July 2025

Dr. Russell Hammack and Dr. Brandon Gilliland were honored to present at the Montgomery Public Schools Professional Development Summit.

Dr. Hammack’s session, Engage in Investigation: Historical Inquiry using the Inquiry Design Model, explored how to foster deeper student engagement through compelling questions and evidence-based inquiry in the social studies classroom.

Dr. Gilliland’s presentation, Democracy in Practice: Assessment Strategies that Reflect Civic Learning, focused on practical approaches to designing assessments that promote critical thinking, student voice, and democratic values across grade levels.

It was a powerful day of learning and collaboration with passionate educators dedicated to meaningful civic education.

Dr. Alhammouri attended the 2025 Noyce Summit in July!

This summit focused on strategies for impacting STEM education in various school settings.

Dr. Christie Calhoun was recently voted in as a Member-at-Large member of the Executive Board of the National Association of Community Colleges of Teacher Education Programs (NACCTEP).

This is a four year term. Dr. Calhoun will collaborate with university personnel from community colleges and four year institutions around the United States. The purpose of the organization is to strengthen Teacher Education Programs, especially those that often begin at the community college level. Many of the institutions involved have established apprenticeship programs and other innovative initiatives. Service on this Executive Board will lend to an increased presence for Jax State in this national collaboration.

Jax State University has the only Post-Secondary FCCLA Chapter in Alabama. Chapter members finished up a great week at the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) National Leadership Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Chapter member Mallory Gilbert assisted in facilitating the Interior Design STAR Event. Dulce Diaz competed in the Say Yes to FCS Event Level 4 and Emma Dalton competed in the Fashion Construction STAR Event Level 4.

Dulce Diaz placed 2nd in the Nation in the Say Yes to FCS Event, and Emma Dalton received 1st place in the Nation in Fashion Construction.

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This is the third year the students from the Career Technical Education & Professional Studies Department in the College of Education & Professional Studies have brought home National Titles in FCCLA Competition. The hard work that the members put into developing and implementing their projects does not go unnoticed by the faculty and staff. Special thank you to everyone who made this opportunity possible for the students.

Emma, Delce, and Mallory we are so proud of you and all that you have accomplished. Go Gamecocks!

The Center for Evaluation, Research, and Innovation (CERI) hosted a Foundations of Reading 190 workshop this past month.

The workshop was presented by Dr. Jessica Cannon, Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Education. Teacher candidates explored test-taking strategies, test layout, and content.

Dr. Cannon, thank you for sharing your time and expertise for our candidates!

Be on the lookout for future workshops for certification tests in the Center for Evaluation, Research, and Innovation.

SPARKSTEM Discovery Day!

Middle school students explored hands-on STEM activities, connected with local industries, and discovered how STEM shows up in their community and future careers from robotics to real-world tech.

Congratulations to Drs. Krista and Brandon Gilliland on their recent published article in the July issue of the Oregon Journal of the Social Studies entitled: Fostering Connections: Strategies for Building Rapport in the Social Science Classroom.

CEPS had a great cooperating teacher training day.

A huge thank you to Dr. Nilufer Guler, Adam Clark, Kirsen Gardner, Dr. Linda Mitchell, Dr. Ahmad Alhammouri, and Krystal Cochran for organizing this event

Faculty were very busy recruiting for Jax State CEPS graduate programs at the Alabama MEGA Conference in Mobile, AL.

Aimee Weathers and pre-service teacher India Quinn presented at Mission CTRL ’25, hosted by the JSU Regional In-Service Center.

Their session, “From Curiosity to Conversation: Boost Student Thinking with Curipod and Snorkl,” focused on helping educators use these AI-supported tools to strengthen student engagement and critical thinking in the classroom.

It was an engaging and collaborative session with educators across the region.