Awash in Print
It was a good year for faculty
publications. In April, faculty from throughout the university were honored
for publishing or editing books in 2002, and nine professors from the
College of Education were among the honorees. The books ran the gamut from
higher education in the developing world to a professional development guide
on how to teach children to read and an analysis of u.s. mathematics and
science education.
The authors and editors honored were: Ann Austin, Lois Bader, Jere Brophy,
Susan Florio-Ruane, Lee June, Kristen Renn, William Schmidt, Jack Schwille,
Avner Segall, and Yong Zhao.
Recruiting Great
Doctoral Students
For the past year, professors Linda Patriarca
(left) and Susan Peters (right) have been relentless in their recruitment of
doctoral students in special education.
And with the help of a $790,000 grant from the u.s. Department of Education,
they have traveled far and wide to attract outstanding students to the
College of Education.
For the two professors, the need has never been greater in the field for
terrific educators and scholars who will prepare the next generation of
special education teachers for America’s increasingly diverse classrooms.
“The first goal of the grant is to increase the pool of Ph.D.s available to
work in higher education and who can address the needs of students of
diverse backgrounds in urban schools,” Patriarca said. “Our secondary focus
is to increase the pool of students from diverse backgrounds and students
with disabilities to the doctoral program.”
Already their efforts have yielded results. Before the two professors began
their recruitment efforts, the doctoral program in special education had an
applicant pool of about five. This past year, the program received 16
applications and the two professors expect those numbers to continue to
increase in the future.
The grant funding allows Patriarca and Peters to recruit 10 fellows and
support them with fellowship money. In the first year, they selected two
fellows and another three started in the fall. They are actively recruiting
throughout the country to fill the remaining five fellowships.
“We feel like our recruitment efforts have been effective,” Peters said.
“We’re very excited about our doctoral candidates. We’ve been able to
recruit some outstanding people. Yet we’re still recruiting, especially
minority students and those with disabilities. This is so critical. We want
the field to be representative. We need the diversity of personnel.”
 Retired
academic specialist Janet Ronk (BS 71/MA 78) on left and alumna Arlyie
Campbell (BA 53/MA56) were two of the many alumni and former faculty members
who attended the College of Education's Kedzie Reunion events in June. |
Ewigleben Lecture Series
Launched
 James
Duderstadt (right), former president of the University of Michigan, kicked
off the Ewigleben Policy Seminar in August with a keynote address on the
future of higher education.
The seminar series, endowed by alumnus and former president of Ferris State
University Robert Ewigleben (below left), is presented by the Higher, Adult
and Lifelong Education (hale) program in the Department of Educational
Administration.
Duderstadt was president of the University of Michigan from 1988 until his
retirement in 1996. In his presentation, Duderstadt explored the challenges
facing public higher education and discussed the u.s. Supreme Court
decisions on affirmative action policies at the University of Michigan. The
lawsuits were filed while he was president and he testified in the court
case.
Gap Between Charter
and Traditional Public School Teachers
The Education Policy Center at Michigan State University issued a sobering
report in April. Teachers at the state’s charter schools—which are more
likely to serve urban, poor and minority children—are less qualified than
their counterparts at traditional public schools.
Michigan requires public schools to be staffed by certified teachers, but
more than a quarter of charter school teachers are not certified in their
main teaching assignment, with more than a third of secondary level charter
school teachers teaching “out of field,” the study found.
Using recently released data from the National Center for Educational
Statistics for the 1999–2000 school year, the report found that:
• More than half of all charter school teachers were in the first three
years of teaching, compared to only one in seven traditional school teachers
• More than 56 percent of traditional public school teachers had master’s
degrees, compared to 21.8 percent of charter school teachers
You can read the full report at
www.epc.msu.edu
Powerful Coach
 College of
Education alumnus Tyrone Willingham (bs 77) was selected as one of the 101
Most Influential Minorities in Sports by Sports Illustrated magazine. In
fact, Willingham, who coaches the University of Notre Dame football team,
was listed as the sixth most influential on a list that included the likes
of Shaquille O’Neal, Venus Williams and Magic Johnson. The magazine noted:
“Clout comes with winning, especially on the grandest stages. No one
exemplifies this better than Willingham, who in just one season restored the
glory to perhaps the most prestigious program in college football.”
|
