New Faculty Fellowship Recipients Announced

The University of Missouri College of Education’s Office of Advancement has recently announced the establishment of three new endowed faculty fellowships.

Faculty members Dr. Brad Curs, Dr. Casandra Harper Morris, and Dr. Ashley Woodson are the recipients of the new fellowships.

Tom and Karen Weaver established two fellowships in honor of their fathers: the John C. Weaver Faculty Fellowship in Higher Education Administration and the Charles H. Koelling, Ed.D. Fellowship.  John Weaver was the 15th President of the University of Missouri in Columbia and the second University of Missouri System President. Charles Koelling had a long career in higher education administration at the University of Missouri.

The William A. and Jean S. Stauffer Faculty Fellow in Education was established in memory of William Stauffer and to honor Jean Stauffer, who were married for 62 years. William retired as the chief operating officer of Blue-Cross-Blue Shield, Iowa. Jean was an education major at the University of Missouri and taught in elementary school for several years.

“Fellowship endowments encourage exemplary faculty to choose a future at Mizzou and equip them with resources to expand their impact,” said Kathryn Chval, Joanne H. Hook Dean’s Chair in Educational Renewal. “We are very grateful for the establishment of these fellowships and the legacy that they establish.”

John C. Weaver Faculty Fellowship in Higher Education Administration

Brad Curs
Bradley Curs

Awarded to Brad Curs, the department chair in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA).

Curs joined ELPA in 2005, and his research uses tools from the discipline of economics to understand the effects of educational policy at both the student and institutional level. Specifically, his research focuses on issues of education access, equity, and success across three areas: the efficacy of financial aid programs, the behaviors of educational institutions, and pre-college readiness.

Charles H. Koelling, Ed.D. Fellowship

Casandra Harper Morris

Awarded to Casandra Harper Morris, associate professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA).

Harper Morris joined ELPA in 2008, and her research focuses on differential effects of college on students, racial identification patterns of college students, and parental involvement, campus climate, and financial aid.

William A. and Jean S. Stauffer Faculty Fellow in Education

Ashley Woodson

Awarded to Ashley Woodson, an assistant professor in the Department of Learning, Teaching and Curriculum.

Woodson recently joined the college’s faculty, and came here from the Center for Urban Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research explores Black adolescents’ performances of Blackness and Queerness in civic life, and emancipatory pedagogies in history education.