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Lexington, KY - The No. 1 thing I tend to ask faculty,” said Mary John O’Hair, dean of the College of Education at the University of Kentucky, “is if they’re not only cutting edge in their disciplines, but willing to collaborate across disciplines and help translate their research into practices that can make a difference in the daily lives of school and community members, particularly right here in Kentucky.”
Since arriving at UK in 2009, O’Hair has applied that philosophy in appointing a founding director for the Center for Advanced Study of Technology and Leadership in Education; faculty for a new STEM education department (“critical for us today, given reports that highlight how we’re falling behind in math and science,” O’Hair said); special education and school psychology faculty and researchers, especially for helping parents and teachers understand how to work with children with autism; and childhood obesity researchers, focusing on health and wellness of children.
In addition to 20 new tenure-track faculty appointments, she has hired non-tenured lecturers and clinical faculty members based on expertise in schools and communities, and research-based faculty members (also non-tenured) such as the leader of the Center for Literacy Development. O’Hair cites the medical model when discussing clinical faculty, emphasizing that there is always a need for excellent practitioners to teach. And, she added, “As faculty members’ work bears fruit, funding follows.”
P-20 initiative
“UK’s College of Education Leadership Academy and our P-20 Innovation Lab are working with Kentucky Department of Education and school districts to transform our schools and our districts. Schools and districts don’t need to be convinced of the need for change to meet the needs of a global economy; they want to know how to change,” O’Hair stated.
Established in 2010 to link university research and innovation to the most critical issues faced in P-12 schools and districts, “this program gives us the core information about what’s happening in education,” said Academy participant David Gilliam, principal of Madison Southern High School. “It allows us to connect with some of the top experts around the world. But probably the most beneficial part of it is for the team from our district to just sit down with these issues on the table — the charge of reinventing school — and be able to work through ideas and challenge each other.”
The Leadership Academy is a prime example of faculty members’ work drawing financial support. A challenge grant of $530,000 from the James Graham Brown Foundation will support expansion of the project to impact as many principals and superintendents as possible. This work is tied to a national network, Partnership for Next Generation Learning, which Kentucky is leading.
“It’s been exciting to learn from other states,” said the dean, “but also to have Kentucky seen as a leader in educational reform through our Next Generation Learning work.”
Global ties
Dean O’Hair took part in UK’s delegation to China this spring, looking at innovative models that affect teaching and learning. Having developed a school-university network through the P-20 Lab to transform public education, it seemed a natural link to look at school-university partnerships in China engaged in the same type of work.
Memos of understanding developed in China will foster UK faculty engagement with faculty in China, encourage faculty and student exchanges and initiate an international network focused on educational transformation for the global economy.
Another partnership exists in northern China, Chengchun, where Gelin University is located. The specific focus on sciences at Gelin and its partner high school will provide opportunities for learning for the STEM center at UK’s College of Education.
Think global to local
“We do have partners around the globe, and we’re all addressing some of the same issues. What we’re facing here in Kentucky in education is not unique only to Kentucky,” said O’Hair, as she discussed the International Symposium on Educational Reform hosted here this summer.
According to Lars Bjork, one of the directors of the Symposium and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership Studies in the College of Education, “We know that the stakes are high and that nations with the best schools for the most children will win the future.”
This year’s conference included roughly 75 presentations and 90 speakers/presenters, five of whom are nationally and internationally known, along with 50 doctoral students. School principals and superintendents were also invited to attend.
Bjork said that the symposium concept evolved at a meeting in Hong Kong in 2004, when he sensed that doctoral students lacked a good grasp of education issues outside of their own country.
The next year, he took doctoral students to Finland for a similar symposium; the following year, the Minister of Education from Shanghai hosted in China. Participants from Finland, South Africa, China and the United States participate, as well as from Australia, Great Britain and Sweden.
Bjork affirmed that his department has benefited from Dean O’Hair’s leadership; every program has been retooled to meet new professional standards. He points to international scholars in residence from a wide range of countries and faculty doing work internationally that benefits students in their departments. This changes “how we think about leadership,” he said, and benefits Kentucky schools. “We put out principals and teacher leaders who really understand the nature of global change.” The more they understand the process of change, the more they can help their schools make that transition and improve the education.
Jane S. Shropshire guides students and families through the college search process and is Business Lexington’s Higher Ed. Matters columnist. Contact her at Jshrop@att.net.