College of Education celebrates 10 years

Written by Shambhu Sharan   

Monday, 27 April 2009 06:47 PM

Information

History of the College of Education
 
1963 — Established in the Department of Psychology/College of Liberal Arts
1978 — Established the Center for Professional Teacher Education
1999 — Awarded status as a School of Education
2003 — Became College of Education

source: Donna Chandler, College of Education development director
 

The College of Education is celebrating its 10th anniversary since being named a School of Education in 1999, but the dean said the future will see more changes than the last decade.

Sharon Robinson, president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) in Washington D.C., will present challenges facing the education’s future from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. today in the University Center Rio Grande Ballroom.

The college began within the College of Liberal Arts as the Teacher Education Section of the Department of Psychology in 1963, but became a school in 1999 and a college in 2003.

“We have grown 700 percent [since 1963],” said Jeanne Gerlach, College of Education dean.

To move into the future, Gerlach said the goal is to expand the college’s focus.

“We need to focus on global education, which is the future goal,” she said. “We incorporate knowledge of culture in society — we want to incorporate knowledge from all over the world.”

In addition to incorporating global knowledge, the college will focus more on creativity than memorizing, Gerlach said. She said she sees higher education expanding its distance learning classes around the globe. The recent economic downturn is not affecting higher education and the College of Education enrollment has increased, she said.

Gerlach said she’s looking into ways to make it easier for students to become teachers like increasing online classes and distance learning.

“We are looking into nontraditional way to certify teachers,” she said.

Distance education in the college began in 2000, Senior Associate Dean Perry Schoon said.

The College of Education will offer a master’s degree in 18 months, using multimedia via DVDs, video conferencing and online classes, Schoon said.

The college is the first college in the UT System to be accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The college received the accreditation in April 2009, which will last for the next seven years.