NW Valley Times

A significant presence from the College of Education (COE) at Grand Canyon University is making its mark at national educator conferences. Faculty and leadership are participating in major events, including the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) Annual Meeting in Long Beach, California, and the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP) symposium in Phoenix.

Dr. Meredith Critchfield, Dean of the College of Education at GCU, expressed pride in the university's participation rate: “The level of Grand Canyon University participation in these major national educator preparation conferences is pretty remarkable,” she said. “You’d think it was a GCU conference but, no, we are just getting accepted at extraordinarily high rates.”

Katie Sprute, a COE senior faculty chair with extensive experience presenting at national conferences, noted that their acceptance reflects the quality of work being done. She highlighted the importance of sharing innovations in online learning: “It’s important to share what we are doing and help them innovate and not have to reinvent the wheel.” Sprute will present alongside Dr. Sheila Damiani on fostering community in remote higher education.

Dr. Emily Pottinger, Associate Dean of COE, emphasized how their active participation has led to repeated invitations: “You make a name for yourself, and they ask you back over and over again.” Pottinger will present on professionalism among educators and using artificial intelligence for teacher candidate assessments.

COE Faculty Chair Dr. Alicia Kozimor is also set to present her work on sustaining future educators through recruitment and retention strategies. Kozimor attributed increased student retention to personalized outreach by staff: “We are making a concrete effort to make connections with students if they are not coming to class or are not participating.”

GCU's involvement extends beyond presentations; it includes building networks across the country and forming partnerships like one with 240 Tutoring. The efforts aim to uplift educational standards while sharing successful practices with other institutions.

Mike Kilen can be contacted for more information via email at [email protected]