— A number of faculty and students from the Learning, Design and Technology program represented the college at the annual Association for Educational Communications and Technology International Convention held Nov. 3-7 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Catherine Augustine, affiliate assistant professor of education and academic adviser, served as a co-presenter on a workshop titled “Mindfulness and Brain-based Strategies: Exploring Techniques and Technologies for Social and Emotional Teaching and Learning.”

— Richard Kubina, professor of special education, and doctoral students Jeremy Moeller, Salvador Ruiz, James Stocker, Adam Peal and Jennifer Wertalik represented the College of Education at the 2015 International Precision Teaching Conference held Nov. 5-7 in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

— David McNaughton, professor of special education, Elizabeth Benedek-Wood, assistant professor of special education, and Katie Hoffman, associate professor of special education, served as co-researchers on "Preparing Teachers for Collaborative Communication: Evaluation of Instruction in an Active Listening Strategy," which recently was published in the National Teacher Education Journal. Brooks Vostal of Bowling Green University also contributed to the research.

— David Passmore, distinguished professor of workforce education and development, and Rose M. Baker of the University of North Texas co-presented "How the Unemployed are Counted" at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Penn State on Oct. 30.

— William Rothwell, professor of workforce education and development, published nine books in 2015, including his most recent book, "Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity and Building Talent from Within" (fifth edition). There is broad appeal across many industries and groups for this topic because of baby boomer retirements everywhere. His other titles from this year are: "Beyond Training & Development: Enhancing Human Performance through a Measurable Focus on Business Impact, Third Edition"; "Career Planning and Succession Management: Developing Your Organization's Talent — for Today and Tomorrow" (second edition, with Robert D. Jackson, Cami L. Ressler, Maureen Connelly Jones and Meg Brower); "The Competency Toolkit, Volume 1" (second edition, with James Graber, David Dubois, Aileen G. Zaballero, Catherine Haynes, Ali Habeeb Alkhalaf and Sarah J. Stager); "The Competency Toolkit, Volume 2" (second edition, with James Graber, David Dubois, Aileen G. Zaballero, Catherine Haynes, Ali Habeeb Alkhalaf and Sarah J. Stager); "The Leader's Daily Role in Talent Management: Maximizing Results, Engagement and Retention" (with Peter Chee and Jenny Ooi); "Measuring and Addressing Talent Gaps Globally" (with Angela L.M. Stopper and Aileen G. Zaballero); "Organization Development Fundamentals: Managing Strategic Change"; and "Practicing Organization Development: Leading Transformation and Change" (fourth edition, with Jacqueline M. Stavros and Roland L. Sullivan). Rothwell’s books on organization development tie to the College of Education’s new World Campus degree, MPS in Organization Development and Change.

— Jungwoo Ryoo, associate professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State Altoona, and Soo-yong Byun, associate professor of educational theory and research, have been awarded a $537,617 grant from the National Science Foundation. The researchers will use the grant to build a big data analytics workforce in iSchools to offer non-computer science majors career opportunities in big-data fields.

Around the College highlights accomplishments by faculty, staff and students in the College of Education, including publications; research presentations at conferences and workshops; and awards, grants and fellowships. Please share your news with us and your colleagues by emailing edrelations@psu.edu.