UWM education alums honored at celebration of teaching event

A number of alumni of UWM’s School of Education were among those honored at the fifth annual Celebrate Teachers and Teaching event.

The focus of this year’s event, which is a collaborative effort of the Education Deans of Greater Milwaukee and nine local schools of education, was early childhood education. This year’s Celebration was held Oct. 26 at Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Among the School of Education graduates honored as educators and education champions were:

  • April Gagliano, a kindergarten teacher at MPS’s Academy of Accelerated Learning, who received the Advanced Career Award
  • Maria A. Garcia-Rodriguez, Advanced Career Award nominee
  • Brittany Light, Advanced Career Award nominee
  • Wanda Montgomery, Champion of Education Award nominee
  • Kelly Schaer, Champion of Education Award nominee
  • Casey Silkwood, Early Career Award nominee

Also honored was Jackie Herd-Barber, who won the 2017 Champion of Education Award. She serves on the UWM SOE Board of Visitors and is an active community volunteer and education advocate. Angel Hessel, senior lecturer in curriculum & instruction, served as co-chair of this year’s event.

Keynote speaker at the event was Dipesh Navsaria. Navsaria is a physician and associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. One of his areas of focus is early brain development.

He practices primary care pediatrics at a federally-qualified health center in Madison, and is the founding medical director of Reach Out and Read Wisconsin and the founder and director of the UW Pediatric Early Literacy Projects.

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