Greetings – Dean’s Message January 2011

Dear all,

As a person who grew up in a Greek immigrant family – the notion of ‘mira’ (fate) left an indelible impression on me. Of course I am keenly aware that you have to struggle actively to make the most of every opportunity and to influence outcomes. But, I believe equally that you must remain respectful of the forces of nature and exigencies of chance in human affairs.

The new year has begun with a string of tragic events, from the icy cold blizzards roaring across the Midwest, to the unstoppable floods and cyclones in Northern Australia and the Pacific region to the human tragedies in Tucson, Tunisia, Egypt and other parts of the world. One thing that touched me in particularly with regard to the mystery of life, was the fate of that little girl who was seemingly, mindlessly killed in the Tucson tragedy, a girl who in only nine short years of life had made a pattern of choices that ignited genuine hope for what we are capable of when we trust our better selves, determined to remove barriers of exclusion, to value public service and fully embrace the spirit of sociality.

To be honest, I had been avoiding any news media since the holidays, because I just could not bear the disingenuous noise that seemed to drown out civility, common sense or largesse. And then this little girl, Christina Green, flashed passed us all, in her innocence, obvious joy for life and her belief that she could make a better world for herself and others. And in some almost indiscernible and not yet fully realized way, her life gained new meaning.

We are now just over a month into the New Year and as usual forging ahead to meet our individual and shared goals. The renewed energy that abounds in the corridors and classrooms every new semester is very satisfying and reassuring.

You will be as pleased as I am that over the holiday period 12 applications for external funding were being worked on and submitted in January. Thank you to all involved in this effort and well done to Professors Art Baroody, Debra Bragg, Bill Cope, Mark Dressman, Dorothy Espelage, Stafford Hood, Morten Lundsgaard, Jose Mestre, Michelle Perry, George Reese, Allison Ryan and Jim Shriner for applying variously to NSF, the Spencer Foundation and a State Department of Education for grants totaling over $18 million. We cannot express enough our gratitude and praise for all those associated with our Bureau for Research and the Budget & Resource Planning Office for their dedicated efforts to ensure all submissions go out on time and in impeccable order. In fact, I understand that our College has received accolades from the OSPRA reviewer of our proposals who is as amazed that we had ‘zero’ items/issues with the January round of applications which, in his view, is ‘nearly impossible’. According to him, the Bureau is one of the ‘gold standard’ offices on campus. Well done all and the best of luck.

We also need to commend the Director of the Bureau of Education Research, Jane Schingel, for organizing the first of three meetings (‘Taking faculty ideas to market: An invitation to expand the College of Education’s impact on the world’) with the Office of Technology Management (OTM) who have agreed to partner with us to we explore possible ways in which we can deploy our considerable intellectual property to make a wider impact and attract new resources to contribute to our aspirations for innovation. Thank you to all faculty, APs, students and staff who participated in the first session with genuine interest and curiosity. Certainly educational processes, tools and services that emanate from sound scholarship are in high demand from many segments of the broader community and we have much to offer. Please look out for the next two meetings. In this vein, hooray to Emeritus Professor Art Baroody who declared with OTM his intentions to pursue a patent associated with the technology(ies) he has developed through his IES grant work .

And of course, what great pride we all shared with our inspirational postgraduate student Anjali Forber-Pratt for her magnificent wins at the International Paralympics Committee World Athletics Championships in New Zealand. She won gold in the 200m, silver in the 100m and 400m and a 4th place finish in the 800m. This now places her extremely well in world rankings as she heads down the homestretch for preparations for the 2012 Olympics in London. May good luck also shine down on her skill and determination. See http://education.illinois.edu/news/2011/anjali.html

The expertise of our College continues to be sought by campus and by a wide range of external professional bodies. This time we commend the following for their service.

* Fulsome congratulations to Professor Jennifer Greene who has been named the 2011 President of the American Evaluation Association. This professional organization represents more than 6,000 members around the world and is the largest in its field. It is a great honor for her and our College. See
http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/11/01/p808988/author-educator-jennifer-c-greene-to-serve-as-president-of-american-eva

* Congratulations to Sharon Tettegah, who was appointed as a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Continuing Education Committee (CEC) responsible for developing and implementing policy and program recommendations. She has also been appointed to the Division 15’s APA Publication Committee. See http://www.apadiv15.org/apa/about_committee.php#section8

* Vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and Interim Provost Richard Wheeler has appointed Professors William Trent, Helen Neville and Chris Span to the campus wide, Diverse Undergraduate Enrollment Task force.

* Professor Helen Neville has the additional task of leading a review of the campus Target of Opportunity hiring program,

* Professor Tom Schwandt has been asked to continue serving on the Campus Social and Behavioral Science Research Council for the remainder of 2010-11 academic year.

* Professors Fouad Abd-El Hhalick and Lizanne Destefano, co investigators on our NSF EnList project, are participating in a panel discussion February 16, to discuss the STEM learning opportunities that will be available to students at the new Booker T. Washington Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics magnet elementary school in Champaign. See http://www.news.illinois.edu/news/11/0204stem.html

* Professor James Anderson has been invited to participate in a round table of business managers, department heads and others from around campus to share some of the successful ways in which we have survived and thrived in an environment of diminishing financial resources. The roundtable will be held on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 8:30-10:00 am in 210 Illini Union.

I along with the other Deans met with the search company hired to oversee the process of selection of a new Vice President and Chancellor for our campus. Among the many issues canvassed, a consensus arose that ideally the person who filled this role would need not only to be the champion of the Urbana campus but the chief administrative officer who would oversee our flag ship status and all our business, academic and community interests.

My own research efforts, in association with our IES ‘Assess-as-You-Go Writing Assistant’ project team, have already resulted in two jointly written articles accepted by the Journal, ‘Computers and Composition’. What a privilege it is to have the opportunity to work, even if sporadically given my commitments, with the inter-disciplinary talents of all those involved in this project trying to rethink assessment and its tools.

Finally, I do hope you are all safe and sound and that the prolonged winter has not affected you negatively. Just consider how sweet the first signs of spring will be in the not too distant future. That is the promise of nature.

All the best,
Dean Mary Kalantzis