Exciting New Faculty Join the IC Department of Education

We are very excited and pleased to welcome two new faculty members to our department!! 

1) Dr. Jeane Copenhaver-Johnson joins us as our new department chair, coming to Ithaca from Ohio State University - Mansfield, where she was an Associate Professor and Coordinator of Teacher Education.  She was the recipient there of two Excellence in Teaching Awards and a Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award, and she has done extensive research and writing about how teachers can and should address issues of racism and homophobia with young children.  We very much look forward to working with and learning from her!

2) We also very enthusiastically welcome, Eric Hamako, a Pre-Doctoral Diversity Fellow in the School of Humanities and Sciences.  He will be with us this year, teaching one course a semester and finishing up his Ph.D. in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts.  His dissertation research is titled: "Improving Anti-Racist Education for Multiracial Participants" and it concerns how to reconceptualize and improve the ways colleges and community organizations teach about racial justice.  He is particularly interested in issues of mixed race identity and experience and media literacy.  The course he will teach this fall, 2011, is EDUC 29000 -- Zombies, Wizards, Vampires & More: Media Literacy for Social Justice.

The Ithaca College Education Department offers courses, programs, and experiences that explore and support a wide range of interests and professional pursuits in the field of education.  We run undergraduate and graduate programs for students desiring teacher certification, and we teach courses and coordinate exciting programs open to all students.

We believe that true excellence in education requires a commitment to equity and social justice. Thus, we strive to prepare creative, culturally competent, critically reflective graduates who possess deep knowledge in their fields of study and work effectively with others to achieve high quality education for all.

We hope you will explore our website, programs, and courses and that you will reach out to us as you investigate your interests and options.  We think teaching and the study and improvement of schools and society are vital, noble, rewarding pursuits, and we welcome you into this important and exciting work!

Maybe you've thought about teaching as a career. Maybe you enjoy working with youth and helping make learning come alive for them. Maybe you would like to improve schools and society through the development of more effective education policy or the pursuit of legal cases to achieve greater equity and fairness in our educational system.  Do you want to make a difference in the world? Then perhaps you will find a home in our department.

Even though not all of our courses require it, our students typically spend time in area public schools in a variety of hands-on learning situations, assisting area teachers with classroom teaching and engaging in individual tutoring and small group work with students from diverse cultural backgrounds. You might help run an afterschool homework club, or support students for success in math or science, or work with new immigrant students and their families to help them thrive, or assist with the AVID program at a local high school, a program designed to help mid to low performing students prepare for and succeed in college. You will also have exciting opportunities to work and learn in our partner schools in Harlem/New York City and to study different types of schools in Washington, DC.

In addition, our faculty often develop close mentoring relationships with students. Classes are small so there is plenty of time for discussion, and when you work in classrooms, schools and community agencies, our faculty will be there to provide good guidance and support.

After graduation, our students work, teach, and pursue additional education near and far. Some of our certification program graduates are hired to teach here in the region. Some move on to more urban areas and/or other parts of the country, and others teach abroad or go on to specialized degree programs and other professions including law, social work, school psychology, business, special education, documentary filmmaking, journalism, textbook publishing, and more. The world of education is an exciting and rewarding one, and we invite you in!!

"Education without social action is a one-sided value because it has no true power potential. Social action without education is a weak expression of pure energy." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"If who we are tells something about where we have been, then how we teach tells something about where we want to go." -- Ushma Shah