Alyse C. Hachey

Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education

Alyse C. Hachey started at UTEP in Fall of 2017, “arriving to the sunny mountains of El Paso from the concrete jungle of New York City.” She lived in NYC for 20 years but doesn’t miss winter weather at all. For the last 12 years, Hachey was a professor of Psychology and Early Childhood Education at the City University of New York (CUNY) and also served in various leadership roles, specifically regarding program and curriculum development. 

On the courses she teaches:

At the undergraduate level, I teach the Play course, which, as you can imagine, is tons of fun! (Who doesn’t like to play?!). In the graduate online master’s program, I teach the ECED STEM course. I will be developing the new ECED pedagogy course this summer and a new online master’s-level child development course in fall.    

Where her passion comes from:

As I delve into the content to design and prepare all the new courses in our new program, I am constantly reminded of how amazing young children are (they are not only wonderful…but wonder-filled!). The birth to age 8 range of life is such a critical period…the fastest and greatest development in a person’s whole life happens in these short 8 years.  And, I have other constant reminders at home, in the form of my awe-inspiring twin 3-year-old sons (the things they come up with).  It takes a special person—a special teacher—to nurture such potential… and I seek to validate that to all my students in all my courses. 

Her proudest accomplishment at UTEP:

I came to UTEP with a keen desire to help build and expand the wonderful tradition of excellence here in teacher preparation and continuing education, particularly for first-generation college students. My first job as the new lead faculty in Early Childhood Education at UTEP was coordinating a complete redesign of the M.Ed in Curriculum and Instruction-Concentration in Early Childhood. I am thrilled that the new program was passed and will be going into effect in Fall of 2018. Over the next year, our master’s students will see a transition to some new, cutting-edge classes, with a particular emphasis on educating the whole range of early childhood from birth to age 8 in diverse contexts.

Note: The program was launched as planned and is now offered as an M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education. 

One piece of advice she has for her students:

If I have one piece of advice to give my online students, I guess it is to never forget the real focus…those wonder-filled children. In this fast-paced world with too many readings and assignments and other life responsibilities (believe me, I know!), it is all too easy to forget the passion for young children that inspired you to be teacher, to enroll and learn more in the first place. I have found that students who keep that focus and capture it in their work, not only do the best in my classes, but continue to inspire me to be a better teacher myself.