Sigma Bulletin: October 30-November 4, 2006

A. Dean's Updates
B. Week's Calendar
C. Looking Ahead

A. DEAN'S UPDATES
1. Despite the windy and rainy weather, about 75 alumni and emeritus faculty attended our annual Alumni Fall Gathering and brunch this past Saturday. I made a short presentation about where we are and where are heading and they had many affirmative comments and interested questions. They were enthusiastic about the School, including how nice the building looks and the directions of our work. It was great to interact with them about the School; they have many fond memories of the University lab school and of the SOE. The eldest among them was Mrs. Frances Stutzman, who graduated from the lab school here in 1920!

2. Verne and Judy Istock of Chicago visited the building last Saturday to see the products of their gift to provide a “face lift” for the first floor. They were delighted to see the progress of the first floor renovations and were gratified that so many people across the weekend commented to them about the new look and feel of the building. We presented them with the “thank you poster” (a great idea suggested by Bonita Kothe) that was signed by the faculty, staff, and students who attended the all-school meeting. Their gift has gone a long way to brightening the building and making it seem more inviting both to us and to visitors. Thanks, too, to Yvonne Pappas and Mike Napolitan and the many others who have worked so hard to achieve the new look.

2. Yvonne Pappas is collecting historical photographs of the building, the people, the events, and activities of the School of Education, as well as interesting news clippings from the past that show the history of the SOE. She will incorporate these photos into a photo montage to show a history time line of the school which will be created and exhibited in the north hall on the first floor. If you have or know of anyone who has any photos to contribute to this creative endeavor, we would appreciate your help. The photos will be returned to you once they are scanned. Please contact Yvonne for more information (ypappas) or you can drop off photos in room 1123B in an envelope labeled with your name, phone number, and email address.

3. I encourage you to participate in a brown bag discussion about the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative, ballot proposal 2, this Friday, November 3 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m., with A.T. Miller of the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT). With Election Day just a few days away, your attention is needed to this proposal which has the potential to deeply affect the work of this campus and life in Michigan. Please be informed and learn ways you can help others be informed. The brown bag is sponsored by the Social Justice Committee and will be held in Whitney Auditorium. For more information, please contact Trish Kraus (pkraus) in Programs for Educational Opportunity (PEO) in Room 1005.

4. Kristen Fancher, a student in the Secondary MAC Program, was awarded a fellowship from the Knowles Science Teaching Foundation (KSTF). KSTF Teaching Fellows are preparing to teach high school science and/or mathematics in U.S. schools. The fellowship supports them professionally and financially for up to five years from a teacher preparation program through the award of tenure in a teaching position. The KSTF awards are competitive, with only 9 to 14 new fellows selected each year. Along with Kristen from UM, the current KSTF fellows are enrolled in teacher education programs at Stanford, Harvard, Vanderbilt, Duke, University of Virginia, and UC Berkeley, among others. Congratulations, Kristen!

5. The graduate student leadership sponsored the first fireside chat with the dean on Friday. Fireside chats are held twice a term over lunch and are open to all graduate students. We had a lively discussion about ways to improve access to information and heightened communications in the School. This was perfect as the communications team, led by Laura Roop, Interim Director, is working on many fronts to increase the coherence and extensiveness of information available and many helpful suggestions were made. The next graduate student fireside chat will be held on Wednesday, December 6 from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

6. I am serving as chair of the search advisory committee for the University Librarian. Most recently held by James Hilton who was also associate provost for information technology, this is a very important position for this university as the library is likely to grow in its visibility and innovative roles over the next decade. We have made good progress, learning a lot about libraries in this new era of digitization and alternative forms of scholarly publication. We expect to bring finalists for the position to campus in December. I will keep you posted.

7. I invite your suggestions for ways to inform one another of accomplishments and special activities and honors of our faculty, staff, and students. These include invited presentations at annual meetings, to new publications, to special activities in the broader community. You are a very accomplished bunch, and you should know about one another's achievements. How would you suggest we elicit and post these? In Sigma? In some other forum, such as on our website? Please send your ideas to Laura Roop (laurroop), Interim Director of Communications.

B. WEEK'S CALENDAR
Monday, October 30
- Application deadline: Rackham One-Terms and SOE Dissertation Finishing Grants. Information and application materials: http://sitemaker.soe.umich.edu/soe.awards/

-President Mary Sue Coleman's annual address to Senate Assembly on the state of the University beginning at 3:30 p.m., followed by a question/answer session. Rackham Amphitheatre.

