Two RCOE Faculty Receive the Harkrader Family Foundation Faculty Research Award

Two faculty members in the Reich College of Education’s (RCOE) Department of Curriculum and Instruction received the Harkrader Family Foundation Faculty Research Award: Dr. Jennifer McGee, an associate professor, and Dr. Mina Min, an assistant professor. 

According to Appalachian State University’s Office of Research, the Harkrader Family Foundation Faculty Research Awards are meant to enhance the research enterprise on Appalachian’s campus by involving graduate students in the research.

McGee was awarded $1000 for her project, “Smells Like School Spirit: The Organizational Factors Affecting Teacher Morale”. Her study aims to identify the root causes underlying the constructs of stress and burnout through the examination of working conditions that impact teacher absenteeism, turnover, and health outcomes.

“Teacher burnout and stress have been studied at length in the education literature, but industrial-organizational psychologists may have a fresh perspective to offer in regards to understanding and solving the problems that negatively impact the public education system,” said McGee.

“By continuing data collection that was begun before the COVID-19 pandemic, this study will be unique in its perspective of teacher working conditions both before and after the pandemic,” she continued.

“Appalachian State University, well known for its teacher preparation programs, has the potential to be a leader in impacting change in teacher working conditions that impact morale,” she added.

Two graduate students and one undergraduate student will be helping McGee with this project:

McGee’s research interests include assessment, program evaluation, self-efficacy, STEM education, and quantitative research methods.

Min was awarded $970 for her project, “Teacher agency for social justice with culturally responsive teaching amid the COVID-19 pandemic”. 

“The project aims to explore how teacher agency regarding culturally responsive teaching (CRT) is influenced by the pandemic, and how teachers sustain their efforts to implement effective CRT practices under the changes necessitated by the national pandemic,” she said.

Two students will be helping Min with this project: Rachel Nelson and Chantae Reynolds, both students in the doctorate in educational leadership program

Min’s research interests include teacher agency, motivation, and change, teaching effectiveness, educational reform, and pre- and in-service teachers' dispositions and practices for promoting social justice.

“I approach these topics from comparative, international, socio-cultural, and critical perspectives,” noted Min.


Jennifer McGee and Mina Min
Published: Jan 7, 2021 12:17pm

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