News

Two COEDU Professors Named to National Commission

Diane Yendol-Hoppey and Danielle Dennis Named to National Commission on Clinical Practice in Teacher Preparation

Dr. Yendol-Hoppey and Danielle Dennis to serve on group charged with defining and aligning high-quality practice

(June 25, 2015, Tampa, Florida) –The University of South Florida is pleased to announce that Diane Yendol-Hoppey has been named to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)'s new Clinical Practice Commission (CPC). Diane Yendol-Hoppey and Danielle Dennis join the group of higher education and K-12 leaders from across the country, which will examine the state of clinical practice (commonly known as "field experience") in teacher preparation. The CPC is charged with identifying a set of criteria that define clinical practice, lifting up exemplary models in the field and ultimately publishing a set of recommendations for teacher preparation programs nationwide.

"We at the University of South Florida's College of Education are deeply committed to working with our school partners in the greater Tampa Bay Area to advance professional learning in the field of teacher preparation. Dr. Diane Yendol-Hoppey's and Dr. Danielle Dennis' participation in the CPC is a tremendous opportunity for our university, college, and our local partners to contribute to this critical national conversation. We are involved with important changes in the way we prepare teachers."

The CPC, which includes representation from professional associations, institutions of higher education and K-12 school districts, will work over the next six months to develop a common understanding of effective approaches to field experiences. The group will develop a white paper, to be circulated broadly this fall for input from the field, and will also recommend ways to address common roadblocks to building successful district-university partnerships, such as transportation, funding and scheduling concerns.

"In 2010, the NCATE Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships found that clinical preparation was a key lever to high quality teacher preparation," said Rodrick Lucero, AACTE's Vice President for Member Engagement and Support, who chairs the CPC. "Although we know how essential classroom experiences are to a candidate's preparation, we also see a broad spectrum of practices being labeled 'clinical.' It is high time to create a shared and actionable definition of what high-quality clinical practice looks like to be able to continually improve individual programs and the field as a whole."

The University of South Florida's College of Education, in collaboration with our school district partners have developed over 35 partnership schools focused on developing high quality teachers through clinical practice. The heightened attention to clinical practice within our partnerships has been nationally recognized three times and supported by funding from the Federal Government's Investing in Innovation grant, and the Helios Foundation.

Current members of the CPC include educators involved in AACTE, the Association of Teacher Educators, the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, the National Association of Professional Development Schools, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the National Network for Educational Renewal, and K-12 schools:

Rodrick Lucero, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (Chair)
Michael Alfano, Central Connecticut State University
Nancy Dana, University of Florida
Derek Decker, Poudre School District (Colo.)
Christine DeGregory, George Mason University
Danielle Dennis, University of South Florida
Elaine Holmes, Poudre School District (Colo.)
Marcy Keifer Kennedy, Ohio University
Amanda Lester, State University of New York
Audra Parker, George Mason University
Jennifer Robinson, Montclair State University
Rene Roselle, University of Connecticut
Jennifer Roth, Poudre School District (Colo.)
Lisa Stooksberry, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
Cindy Stunkard, Kutztown University
Diane Yendol-Hoppey, University of South Florida
Kristien Zenkov, George Mason University
Omar Davis and Tim Finklea, AACTE support staff

For more information, visit the www.aacte.org.

An Overview of the University and its Resources

The University of South Florida (USF) is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF was established in 1956 as a public university and is a comprehensive research university serving more than 48,000 students. The USF System is an evolving multi-campus system of higher education with fiscally autonomous, yet complementary, independently accredited institutions located in Tampa (including USF Health), St. Petersburg, and Sarasota-Manatee. USF is home to medical clinics and hospitals, a major mental health research institute, and two public broadcasting stations. The university employs more than 1,800 full-time instructional faculty and over 7,000 full-time staff. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. It has a $1.5 billion annual budget, and an annual economic impact of $4.4 billion.

One of 12 universities within the State University System of Florida, USF is one of the nation's top public research universities and a leading metropolitan research university. USF has 13 colleges: Arts and Sciences, The Arts, Behavioral & Community Sciences, Business, Education, Engineering, Global Sustainability, Honors, Marine Science, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, and Public Health, plus the Offices of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies. The university offers 182 degree programs, including the doctor of medicine: 90 bachelor programs, 48 master programs, two education specialist degree programs, 38 research doctoral programs, and four MD programs. The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs is the center for all academic operations and functions at the university. USF ranks as a national leader in online education, according to the Guide to Online Schools, ranking 24th on its "best overall" list of top nonprofit and for-profit schools (2013).

