FINAL CALL FOR NOMINATIONS by Kathy Stein
23 June '09 by SWH, under Announcements.
TxCRLA is in the final stages of putting together the ballot for officer elections. This year, we are looking for individuals to run for the positions of President-Elect and Treasurer.
The position of President-Elect requires a three-year commitment. In year one, as President-Elect, the individual is responsible for planning the CASP Conference program (along with the TADE President-Elect) and attending the CRLA Conference as a TxCRLA representative. In year two, the individual moves to the position of President and actively leads TxCRLA as well as represents the organization at the CRLA Conference. In year three, the individual takes over the position of Past President and is primarily responsible for the election of the next year’s officers.
The position of Treasurer requires a two-year commitment. The Treasurer handles all financial transactions for TxCRLA including the managing of the organization’s bank account. Individuals can be Treasurer for two concurrent terms (a total of four years).
If you are interested in running for office, please send a brief biography to Dr. Kathy Stein, TxCRLA Past President, kstein@sulross.edu. If you would like to nominate an individual for office, please include contact information for that individual. No individual will go on the ballot without first being contacted and giving his or her permission. If you are interested in running for office, please be sure to speak with your supervisor to be sure that you have institutional support for taking on an office.
All nominations must be received by August 7, 2009.
As ballots did not go out before the end of the spring semester, the ballots will not be sent out electronically until the week of August 24, 2009. Voting will continue until September 18, 2009.
If you have any questions about the TxCRLA election process or the job duties of each office, please contact Kathy Stein at 1-432-837-8778. Also, click on ” Officers” for detailed descriptions of each of the offices.
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Meet Tamara Clunis
20 February '09 by SWH, under Announcements.
Tamara Thornton Clunis is the recently appointed Director of Developmental and Adult Education for the P-16 Division of the Higher Education Coordinating Board. She is responsible for developing a statewide plan for developmental education, with an emphasis on improving student outcomes and increasing alignment between adult basic education and post-secondary education.
Tamara Clunis
Ms. Clunis has over ten years of experience with developmental and adult education in Texas. Prior to joining the Coordinating board, she worked for Austin Community College teaching reading and learning strategies. While at ACC, she taught in learning communities targeting developmental education students. She was also active on developmental education committees and served on college-wide committees to promote student success for students of color. She taught developmental reading and educational psychology class for first year freshmen at Texas State University-San Marcos for several years. Her most recent position was with the United States Military Academy (WestPoint) where she worked as a senior faculty member and developmental reading specialist. At WestPoint, she redesigned the learning strategies curriculum to focus on contextualized learning to increase student success in the freshman core curriculum.
Ms. Clunis has directed numerous adult education professional grants with Texas State University College of Education and led the statewide project that developed a credentialing system for Texas adult educators. She holds a master’s degree in Developmental and Adult education from Texas State University and is a Ph.D. candidate in the Adult, Professional, & Community Education program at Texas State University.
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Gladys R. Shaw Professional Development Award Announced
21 November '08 by SWH, under Announcements.
The executive board of the Texas chapter of the College Reading and Learning Association [TxCRLA] was pleased to announce the establishment of the Gladys R. Shaw Professional Development Award at the recent CASP 2008 Conference held in Corpus Christi, Texas. This annual award is available to current TxCRLA members to use toward travel expenses and other costs associated with any professional development conference, workshop or other training activity related to their fields. The first award winner will be announced at the 2009 CASP Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
Gladys R. Shaw
The award is named in honor of Gladys R. Shaw, Director of the Student Support Services Program at the University of Texas at El Paso. Mrs. Shaw is a champion in the field of developmental education and traces her passion back to her own personal experience. “I was a first-generation-college, low-income farm girl myself who earned a scholarship that went with the valedictorian designation for my high school graduating class.” However, she married her husband while she was still a high school senior and at a time when both honors were denied because of the marriage. She eventually did earn a B.A degree (Magna Cum Laude) in Business and Education, earning her certification for public accountant after only one sitting for the exam. Two years later, she earned her M.A. (with honors) in business and education. Mrs. Shaw has worked in both commerce and education, “especially Developmental Education, but have always been driven back to DE-probably partially due to that high school experience, but also one can really see the difference one makes,” she adds. ”When I look at my resume, and reflect on the wonderful honors that have come my way, I have to say (as my daddy always told me) we get out of any experiences exponential rewards for the passion and effort we invest. Of those rewards, which I do treasure greatly, the most important are still the students who succeed and the friends I have made along the way.”
