Innovator Vol. 36 No. 1 - Winter 06: The M Difference
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New Dean of the School of Education Appointed
Deborah Loewenberg Ball was appointed as the ninth dean of the School of Education, effective
December 16, 2005, after serving as its interim dean for the past six months. Her selection
was announced by President Mary Sue Coleman and Interim Provost Edward Gramlich on November 17.
Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education. Her research focuses on the teaching of mathematics. A major contribution of her work has been to identify the knowledge of mathematics needed for teaching, and to establish the connections between teachers’ mathematical knowledge, the quality of their teaching and student success. She is also widely regarded as a leading scholar of teacher education, especially in the subject matter preparation of teachers and the connections of professional education to practice. She is a principal investigator on the Study of Instructional Improvement, a major longitudinal study of efforts to improve instruction in reading and mathematics in high-poverty urban elementary schools. She also is co-director of the Center for Proficiency in Teaching Mathematics, a research and development center aimed at strengthening professional education of mathematics teachers.Ball joined the UM faculty in 1996 as professor of teacher education and mathematics education. She was an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor from 2000-03, the highest honor U-M bestows on faculty for contributions to undergraduate education. Ball has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and has lectured and made numerous presentations around the world. She received the American Educational Research Association’s Raymond B. Cattell Early Career Award for Programmatic Research (1997) and the Palmer O. Johnson Award for outstanding published article (2004). Ball came to the University of Michigan from Michigan State University, where she served on the faculty for eight years while also teaching third grade mathematics at a local elementary school. Prior to that, she was a full-time elementary classroom teacher for 13 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Michigan State University in 1976, majoring in French and elementary education; her master’s degree (1982) in mathematics education, and her doctorate (1988) in mathematics education, teacher education, and policy, also from Michigan State University.
In announcing her appointment, Interim Provost Gramlich noted that, “In her short time as interim dean, Professor Ball has displayed her enormous strengths and leadership skills to work effectively with the School of Education faculty to begin articulating a vision and mission that will be beneficial to the school and to the University at large. President Coleman and I are extremely pleased that Professor Ball is assuming the role of dean at a time when leadership in education is of great importance to the nation.”
PhD Initiative
The Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID) examines the character of the doctorate and engages with departments committed to restructuring their doctoral programs to better prepare graduates for research and employment. A conceptual analysis of doctoral education, design experiments in departments, and research and dissemination are the main focus of the CID study. Six disciplines are being studied: chemistry, education (educational psychology and curriculum and instruction), English, history, mathematics, and neuroscience.
The Educational Studies program at the University of Michigan is a member of the Carnegie Initiative on the Doctorate (CID), which is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The CID work here is accomplished by the PhD task force, chaired by Prof. Valerie Lee. Faculty members are Elizabeth Moje, David Cohen, Magdalene Lampert, Roger Goddard, Annemarie Palincsar, Pamela Moss, Teresa McMahon, and Jay Lemke. Student members are Jenny Demonte, Sarah Scott, Kristie Khorsheed, Ruchi Bhatnagar, Donnalee Grey-Farquarson, Heidi Matiyow, and Paul Perrault.
Each year, the CID has organized “convenings” at the Foundation headquarters at Stanford University. This year is the third (and last) such convening. Although the other two have been organized around disciplines (i.e., we attended as did other CID education members), this year the convenings were cross-disciplinary. The UM-SOE task force chose to attend the convening organized around “supporting intellectual community,” as they felt that the reforms they have been focusing on (cohort model, core courses) were mainly aimed at these ideas. Both Sarah Scott and Valerie Lee attended the convening, September 9-12, along with members from departments of chemistry, english, history, math, and neuroscience at other universities. Each of the 16 departmental attendees was asked to make presentations about what they have accomplished.
“We learned of many innovative ways in which these departments have developed intellectual community among their doctoral students and faculty, and many are much farther along this journey than we are,” Prof. Lee reported. Interesting ideas included inquiry groups, innovative ways to monitor students’ progress (particularly at the end of the first year), interesting ways to organize colloquia that include both students and faculty presenting work in progress, and professional development seminars organized around issues of particular interest to doctoral students. Prof. Lee further observed, “We also learned that we are not the only group whose doctoral students seek professional opportunities well beyond the professoriate. In all, we recognize that although we have made good strides in reforming our doctoral programs, we have a long way to go.”
CSHPE
“They came to Michigan from far and near, including England, Japan, South Korea, China, and Canada.”
The Kellogg Forum for the Public Good sponsored a conference May 10-11 entitled, “Minority- Serving Institutions: Leadership, Emerging Issues, and Their Role in Their Communities.” Representatives from tribal colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions, and historically black colleges and Universities shared their perspectives and ideas about the role and needs of these institutions in higher education.
The “Futuring Diversity” Conference was held on May 17-18; many CSHPE community members participatied in this conference, which is designed to help develop a framework for the direction of the University’s new national Center for Institutional Diversity (CID). Jan Lawrence coordinated an innovative educational program this summer. A group of undergraduate and graduate students from Tianjin, China, participated in an exchange program designed to acquaint them with education in the United States. Jan and Roger Goddard (Educational Studies) co-taught in this program. Simultaneously, a faculty member from Tianjin Normal University taught a course on Chinese education for UM students. This collaborative effort may well provide a model for a new type of inter institutional partnership – and a great experience for the students enrolled in this program.
New visiting scholar Tomoko Torii from the Center for the Studies of Higher Education at Nagoya University, Japan, arrived in July, hosted by Patricia King and CSHPE through October, 2005. During her stay, she is focusing her inquiry on course and program design, program coordination, delivery and assessment of liberal arts education at the University of Michigan
The 2005 CSHPE cohort arrived 33 strong. Among the students in this cohort, 19 are pursuing a master’s degree in higher education, two a dual master’s degree in higher education and public policy, and 12 a PhD in higher and postsecondary education. They came to Michigan from far and near, including England, Japan, South Korea, China, and Canada. They also come from all points of the compass in the U.S. as well as nearby cities and towns in Michigan.
