Alexis Patterson Williams Receives P.L.A.C.E. Post-Tenure Award
P.L.A.C.E with CAMPSSAH is delighted to announce the latest recipient of our Post-Tenure Start-Up Award – Alexis Patterson Williams, Associate Professor in the School of Education!
Through the results of the COACHE survey at UC Davis (2017), within the UC system, and at universities across the country, it is known that the Associate Professor rank is one where job satisfaction plummets. There is a statistically significant relationship between the length of time at the Associate rank and the intensity of dissatisfaction. Additionally, scholars in the humanities, arts, and social sciences are more likely to spend longer at the Associate rank than STEM-based faculty (Stewart & Valian, 2018:314, O’Meara 2017).
To help mitigate this issue, PLACE with CAMPSSAH offers newly tenured faculty a “start-up” package ($4,000 Academic Enrichment Fund per grant, two per year) to assist them in the development of a new project or allow them to refocus their energies in ways more attuned with their desired career path within the university.
Professor Patterson Williams submitted a proposal, titled “Unlocking the Key to Socially Just and Transformative Science Teaching,” to conduct a study that focuses on the role of classroom instruction in science engagement and participation. She wants to understand the ways socially justice-oriented science teachers develop their expertise and critical consciousness. The work is foundational to a larger study focused on teacher training and development in “noticing for equity” and cultivating equitable learning environment for children to thrive. Ultimately, her research team plans to apply for a National Science Foundation Discovery Research PreK12 grant. Her project will help transform science instruction by providing educators with tools to navigate the challenges of teaching with academic rigor, equity and justice in science classrooms based on strategies and curricular approaches that work for science teachers.
CAMPSSAH Faculty Director Kimberly Nettles-Barcelón praises Patterson Williams’s research by noting her contribution is, “as the title suggests, transformative for science teachers in K-12 education. By elevating the work that these educators are already doing to engage students in a learning environment that leans toward social justice, the researchers are able to validate and disseminate successful strategies to other teachers. I expect that the sort of conversations that are likely to arise from this research will go a long way toward building strong networks of support and germinate even more useful strategies.”
Congratulations professor Patterson Williams!
You can learn more about P.L.A.C.E. with CAMPSSAH here.