Faculty and Staff in the News
Academic excellence at the College of Education begins with our internationally renowned faculty. As award-winning scholars, professionals, and innovators in research, outreach, education, and more, they are just as likely to publish in The New York Times as the The Oregonian. In the classroom, they are passionate teachers who inform and inspire. Out in the field, they are dedicated mentors who help students build real-world skills and strong professional networks.
We are the highest-ranked academic unit at the University of Oregon, due largely to a decades-long record of national and international research and development in special education, counseling psychology, educational leadership, and school psychology. Our research culture is unique and highly influential because our faculty have a long tradition of translating research into effective models, methods, and measures that improve lives. Our innovations have an enduring impact in Oregon and across the nation.
Books from our faculty reflect the extent of expertise and interest within their departments and programs. As a college in a research university, our faculty’s variety of interests connect research to teaching and teaching to learning.
Faculty and Staff Support Students to Graduation and Beyond
Our students are smart, creative, and increasingly diverse. Our faculty and staff support and celebrate their successes. With over 26,321 College of Education alumni to date, we work hard to provide inspiring educational opportunities in the classroom and beyond.
Ilana Umansky, PhD studies how education policies shape the educational experiences, opportunities, and outcomes of multilingual and immigrant-origin students. Her guiding motivation is in understanding and exposing systemic inequities for multilingual students and working with policy and law-makers to reverse harmful policies and replace them with those that create expansive, equitable, and culturally-sustaining education systems. Ilana is an Associate Professor of Education Studies and affiliated faculty in Sociology. She co-created and directs the College of Education’s master’s program in Education Policy and Leadership and is core faculty in the Quantitative Research Methods in Education PhD program.
A primary characteristic of Ilana’s work is its marked impact on national and state policy, due to her engagement with policy-makers and other education change agents. She currently acts as co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) for a national Research and Development Center focused on secondary-school aged multilingual students. This project, in partnership with state departments of education in Oregon, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, examines how school systems can remove barriers to equitable and full course access for English learner-classified students. In separate projects, she partners with the National Indian Education Association on research and advocacy related to Indigenous students’ rights to linguistically- and culturally-sustaining services through federal education law, and with universities in Oaxaca, Puebla, and Mexico City to learn how schools in Mexico can recognize and meet the needs of return-migrant students from the U.S.
Ilana's work has been awarded by the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation, the Institute for Education Sciences, the Fulbright Foundation, and the American Educational Research Association. Her research, widely covered in the media, has been published in the American Educational Research Journal, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Policy, and Exceptional Children, among other outlets. She frequently also publishes national and state reports and policy briefs aimed at serving and informing education stakeholders.
Products with a Purpose
The College of Education HEDCO Building is the anchor innovation hub among the six buildings that house the majority of our classrooms, research and outreach units, clinics, and faculty labs. Driving change by developing highly scalable products and services has always been part of the distinctive culture of our college. In fact, the research and development work of our faculty has created an “EduTech” industry in Eugene and Lane County. Our research and development has always been inspired by our desire to effect evidence-based change that redresses disparities in education and health – “products with purpose.” This work is now focused on addressing racism and bias.
Career Trek engages students in highly interactive, developmentally-appropriate, and gamified career exploration
Designed specifically for elementary school, CareerTrek scaffolds vocabulary and activities to introduce and reinforce key, evidence-based career development concepts.
CareerTrek is developed by IntoCareers, an outreach unit at the College of Education.
KinderTEK® iPad math, KinderTEK Pro Connected, KinderTEKOffline
KinderTEK™ was developed by the Center on Teaching and Learning in collaboration with Concentric Sky, Inc with funding from the Department of Education. Used by approximately 5,000 elementary students and over 200 teachers in almost 100 schools in 50 districts. In 2020, KinderTEK Pro Connected and iPads were made freely available to 180 Head Start families to foster math learning and communication.
MOCCA: Multiple-choice Online Cloze Comprehension Assessment
The Multiple-choice Online Cloze Comprehension Assessment (MOCCA) is a paper-and-pencil assessment to diagnose specific types of poor comprehension in third through fifth grade students. MOCCA development is being led by four universities — the UO, University of Minnesota, Georgia State University and Chico State University — all will be working with Emberex to improve access to and use of the assessment tool.
ORSN Micro-PD's: Oregon Research Schools Network partners with educators and school districts to improve school climate and preK-12 academic outcomes in Oregon
ORSN has grown exponentially over the last three years. Its reach continues to grow yearly in rural and urban districts across the state. Currently, they are working with three Educational Service Districts (ESDs) serving 9 counties and 46 school districts, that educate 74,559 Oregon students.