Besides her prized students, Mrs. Shaw has been recognized for many other awards, including her 2004 induction as a Fellow of the American Council of Developmental Education Associations and her recent nomination to the El Paso Women’s Hall of Fame. She has held offices in and served on numerous committees of NADE and CRLA as well as several other academic organizations. She was the treasurer of both NADE (1991-1995) and CRLA (1986-1988). She served as the TADE President from 1991-1992 and its treasurer from 1988-1991. She has authored and co-authored numerous books, chapters, journal articles, and other publications, most of which were for developmental education. Mrs. Shaw sums up her past and ongoing career with, “You know the old saying, ’success breeds success?’”
For more information on the eligibility requirements and application procedure for the Gladys R. Shaw Professional Development Award, go to the “Awards” page.
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ESSIE CHILDERS WINS AWARD AT NATIONAL CRLA CONFERENCE
17 November '08 by SWH, under Announcements.
ESSIE CHILDERS
Essie Childers, Instructor of Parallel Studies at Blinn College-Bryan Campus, is the recipient of the 2008 Professional Developmental Scholarship Award sponsored by the College Reading and Learning Association [CRLA]. The award, presented at the National CRLA Conference in Cleveland, Ohio, is designated for participation in professional workshops related to the recipient’s area of expertise. Mrs. Childers will be applying her scholarship towards the TIDE summer workshop at Texas State University in San Marcos, where she will be working on video and/or audio tutorial podcasts for developmental courses.
In addition to teaching developmental reading, Mrs. Childers undertook the director’s responsibilties for the 2008 THECB Summer Bridge program at Blinn College-Bryan Campus. She has presented at many professional conferences, and most recently presented at the CASP Conference in Corpus, Christi, Texas. Her pre-conference institute at CASP, “A Novel Plan: Motivation and Comprehension in Just Six Weeks!” gave participants innovative ideas for using novels in developmental reading classes to create interest and motivate reluctant readers. She has also presented at NISOD and TCCTA-Gifts.
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2008 CASP LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO RUSS HODGES
14 November '08 by SWH, under Announcements.
Russ Hodges, Ed.D
Russ Hodges, of Texas State University in San Marcos, was unanimously selected by the CASP board to receive the 2008 CASP Lifetime Achievement Award at the recent CASP Conference in Corpus Christi, Texas. This award is reserved for those individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of developmental education and/or to the field of learning assistance and have served in one or both sponsoring organizations, TxCRLA and/or TADE. Dr. Hodges, an Associate Professor of Adult and Developmental Education at TSU, is prominent as a leader in developmental education having served in many capacities in the field both inside and outside the classroom.
Dr. Hodges is a member of both TxCRLA and TADE and served as president of the national College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) in 2004 – 2005. Previous to that office, he served as that organization’s treasurer from 1999 until 2002. He and his team have been regular contributors at the annual CASP Conferences, having just presented their highly popular pre-conference institute, “Tutor Training Leadership Institute,” for the eleventh year in a row. Dr. Hodges has collaborated with several colleagues in publishing education books and articles, and he won Outstanding Article for Volume 24 in the Journal of Developmental Education which was presented at the 26th Annual Conference for the National Association for Developmental Education. Dr. Hodges is instrumental in the establishing and on-going leadership of the Technology Institute for Developmental Educators, (TIDE), an intensive 5-day technology workshop specifically designed for developmental educators.
The CASP Lifetime Achievement Award was last presented in 2005 to Janith Stephenson, now retired from the College of the Mainland, Galveston, Texas.