News

Associate Dean Amee Adkins, Assistant Dean Ken Fansler, Outstanding College of Education Teacher of the Year Stacy Otto, and Dean Deborah Curtis

Meeting kicks off new school year

By: Lauren Huffman

(August 27, 2009) College of Education faculty, faculty associates and staff met recently to kick-off the 2009-2010 school year. The meeting served as a way to introduce those new to the College, recognize those who have received awards and promotions, and be reminded of the goals of the College over the coming year.

Following the viewing of the London Experience video, Joe Pacha, chair of the College of Education Council, welcomed the group. Dean Deborah Curtis introduced the new associate dean for Assessment and Undergraduate Education, Amee Adkins. Provost Sheri Noren Everts shared statistics and information on the current student body.

New College faculty, faculty associates, and academic professionals were introduced, including:

Those in the College receiving awards and special recognition included:

• Ken Fansler (Dean's Office): Williams Outstanding Technology Service Award
• Neil Sappington (EAF): Manahan Family Teaching Excellence Award, Department of Educational Administration and Foundations
• Jean Gorski (UHS): National Board Certification
• Michael Henning (UHS): Nominee to "Those Who Excel Award Program"

In addition, College faculty and faculty associates recently promoted and tenured were recognized. Those promoted to professor include Tom Crumpler (C&I), Darrell Kruger (C&I), and Zeng Lin (EAF). Those tenured and promoted to associate professor include: Greg Michie (C&I), Dianne Gardner (EAF), Joe Pacha (EAF), and Julia Stoner (SED). At the University Laboratory Schools, Vicki Graziano(UHS) and Lynn Shook (TMS) became tenured.

Dean Deborah Curtis shared her thoughts and discussed the progress made on the College of Education Five-Year Plan. She shared the goals of the plan and highlighted the three themes that were generated from it: partnerships, technology, and data.

She reminded the group that the College of Education has been engaged in several partnerships including:

• IMPACT — PDS partnerships
• Metcalf School collaboration with university faculty
• The Center for the Study of Education Policy's work throughout the state and the nation
• Deaf and Hard Hearing project with ISU, the International Center on Deafness & the Arts, and Oakton Community College
• Autism Spectrum Institute
• Urban Teacher Preparation Steering Committee
• Little Village Partnership with Enlace/ISU/LISC/CPS/State Farm

Curtis stated that it is a chief priority of the College to continue to infuse the most up-to-date technology into our curricula. She highlighted some of our pockets of technological excellence:

• SEAT Center assistive technology for all teacher candidates
• ePortfolio Lab
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing distance education work in the summer
• U-High hybrid laptop initiative

To further facilitate the assimilation of technology into our curricula and college culture, she announced the appointment of Ken Fansler to assistant dean for Educational Technology.

In discussing the data theme, she shared that the College of Education has multiple surveys with multiple data sets available. This information will be used to enhance our understanding and improvement of current programs and instruction, as well as ways to support our alumni.

In summary, Curtis announced that she and College Council Chair Pacha will be visiting faculty members to discuss the goals of the Five-Year Plan to advance the College's mission. She concluded her remarks by thanking her colleagues and praising them for their contributions. "We have outstanding students, we have talented faculty, we have this incredible platform ... I look forward to joining you all on this undertaking."

The meeting then moved to the introduction of Stacy Otto, the Outstanding College of Education Teacher of the Year.  She concluded the meeting with the presentation, "Thoughts of No Consequence: Epiphany and the Value of the Wandering Mind."