Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education Doctoral Candidate Presents at Prestigious National Marine Educators Association
September 12, 2023
BATON ROUGE, LA - Ali McMillan, a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction in the Lutrill & Pearl Payne College of Education, recently attended and presented at the National Marine Educators Association (NMEA) annual conference in Bellingham, WA. The NMEA annual conference is a special event that annually brings together hundreds of professional educators dedicated to teaching about marine, coastal and aquatic environments.
At the NMEA Conference, held in Bellingham, WA, McMillan was part of a team of Louisiana educators who presented place-based lessons they tied to existing curriculum to add local context and enhance student learning. The session titled, Researcher - Teacher Collaborations: Bringing Louisiana Phenomena into the Classroom, featured an overview of a pilot Sea Grant Education Network exchange program. A framework, initial outcomes, and future recommendations were presented. The session highlighted the facilitation of marine science activities that were shared and adapted as part of the exchange. McMillan joined newly appointed School of Education’s Office of Professional Experience as Certification Coordinator, Dr. Jennifer Cook as part of the Louisiana team.
McMillan’s scholarship is situated at the intersection of literacy and place-based learning. She sharpened her focus a middle school teacher and literacy coach in West Feliciana where she was the recipient of a National Geographic grant. McMillan recently joined LSU’s Sea Grant as Education Coordinator. McMillan’s major professor, Dr. Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell commented, “Ali dissertation highlights the importance of teaching children about environmental impact on physical spaces worldwide but especially, in Louisiana. Her study is a longitudinal autoethnographic case study wherein she investigated the experiences of seventeen middle school students who engaged in a three-day residential environmental education program. Through a postmodern theoretical perspective, McMillan investigated the individual literacy and nature place-based learning experiences of these select students. Her work is significant in terms of what teachers state-wide can do to significantly address environmentalism and stewardship.
About Lutrill & Pearl Payne LSU School of Education (SOE)
A school of the College of Human Sciences & Education, the SOE offers undergraduate programs for students who want to pursue a career as a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teacher or acquire dual certification in both traditional elementary and special education classrooms. Besides providing graduate certification in Instructional Coaching, educational technology, and urban & community education, the SOE offers a writing pedagogy minor, and a master’s degree in arts, arts in teaching, education (MEd), education in counseling (MEd), certificate of education specialist (EdS) and PhD. The School’s mission is to prepare educational professionals to be leaders, practitioners, and scholars knowledgeable in contemporary educational issues. Visit the LSU Lutrill and Pearl Payne School of Education.
About LSU College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE)
The College of Human Sciences & Education (CHSE) is a nationally accredited division of Louisiana State University. The college is comprised of the School of Education, the School of Kinesiology, the School of Leadership & Human Resource Development, the School of Library & Information Science, the School of Social Work, and the University Laboratory School. These combined schools offer 8 undergraduate degree programs, 18 graduate programs, and 7 online graduate degree and/or certificate programs, enrolling more than 1,900 undergraduate and 1,120 graduate students. The College is committed to achieving the highest standards in teaching, research, and service and is committed to improving quality of life across the lifespan. Visit the College of Human Sciences & Education.
Latest College of Education News
- Louisiana A+ Schools Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2025/2026 School YearLAA+ at LSU enables schools to integrate arts education into their curriculum. Learn more about this innovative arts education program and the 2025/2026 application.
- School of Education Faculty Host the Mandela Washington Fellows in New OrleansLSU was selected as an Institute Partner for the 2024 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. The Fellows engaged with Louisianians to establish meaningful professional networks in the state. During their recent trip to New Orleans, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, a professor at the School of Education, hosted them at her home for a fish fry
- LSU Writing Project Participates in Place-Based Writing RetreatThe LSU Writing Project held its first place-based Invitational Summer Institute on Mallard Island in the Rainy Lake Watershed, north of International Falls, Minnesota. Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, director of the LSU Writing Project, received a grant from the Ernest Oberholtzer Foundation to host the week-long writing institute.
- Ellis Puts Scholarship First- $1.2M NSF Grant to Recruit and Prepare Future STEM TeachersAt the center of the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education is the desire to prepare LSU students to educate the young minds of Louisiana to ensure their future successes.Joshua Ellis, PhD, Associate Professor of Science/STEM Education in the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education, is a member of an LSU faculty team that has been awarded a $1,187,387 grant from the National Science Foundation for the preparation of future STEM teachers.
- School of Education Professor Presents Research at Inaugural Joint National Council Teacher of English-National Council Teachers of Mathematics ConferenceLutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education Professor, Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, recently presented cutting-edge research on writing assessment at the Inaugural Joint National Council Teacher of English (NCTE)-National Council Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Conference held in New Orleans in late June, 2024. Both professional organizations collaborated to provide the opportunity for members from both associations to come together and share research and recommend practices in both disciplines, a first for these two premier professional entities.
- Louisiana A+ Schools at LSU and Arkansas A+ Schools Receive Grant from National Park Service to fund: Bridging the Blues! Connecting Music Heritage in Arkansas and Louisiana through A+.Louisiana A+ Schools (LAA+) at Louisiana State University (LSU), a program of the College of Human Sciences and Education, in partnership with Arkansas A+ Schools (ARA+) at University of Arkansas, a program of the College of Education and Health Professions, are proud to announce they have received a grant from the National Park Service (NPS). This grant is part of the Lower Mississippi Delta Initiative (LMDI), aimed at supporting cultural heritage and educational projects in the Delta region.
