By Yuri Pavlov | IDD&E doctoral student (Belarus)
On May 08, 2020, it was perhaps the first time in the history of the IDD&E Department that the annual Ice Cream Social (I.C.S.) celebration did not convene in the departmental office in the School of Education. Nonetheless, the celebration did take place via Zoom—a trick that has become all too familiar to all students and faculty since Spring break this semester. Around 35 IDD&E students, faculty, and alumni joined online for an hour, having secured their own ice cream, donuts, candy, or some other form of sugar to accompany the Graduating Class of 2020. Traditionally, the in-person event starts with people socializing with each other and having free ice cream, kindly provided by the IDD&E Department, having small group conversations for around 30 minutes, and then the Department Chair would start drawing everyone’s attention to the cause. It is never on the first attempt that the crowd would lapse into silence, and it takes the Department Chair some fortitude to finally start the event after a third or fourth “Let’s begin.” That was not the case this time. As people were joining the session, the Zoom room was getting quieter and quieter. After all, breakout rooms would be misplaced for such an occasion and, naturally, people could not all talk at the same time. As one would imagine, Dr. Tiffany A. Koszalka broke the uncharacteristic silence with some stories, followed by some alumni sharing theirs: short, humorous, and much wanted. We were all navigating the new digital format of such a cornerstone event in our department. We were breaking the ice that had long before been broken—what a time to be alive!
Those who’ve been to the I.C.S. before know that one of central parts of the event, ice cream galore aside, is the departmental award ceremony: Students receive awards based on how they stood out in the current academic year (nominated by faculty or fellow students). Fifteen students were presented with awards this year in recognition of their talents and productivity. You can find the list of the awardees and nominations in the table on the next page. One more part of the traditional I.C.S. event is important: Individually congratulating IDD&E students who are graduating in the current academic year. This acknowledges these students’ hard work and effort they exhibited all throughout their master’s, doctoral, or C.A.S. programs. This year, with the constraints imposed by the time and online format of the event, this part was not emphasized, though the full list of graduates was shared on the screen for a time. In the academic year 2019–2020, IDD&E is conferring degrees to 2 Ph.D., 4 C.A.S., and 32 M.S. students. Six students graduated in December 2019, seven in May 2020, and 25 more are expected to graduate by mid-August 2020, provided they complete all their degree requirements.
Despite being virtual, the 2020 Ice Cream Social event was necessary as a synchronous session for at least two reasons. First, it was needed as a reminder of the strong connection that IDD&E has developed with its students and alumni. We all needed it for the sense of continuity and bond—we’re all a big IDD&E community who like to hang out with each other once a year. Second, it was a necessary step to overcome the inertia that some of us may have developed in the quarantine period which was mostly sans people and sans celebrations. It was a meaningful time to dress up, show up, and express joy at our fellow students’ successes and achievements.
| AWARD RECEPIENT | NOMINATION TITLE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE RECOGNITION |
| Master’s students | |
| Erric Allen (U.S.)
Mark Cashman (U.S.) Craig Collins (U.S.) Lisa Cowboy (U.S.) |
2020 IDD&E Design and Development Award
Distinction in designing and developing innovative products for clients (with special emphasis on project work) |
| Zhijuan “Jenny” Niu (China) | 2020 IDD&E Evaluation and Research Award
Distinction in the area of research and evaluation (with emphasis on evaluation projects and research-oriented publications) |
| Man Wang (China) | 2020 IDD&E Outstanding M.S. Student Award
Outstanding performance in all M.S. courses and work within the IDD&E Department |
| Yang Liu (China) | 2020 IDD&E Outstanding M.S. Student Award
Outstanding performance in all M.S. courses, graduate assistantship, and in the IDD&E Department |
| Benjamin Horwitz (U.S.) | 2020 IDD&E Outstanding Portfolio Award
Distinction in creating an innovative and comprehensive Master’s portfolio |
| Jiangxiang “Zoë” Zhang (China) | 2020 IDD&E Project Management Award
Thoughtful and feasible guidance around IDD&E-related projects |
| Doctoral students | |
| Amber Walton (U.S.) | 2020 IDD&E Professional Service Award
Wise and meritorious support to colleagues and the IDD&E Department |
| Christopher Hromalik (U.S.) | Nomination by IDD&E for the 2020 School of Education Graduate School Doctoral Prize for an Outstanding Dissertation |
| Jiaming Cheng (China) | Nomination by IDD&E for the 2020 School of Education Graduate School Doctoral Prize for an Outstanding Dissertation |
| Lili Zhang (China) | (1) 2020 IDD&E Project Leadership Award
Exceptional work on research and development projects (2) 2020 Margaret & Alexander Charters Award Scholastic Excellence in Adult and Continuing Education in recognition of her excellent written publications |
| Mary Wilhelm-Chapin (U.S.) | 2020 Margaret & Alexander Charters Award
Scholastic Excellence in Adult and Continuing Education in recognition of her excellent written publications |
| Yuri Pavlov (Belarus) | 2020 IDD&E Project Leadership Award
Exceptional work on research and development projects |
| IDD&E Staff | |
| Rebecca R. Pettit (U.S.) | Ultimate IDD&E Caretaker Award
Exceptional service and support to the IDD&E community |
December 2019 IDD&E Graduates:
- Jiaming Cheng (Ph.D.)
- David Pax Buatshia (M.S.)
- Prabesh Devkota (M.S.)
- Trenton Greene (M.S.)
- Kang Zhang (M.S.)
May 2020 IDD&E Graduates:
- Christopher Hromalik (Ph.D.)
- Amy Bissetta (EdT C.A.S.)
- Tammy Hnat (IDF C.A.S.)
- Antwan Cordy (M.S.)
- Benjamin Horwitz (M.S.)
- Timothy McAuliffe (M.S.)
- Man Wang (M.S.)
Pending Summer 2020 IDD&E Graduates:
- Karyn Doss (DDI C.A.S.)
- David Patrick McKinnon (DDI C.A.S.)
- Erric Allen (M.S. OL = online master’s program)
- Nicholas Arambula (M.S. OL)
- Billy Atkinson (M.S. OL)
- Mark Cashman (M.S. OL)
- Craig Collins (M.S. OL)
- Lisa Cowboy (M.S. OL)
- Matthew Pizzi (M.S. OL)
- Anthony Rink (M.S. OL)
- Antonio Ruiz (M.S. OL)
- Charles Wilson (M.S. OL)
- Taflh Alshamary (M.S.)
- Elemy Colome (M.S.)
- Amba Etta Tawo (M.S.)
- John Gillon (M.S.)
- Aidar Ismailov (M.S.)
- Yanan “Niko” Li (M.S.)
- Yanping Lin (M.S.)
- Yang Liu (M.S.)
- Zhijuan “Jenny” Niu (M.S.)
- Michaela Sposato (M.S.)
- Lutfullo Tagoev (M.S.)
- Jialu Tang (M.S.)
- Jiangxiang “Zoe” Zhang (M.S.)
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