Thousands of K-12 students and teachers go back to school this month. To help get the new school year off to the right start, Carolyn Orange, professor of educational psychology with the UTSA College of Education and Human Development, shares a few tips that will help first-year teachers – and their students – excel.

Childhood obesity affects millions of children around the world. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 18 percent of American children between the ages of six and 11 were obese in 2012. In Mexico, 28 percent of boys and 29 percent of girls between the ages of five and 17 were either obese or overweight that same year, based on statistics by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development.

Dr. Rosalind Horowitz, professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching, traveled to Israel this May and June to meet with doctoral students whose work she has contributed to as an External Doctoral Dissertation Faculty Member.

   |    Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching

University of Texas at Austin President Greg Fenves announced Thursday that he has convened a group of students, faculty and staff to recommend policies for the school to comply with a new state law that will allow the concealed carrying of gun on college campuses.

Dennis Davis is an assistant professor of literacy education at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Davis was a bilingual teacher and a reading and writing teacher in Rio Grande City and San Antonio before heading to Vanderbilt University, where he got his doctor of philosophy degree from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

Everything from not fudging your receipts to keeping relationships with students strictly professional was reviewed during an ethics session conducted for more than 200 Ector County ISD employees Tuesday at Bonham Middle School. David Thompson, a professor of education law at University of Texas at San Antonio, presented the information in five sessions Tuesday and will conduct three more today (Wednesday). The district has about 1,700 teachers and roughly 3,400 employees total. New teachers are going through in two sessions, officials said. ECISD has had five accusations of an improper student-teacher relationship come out of Permian in three years. Last year was the first time Thompson presented the ethics seminars to ECISD personnel.

The U.S. Department of Education has awarded Texas more than $2.6 million in grants to help low-income students take Advanced Placement tests.

With students heading back to school this month, there’s concern about teacher shortages across the country. Teacher shortages are also being felt in the Alamo City. “We actually, consistently for the last several years have had a teacher shortage, particularly in the areas of math and science, and a really big shortage for bilingual teachers,” said Carolyn Castillo, Component Director at Education Service Center – Region 20 in San Antonio.

The U.S. Education Department has opened the comment period for a draft version of the 2016-17 Free Application for Federal Student Aid. One notable change: Admissions officers will no longer be able to view the list of colleges to which aid applicants send their Fafsas. Some admissions offices use the order in which applicants list colleges as a clue to their college preferences and, possibly, a factor in decisions about admissions and scholarships. The lists of colleges that receive students’ Fafsas will still be shared with state grant agencies. The public-comment period ends on October 13.

Yoni Freedhoff, a clinician specializing in obesity and an assistant professor at the U. of Ottawa: “‘Energy balance’ is a darling catchphrase for the food industry because the concept, simply put, suggests that you can eat all the crap you want as long as you balance it with exercise.”