The College of Education and Health Professions' Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee is hosting an online event for students interested in pursuing higher education careers like professor, instructor and researcher.

The event, in celebration of Women's History Month, will include a panel discussion with women faculty members from the college who are first-generation college graduates. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the event, which is titled "Demystifying Careers in Higher Education." Pre-registration is required for the talk, scheduled for Tuesday, March 30, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

"We have wonderful panel members who represent different career paths for working at a college or university," said Suzanne Kucharczyk, an assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction department at the U of A. "Students, especially those who are the first in their families to go to college, often don't know how to break into the field and what supports to gather to be successful. We want to help demystify these pathways."

Kucharczyk and Guadalupe Rodriguez will serve as panel moderators. Rodriguez, who also is a first-generation college graduate, has a doctorate in medicine and is an adviser in the college's Boyer Center for Student Services.

Panelists will discuss a variety of topics, including the benefits of a career in higher education; how they ended up in the field; what it's like to be a professor, instructor or researcher; what contributed to their success and how their journeys were shaped by being a first-generation college student.

Panelists include:

• Karmen Bell, M.Ed., Curriculum and Instruction. Bell is an instructor of Childhood and Elementary Education with more than 20 years of experience as an educator. She teaches undergraduate courses in early literacy and supervises Elementary Education internships in the Northwest Arkansas area. Bell is a Ph.D. candidate whose research interests include pre-service teacher education, literacy instruction and culturally responsive practices.            
• Rachel Glade, Ph.D., Communication Sciences and Disorders. Glade is a certified Speech-Language Pathologist, a Listening and Spoken Language Specialist and a Certified Auditory-Verbal Therapist, a distinguished certification earned by those who have completed extensive training and education in working with children and adults who have hearing loss and their families. Glade, a clinical assistant professor, teaches courses and provides clinical supervision for graduate and undergraduate student clinicians.
• Michelle Gray, Ph.D., Health, Human Performance and Recreation. Gray is an associate professor, director of the Exercise Science Research Center and director of the College of Education and Health Professions' Honors program. Since coming to the U of A in 2010, her research has focused on improving the physical and cognitive function of older adults.                            
• Ginger Holloway, MSN, APRN, FNP/AGACNP-BC, CNE, Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. Holloway has worked in acute and community health care settings with adults and pediatric patients since 1992. She began teaching at HarBer School of Nursing and the U of A as a clinical adjunct. She then joined the NorthWest Arkansas Community College nursing program in 2006. Ginger joined the U of A nursing school in 2013. She also continues to work in the acute care setting as a staff nurse.         
• Diana Gonzales Worthen, Ph.D., Curriculum and Instruction. Worthen is the principal investigator/director of Project REACH, a USDE grant which fosters teacher effectiveness and equity for English learners and their families. REACH prepares teachers to obtain an English as a Second Language (ESL) Endorsement/TESL Graduate Certificate and provides a Grow Your Own (GYO) pathway for bilingual, bicultural paraprofessionals to become K-6 teachers in the Springdale School District. Her community advocacy includes co-founding two non-profit organizations, OneCommunity and Hispanic Women's Organization of Arkansas. She currently serves on the DACA Teachers Advisory Committee.

Pre-register for the Zoom panel event through March 30.