Meetings/Events

Congratulations

"Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson has been selected for the 2009 Summer Reading Program at Appalachian. Mortenson will be the featured speaker at the Fall Convocation. In recognition of his expertise and information about the Middle East, Gary Moorman (LRE) has been chosen to introduce Mortenson at the Fall Convocation. Note: aren’t we glad we selected this book as one of our titles in the reading groups!

Doctoral Program Research Listing

In January the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership completed the creation of a data base of research interests of faculty across the four departments in the Reich College of Education. To create the data base, all faculty were invited to list their research interests, their methodological leanings, and their interest in working with doctoral students on their research agendas. Fifty faculty members responded – and the data base may be viewed on the Doctoral Program Website. The link is:

http://www.ced.appstate.edu/departments/edl/documents/RCOEFacultyResearchInterests.pdf

Gail York, a second year doctoral student, and Jim Killacky, Director of the Doctoral Program, took the lead in assembling this data base.

RCOE International Presentation

“Problematizing the Notion of ‘removal’ from Exploitative Labor: Lessons from East Africa,” Thursday, Feb. 26, 12-1, 03. Dr. Vachel Miller, LES.

Dr. Miller will discuss at a practical and conceptual level the problem of withdrawing children from exploitative labor. The presentation is based upon his experience from 2005-2008 working as the Research and Policy Specialist for a regional child labor project in East Africa. The project, funded by the US Department of Labor, targeted over 30,000 children to be withdrawn or prevented from child labor. In his role with the project, Miller coordinated a set of small-scale mixed-methods research studies and guided internal monitoring efforts. The studies were conducted in target intervention areas in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda on children’s work during school holidays and the consequences of removal from child labor. Miller will synthesize findings from several research reports, as well as insights gathered from ongoing field visits and discussions with project stakeholders. Sponsored by the RCOE International Committee. (Pizza and drinks available). Open to students, faculty, and staff.

Kurdistan Project

The RCOE in cooperation with ASU’s Office of International Education and Development (OIED) is working with faculty in Kurdistan to help in developing curriculum and teaching approaches that make use of current theory and practice. Lori Mason, one of our doctoral students, has had considerable experience in Kurdistan and was selected by the OIED to be the project’s liaison. At present, Sara Zimmerman and Melanie Green from C&I are in Kurdistan to begin the faculty collaboration. In a week or two, two faculty from Kurdistan will be traveling to ASU and will be housed for a time in the RCOE. We hope to draw upon their knowledge and expertise while they are with us.

Open House for Teacher Education

An Open House for Teacher Education Programs is scheduled for Wed 2/18 from 1-4 PM in Edwin Duncan Hall, Octagon 03. Snacks and beverages will be provided. The Open House will provide a chance for interested students, some of whom may not be ed majors yet, to meet with faculty, staff, and students representing our undergrad teacher ed programs to get more information on the majors. Contact Diana Beasley (beasleydf@appstate.edu) for further information.

Did You Know?

Off-campus, over 2,141 course enrollments were recorded at the undergraduate level for 2007-08 (double previous year’s enrollments) in 133 courses and 4,213 in 269 courses at the graduate level for a grand total of 408 classes and 6,354 course enrollments for the RCOE. Six programs are offered at the undergraduate level and 12 at the graduate level with multiple cohorts for each program. During the 2007-2008 academic year, 636 initial candidates were involved in early field experiences in their introductory education class on campus and 112 were involved in the off-campus sections. A total of 509 student teacher placements were made 2007-08 in K-12 public school settings. Fifteen of these, compared to six from previous year, were placed for five weeks in international settings. Placements were made in 31 districts and 117 schools in the fall and 36 districts and 140 schools in the spring.

Sacrifice

Don’t be surprised if you hear mumblings about the impact of the new building for RCOE. Consider the following notice that recently appeared: “In order to prepare the regional chiller located on College Street to carry the load of the new College of Education building, the chiller was taken off-line, and work on this chiller is proceeding. The use of this chiller for the College of Education building will allow for energy efficiency and cost savings.

Because the cooling of air is typically not as necessary in the month of February as during other times of the year, February was chosen as the month to take the chiller off-line. However, we are now experiencing warmer temperatures, which has led to a rise in temperatures inside three buildings: the Belk Library and Information Commons, the University Bookstore and the old part of Plemmons Student Union. Cool air will once again be provided to these buildings by Friday afternoon.”

Economic Stimulus for Education

President Obama will soon be signing the "Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" into law. This bill contains almost $100 billion in new federal education spending. Education Commission of the States staff have produced a short summary of the bill to help state policymakers better understand its implications. (Access the summary.) Note: although North Carolina will get a share of the funds, do not expect current budget woes to disappear immediately; although the funds may have some potential to reduce the strain on higher education’s budget, as with any measure, the devil is in the details. More on this issue as it becomes available.

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“Change is a Journey, not a Destination.”
—M. Fullan