College of Education Spring 2019 Commencement and Reception

The College of Education's Spring 2019 Commencement will be held on Wedensday, May 22, 2019 at 7pm at Reckord Armory. We will celebrate this major life milestone of our matriculating undergraduate and graduate students. Family and friends are invited to the ceremony to applaud their loved ones as they cross the stage. A reception will be held prior to the ceremony, from 4 - 6pm in the Benjamin Building courtyard. 

UMD College of Education Commencement Graduate Student Speaker

Kelly Mills is a Postdoctoral Associate at University of Maryland. She studies how teacher education can support the development of best practices with innovative technologies in formal learning environments. After receiving a B.S. in Biology and M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction, she was a high school science teacher in a diverse community for eight years, which has motivated strong equity themes in her work. Most recently, she earned her Ph.D. in Science Education from University of Maryland, College Park. Her dissertation Illuminating Children’s Scientific Funds of Knowledge Through Social Media Sharing draws on the idea that educators can use technology to connect learners’ everyday experiences to formal science learning. She currently works as a postdoctoral associate on an NSF-funded STEM+C project investigating computational thinking professional learning experiences for pre-service elementary teachers. She has worked on several NSF-funded projects focused on developing and integrating innovative technologies in K-12 learning environments. These studies include Science Everywhere, which explored the integration of a social media application for science learning in informal and formal learning environments and SAVE Science, a game-based system for assessing science learning for middle school children. She has authored and co- authored over ten publications and presented her work at over twenty conferences. 

UMD College of Education Commencement Undergraduate Student Speaker

Ariela Julia Sirota is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in mathematics. She completed her senior residency teaching first grade at a school in Montgomery County. During her time at UMD she was the president and founder of a student organization titled SPEAK: UMD’s Student-Run Poetry Collective, an organization which aimed to create an inclusive space in which any and all students could write and share poetry in a judgement-free zone. Additionally, she was an executive board member on Preventing Sexual Assault (PSA), working with students across campus to facilitate dialogue about sexual violence, and informing students about the resources and supports available to them. Next year she plans to teach in New York City Public Schools.