Innovator Vol. 38 No. 1 - Fall 07: RE-IMAGINING TEACHER EDUCATION
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CSHPE Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary All Year
Fifty years of excellence and leadership, a long-time #1 designation as the top higher education program in the nation—the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education had much to celebrate in 2006-7. A series of carefully planned events, ranging from a national symposium to alumni reunions, unfolded across the year. Topics for consideration included reflection on the expansion of higher education, the challenge of educating a diverse population, and visions for the future. A special symposium involving University of Michigan leaders—current and former—featured remarks by Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University; James Duderstadt, President Emeritus and Professor of Science and Engineering, University of Michigan; Charles Vest, President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and B. Joseph White, President of University of Illinois, as well as comments by University of Michigan’s own president, Mary Sue Coleman. “It was terrific to re-establish relationships with so many members of the CSHPE family,” says Center Director Deborah Carter. “We hope to maintain those ties. We’ve been celebrating our past, but we’re also excited about our future.” That future includes a new MA/MBA dual degree program with the Ross School of Business, and a MA degree with a concentration in medical and professional education.
Nanoscience Institute/IQWST Workshops Held in Summer 2007
Folks from the School of Education’s Center for Highly Interactive Curricula, Computing and Classrooms in Education (Hi-C3e) were busy this summer, planning, facilitating, and hosting workshops for both middle school teachers and students. In July, teachers traveled from as far away as Texas and Arizona to Ann Arbor for a week-long professional development session focusing on a new science and technology curriculum: Investigating and Questioning Our World Through Science and Technology. The curriculum, which has been developed with funding from the National Science Foundation, contains units on physics, earth science, and biology, and supports teachers as they engage students in scientific practices such as explaining, arguing scientifically, modeling, and conducting scientific investigations. For a second year, HiC3e co-sponsored a two-week nanoscience institute for Ypsilanti middle school students, held in the new Undergraduate Science Building. For more information about IQWST, go to: http://hice.org/iqwst/
Eminent Journalist Gives Address for Commencement 2007
The eminent New York journalist, Nicholas Lemann, author of The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy, and dean of the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, addressed nearly 400 graduates and their families at the April 2007 commencement ceremony. Student speakers Caroline Lynn Keng, representing the undergraduates, and Dr. Penny Pasque, representing the graduate students, also addressed the crowd from the Hill Auditorium stage.
Education Leadership Center Launched
Drawing on the resources of University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, as well as the School of Education, courses developed
for aspiring and practicing administrative leaders debuted in July and August as part of our new Educational Leadership Center. Topics
such as positive organizational scholarship, the study of organizational practices that lead to extraordinary results; school finance; and
the impact of administrative leadership on student achievement, were the foci of several forums and a summit. The Center is directed
by Dr. Kenneth Burnley.
Immigration and Higher Education Conference
“Challenges and Opportunities: Conversations about Immigration and Higher Education,” a national conference, was held on the University of Michigan campus in June. The School of Education, the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, the National Forum
on Higher Education for the Public Good, and the National Center for Institutional Diversity joined with others, including the College Board and the Institute for Higher Education Policy to sponsor the event, which drew participants from California, Texas, Minnesota, Florida, and
of course, Michigan.
THEMAT Workshops Held in Summer 2007
Thought Experiments in Mathematics Teaching (ThEMaT), a NSF-funded research project led by Associate Professor Patricio Herbst, in collaboration with Dan Chazan of the University of Maryland, hosted a summer workshop for teacher educators and a summer academy for researchers at the School of Education. This project is pioneering the use of animated representations of teaching for teacher professional development in algebra and geometry. For more information, see http://grip.umich.edu
