Congratulations to Dr. Susanna Hapgood, who has been name as the new Judith Daso Herb Endowed Chair in Education.

The Judith Daso Herb Endowed Chair in Education was established in 1998 by Judith Daso Herb in honor of her devoted parents, Richard and Betty Daso.

Susanna Hapgood, Associate Professor at UToledo, has a deep background in both formal and informal education, literacy, and children’s language learning while doing science. Dr. Hapgood has been involved the Networking Urban Resources with Teachers and University to Enrich Early Childhood Science (NURTURES) project for the last 9 years. In 2017 this project received the Christa McAuliffe Excellence in Teacher Education Award from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. She was key-faculty for one year then co-PI with her University of Toledo colleagues (Drs. Charlene Czerniak,(PI), Scott Molitor  & Joan Kaderavek, co-PIs) for 8 years on two National Science Foundation grants that funded the development and research of the project. Before coming to UT in 2006, she taught English in Japan for over five years, two in middle and elementary schools and three more in a preschool immersion program she developed. She was the program director at the Children’s Museum in South Dartmouth (in Massachusetts) for several years and has assisted in the development of special exhibits at the Boston Children’s Museum and the National Children’s Castle in Tokyo. After conducting an in-depth case study of second graders’ investigations of the motion of balls on inclined planes, she completed her doctorate in early childhood education at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Hapgood has authored or co-authored nine peer-reviewed articles, five book chapters and several national and state accreditation reports and has chaired 13 dissertation committees. In addition, she has made over 50 presentations at peer-reviewed national and international conferences. Her research has focused on young children’s experiences engaging in scientific inquiry in classrooms and in informal learning contexts when with family members. A second line of research has examined how to support teacher’s specialized knowledge development for planning and enacting scientific and engineering-design inquiry instruction and for informational text-based discussions. She currently serves on the Professional Development Committee for the Association of Science Teacher Educators and regularly reviews articles for the Journal of Research on Science Teaching and Science Education.

Judith Daso Herb Endowed Chair funding will first support in-depth examination of families’ discourse and engagement with science and engineering materials. This information has the potential to enhance our understanding of how families incorporate science and engineering practices into their children’s home learning experiences.

The legacy of The Judith Daso Herb Endowed Chair will benefit education and learners in Toledo, Northwest Ohio and beyond.