As a former elementary and middle school teacher interested in the intersections of race, science, and education, Jason Buell enrolled in doctoral studies in education because he deeply cares about teachers.

I think it is important to not just think about teachers in relation to students, but that teachers themselves are human beings and have their own needs for being whole. The School of Education gave me tools to begin to understand about how to best support teachers as human beings, and I hope to make contributions to doing so in the future.”

“I think it is important to not just think about teachers in relation to students, but that teachers themselves are human beings and have their own needs for being whole,” he said. “The School of Education gave me tools to begin to understand about how to best support teachers as human beings, and I hope to make contributions to doing so in the future.”

Buell also chose CU Boulder’s STEM Education program in the School of Education for the opportunity to work with his advisor, Erin Furtak, who shares his commitment to “working with teachers and being a co-learner alongside them rather than simply providing expertise advice or doing research on them.”

Buell’s research focuses on supporting science teachers in learning to engage students in equitable and meaningful scientific practices. His dissertation was part of a long-term research-practice partnership with a local school district that he has been instrumental in cultivating. By drawing together readings from the philosophy of science, science studies, and science education, Buell developed a new framework for understanding the models students create to represent their understanding of everyday scientific phenomena.

During his time at CU Boulder, Buell also mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students, served as a co-founder of the student-led journal focused on public scholarship, “The Assembly,” acted as an advisor to the McNair Scholar Program, and served as a board member for the Teachers of Color and Allies Summit. Buell’s many commitments to community building and community engagement contributed to his selection for the Outstanding Graduate Award for Community Engagement and Public Scholarship by the School of Education faculty. 

“Dr. Buell went above and beyond as a student to actively contribute to the formation of a better community,” faculty nominators wrote. “His abiding care, thoughtfulness, and wisdom have helped countless fellow students, teachers, and community members.”

Even after taking a postdoctoral position at Northwestern University following his dissertation defense in the summer of 2020, Buell has continued to provide vital mentorship by attending and presenting at STEMinars and serving as a host to STEM Education PhD finalists.

Perhaps it is his experience as a teacher and love for educators that make human connection easy for Buell, but he credits the lifelong friends and colleagues he met at CU Boulder as one the most important outcomes of his doctoral studies.

“One of the strengths of the School of Education is it is big enough to facilitate many different kinds of relationships but small enough that you can still feel like an individual,” he said. 

Buell has long held a passion for justice education, and he was an original member of a team of educators of color who developed EduColor, a nationwide collective that mobilizes advocates nationwide around issues of educational equity, agency, and justice. He is hopeful about  his CU Boulder alma mater’s justice-centric work and future. 

“I really like how the School of Education continues to grow and develop,” he said. “The school has done a wonderful job of bringing in diverse and justice-focused scholars and developing new programs that benefit local communities.” 

Always the supporter of teachers and learners, Dr. Buell’s closing advice for incoming doctoral students includes caring for one another.

“Find other students that you care about and want to see succeed and then help them succeed,” he said. “Then no matter what happens you will have done something good with your time here.”

Jason’s advice for students:

Find other students that you care about and want to see succeed and then help them succeed. Then no matter what happens you will have done something good with your time here.”

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After more than a decade embedded in her postsecondary studies, Christine Zabala is looking forward to more of the same — continuing to work with college students and teaching to transform higher education.

I continue to feel passion for working in higher education, because there is still so much work left to be done. No institution is perfect and working in higher education to break down barriers to success for marginalized students is critical."

“Earning my PhD has been the culmination of a very long time in higher education —11 years, in fact,” she said. “It feels like the end of a very long journey, in one regard, but the beginning of a lifelong journey in higher education that is just starting.”

Zabala completed both her undergraduate and master’s degrees in English and Literature in Texas, where she’s from. As a master’s student and graduate instructor, Zabala discovered she loved working with college students, as a teacher and a writing tutor. After spending a year as a professional writing tutor and adjunct instructor, she decided to return to higher education to earn a doctoral degree in education, so she could further develop her practice in working with college students. 

“I was drawn to CU Boulder because of their emphasis on social justice as well as the high level of research from this institution,” she said. 

As a doctoral graduate in Literacy Studies in the School of Education, Dr. Zabala is commended for her deeply reflexive approach to teaching, one of many reasons she was selected for the Outstanding Graduate Award for Teaching by the School of Education faculty.

In her time at CU Boulder, she led and supported several research projects, coordinated CU Boulder’s Online Composition Hub, and was a graduate instructional leader for the Center for Teaching and Learning.

It’s not surprising that some of Zabala’s most impactful memories of her doctoral studies stems from teaching. In particular, she enjoyed and grew as an educator by teaching School and Society, EDUC 3013, a required diversity course for Arts and Sciences undergraduates and the School of Education’s most-enrolled class. 

“Doing the important work with students of unpacking systems of oppression in the U.S. school system, exploring our complicity in those systems, and working on how to change them has been a learning and growing experience both for myself and for the folks enrolled in my courses,” she said. “The experiences and conversations from those courses are one of the things I value most from my interactions here.”

Zabala’s dissertation, “The Role of Queer Literacies in a Required Diversity Course,” incorporated that growth by studying her own teaching and investigating the impact of curricular and instructional innovations related to critical pedagogies and queer literacies in EDUC 3013. Her work explores how failure and discomfort in teaching and learning can and must be reframed as necessary aspects of undergraduate courses, particularly when the content requires students and instructors to do the vulnerable work of critical examination of self, others, and systemic oppression.

Zabala’s passion for transforming higher education has been an undercurrent throughout her decade-long studies, but that work is ever-present and ongoing. 

“I continue to feel passion for working in higher education, because there is still so much work left to be done,” she said. “No institution is perfect and working in higher education to break down barriers to success for marginalized students is critical. 

“As the child of an immigrant from Mexico, I know how the education system continues to function as a space for white supremacy in many regards, and it will take educators who are dedicated to making systemic changes to shift that reality.”

Christine’s advice for students:

My best piece of advice for incoming students, especially for graduate students, is to find space to do things that you enjoy. There will always be more things that you could be doing and attempting to finish any program at a sprint is a recipe for burnout. I became a lot happier here once I was able to let go of trying to complete every single thing to perfection.”

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