Center for International Education
George Mason University GMU.edu
  1. CEHD
  2. Centers, Institutes & Labs
  3. Center for International Education
  4. News and Resources
  5. 2019 Open GATE Fellows

2019 Open GATE Fellows

The Center for International Education is pleased to announce the 2019-2020 Open GATE recipients. Three faculty members and two doctoral students will spend up to four weeks in Norway this year working with colleagues from Oslo Metropolitan University.

Open GATE is a $220,000 grant partnership between CEHD and Oslo Metropolitan University. Funded by the Norwegian Center for International Cooperation in Education, the goals of the project are to:

  • Build research partnerships between scholars who have similar interests in teacher education and especially those who have a strong sense of social justice and equity in education;
  • Foster a systematic process of collaboration between peer groups of students and faculty (MA level students, Ph.D. students, early career faculty) to seek out new ways to solve educational challenges;
  • Deepen knowledge among stakeholders on critical forms of research to facilitate educational transformation;
  • Provide an outlet for faculty exchange of curricula, pedagogy and best practices in teacher education; and
  • Enhance the capacity of early career scholars in teacher education to develop and disseminate research of consequence.

The recipients and plans for their research include:

Dr. Christan Coogle (Assistant Professor, Early Childhood Education) plans to learn more about the perceptions and implementation of evidence-based practices in early childhood education environments. Additionally, she hopes to develop collaborative partnerships with international scholars, educators, and practitioners focused on enhancing outcomes for children and families. Dr. Dawn Hathaway (Assistant Professor, Instructional Technology) hopes to learn how teacher educators in Norway respond to calls by the European Commission and ISTE to foster digitally competent citizens. In addition, she hopes to seek research partners to explore how teacher educators and P-12 teachers can effectively address the changing nature of community and community participation with depth and consistency and therefore, effectively engage P-12 students in citizenship through digital technologies. Dr. Margret Hjalmarson (Director, PhD in Education) is looking forward to learning more about doctoral programs in education in Norway. She’s hoping to learn more about how the prepare students for different types of positions after graduation and how they have been developing different dissertation models. She is also interested in how doctoral students learn and develop as educational researchers. Betsy Scotto-Lavino anticipates connecting with international scholars who share her research interests in educational equity, learn more about arts-based research as well as Norway's commitment to public, art and explore the public spaces that demonstrate this ongoing commitment. Lilly LePelch is looking forward to using her time as an Open GATE participant to establish meaningful connections between the development of intercultural teachers and teacher pedagogical adaptations, as well as to explore the intersectionality between these two topics and teachers’ leadership skills developed as a result of collaborative partnership and mentoring.