On October 17, Dr. Bryan Ripley Crandall, associate professor of English Education hosted, The Write Time with Nikki Grimes, a special collaboration between Connecticut Writing Project (CWP) Fairfield, the National Parks, and the National Writing Project, Write Out, bringing together thousands of teachers and park rangers to celebrate the outdoors and the importance of nature journaling and taking care of the planet. 

New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2022 CSK Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement Award, the ALAN Award for significant contributions to young adult literature, the Children's Literature Legacy Medal, and the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. The author of Coretta Scott King Award-winner Bronx Masquerade, and five Coretta Scott King Author Honors, her most recent titles include the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults title Between the Lines, companion to Bronx Masquerade, NCTE Notable Words With Wings, the much acclaimed Garvey's Choice, One Last Word, Printz Honor and Sibert Honor Ordinary Hazards, ALA Notables Legacy: Women Poets of the Harlem Renaissance and Southwest Sunrise, Kirkus Best Books Bedtime for Sweet Creatures and Playtime for Restless Rascals, and Kamala Harris: Rooted in Justice, and Garvey in the Dark, a companion to Garvey's Choice. Ms. Grimes lives in Corona, California.

Additionally, in SEHD’s Educational Technology and Instructional Design program, Associate Vice Provost for Pedagogical Innovation & Effectiveness, Jay Rozgoyni, and Associate Dean of the School of Education and Human Development, Dr. Joshua Elliott, are developing a new course called AI in Teaching and Learning that will be run in the first summer session of 2024. This course was developed in response to the dramatic growth in interest in using artificial intelligence for teaching and learning. 

Drawing on the work of the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), two of whose three directors are members of the SEHD faculty, the class will explore and contextualize this groundbreaking new technology and will utilize the Ignatian principles of helping students to determine what is truly good for themselves and for society. The rise of AI provides an extraordinary opportunity to our society but also poses an uncommon threat. We believe that the School of Education and Human Development is uniquely positioned to guide students through the process to help them understand how these tools can be used in the classroom to improve education and enhance equity.