The university is dedicated to the discovery of new knowledge, insights, and forms of expression through significant innovative research and other creative activity, and to the preservation, organization, analysis, and synthesis of existing knowledge. USF is one of only four Florida public universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in the top tier of research activities, a distinction attained by only 2.3 percent of all universities. As a leading publicly supported university, USF accomplishes its research mission by building on existing program strengths, fostering effective, transdisciplinary approaches, and contributing to the resolution of social, cultural, economical, medical and technological challenges facing the metropolitan population of our community, state, nation and the world.

USF faculty, students and staff are proactive in the search for new knowledge and consistently demonstrate their concern about the world in which we live. With the support of private and public agencies, they contribute to our knowledge about the world and apply their findings and skills to solving many of the problems facing contemporary society. Many contributions evolve from basic research; others, from practical applications of new knowledge. Other projects make specialized training available to public officials, organizations working for social betterment, religious and educational institutions, and business and manufacturing organizations. Through sponsored and non-sponsored activities, USF faculty, students and staff make significant contributions to instructional programs.

The dedication of USF researchers, students and staff has contributed to the phenomenal growth in research that USF experienced over the past 30 years. In FY1986, the university received only $22.3 million in external funding for research projects. By the end of FY1995, research awards had reached over $100 million. In FY2014, USF generated over $428 million in sponsored research. The Chronicle of Higher Education's Almanac of Higher Education ranked USF as the nation's fifth growing research university from 2000-2010.

The University of South Florida is one of only 40 public research universities nationwide with very high research activity (RU/VH) that is designated as "community engaged" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. According to the National Science Foundation, USF ranks 43rd in the nation for total research expenditures among all U.S. universities, public or private, and 27th in total research expenditures for public universities (2013).
USF ranks 12th worldwide among all universities granted U.S. patents (2013), ranking in the top 15 for four years in a row (2010-2013), according to the Intellectual Property Owners Association. The university supports economic development and the translation of USF research and technologies to the marketplace, through an active Technology Transfer Office and USF CONNECT, the economic development arm of USF. The Tampa Bay Technology Incubator, with nearly 60 resident and affiliate companies, is part of UCF CONNECT, which is located in the USF Research Park, named Emerging Research Park of the Year in 2008 by the Association of University Research Parks.

USF has numerous research and health care partnerships through affiliation agreements with hospitals and not-for-profit organizations in the metropolitan Tampa Bay area. USF affiliates include the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (formerly Bay Pines VA Hospital), Tampa General Hospital, All Children's Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center, Shriner's Children's Hospital, Florida Hospital Tampa, and the U.S. Geological Survey.

As a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Moffitt Cancer Center, located on the USF Tampa campus, is part of an elite group of cancer centers nationwide that focus on the quick translation of research advances to improvements in patient care and has developed a strong national reputation for excellence. The James A. Haley Veterans Hospital, located within walking distance of USF Health's Morsani College of Medicine, provides research and training experiences for faculty, staff, and students. The USF Health System is also closely affiliated with Tampa General Hospital and the Lakeland Regional Medical Center, which provide training for residents and medical students. The Shriner's Children's Hospital (at USF Tampa), Florida Hospital Tampa (within walking distance), All Children's Hospital, Bayfront Medical Center and the C.W. Bill Young Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center (in St. Petersburg), as well as the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer's Institute (at USF Tampa), provide additional research and training grounds for USF faculty and students.

Affiliate partnerships established with Mote Marine Laboratory and the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory have expanded the research and development capacities, student educational opportunities, and economic development impact of USF. Affiliation agreements with organizations normally provide for collaboration through shared facilities, faculty, and equipment, as well as support for graduate students and internship programs. These types of agreements enable the institutions to pool resources, such as laboratory space, and enable compliance committees to stimulate an exchange of ideas.
Throughout the university's development, the faculty at USF have identified and satisfied needs on a local, national and global scale. A variety of activities in such areas as health care, neuroscience, transportation, informatics, cybersecurity, education and engineering are conducted by specialized research and development centers and institutes. The university currently has over 100 such centers and institutes, many of which function in an interdisciplinary fashion, enabling coordination of projects across colleges.

From developing sources of clean energy, to enhancing the quality of life for people with disabilities and leading the way on veterans' research and reintegration, USF research, innovation and economic development is focused on creating local, national and global solutions to society's most difficult problems.