. Phase two of the culture journey will expand on the foundation of values, behaviors, and standards that have been established University-wide. The existing culture leadership team will grow to include new members and will continue to be chaired by Executive Vice President and Provost Thomas J. LeBlanc.

“I look forward to working with all of our friends across the University as we begin phase two,” said Prilleltensky. “Speaking on behalf of the entire UM community, I would like to extend our collective thanks to the culture coaches, work team members, and others who have gone above and beyond their duty to help with this effort.”

By Barbara Gutierrez
UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (January 14, 2016) — Teaching the painful history of and lessons from the Holocaust is Miriam Klein Kassenoff’s passion. As an educational specialist for Holocaust studies for the School of Education and Human Development and Miami-Dade County Public Schools, she has trained more than 33,000 teachers over the past 15 years.

This month, Klein Kassenoff, a child survivor of the Holocaust who fled Nazi Europe with her parents, was honored for her passion with the 53^rd Tikkun Olam Award by The Haiti Jewish Refugee Legacy Project.

“I am humbled by every award that I have received,” said Klein Kassenoff. “But this one took me by surprise. It shows that if you do the work you love, rewards will come to you.”

Named for a fundamental Jewish principle that means “repairing the world,” the Tikkun Olam Award honors individuals who have made a considerable contribution toward that principle. It was granted by the founders and publishers of the Haiti Jewish Refugee Legacy Project blog, Bill and Harriet Mohr.

Established after Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake, the Mohrs’ project seeks to gather information about Haiti’s Holocaust history. Bill Mohr and his family were members of a group of 300 Jews who were given refuge by Haiti during the Holocaust.

“We wanted to recognize the outstanding contributions of a wide range of individuals who are working to raise awareness of important issues that need to be addressed in the context of Tikkun Olam,” Bill and Harriet Mohr said in a written statement. “They have moved forward to ‘repair the world’ and from their perspective, take action in ways that have beneficial results for society and can positively impact the general welfare of humanity.”

The Mohrs added that they had “tremendous respect for Klein Kassenoff’s viewpoint, which is to compellingly present to educators the lessons of the Holocaust so their students learn moral, ethical teachings that can be brought into their present lives in an empowering way.”

Klein Kassenoff studied at Yad Vashem, the International Center for Holocaust Studies in Israel, and is a graduate of the prestigious international Vladka Meed Teachers Program. In 2014, she was selected by the Miami Consul General of Germany for a tour of “Jewish Germany Today.”

Her many credits include being an author, writer, and lecturer on various topics on the Holocaust, including “Women in The Holocaust” and “Literature of The Holocaust,” as well as co-authoring, with Anita Meyer Meinbach, two books, Studying the Holocaust Through Film and Literature and Memories of The Night: A Study of The Holocaust.

 

 

Wendy Cavendish, associate professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the School of Education and Human Development, has been selected as Visiting Research Scholar at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute for the 2015-16 academic year.

Affiliated with the City University of New York, the Roosevelt House honors the distinguished legacy of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by focusing on a three-fold mission: to educate students in public policy and human rights, to support faculty research, and to foster creative dialogue. The institute provides opportunities for students to analyze public policy and experience meaningful civic engagement; for faculty to research, teach, and write about important issues of the day; and for scholarly and public audiences to participate in high-profile lectures, seminars, and conferences.

Cavendish will collaborate with Roosevelt House Faculty Associate Jennifer Samson on a project analyzing the legislative impacts of improving inequality. Their project, Intersections of Inequality: Legislative Legacies of Poverty, Race, Language, and Disability in Educational Policy, examines the enduring effects of legislation intended to address structural inequalities. Samson and Cavendish will analyze data on implementation outcomes, as well as the intended and unintended consequences of these educational policies. Their work will culminate in a policy report and a symposium that brings together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers.

 

By Robin Shear
UM News

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (July 30, 2015) —“I want to see big. I want to see three dimensions. Make it spacious.” Those were the instructions College Bound teaching fellow Robert Harriss gave students in his vertebrate anatomy class as he handed out boxes of raw spaghetti and bags of marshmallows. The youngsters paired up and then dug into the materials, creating everything from human skeletons to fish skeletons.

In its second year at the School of Education and Human Development, the Breakthrough Miami College Bound summer institute brought more than 100 high-achieving students from schools throughout Miami-Dade County to the Coral Gables campus for six weeks of academic enrichment. With participants heading into ninth grade in the fall, College Bound is intended to keep their minds actively engaged and primed for high school success during the break with daily core classes in literature, history, and math, along with electives selected from the majors of their teaching fellow instructors. The teaching fellows are college students from around the nation, and this summer the electives they taught ranged from psychology and anatomy to broadcast journalism.

“It’s a privilege to attend,” said Cameryn Johnson, 16, a former College Bound participant who served as a volunteer for teaching fellow Jessica Ramos this summer. A University of Illinois student, Ramos taught literature and broadcast journalism. Students in her journalism elective had the chance to create a movie trailer, from conception to acting to editing, for a drama about “a nerd and a bully” who ultimately work through their differences and become friends.

The College Bound experience likely had as great an impact on Ramos as it did on her students, several of whom wrote  her letters of appreciation that brought tears to her eyes. “I’m meant to be here,” she said.

The College Bound summer institute is part of Breakthrough Miami’s tuition-free academic program that starts with 5th grade and continues through high school graduation. During the school year, Breakthrough Miami serves over 1,000 highly motivated students from under-resourced communities all over Miami-Dade County at five sites, including the University of Miami.