College of Education honors leaders in research, teaching & service

In May 2026, the College of Education presented awards to faculty and staff who have made extraordinary contributions to the college community and beyond. 

The honorees from the third-annual College of Education Awards are: 

• Early Career Research Award: Tasminda “Tasmin” K. Dhaliwal
• Mid-Career Research Award: Noreen Naseem Rodríguez
• Senior Career Research Award: Amita Chudgar
• Outstanding Teaching Award: Scott Farver
• Fixed-Term Faculty & Academic Specialist Leadership Award: Jana Aupperlee
• Support Staff Leadership Award: Michelle Hatta 

The annual accolades were created and disseminated by Associate Deans Emily Bouck and Matthew Koehler, with support from Dean Jerlando F. L. Jackson. A committee of faculty representatives from each department selected the winners: Professors John Carlson, Dongbin Kim, Caterina Pesce and Anne-Lise Halvorsen. 

Early Career Research Award: Tasminda “Tasmin” K. Dhaliwal 

Assistant Professor Tasmin Dhaliwal received the accolade that celebrates tenure-track assistant professors for their research contributions. Dhaliwal’s nomination was supported by faculty from the Department of Educational Administration: Justin Gutzwa, Kristen Renn and Chairperson Sheneka Williams. 

Dhaliwal examines what happens after policies that are designed to promote equity are adopted, and how implementation subverts or supports the policy’s initial equity-oriented goals. 

Dhaliwal has secured more than $500,000 in research funding, including a nearly $250,000 grant from the Steelcase Foundation, on which Dhaliwal serves as a co-principal investigator (with MSU Assistant Professor Jerome Graham) in a research-practice partnership in a Michigan school district. 

“[T]his active partnership is one demonstration of how [Dhaliwal’s] work transcends the academic confines of defining scholarly success,” wrote Gutzwa and Renn in a nomination letter. “[She] directly contributes to educational transformation at real schools serving real students in real time.” Dhaliwal's work has been cited more than 1,200 times and has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Educational Researcher and the American Educational Research Journal. 

Mid-Career Research Award: Noreen Naseem Rodríguez 

Associate Professor Noreen Naseem Rodríguez received the honor for tenured associate professors who have produced outstanding research. Rodríguez was nominated by Department of Teacher Education Interim Chairperson Kristen Bieda and Professor Anne-Lise Halvorsen. 

A former educator, Rodríguez was the first-ever to receive a Transformative Research Grant from the Spencer Foundation. She received $3.5 million in external grant funding in 2024 to conduct a large-scale, five-state study on community-driven initiatives to teach Asian American studies in K-12 classrooms. The work builds upon her related, long-standing efforts, including “Teaching Asian America in Elementary Classrooms” (Routledge, 2023), a first-of-its-kind book aimed at elementary educators with a transdisciplinary focus. Rodríguez is also the co-author of “Social Studies for a Better World: A Guide for Elementary Educators” (Routledge, 2025) and “Social Studies for a Better World: A Guide for Secondary Educators” (Routledge, 2026), among others. 

“It is not an exaggeration to state that Dr. Naseem Rodríguez has revolutionized the fields of Asian American education and elementary social studies education,” wrote Halvorsen in a nomination letter. 

Senior Career Research Award: Amita Chudgar 

Associate Dean Amita Chudgar received the honor for full professors who have made distinguished research impacts and contributed greatly to their field. Chudgar was nominated by Department of Educational Administration University Distinguished Professor Kristen Renn and Chairperson Sheneka Williams. 

A world-renowned scholar in international education and education policy, Chudgar is also a professor and the director of the Office of International Studies in Education. With more than $2.8 million in grant-funded research, Chudgar has produced over 60 peer-reviewed research articles and reports for various organizations (including UNICEF, UNESCO and the MacArthur Foundation). Chudgar’s work appears in national and international education policy documents that influence educational decisions in diverse contexts. 

“The evidence is clear that Dr. Chudgar ... represents the college’s and university’s finest ideals of the globally engaged scholar, influencing public policy and practice, educating and mentoring the next generation of scholars and leading institutional initiatives,” wrote Renn in a nomination letter. 

Outstanding Teaching Award: Scott Farver 

Associate Professor Scott Farver earned this award for his exemplary teaching practice. Awardees are nominated by students and recommended by college faculty and staff. Farver’s nominators included Karenanna Boyle Creps and Interim Chairperson Kristen Bieda. 

Since joining the faculty in 2019, Farver, Ph.D. ‘19 (Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education) has taught 45 undergraduate and master’s courses and more than 940 students. Farver also designed and taught a study abroad program in Costa Rica for first-year students.

“To build an inclusive classroom community grounded in trust and mutual respect, Dr. Farver takes the time to learn each of his students’ interests, goals and connections with MSU,” wrote Creps. “He encourages students to make office hours appointments with him, ... whether they take a walk with him around campus ..., meet over coffee off-campus or have virtual or in-person meetings ... He literally meets students where they are. Dr. Farver shows up for them in ways that reflect the love he pours into his teaching and his earnest investment in each student’s success.” 

Fixed-Term Faculty & Academic Specialist Leadership Award: Jana Aupperlee 

Clinical Associate Professor Jana Aupperlee earned the honor that celebrates leadership excellence and substantive impacts that enhance a unit’s outputs. Aupperlee was nominated for the award by Professor John Carlson and Interim Chair Jennifer Schmidt. 

Aupperlee, Ph.D. ‘07 (School Psychology), coordinates the School Psychology Ed.S. program and is the training co-director of the Mid-Michigan Psychological Internship Consortium. Aupperlee developed the accredited program to fill the gap for a “nationally recognized internship program [that meets] the needs of school-aged populations in Michigan,” wrote Carlson. Her leadership with these and other initiatives has “led to programs that meet/exceed national training standards and a strong national reputation in producing high-quality graduates.” 

Aupperlee was previously a co-investigator of Project Hi2LD, a training grant that funded the preparation of professionals to serve high-needs students. More than 20 Spartans were trained through the initiative, which ended in 2025. “[She] stands out because of her ability to model qualities of an effective leader,” Schmidt wrote in a nomination letter. “She is inclusive, collaborative, humble, generous, value-driven and persistent.” 

Support Staff Leadership Award: Michelle Hatta 

Michelle Hatta, assistant to the chair in the Department of Kinesiology, earned the award recognizing leadership excellence that enhances a unit and the college through transformative, substantive impact. She was nominated by Department of Kinesiology Fiscal Officer Christina Mazuca Ebmeyer and Chairperson Panteleimon Ekkekakis. 

Hatta is the “central point of connection” for the department, wrote Ebmeyer. “Her ability to anticipate needs, solve problems effectively and follow through with care has earned her the trust and respect of those she works with.” 

Hatta joined the college in 2015 and has supported MSU's Stuff the Bus event and college-level initiatives, including the Appreciat(ED) Cookout and the Support Staff Advisory Committee. She also serves as a mentor for incoming college staff. 

“Even during stressful times, she is unflappable, and her conduct is reliably impeccable,” wrote Ekkekakis. “Every day, I count my blessings that I have such a wonderful coworker who makes everyone’s workdays better and is a constant source of calmness and stability.”