Recent College Press

Dr. Julie McCleery, director of research-practice partnerships and a research associate and lecturer in the Center for Leadership in Athletics (CLA), was quoted in an article featured in the July 2021 issue of ParentMap magazine. In "The Epidemic of Play Deprivation," Dr. McCleery spoke about the connection between physical activity and developmental growth in children. She also shares findings from State of Play: Seattle-King County, a 2019 report co-produced by the CLA and the Aspen Institute's Sports & Society Program that shows that fewer than 19 percent of King County's kids were getting the CDC-recommended amount of physical activity before the pandemic. Dr. McCleery estimates that during the last year and a half that number has likely been close to 10 percent. Coming out of the pandemic, she argues, kids will need the opportunity for free play and physical activity to heal from the trauma they experienced and to propel their physical and mental resilience.

Jennifer Hoffman, associate professor of educational foundations, leadership and policy and faculty member in the Center for Leadership in Athletics, was quoted in a Diverse Issues in Higher Education article about the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo ― delayed last year due to COVID-19 ― and its connection to the stagnation of diversity in college sports. In addition to representing their country, many Olympic athletes also represent their chosen higher education institution and diversity within collegiate sports has plateaued. Hoffman shares that to create significant change, institutions and athletic boards need to make a conscious effort to hire a "critical mass" of diverse persons in leadership roles like coaching and expand their reach into youth programs to eliminate barriers tied to cost and location prohibitions. For low-income students to make to the collegiate level and beyond, they need access to role models they can relate to as well as good nutrition and training. "The system as it is doesn't support [underserved student-athletes] with the athletic training they need to perform at a high level," Hoffman shares.

Alumna Jennifer Macias Morris (MiT in Elementary Education, 2015) was recently selected as a 2021 Grand Prize Winner in The Henry Ford's Innovation Nation Teacher Innovator Awards sponsored by Raytheon Technologies. The Teacher Innovator Awards recognize teachers who inspire students to challenge the rules and take risks, who demonstrate how to be collaborative and empathetic, and who teach the value of learning by staying curious and learning from failure. Macias Morris is one of 10 grand prize winners from across the nation. She is a first grade Spanish immersion teacher for the Libby Center in Spokane Public Schools and was recently profiled in an "Up with Her" segment by Spokane news station KREM 2. "I want [my students] to be critical thinkers," Macias Morris shared. "I don't tell them what to think. It's them ― it's their perspective ― and that's big into developing and empowering students for the twenty-first century skills." Macias Morris completed her program at the College of Education with support from Jennifer Lindsay, Liz Donat, Mary Beth Canty and Patrick Sexton ― all of whom she would like to give special thanks. She was a recipient of the Martinez Fellowship as well as the UW's Ferguson Endowed Scholarship.

Alumna Irene Yoon wrote an op-ed published in The Salt Lake Tribune urging leadership in Utah to advance educational equity. Specifically, Yoon urges state leadership to reject Utah State Administrative Rule 277-328, which could be interpreted as banning all discussions about race in the state's public education systems. "Learning about histories and structures of inequity is about honoring and learning from the past, good, bad and in between, so that we can dream a better future," she argues. Yoon is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Utah.