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| From
the Dean
This issue of the New Educator features the Department of Kinesiology as it prepares for its 100th anniversary in 1999. Known until recently as the Department of Physical; Education and Exercise (PEES), the department changed its name to reflect the field of youth sports, exercise physiology and human movement. A 100-year anniversary is an important moment and represents a strong and enduring position in the field of education. It is a milestone that the department will commemorate with a national symposium featuring a number of alumni who have distinguished themselves in the field. I hope that many of the alumni from the department will be able to participate in the celebration of the past and the future. We also wish to celebrate other important accomplishments. The college is part of two important federally funded national research centers, the National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching (NPEAT) and the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA). NPEAT is a partnership involving elementary and secondary schools, state and local agencies, and a small number of universities. The goal of this $23-million consortium is to develop and study practices that insure that teachers have the capabilities, motivation, and opportunity to help all students achieve at a high level. NPEAT is regarded as the first nationwide effort to support careering professional development and to improve K-12 teaching through the reform of teacher preparation. It is an ambitious effort with Gary Sykes, professor of educational administration and teacher education, spearheading the teacher education component. CIERA's mission is to improve reading achievement by addressing the problems in teaching and learning of beginning readers. P. David Pearson, John A. Hannah Professor of Education, is co-director of this $2.4-million center, which has partners that include teachers, reading specialists, teacher educators, and collaborators at the University of Michigan. These projects are illustrative of the cutting-edge work in the college and the national role our faculty continue to play in policy-based research on teaching and learning. We have a number of new outreach initiatives in the state of Michigan. "The computer Klubhouse" project was recently funded at $4 million by the U.S. Department of Education's 21st Century Community Learning Center Program. Project Director Yong Zhao and Barbara Markle, director of K-12 Outreach, will be working with nine school districts across the state to create ten middle school computer clubhouses. The clubhouses will become the venue where young people learn about technology and connect their learning to the community and to each other through a virtual network. Within this project, technology offers the promise of connecting the school and community in ways that are mutually beneficial. Technology integration in teaching and learning is assuming a very visible role in our programs, research and service to schools. One of our most important responsibilities is assuring that the graduates from our teaching preparation program are skilled and capable in using technology.Competencies in using technology are becoming one of the criteria when hiring new teachers. As part of a pilot program, we are now providing one-third of our fifth-year interns with laptop computers as well as support for using this technology during their internship year in a school.
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Technology integration in our classes and programs will be a continuing priority of the college as it is a priority for K-12 education. There are many exciting developments in the college. This past year we recruited 10 new faculty members in the areas of educational assessment, K-12 administration, language and literacy, mathematics, special education, and technology and learning. The Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education welcomed three faculty members: Troy Mariage. Rand Spiro and Mark Reckase. BetsAnn Smith joined the Department of Educational Administration. The Department of Teacher Education welcomed six faculty members: Sandra Crespo, Jenny Denyer, Nell Duke, César Larriva, and Punyashloke Mishra. Victoria Purcell-Gates will join the Department of Teacher Education in fall 1999. We invite you to our Web site (http://www.educ.msu.edu) to read about these individuals, and we will include more information on all of them in next New Educator. I also encourage you to visit our Web site for up-to-date information about events and accomplishments of our faculty. Our alumni are very important to our college. We hope to serve you well as we strive to distinguish our research, academic programs and service to the state. As you well know, the contributions of our alumni and friends are essential to our efforts in achieving and maintaining excellence. In this issue we provide you with our annual list of donors that begins on Page 27. We thank you for your confidence in us, and know you will be very proud of what your commitment and contribution can help us accomplish. Carole Ames
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