Eight is Great

They are helping to shape education and applied psychology and they can tell you how — in less than eight minutes.

Three UC Santa Barbara faculty members, one graduate student, and two staff members working in the Santa Barbara community will deliver short talks about their research or work in “Fast & Curious: ED Talks from UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School,” taking place virtually Wednesday, May 26, at 5:30 pm.

Held in partnership with the Santa Barbara Public Library, the Zoom event is free and open to the public. This marks the eighth edition of the successful series launched in February 2017, the brainchild of Professor Jeff Milem, dean of the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education.

“Upon arriving in Santa Barbara I was struck not only by the immensely talented faculty and the breadth and depth of their research, but also by their commitment to the public good and their desire to make that research matter,” explained Milem, who joined UCSB in 2016. “This series is a very direct – and fun – way for faculty, alumni and eventually our students to share their insights with the local community.”

Presenters and titles for the May 26 event include:

• Tarek Azzam, Associate Professor, Department of Education, “The Role of Evaluation in Program Improvement”

• Lilly Garcia, Director of Outreach, Gevirtz School, “Inside Outreach”

• Natalia Jaramillo, doctoral student, Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, “Growth after Trauma: Understanding the Experiences of Young Adults”

• Amber Moran, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Education and Teacher Education Program, and GGSE alumna, “Preparing Teachers in Special Education During a Pandemic” 

• Miriam Thompson, Assistant Teaching Professor, Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, “Mind Your Behavior: Demystifying Neuropsychological Assessment at the Mind and Behavior Assessment Clinic”

• Chryss Yost, Harding University Partnership School Community Resource Center Coordinator and GGSE alumna, “Ripples and Brackets: Creating a School-Site Community Resource Center”

Videos of talks from the past iterations of “Fast & Curious,” which have drawn crowds of approximately 75 each, can be seen online.

The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education (GGSE) offers M.A.s, M.Ed.s, and Ph.D.s from the Department of Counseling, Clinical and School Psychology, the Department of Education and the Teacher Education Program, which also prepares students for teaching credentials. The school also offers three minors in education, applied psychology, and science and mathematics education.

GGSE is a hub of educational innovation with world-class research produced by distinguished faculty and exceptional graduate students who are doing leading-edge work in research methods, science and mathematics education, literacy education, second language learning, culture and language, educational policy, autism, school safety, positive psychology, resilience and recovery from trauma, and strengths-based interventions with vulnerable populations, among other subjects. Learn more about the school at education.ucsb.edu.