Consortium for Research in Teacher Education Captures “Best Graduate Student Organization” Award - April 27, 2011

The Consortium for Research in Teacher Education (CRTE), a graduate student organization in the College of Education, has been recognized for its exceptional work with the Leadership and Ethics Institute’s 2010-2011 Best Graduate Student Organization Award.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Leadership and Ethics Institute is in the Office of the Dean of Students and is dedicated to developing theoretical and practical ethical leadership skills. In honoring the College of Educations Consortium for Research in Teacher Education, it honors the organization’s extraordinary success in improving the quality of student and campus life, mentoring peers and serving the community.

The CRTE is an interdisciplinary graduate student organization that promotes rigorous, high quality research on the education of teachers. The consortium fosters collaboration among its members as well as external partnerships that support and influence teacher education, and it welcomes membership from all educational departments and fields of study. The CRTE’s mission is to provide faculty-to-graduate student mentorship, graduate-to-graduate student mentorship, create professional network opportunities and offer a safe place to explore, criticize and promote scholarly research projects.

To achieve its goals, the organization holds professional development meetings that center on scholarly writing, career development and service to academia. Last fall University of Texas at Austin faculty spoke to the group about teaching at the collegiatelevel, careers beyond academia and research methodology. So far this spring, there have been seminars on tips for publication and grant writing. In addition, each spring semester the CRTE hosts a graduate student conference, with this year’s focusing on “Thinking Beyond Educational Reforms: Research for Promoting Socially Mindful Change. The conference featured 33 presentations from graduate students from the The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Baylor University and University of Illinois. 

“This competitive award we’ve been given is a testament to all the hard work and dedication that our executive committee and members contributed this past year,” said LaGarrett King, past president of the CRTE. “The award comes with $300, and we received a very nice banner extolling our achievement. I am so happy to leave the presidency on such a high note. I know that the organization will continue to grow and impact graduate students from this university, the state of Texas and the nation. As a relatively young organization, we have achieved so much in these last four years – I’m elated to be associated with people such as the great individuals involved in CRTE!”

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910

Related Sites:

• Consortium for Research in Teacher Education Website