The mission of the College of Education Studies is to:
1. Build community and facilitate collaboration among faculty, students, staff, and alumni
interested in educational policy, theory, practice, and/or philosophy
2. Provide a centralized resource for information about the vast range of campus initiatives
related to education
3. Provide a systematic forum for advising and career counseling for students interested in
pursuing careers in education
4. Connect scholars at Wesleyan with others, both nationally and internationally, who
conduct research and create policy in the field of education
5. Provide faculty leadership, oversight, and advice to the administration with regard to the
creation and maintenance of formal connections between Wesleyan University and
outside educational programs
Is the proposed college/department/program interdisciplinary in structure and content?
No
Does the proposal include pedagogical or curriculum innovation?
Yes
Wesleyan students and faculty have been engaged with tutoring programs and research in local schools for decades. Indeed, a recent count by the Patricelli Center outlined over 35 programs working in local schools. However, there is currently little communication amongst these programs and some have little academic oversight of their practices. In order to develop programming that is maximally beneficial to the Middletown Public Schools and that formally connects Wesleyan University to the Middletown Public Schools, Provost Rob Rosenthal has
proposed an initiative called the Mid-Wes Collaborative . One goal of this venture is to coordinate and leverage the wide variety of existing programs on campus that involve students and faculty in local schools. The College of Education Studies would be a natural home for the Mid-Wes Collaborative.
In addition, one of our ultimate aims is for the College of Education Studies to host an on-campus conference annually in which teachers and administrators from local area schools can come to campus to present on their work in schools while Wesleyan faculty and students present on their research and experiences inside of schools. It is hoped that through these interactions, all parties can learn from one another in a way that would make research in Education Studies at Wesleyan highly responsive to local needs and that would fuel close relationships between local schools and Wesleyan and that will capitalize on and leverage the unique resources available to each party.
The global reach of Education Studies at Wesleyan could be enhanced through several possible routes, among them: Establish connections with alumni for internship/summer experience opportunities in international education-related settings including, for example: a) SHOFCO, 6 Kenya: the Kibera School for Girls, (primary school education), Johanna Justin-Jinich Clinic (health education potential); b) the MINDS Foundation (mental health community outreach), India; c) Metis (= local knowledge) (fostering educational innovation in Africa, especially
Kenya); d) Girl Effect (poverty alleviation programs, leveraging technology for girls’ empowerment); e) Titagaya (kindergartens in northern Ghana) – to name a few. A College of Education Studies will also serve as a clear focal point for parties outside of Wesleyan who are looking to collaborate with Wesleyan on ventures that are related to
Education Studies. A number of partners in the state and nationally have sought out information and started exploring opportunities for collaboration. For example, in the last few years, we have piloted a partnership with Connecticut’s Alternative Route to Certification (ARC) program, built a relationship with Brandeis University’s 13-month, liberal-arts based, social-justice oriented MAT program, and started conversations with the Office of Continuing Studies about how Education Studies could work with their office to provide a focal point for
the many teachers they serve through GLSP and the newer education-related initiatives they have led (e.g., Education Leadership Program for independent school personnel; Wesleyan’s taking on the Center for Creative Youth).
Would the proposed college/department/program build a cohort of students?
Yes
The College of Education Studies will provide a formal structure for a wide variety of activities aimed at fostering a sense of community amongst the students, faculty, staff, and alumni at Wesleyan who are interested in this field. This will be accomplished by formalizing a variety of activities that are currently held on an ad-hoc basis. Specifically, the College of Education Studies will regularly host the following activities. (We note that each of these types of events, except for the Research Open House, have been held in the last several years. They have been met with great interest from students and others in the Education Studies community.)