By: Jing Lei
It has been another exciting and productive academic year for us at SU and for our alumni all around the world. We are so glad to see the exciting projects that our alumni are engaged in, to hear about your success stories, and to know that you are making valuable contributions to the local and the global communities!
On May 12 at our annual ice-cream social, we celebrated the graduation of more than 20 students who received their Certificates of Advanced Studies, Masters of Science, or Doctoral degrees. Many of them will start a new chapter in their career, and some are pursuing further studies. We are so proud of your success and achievements thus far, and we wish you all the best and success in your future.
Our current students have been very actively engaged in projects with faculty and in their own research endeavors. The RIDLR lab has become a hub for all students to get together to share their works and ideas, discuss research topics and project issues, connect and communicate with experts in the field, and provide peer support to each other. As you have read in our newsletters, some of our CAS and master’s students participated in assessment projects on campus, and many provided professional ID services in various contexts. Many of our doctoral students presented at prestigious conferences such as AECT and AERA, some served important service roles, and some received awards and recognition for their outstanding work. They are presenting and publishing, and are building their reputation as rising scholars.
As the Interim Department Chair, I greatly appreciate the unofficial “chair training” that both Dr. Nick Smith and Dr. Tiffany Koszalka gave to me, but most importantly, their help and support in resolving various issues at different levels. I also greatly appreciate the support from other colleagues, our current students, and our alumni. We have a very strong IDDE worldwide community, and I feel proud and humble to serve as a contact person in the department to connect us all. I hope you all have a great summer and I look forward to hearing more from you.