New Education Department Focuses on Educational Equity and Excellence
After years of providing high-quality teacher education at the undergraduate level, faculty previously part of the Center for Teacher Education—Jeff Claus and Terry Michel—join Pat Tempesta and Linda Hanrahan in H&S as the first full-time faculty in the education department, the newest department in the School of Humanities and Sciences. The department will soon be expanding, adding two more faculty during the 2007–8 academic year who are expected to support the new graduate programs. A chairperson for the department will be among the new hires. With the focus on equity and excellence in education, the new department is hard at work, expanding opportunities for our students. The start of the new master of arts in teaching (M.A.T.) degree this summer signals the beginning of a new chapter in our school’s history—graduate degree programs.
In addition to expanding options in teacher preparation programs, there is a strong focus on educational equity and outreach. In February, Joan Wynne, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Urban Education and Innovation, was invited to campus for a keynote address entitled “Education to Liberate: Quality Education for All of Our Children.” This was followed by a series of workshops for Ithaca College faculty and students and area public school teachers on issues of race and racism for teachers in the classroom. More than 50 students and faculty were involved in Wynne’s visit.
The 2006–7 academic year will mark the 10th anniversary of our partnership with the Frederick Douglass Academy (FDA) in New York City’s Harlem community. Our students and faculty have participated in workshops at FDA every fall and spring for the past nine years. During the summer months, FDA students and teachers are invited to campus to participate in a variety of programs. A highlight of our spring workshop at FDA was a trip to Broadway, with 50 FDA students supervised by Ithaca College teacher education students and FDA teachers, to see the play The Color Purple.
This past summer, FDA students again attended Ithaca College’s Summer College for High School Students. Assistant professor Elizabeth Bleicher ran a one-week intensive workshop for FDA students, with a focus on helping them develop their writing, critical thinking, and speaking skills. Assisted by Paul Hansom from the English department, Scott Thomson and Lee-Ellen Marvin from the speech communication department, and Ithaca College students Rachel Carr and Abby Church, the FDA students were challenged by workshops in speech writing, overcoming stage fright, rhetorical analysis, dramatic impact, oral presentation, and improvisation. There was also time for a trip to the Sciencenter, a Kitchen Theatre performance, miniature golf, and the Ithaca farmer’s market.
