Barbara Burns, PhD, professor of teacher education, developed her scholarship as a true intermingling of three academic areas: teaching, service and scholarship. Her recently published articles and presentations at state and national conferences are focused on the implementation of the newest education certification exam, the edTPA. Burns’ research allows her to work with student teachers and their cooperating teachers in the field. In addition, the research is a collaborative effort with faculty in other departments at Canisius College including teacher education, graduate education and leadership, and kinesiology, to best support our teacher education candidates. Showing this connection between her teaching and scholarship, Burns authored a chapter, Mathematics Teacher Education and edTPA: Complex Assessing in the forthcoming Handbook of Research on Professional Development for Quality Teaching and Learning.
Burns connects her service with her scholarship as co-founder of the Math Circle at Canisius College. This group provides mathematics tutoring to students in grades 3 – 8 through the mathematics tutoring program and recently held a conference for mathematics teachers throughout Western New York. Burns and her students are co-authoring articles about these endeavors. Burns demonstrates how faculty use passions to create many opportunities for students and to improve education.
Submitted by: Sara Morris, PhD, associate vice president, academic affairs
