Looking Ahead to the Next Century
The college’s Centennial Conference on “Closing the Achievement Gap Through Partnerships,” held Nov. 2-4 in St. Petersburg, was a terrific success. All the keynote speakers were lively and engaging, the presentations were well attended, and the arrangements were beautifully organized by UF’s Division of Continuing Ed conference planners. Kudos to Eileen Oliver, the conference planning chair, and her committee members (Dorene Ross, Rod Webb, Phil Clarke, Sylvia Echevarria–Doan, Mary Kay Dykes, Pam Pallas, Megan Connaughton, Jodi Mount and Meredith DiPietro) for their excellent work in planning such an exciting conference.
I heard nothing but praise from all attendees, and I know it raised our visibility on the state and national scene regarding the commitment of many COE faculty and students to help close the achievement gap in partnership with families, schools, and community groups. I was especially pleased to hear Dr. Heather Weiss, the closing speaker from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, note that colleges of education need to move in the direction of placing greater emphasis on learning and development to counter the trend toward increased testing and mindless accountability. She also urged education faculty to become more engaged in the dialogue that will take place when the sweeping federal education law, No Child Left Behind, comes up for reauthorization in Congress next year.
Our centennial celebrations will culminate next month with two events: the burying of a time capsule on Dec. 7, followed by a college-wide reception in the Terrace Room, and the COE Holiday Lunch for faculty and staff on Dec. 8. I encourage everyone to begin thinking of artifacts that could be placed in this capsule to represent the college in the second centennial. Had this activity been done in 1906 when the college opened its doors to its first class of six men, I can easily imagine that the objects from that time period may not have seemed strange today (e.g., chalkboard, eraser, books) but it’s not hard to imagine that what we store today may seem absurdly quaint 100 years from now (e.g., a printed book, an ipod). Please send your suggestions to Jodi Mount (jmount@coe.ufl.edu) in the Alumni office so she can begin compiling the list.
On a more serious note, the direction the college will take in the next 100 years is a topic on which I intend to focus during the next semester. As I mentioned in my column last month, the recent spate of reports on higher education underscores the importance of viewing teaching, scholarship and service within a broader social context. If the disturbing trend of declining confidence in public institutions is to be reversed, higher education institutions will need to transform themselves and lead the way in helping the public envision radically different learning and teaching environments than the ones most children, adolescents and adults find when they enter into formal schooling, regardless of the level.
I plan to bring in a national consultant to help guide us through a series of structured conversations with multiple stakeholders on how we can achieve this goal in our college. In doing so, we can help lead a dialogue across campus about creating and valuing a rich, learning-centered, collaborative culture among students, faculty, and citizens, where the purpose of education is to teach people how to live, not to become educated to earn a living.
– Dean Emihovich
