UNG helping lead education groups

Faculty and staff members in the University of North Georgia's (UNG) College of Education have recently taken on leadership roles in variety of organizations.

Dr. Sheri Hardee, dean of the College of Education, began a two-year term as president of the Georgia Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (GACTE), the state chapter of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. The term will run during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years.

"We all have the same goals. We want people to go into education and show them this is a field worth pursuing, which is getting harder as a nation," Hardee said. "We have a hard task, but it's nice to be able to come together and be able to brainstorm how to tackle those challenges."

Hardee said institutions of higher education bring teacher candidates to the GACTE conference each fall to help prepare them for their futures as educators.

Joining Hardee on the GACTE leadership team from UNG are professors Dr. April Nelms and Dr. Chantel Renaud-Grant as communication co-chairs.

Raquel Johnson, field placement director for UNG's teacher candidates, began a one-year term as vice president of the Georgia Field Directors Association for the 2024-25 academic year.

Johnson said she enjoys that her state position allows her to share best practices that UNG is mobilizing to serve its teacher candidates. Ultimately, she said, the biggest secret to UNG's success is its students.

"Once these districts have some of our students as interns in their classrooms, they are eager to partner even more with us and let other districts know about how strong our future teachers are," Johnson said.

Dr. Yacine Kout, assistant professor of education, is the president-elect of the International Society for Educational Biography. He will lead the group's conference in October and become president at that point.

Kout has served on the organization's board for a few years and helped redesign its website. He is grateful for how the group has expanded his publication and research skills. It has also inspired his work with UNG students.

"In the classroom, it helped me better tailor my assignments," Kout said. "I ask students to write reflections about their education and what it means for them as future teachers."

Dr. Troy Terry, dean of graduate studies and associate professor of education, was elected president-elect of the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) at the group's annual meeting in March 2024. He is currently helping coordinate the March 2025 conference to be held on the campus of SMU in Dallas, Texas. He will also be joining the other officers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, next month as they do advance planning for the 2026 conference.

As president-elect, Terry is in charge of the program for the March 2025 conference. As president starting next March, he will lead the executive committee in all phases of the membership through 2025. The CSGS is the largest of the four regional conferences of the Council of Graduate Schools, hosting 18 states from Texas to Maryland with more than 300 graduate schools represented.