Professor invests in the future of teacher education
In an era of shrinking state budgets, one University of Florida professor has dug into her own pockets to make sure the next generation of scholars has a chance to grow.
Dorene Ross, a professor in UF’s College of Education, and her husband Jack have given the college $10,000 to establish a fund that will help junior faculty members travel to professional conferences to present their research.
“We need to send the message to junior faculty that this institution is willing to wrap its arms around them and support them,” Dorene Ross said. “We have a lot of junior faculty who are producing work of extremely high quality, and we need to make sure they know that they can build their careers here at UF.”
Travel , Ross noted, has always been an important part of any scholarly career. Without funds for travel, she said, faculty members cannot attend crucial conference where they can meet other scholars in the field and make their research known to their colleagues. Yet the travel budget is often the one of the first items to face scrutiny in times of major budget cuts—such as the cuts Florida’s university system is facing now.
Ross, a UF education faculty member since 1979, said she hopes the gift will help her junior colleagues continue to build their careers uninterrupted by the state’s budget problems.
“I feel that I have been blessed here at UF,” Ross said. “And I want the junior faculty to have the same opportunities I had—because if we lose them to another university, I fear that this institution will be damaged.”
The Rosses’ gift will be distributed as stipends of up to $1,000 to young faculty members of the School of Teaching and Learning who are actively seeking promotion. Each faculty member who receives a stipend must use it for travel to a location where he or she will present new research.
Ross is one of the state’s most respected teacher educators. She helped design the College’s five-year teacher-preparation program, ProTeach, which has served as a model for teacher preparation at colleges throughout the nation. In addition to teaching and research, Ross serves as professor-in-residence at Rawlings and Metcalfe elementary schools in east Gainesville, helping the schools change their cultures and the teachers to develop self-evaluation methods to improve their teaching practices. Ross was recently named as one of the two initial recipients of UF’s prestigious Fien Professorship.
As a faculty member of the college’s Lastinger Center for Learning, she has helped to design a school reform strategy that focuses on improving outcomes for children through teacher and principal professional development using coaching, collegial collaboration and inquiry to enhance the capacity of district, school and teacher leaders. She also is part of the UF and community leadership team implementing and evaluating systemic reform in elementary schools in Miami-Dade County and other school districts. Her research interests include teacher socialization for poverty schools, inclusive teacher education and whole school reform.
“This gift from Jack and Dorene Ross not only exemplifies their deep commitment to education, but also to the welfare of faculty within the College of Education,” said Catherine Emihovich, dean of the College of Education. “While we have had excellent success in securing donor funds to support our students through scholarships, finding donors to provide faculty support has been more challenging.
“A gift like this from a faculty member is especially gratifying, and I hope their actions will encourage others to emulate their generosity,” Emihovich said.
