SME & UTeach Dallas Alumni Highlights
SME Master of Arts in Teaching and UTeach Dallas alumni hold various positions from district Directors of Science to Master Teachers, Curriculum lead, Instructional Support, to lead teachers at their schools. A few of our fabulous alumni are highlighted below along with comments regarding their MAT.
Congratulations to MAT Math Ed alum William Tate, IV, the new president of LSU! We are so proud of you!
From LSU: We are excited to welcome William Tate, IV as the new president of LSU! For details, visit LSU’s May 6, 2021 News Release.
The Trinity Environmental Academy, near the Great Trinity Forest in southern Dallas County, uses its surroundings to teach hands-on lessons about science and other subjects. It was founded by three UTD alumni. Ms. Jennifer Hoag earned her MAT in Science Education in 2008 and is the chief academic officer, Mr Michael Hooten BS’98, the academy’s CEO and superintendent, graduated from the Naveen Jindal School of Management, and Ms. Dhriti Stocks MPA’15, board vice president and director, graduated from the Master of Public Affairs program in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences in December. Michael Hooten briefly participated in the Collaborative. Here is a News Center story highlighting the program: Trio Creates Habitat for Learning with New Charter School Near Trinity. “As chief academic officer, Hoag said her math and science education courses at UT Dallas have helped her connect STEM concepts to students’ everyday lives. ‘I knew my students learned best by ‘doing’ science, not just by reading about it or watching it. The UT Dallas courses provided the research-based best practices that allowed me to put it into action,’ she said.”
UTeach Dallas Mentor and UTD TRC member is Ms. Barbara McCoy, an 8th grade teacher at Webb Middle School in Garland ISD. Ms. McCoy, MAT in Science Education in 2010, was featured in a Teaching Channel video on the Power of Teacher Collaboration along with another UTD TRC teacher and 2014 UTeach Dallas graduate, Lauren Wilson.
Mr. James Clay Stanfield, MAT ’15 and high school physics teacher, and teacher coordinator for the WISE program at RHS- “Building a robotic arm that can lift and move objects using magnetic sensors, a team of Richardson High School students took first place at the annual Young Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Investigators program.” See the News Center story from summer 2016.
Mr. Kenric Davies, MAT ‘14, and high school physics teacher at Sherman High School, in Sherman ISD won the 2016 Texas Medical Association Outstanding Teacher Award. Finny Phillips, UTeach Dallas ’13, at Richardson ISD’s Berkner High School won 2nd place.
Mr. Josh Sisk, Chemistry & UTeach Dallas ‘13, MAT ‘15, led the Richardson ISD Berkner HS Robotics Team to 4th in the World and 1st Place Engineering Division Champions at the 2016 VEX Robotics World Championships.
Mrs. Kara Swindell, MAT ’09, elected President of Science Teacher Association of Texas in 2019.