STEM Education Champions

The LSU School of Leadership and Human Resource Development proudly showcased its exceptional talent at the 74th Annual American Association for Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE) Conference, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, from October 6-10, 2025. Faculty members Dr. Corina Caraccioli, Dr. Bethany Hager, Dr. Petra A. Robinson, and Dr. Renata Lyons, along with doctoral candidates Omaima Hajjami and Terri Ricks, represented LSU with distinction.

Sarah Matthews, a Curriculum & Instruction doctoral candidate specializing in special education in the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, has been selected as a Louisiana Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities Scholar.

In honor of National Sudden Cardiac Arrest Awareness Month, LSU School of Kinesiology is hosting a CPR and AED Training event in the Ochsner Wellness Center on October 10, 2025, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Bullseye for Schools, typically used in K-12 school districts, allows for capturing, uploading and storing video observations and instantly communicating feedback. LSU is the first university in the nation to partner with the platform for preservice teacher observations.

Allie Boquet, PhD, an assistant professor of professional practice in special education in the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, has been awarded the Empowering Future Educators Through Simulation grant from SchoolSims, making LSU the first university in Louisiana to receive this award.

April Chen, PhD, associate professor in the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, is making sure transfer students are set up for success on LSU's campus with GEAUX Transfer, a one-semester peer-mentoring program that pairs new transfer students with senior transfer student mentors, fostering a sense of community and belonging among students who may share similar experiences.

Petra A. Robinson, PhD, Interim Director of the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development in the College of Human Sciences & Education, has been awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant, totaling more than $550,000. Robinson will serve as Principal Investigator (PI) on the multi-year project, joined by Co-Principal Investigators Bethany Hager (Louisana A+ Schools, CHSE) and Zakiya Wilson-Kennedy, PhD (College of Science), with additional support from Golden Richard, PhD, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of LSU's Applied Cybersecurity Lab.

Through a partnership with LSU's T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, Jennifer Baumgartner, PhD, launched the Louisiana Early Childhood Teacher Oral History Project, where education undergraduate students collect stories and oral histories from Louisiana's early childhood teachers. To date, more than 100 interviews with early childhood teachers who work with children from birth to third grade have been conducted, creating an incredible repository of knowledge for current and future teachers, policy makers and early childhood researchers.

Ayala, a second-year doctoral student in the Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education, has been named Associate Editor of the National Association of Special Education Teachers' Special Educator e-Journal.