Smiley Award Nomination Window Now Open
School of Education students, as well as any UNC Greensboro student with an education major, may now apply for the 2026 Smiley Award. The application deadline is March 1, 2026.
UNC Greensboro
SOE Faculty and Doctoral Students Honored with International Award for Evaluation Research
Dr. Sandra Ayoo, an assistant professor in the Department of Information, Library, and Research Sciences, and educational research methodology (ERM) doctoral students Meghan Leeming and Dr. Stacy Huff have received the Australian Evaluation Society’s Evaluation Journal of Australasia Publication Award for Excellence. Their article, “Meta-evaluation: Validating program evaluation standards through the United Nations Evaluation Quality Assessment (EQAs),” was recognized as the best article published in the journal over the past year.
Trio of Students Recognized with UNCG SOE’s Smiley Award
The Smiley Award, which supports global educational opportunities for current School of Education (SOE) undergraduate and graduate students, has been presented to undergraduate student Leila Jane Lovell (Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education) and graduate students Haeju Lee (Department of Information, Library, and Research Sciences) and Parishi Gandhi (Department of Counseling and Educational Development). These students will represent the SOE as Global Education Ambassadors through international or local engagement.
Moldova High School Teacher Gains Inspiration From New Experiences with Greensboro Educators
Irina Mutruc, a 47-year-old Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (FTEA) fellow from Moldova, recently signed up for her first Instagram account. Her six-week experience at UNC Greensboro yielded too many experiences, too many connections, too many epiphanies, to keep it all to herself. “I have so many things to share!”
McCaskill, Ho Selected as 2024 Smiley Award Recipients
The Smiley Award, which supports global educational opportunities for current School of Education (SOE) undergraduate and graduate students, has been presented to undergraduate student Mary Beth McCaskill (Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education) and graduate student Youn Jung Ho (Department of Counseling and Educational Development). These students will represent the SOE as Global Education Ambassadors through international or local engagement.
Global Perspectives for Productive Classrooms
What makes a classroom work? How can you engage students through play and technology? How does culture play a role in learning? This year’s cohort in the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement (Fulbright TEA) Program came to UNC Greensboro to discover answers to these questions and more over their six-week residency. Fulbright TEA is a U.S. government program supported by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State, and administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board.
Smiley Award Helps Harrison Study in Costa Rica
The Smiley Award supports global educational opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students in UNC Greensboro’s School of Education and is presented annually. One of last year’s recipients, Dauria Harrison, was able to spend part of her summer on an immersive and service-learning program in Costa Rica.
EnACTeD and IGNITE Provide Support to GCS Teacher of the Year
An active participant in the UNC Greensboro School of Education’s EnACTeD, and now IGNITE programs, Jhonatan Marin Mesa was recently honored as the Guilford County Schools (GCS) Teacher of the Year.
UNCG ALUMNA SPEARHEADS FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND NC LANGUAGE PROGRAM
We all want the best environment for our children, and when there’s an unmet need, UNC Greensboro students and alumni do everything in their power to meet that need, even if it hasn’t been done before. In 2018, Principal Carla Flores-Ballesteros ’04, found herself pitching an idea to support the students in her community through language development.
Visit to Finland Exposes Student Teachers to New Experiences
In April of 2023, 16 UNC Greensboro School of Education student teachers traveled to Oulu, Finland, to extend their student teaching experience. Finland is one of the world’s highest achieving countries according to the PISA, the international exam for measuring educational achievement.