- Senate Assembly's Regent Candidates Forum featuring current candidates for this November's election to the University's Board of Regents that will begin at approximately 4:30 p.m. Rackham Amphitheatre

Screening of the film "Brother Outsider" and discussion of the documentary about civil rights leader, Bayard Rustin. 7:00 p.m.-9:30 p.m., Michigan Union Anderson BC. Information: fking@umich.edu or willauer@umich.edu

Tuesday, October 31
- “Skelementary,” an evening of Halloween activities and fun for Ann Arbor elementary students, grades K-5, 6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m., School of Education, sponsored by Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society

Wednesday, November 1
- Deadline: Spencer Dissertation Fellowships for Research Related to Education. Information: http://www. fellows@spencer.org

- Nominations for Rackham Distinguished Dissertation Award due to Pat Natalie pnatalie@umich.edu

- CPEP Colloquium: Nancy Hill, “Disentangling ethnicity and SES for understanding parenting: Interactions, influences, and meaning." 12:10 - 1:00 pm, 1322 SEB (Tribute Room). Information: (frodrig) or 647-0626

Thursday, November 2
- no events submitted

Friday, November 3
- The School of Education Social Justice Committee & Center for Research on Learning & Teaching (CRLT) Brown Bag Discussion: A. T. Miller, “Affirmative Action and the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI),” 12:00-1:30 p.m., 1309 SEB (Whitney Room)

- 3-5: National Urban Alliance for Effective Education Conference, Minneapolis, MN (co-sponsored by the School of Education's Programs for Educational Opportunity). "Teaching for Intelligence: Believe To Achieve." Information and on-line registration: http://www.Believetoachieve.org. Students and educators can receive scholarships which will cover registration costs. For scholarship information (prior to registering), contact Iva Smith: phone--763-9910 or e-mail-- eixa@umich.edu.

Saturday, November 4
- The Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association (MIFA) Middle Level Workshops, School of Education. Information: http://www.themifa.org

C. LOOKING AHEAD
- November 7: CPEP Colloquium: Eva Pomerantz, “How parents shape children's motivation: The role of children's competence experiences," 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., 1322 SEB (Tribute Room). Information: frodrig at umich.edu or 647-0626

- November 8: Educational Studies Colloquium Brown Bag Seminar: Professor Scott Paris, “Constrained skills: Implications for reading development, instruction, and assessment,” 12:00-1:00 p.m., location TBA.

- November 8-12 National Association for Multicultural Education
conference in Phoenix, Arizona. Theme: “Honoring Multicultural
Communities, Stories and Struggles in a Contested Land.” Information and
online registration: http://www.nameorg.org

- November 9: UN Millennium Development Goals presentations. 2:00-4:30 p.m. Michigan League, Henderson Room. Information: http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

- November 10: Linguistics colloquium: Mary Schleppegrell, “Writing and the generation 1.5 student: The linguistic construal of elaboration, stance, and logical reasoning.” 4:00 p.m. in 4151 USB. Information: http://ling.lsa.umich.edu/home/colloquium.html#2006.11.10

- November 11: Kappa Delta Pi Fall Conference, 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m.; concurrent with Handheld Computing in Education Symposium, 9:00 a.m. -12:30 p.m.. School of Education.

- November 13: Stamping cards to send to soldiers. All welcomed to help. 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m. 1309 SEB (Whitney Room). All supplies furnished. Bonita 764-7470.

- November 13: Ethics in Public Life Initiative: Dr. Muriel Bebeau, "Can ethics be taught? A research talk," 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. in the CRLT Seminar Room, 1013 Palmer Commons. To register: visit www.crlt.umich.edu or call 764-0505.

- December 6: CPEP Colloquium: Nick Ellis, "Language use, language change, language acquisition and language instruction: The dynamics of SLA," 12:10 p.m.-1:00 p.m., 1322 SEB (Tribute Room). Information: frodrig at umich.edu or 647-0626

- December 8: Educational Studies Colloquium: Geoff Williams, "Semiotic tools for exploring texts with young children," 12:00-1:00 p.m., 1322 SEB (Tribute Room). Information: mjschlep@umich.edu or 647-2449

- December 14: Educational Studies Colloquium: Jeffrey Stanzler, “Serious play: Using simulation to create compelling contexts for thinking,” noon-1:00 p.m., 2327 SEB (Brownlee Room).

- January 12-14, 2007: 4th International Conference on Teacher Education and Social Justice, University of Illinois-Chicago, U.S.A. Information: http://antioppressiveeducation.org/2007conference.html