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BATON ROUGE, LA 鈥� Faculty from the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education (SOE) achieved a commendable showing at the April meeting of the conference in Los Angeles, CA. 

The 2026 conference theme was 鈥淯nforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: Constructing a New Vision for Educational Research.鈥� AERA President , invited students, educators, practitioners and researchers to engage in futuring for education and education research; that is: 鈥渋ntentional collective planning and future making that seeks to spark innovation, sustainability and equitable opportunities.鈥�

Representing the PK-12 Educational Leadership program, Henderson Lewis, Jr., PhD, was tapped as an Invited Speaker to share his expertise in the Scholars and Advocates for Gender Equity Committee session, 鈥淟essons Learned that Cannot be Forgotten,鈥� where he shared his experiences post-Katrina with the repercussions of laying off the predominantly female teaching force in Orleans Parish Schools. In a paper session sponsored by AERA鈥檚 Research on the Superintendency SIG, Lewis also presented 鈥淭he Unification Story: Transforming New Orleans Schools.鈥� Lewis also co-presented with two current SOE graduate students, Veysel Altunal and Stacy-Ann Campbell, collaborating on a roundtable session 鈥淯nforgetting the Past, Futuring AI: Leadership Visions for Equitable Educational Technologies鈥� and another paper session, 鈥淯nschooling the System: Learning Pods, Family Choice, and Rewriting Educational Futures.鈥� Lewis co-presented a fifth presentation, collaborating with three doctoral students, Altunel, Campbell, and Nicholas Bijou, 鈥淕overning Innovation and System Change in an Era of Choice.鈥�

Lewis was joined by PK-12 Educational Leadership program colleague Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD, program coordinator for the PK-12 Educational Leadership program and director of the LSU Writing Project, who participated in two peer-reviewed sessions; a roundtable, 鈥淯nforgetting Contributions to Environmental Preservation: Remembering Elzada Clover鈥檚 and Lois Jotter鈥檚 Historical Journey and Work鈥� with doctoral student, Hayley A. Graham; and a paper session, 鈥淧articipants: Unforgetting Teaching Herstories: Bringing Relationship Literacies Forward While Shifting Narratives About Teaching Through Life Stories鈥� with colleagues from University of Northen Iowa, Western Michigan University and Washington State University. Sulentic Dowell also serves as elected Chair of the Biographical and Documentary Research Special Interest Group (SIG).

Allie J. Boquet, PhD, a faculty member in the SOE鈥檚 Special Education program, delivered a solid performance as she presented 鈥淩eimagining Postsecondary Inclusion: Emergency Preparedness Planning for Students with Intellectual Disabilities in Higher Education,鈥� a session she co-submitted with Paul Mooney, PhD, also faculty in the Special Education program.

Also making a notably strong showing were members of SOE鈥檚 Higher Education Administration program. Ashley Clayton, PhD, participated in collaborative research session 鈥淐ollege Advising for Undocumented Students in California Title I High Schools鈥� and was joined by a colleague from University of Texas - El Paso.

鈥淔ostering a Sense of Belonging Among Transfers: A Peer-Mentoring Program at a Four-Year Institution鈥� was a research presentation spearheaded by Higher Education Administration faculty Yu April Chen, PhD, who collaborated with three Higher Education Administration graduate students, Jingwen Liu, Doyinsola Ogunremi and Madalyn McGinnis. 

Jennifer Baumgartner, PhD, faculty member in the SOE鈥檚 Early Childhood Education program served as discussant for a session, 鈥淲orkforce Wellbeing and Retention in Early Childhood Education.鈥� Baumgartner is also the elected chair of the Early Education Child Development SIG of AERA. 

Jennifer Qian, EdD, program lead for SOE's Educational Technology program, presented two studies addressing current challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence in education: 鈥淭he AI Imperative: A Study of AI Policies for Faculty and Students in U.S. Higher Education鈥� and 鈥淯nlocking the Power of Prompt Engineering: A Critical Pedagogical Tool in the AI Age.鈥�

Investigating pressing education issues through conducting educational research is what SOE faculty do as a matter of course. Whether it is presenting original research or providing service, SOE faculty who presented at AERA represent the larger SOE faculty who are at the cutting edge of the most complex issues and challenges currently in education, from early childhood to higher education.

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About the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education
A school of the LSU College of Human Sciences & Education, the Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education (SOE) offers undergraduate programs for students who want to pursue a career as a pre-kindergarten through 12th grade teacher or acquire dual certification in both traditional elementary and special education classrooms. In addition, SOE offers 3 graduate certificates, 17 master鈥檚 degree program areas, 9 EdS certificate programs, and 2 PhD degrees in 11 areas of focus. SOE鈥檚 focus is not only on preparing highly qualified teachers but also in preparing educational leaders, curriculum studies scholars, educational technology experts, applied researchers, higher education professionals, school counselors, and clinical mental health counselors. SOE specializes scholarly expertise regarding pressing educational and wellness issues across the entire lifespan.

Visit the LSU Lutrill & Pearl Payne School of Education website.