Published Monday, May 24, 2004
SGA Presents First Student Educator Award
By Linda Abarbanell
APPIAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtman, a fourth-year doctoral student in Human Development and Psychology (HDP), has been named the first-ever recipient of the Student Educator Award.

The award, created by the Student Government Association, recognizes one non-faculty educator at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) who has shown excellence in the areas of teaching, advising, and/or mentorship for the 2003-04 academic year.

Having left the world of laboratory science to dedicate herself to connecting bio-behavioral research with direct applications to early childhood education and intervention, Rappolt-Schlichtman has amassed an impressive list of accomplishments in her time at HGSE.

In addition to being a teaching fellow for a total of 5 different courses, she has served as the HDP Area Peer Academic Counselor, the Solicitation Editor of the Harvard Educational Review, and the Research Coordinator of the Developmental Pathways Project. She has also served as a Research Assistant for the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project, and for CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology.

But students say that what makes Rappolt-Schlichtman so special is not the long list of activities that fill her resume, but rather the compassion and caring that she brings to her day-to-day interactions at HGSE.

Students and faculty describe her as a “pillar of support” who always makes time, no matter how busy she is, to lend a sympathetic ear or provide a shoulder for comfort.

As one student who nominated her wrote, “Whenever I would visit her in office hours, she made me feel welcome and she always gave her sole attention to whomever she was talking to.”

According to another, “Gabbie makes herself as available as is humanly possible to all of the dozens of students who look to her for help. Her office door is always open, and she is ever-ready with a bit of encouragement when it is needed.”

Students, as well as the other teaching fellows whom Rappolt-Schlichtman has mentored, praised Gabbie for being a “teacher, mentor, leader, an inspiration, supportive, sensitive.”

The award winner herself said she is “completely blown away” by the honor.

“It really means a lot to me. Especially since this will be my last year as a TF,” she said. “It is a nice closing of this chapter in my doctoral studies – but really, really surprising!”

When asked what makes her so effective as a teacher and mentor, Rappolt-Schlichtman cites the enjoyment she gets out of helping students.

“I didn’t really think of it as a job,” she reflects, “but I really just liked working with the students, one-on-one, interacting with them and trying to understand where they were coming from and what they needed to get out of the classes.”

Above all, she said she has valued the opportunity to mentor students, “seeing students come in, working with them on their assignments, seeing them make positive changes.”

She said she tries to “see where they are, meet them there, help them move back into the world, improve and get what they need out of their experience at HGSE.”

Students also cite Rappolt-Schlichtman’s experience and expertise in neuroscience, which she shares in courses such as T-560 (Neuropsychology and Instructional Design) and HT-100 (Cognitive Development, Education and the Brain).

She has served as head TF for both, supporting countless students, many of whom enter with little to no science background. She is recognized for being able to communicate complex topics to students in a calm and reassuring way. As one student wrote, “She sets the bar very high and also helps me to reach it.”

Rappolt-Schlichtman has given whole class lectures and even recorded a video lecture on her own research, which aims to understand the physiology of stress, especially for children who have had very stressful early life experiences. She then looks at how this affects their experience and performance in school.

Associate Professor of Education Catherine Ayoub, one of Rappolot-Schlichtman’s co-advisors, states, “She truly embodies the image of the multi-talented person who can bridge research and practice. She has also been able to illustrate the interface of mind, brain and education in her teaching and research. I am honored to be working with her.”

Rappolt-Schlichtman will be honored on June 8th, 2004, at the Awards Ceremony in Eliot-Lyman. The ceremony will start at 1:00 pm.