Alumni News

Boring. Stressful. Humiliating.

For many students, those are the feelings most commonly associated with math class.

Tracy Zager (MIT ‘02) grew up loving to solve puzzles and riddles, but by high school a series of bad experiences put her on the brink of giving up math altogether. One of Zager’s family friends made her promise to give it another try in college, however, and her experience in an experimental, project-based calculus class changed her perspective forever.

Immigration. Gun control. Abortion. Gay rights. Religion. Are these and other polarizing topics too controversial to be discussed in today’s high school classrooms?

According to Diana Hess (PhD '98), co-winner of the 2017 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Education, teachers should encourage conversations about difficult political issues because that’s the very nature of a democratic education and those discussions help students understand diverse points of view and become more politically engaged adults.

Gary Cohn (PhD '99), superintendent of Everett Public Schools since 2009, has been named 2017 Superintendent of the Year by the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA).

Cohn, who earned his doctorate in education and superintendent leadership credentials from the University of Washington College of Education, was honored for his leadership in Everett, which is recognized statewide and nationally for student achievement.

Elizabeth Loftus, a 2014 graduate of the University of Washington College of Education’s Applied Behavior Analysis Distance Education Program, has been named Northwest ESD 189 Regional Teacher of the Year.

Loftus, one of eight Washington educators to be honored this fall, teaches at Olympic View Elementary in Oak Harbor District.

In school systems, discipline systems speak much louder than words. How can actions taken by school leaders shape the messages students receive about their value in society?

Ever since he volunteered at a community justice center in Vermont, University of Washington College of Education graduate Nicholas Bradford (MEP ‘12) has sought an answer to this question.

His quest led him to the concept of restorative justice.

Laura Tyler (MEd ‘94) of Seattle’s South Shore PK-8 School is one of 13 educators in the United States to win this year’s Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Educators.

Tyler, who graduated from the University of Washington College of Education with her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, has dedicated three decades as an educator to improving urban students’ environmental understanding and the environmental sustainability of her school system.

Is there a way that smartphones can decrease achievement gaps in math classes?

Sam Woodard, co-founder and CEO of the app MathChat, believes that they can. After graduating from the University of Washington College of Education with a Masters in Teaching in 2013, Woodard went on to teach in various K-12 settings, including Cleveland High School in Seattle.

Since coming to the University of Washington a decade ago, Anne Browning (PhD ‘14) has helped transform how the institution supports undergraduates and their student experience.