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Program Notes
Educational Studies
Dr. Addison
Stone has been named Director of Graduate Studies
for the Educational Studies Program, assuming a leadership role in recruiting
promising applicants, reviewing applications and proposing funding arrangements.
Joining the faculty in 2000 after a distinguished career at Northwestern University,
Professor Stone is an applied developmental psychologist whose interests center
on individual and situational variations in the development and use of problem-solving
and language skills. Among many activities, he is co-editor of Learning
Disabilities Research & Practice and Learning Disabilities Quarterly.
The Educational Studies Ph.D. program is one of a small set of doctoral programs in education across the nation to be selected for a new initiative by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Former ES Chair Professor Virginia Richardson authored a major foundational essay in the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) in Education, and Professor Valerie Lee is leading a faculty/student task force to examine ways in which the doctoral program can be improved.
ES is one of only four departments at UM selected to participate in the CID, along with Chemistry, English and Mathematics. ES Professor Hyman Bass, who holds a joint appointment in Mathematics, wrote one of the major foundational essays for the CID in Mathematics.
In response to growing interest and opportunities in the business side of education, the School of Education and the Business School will begin offering a dual Master’s in Business Administration and Educational Studies degree.The dual degree will prepare graduates for such fields as designing and leading charter schools, working in training and development programs within companies, and overseeing the business aspects of private schools and the new for-profit schools, according to ES Chair Edward A. Silver. Three graduates have already earned the dual degree following the testing phase of the new program.
Adjunct Professor Stuart Rankin has been awarded a grant from Detroit Public Schools in the amount of $125,000 for the period 10/1/02-9/30/07 for project entitled, “Transition to Teaching: (BEST) Building Effective Support for Teachers Program.”
Rankin teaches classes in curriculum and school reform, and is a coordinator of the Elementary Master of Arts with Certification (ElMAC) program.
Promotions: Barry Fishman, Roger Goddard, and Carla O’Connor have been promoted from Assistant to Associate Professor with tenure. Nancy Songer has been promoted from Associate to Full Professor.
Professor Cho-Yee To has retired after nearly 30 years of teaching and research in Social Foundations and international education. In addition to his service in the School, Professor To was appointed to visiting professorships at the National University of Singapore, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Kent State University. He has published scholarly books and articles in diverse languages and countries throughout the world.
Joint Program in English and Education
Dr. Lesley
Rex, Associate Professor of Education, has joined
Professor Anne
Ruggles Gere as co-chair of the Joint
Program in Education and English.
Rex’s expertise includes English literacy education, discourse analysis in the study of teaching and learning, and qualitative research. She was recently named editor for Hampton Press for the series on Discourse and Social Processes in Education and serves as chair of research for the National Conference on Research in Language and Literacy.
Rex and Gere share a particular interest in classroom teaching and learning practices that provide equal access to underserved students. Rex is currently primary investigator for two studies of professional development and classroom practices that address achievement gap issues complicated by racial and social class differences. Gere directs Teachers for Tomorrow, a federally-funded project that prepares students for teaching in high-need/urban schools. TFT has graduated its first cohort of students and will follow their progress.
Gere also recently began work as a consultant with the National Council of Teachers of English to help establish an office of policy research.
Teacher Education
Dr. Deborah Ball, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mathematics Education and Teacher Education at UM, is the new Director of Teacher Preparation. She is joined in her new role by Dr. Catherine Reischl, Coordinator of Elementary Teacher Preparation, and Deanna Birdyshaw, Coordinator of Secondary Teacher Preparation. Completing the leadership team are Sara Constant, Assistant Coordinator of Elementary Teacher Preparation, Kathryn Young Assistant Coordinator of Secondary Teacher Preparation, and Beth Grzelak, Assistant Director for Instructional Program Management.
Ball’s research draws on her many years of experience as an elementary classroom teacher, focusing on studies of instruction and of the processes of learning to teach. She also investigates efforts to improve teaching through policy, reform initiatives, and teacher education.
Combined Program on Education and Psychology
Dr.
Kevin Miller will join the School
of Education in January as a faculty member in Educational Studies and the
Combined Program in Education and Psychology. He will also 
have an appointment
in the U-M Psychology Department Developmental Psychology area. He is currently
an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department and the Beckman Institute
at the University of Illinois.
Miller is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association Divisions 3 and 7, and has served on the editorial boards of two journals, Child Development and Developmental Psychology. He recently served on two high-profile national committees concerned with the improvement of mathematics teaching and learning.
Miller has obtained approximately $2.5 million dollars in support of his research which focuses on early mathematical and literacy development and on cross-cultural similarities and differences in academic learning and performance. Most recently he has studied the use of video records to engage teachers with issues of instructional practice.
Foundations, Administration, Research and Policy
Deborah Michaels received a Fulbright award to do research in Bratislava, Slovakia for 2004-05.
Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education
The Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education (CSHPE) has recruited three new faculty for the 2004-05 academic year: Drs. Michael Bastedo, Deborah Carter, and Edward St. John.
Bastedo, appointed Assistant Professor in CSHPE, completed his doctorate at Stanford University in Administration and Policy Analysis in 2003, and has been teaching at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His specialty is higher education policy and organizational behavior.
Associate Professor Carter was an Associate Professor in the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program at Indiana University, where she has conducted extensive research on college students, especially the experiences of students of color. She is a 1997 graduate of the CSHPE Program.
St. John, who joins CSHPE as Professor in January, specializes in educational policy, with special interest in access and equity issues.
CSHPE Faculty received new grants totaling more than $1.5 million this year. See grants for descriptions.
Professor Teshome Wagaw has retired after 20 years of service to the School of Education. Professor Wagaw is an internationally recognized scholar, researcher, teacher and writer. His teaching and research include the areas of international, comparative and interdisciplinary education; education in multicultural societies; education of minorities; the configuration of culture and education; education, race and ethnicity; and education and language policies in multicultural societies. He is the author of five books and numerous articles published in professional journals.
CSHPE faculty produced two books recently. Associate Professor Eric Dey co-authored a book entitled Defending Diversity: Affirmative Action at the University of Michigan, published by University of Michigan Press, and Professor Patricia King is co-editor of the book, Learning Partnerships: Theories and Models of Practice to Educate for Self-Authorship, published by Stylus Publishing.
CSHPE has introduced two new courses this fall. “Economics of Education” taught by Associate Professor Stephen DesJardins, is an introductory course aimed at viewing the education “industry” and its educational processes through the perspective of economics. Several tools of economic analysis are used to address the links between education and economic growth, consumption, investment, employment, and equity. “Dynamics of Organizational Strategy in Postsecondary Education,” taught by Associate Professor Richard Alfred, is an advanced seminar focused on the conceptualization, formulation and execution of strategy in institutions of postsecondary education including profit and non-profit organizations.
