USC Rossier Magazine: Spring/Summer 2019

The everything educator

Yvonne Thevenot MAT ’14, founder/executive director of STEM Kids NYC, helps students explore mechanical engineering design. (PHOTO CREDIT: SHANNON SANDERS).

“Teacher” is just one of many roles required of this generation of educators. They have to navigate natural and political forces, find new ways to collaborate, develop novel techniques to engage students and still make time for personal and professional growth. As the USC Rossier School celebrates our 100th anniversary—as well as 10 years of both Math for America Los Angeles and our partnership with 2U—we also celebrate the endlessly creative and flexible ways educators rise to every occasion, in and out of the classroom.

Dear Friends

Of presidents and parrotfish

Learning from President Hilda Heine EdD ’04.

Yasemin Copur-Gencturk | Photography by Stephanie Yantz

For the love of math

After overcoming huge obstacles, Yasemin Copur-Gencturk is changing the way we teach

Multiplicity

Math for America LA has made a difference for 10 years and counting

Digital revol(2U)tion

How a transformative partnership between USC Rossier and a startup changed education

Flames over Lakeside High School in Lake Elsinore during 2018’s Holy Fire.

In case of disaster

Superintendents confront natural calamities with preparation, leadership and care

At first strike

On the picket line after only two weeks of teaching

Stronger together

A creative vision for collaboration between charter and traditional public schools

Into the wild

A love of animals led Anna Becker MAT ’18 to educational opportunities at the L.A. Zoo

photography by Stephanie Yantz | design by Erik Baxter

Man in motion

Kerin Alfaro ME ’20’s superheroic drive is matched by his heart

USC Rossier Dean Karen Symms Gallagher, President and CEO of The Education Trust John B. King and USC Rossier Katzman/Ernst Chair for Educational Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation Alan Arkatov at the inaugural L.A. Education Exchange. PHOTO CREDIT: BRIAN MORRI

The L.A. education exchange

The USC Rossier School and the Center for Engagement-Driven Global Education (EDGE) hosted a first-of-its-kind, two-day gathering for the leadership of L.A.’s public, private and parochial schools.

Marathon memories

Shirley Parry PhD ’17 became one of only 41 women and 97 men to ever complete the World Marathon Challenge: seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.