The College of Education and Health Professions recently recognized its 2024 Outstanding Departmental Alumni Award winners. Karan B. Burnette, Michael Tapee, Michael M. Kocet, Elise Swanson, Heather D. Hunter and Keith A. Jones will be honored at an evening reception on March 8 to celebrate their accomplishments. 

"Our departmental alumni awardees are all significantly influencing their respective areas within health and education," said Dean Kate Mamiseishvili. "The impact of their work empowering people and bringing transformative change to the systems they work within is immeasurable, and we can't wait to celebrate them and their achievements."

Outstanding Alumni, Department of Communication Disorders and Occupational Therapy

Karan B. Burnette is currently the executive director of Partners for Inclusive Communities; the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research and Service at the U of A; and an outreach program of the College of Education and Health Professions. She successfully attained a Bachelor of Education with a concentration in elementary education and a master's degree in speech language pathology and audiology from the U of A.

With a career that spans over four decades, she has assumed diverse roles dedicated to providing services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. One of Burnette's most significant contributions was the development and implementation of a statewide program for young children with autism. This program offers home-based intervention, empowering families to feel competent in supporting children's learning and advocating for their ongoing needs. She was appointed to the Arkansas Legislative Task Force on Autism and the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities and actively contributes to shaping policies in these areas. Her diverse interests include integrating parents and caregivers into treatment, providing services and support to rural underserved areas and offering education to allied health professionals.

Most recently, Burnette secured a $10.4 million contract to pilot systems change initiatives aimed at supporting children and families. This initiative focuses on preventing disruption and avoiding residential placements for children while also developing services for children with prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs.

Outstanding Alumni, Department of Curriculum and Instruction

Michael Tapee is a dedicated Arkansas educator at Hellstern Middle School, part of Springdale Public Schools. He is deeply passionate about giving all students a voice and the opportunity to explore and discover new ideas. Tapee challenges his students every day to see themselves as mathematicians and builds a culture of collaboration and learning within his classroom. He is honored to serve on Hellstern's Guiding Coalition alongside fellow teacher-leaders and administrators who constantly inspire him with their commitment to education.

When not teaching math, Tapee is busy coaching Herobotics, his school's first LEGO League program. Through this program, his students gain a myriad of advanced cross-curricular skills while experiencing all the benefits of a team sport. His teams have consistently performed at the highest levels, becoming the Arkansas State Champions three times and representing the state at the first LEGO League World Championships. In 2021, Herobotics was recognized for their work on organ donation safety and subsequently named among the top 20 teams in the world for the Global Innovation Award. Herobotics has also competed in additional international tournaments all around the country.

Tapee is recognized nationally as well as locally. In the fall of 2023, he received the national Milken Educator Award in a surprise ceremony at Hellstern. A proud Razorback, Tapee attended the U of A for his undergraduate degree and his M.A.T. in secondary mathematics. He later went on to complete his Ed.S. in educational leadership at Arkansas State.

Outstanding Alumni, Department of Counseling, Leadership and Research Methods

Michael M. Kocet is the assistant vice chancellor for graduate education and professor of counseling at the University of Colorado in Denver. Previously, he served as professor and department chair of the Counselor Education Department at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and Bridgewater State University, where he taught both counseling and student affairs courses. Kocet earned his Ph.D. in counselor education from the U of A and completed a graduate certificate in dispute resolution at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. 

He is a licensed mental health counselor, a board-certified counselor and an approved clinical supervisor. His professional areas of interest include ethical issues in counseling, counseling LGBTQ+ individuals, grief counseling and culinary therapy. He is a co-author of the text Ethical Decision Making for the 21st Century Counselor. Kocet is a fellow of the American Counseling Association, the highest award given by the counseling profession in recognition of lifetime contributions to the field. He has been active in community service, providing pro bono counseling at the GLBT Domestic Violence Project in Boston and the Center on Halsted, an LGBTQ Community Center in Chicago. He has presented at local, state and national conferences in counseling and student affairs and is a sought-after national speaker and consultant on ethics, diversity, LGBTQ+ issues and grief counseling. 

He is an internationally recognized leader and educator in culinary therapy and has been featured in news and health outlets such as CNN, HuffPost, The Washington Post and The Zoe Report.

Outstanding Alumni, Department of Education Reform

Elise Swanson is the senior research manager at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University. At CEPR, she directs the analytic work for the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks, a research-practice partnership based at Harvard University with over 60 rural districts across the country, and manages the Leveraging Technology and Engaging Students project, a collaboration between the Los Angeles Community College District, Harvard and the University of Southern California.

Additionally, she trains and advises fellows participating in the Strategic Data Project, a fellowship program that embeds and supports data analysts in education agencies across the country. Prior to joining CEPR, Swanson was a senior postdoctoral research associate at the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California. Her research is focused on evaluating policies and practices designed to strengthen students' preparation for and success in college and career pathways. Swanson conducts mixed methods research, typically in the context of long-term research practice partnerships. She began her career in education as an 11th-grade English teacher in Pine Bluff and received her doctorate in education policy from the Department of Education Reform at the U of A.

Outstanding Alumni, The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing

Heather D. Hunter, a two-time U of A alumna, is a dedicated nursing educator with over 10 years of experience in hospice, palliative, medical/surgical and cardiology practice. She began her career as a hospice nurse in Honolulu, Hawaii, working as a case manager. In 2012, Hunter relocated back to Fayetteville and worked with the Veterans Healthcare System of the Ozarks in palliative care, medical/surgical and cardiology before returning to full-time hospice case management with Circle of Life Hospice.

In 2014, Hunter founded and served as the first president of the NWA Chapter of Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association. In 2016, she finished her Master of Science in Nursing (Education) from the Eleanor Mann School of Nursing. After serving as an adjunct instructor for many years, she left full-time practice to join the U of A as a clinical instructor of nursing and online BSN practicum coordinator. In the summer of 2023, Hunter joined the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences as a teaching faculty member in the medical school's NorthWest campus. Hunter started her Ph.D. in nursing at UAMS in August of 2023, focusing her research on underserved populations and end-of-life care education.

Outstanding Alumni, Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation

Keith A. Jones began his career in athletic training at the U of A as a student trainer for Lou Holtz's football and Eddie Sutton's basketball teams. He interned with the Philadelphia Eagles as an athletic trainer during his college summers and worked as their full-time assistant trainer during the 1983 season. Upon leaving Philadelphia, Jones spent two seasons with the Oklahoma/Arizona Outlaws of the USFL. He eventually rejoined Holtz in 1987 at the University of Minnesota as their football trainer. Jones got his start in the NBA in 1988 as the assistant trainer for the Orlando Magic. The following season, he joined the Los Angeles Clippers and became the first African American and the youngest head trainer in the NBA at age 28. 

He joined the Houston Rockets in 1996 and has served the past 17 seasons as their head athletic trainer. He was voted by his peers as the NBA Trainer of the Year in 2001 before being elevated to vice president of basketball operations/athletic trainer in 2002. Since becoming the senior vice president of basketball operations in 2007, Jones has overseen the Rockets' player relations and basketball operations. During the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics, Jones served as a team athletic trainer for the U.S. Men's Olympic Team, which captured the gold medal in both games. Jones recently finished his 34th season in professional basketball and his 27th with the Houston Rockets.

About the College of Education and Health Professions: The College of Education and Health Professions' six departments prepare students for a range of careers in education and health. In addition to its longstanding role of preparing educators and educational leaders, the college trains nurses, speech-language pathologists, public health specialists, recreation and sports professionals, counselors, occupational therapists, athletic trainers, and exercise scientists.