Education

Dean: Scott L. Thomas

Faculty

Education at CGU offers full- and part-time programs that enable working professionals to complete an advanced degree while maintaining full-time employment. Graduate study at CGU emphasizes a student-centered program where a richly diverse student body interacts closely with a diverse, engaged, and exceptional faculty.

The program’s vision statement reads as follows.

A socially just nation educates all its diverse citizens through networks of effective and accountable organizations that interact responsibly with families and communities. These organizations require leaders in classrooms, schools, communities, colleges, and capitols who are broadly educated across disciplines and across multiple philosophic and political perspectives. These leaders are committed to thought and action, scholarship and stewardship. They are the system’s most responsible critics and its most prolific architects.

Programs

Program Policies

University Policies and policies and procedures detailed in the Registration and Degree Information section of the Bulletin apply. In addition, the Education program has established an additional set of program policies.

Student Correspondence. Students receive official CGU and program correspondence electronically at their CGU e-mail address only. Students are required to check this e-mail account on a regular basis.

Tutorials and Research. No more than a combined total of four units of Dissertation Research and/or Independent Research (Independent Study) may be taken in the doctoral program. The dean must approve exceptions.

Additional Courses. Students who are out of coursework for five years or more without finishing their program may be required to take additional courses at prevailing tuition rates in order to become and remain current in the field.

Participation in Commencement. Only students who have met all degree requirements and filed all appropriate paperwork within campus degree completion deadlines may participate in commencement. No exceptions.

Resources

A number of distinctive institutes and projects enrich academic opportunities for education students.

The Claremont Education Letter. Published by the education faculty, The Claremont Letter seeks to inform the wider public of critical issues in education, present the various voices on particular issues, and make recommendations to advance their resolution toward a more just and accountable education.

The Bowen Institute for Policy Studies in Higher Education. The Bowen Institute exists to facilitate academic activity in the area of public studies, understood broadly to span both public policy and system/institutional policy in higher education. The Institute supports conference attendance and research opportunities for students in higher education. It sponsors the annual Howard R. Bowen Lecture and the Sally Loyd Casanova Lecture presented by an outstanding higher education alumnus. Further, the Institute supports Higher Education Abstracts (HEA), published quarterly by Wiley-Blackwell, a compilation of abstracts from journals, conference proceedings, and research reports focusing on college students, faculty, and student services. The HEA Office serves as a permanent repository for the originals of articles and reports abstracts in the publication, thus providing an important and respected resource for students and faculty, both nationally and internationally.

The Institute for Education in Transformation. Begun in 1985, the Institute for Education in Transformation provides a mechanism for research, dialog, and action projects that address critical issues in education from kindergarten to graduate school. The Institute’s mission is to foster research, action, and attitudes that best promote excellence, equity, and integrity in the transformation of schools and universities. Through the support of various foundations, research and projects aim at developing schools and universities that are both more just and more accountable for student achievement. Ultimately, these initiatives lead to closing the achievement gap and to improving achievement in schools and universities for all.

The Institute at Indian Hill. The Institute at Indian Hill (IIH) is the program’s applied research center. The IIH is committed to enhancing the growth and productivity of organizations, institutions, and communities of learning through partnerships that integrate best practices in research, coaching, and evaluation. It has partnered with over 200 organizations to implement systems and practices to build on successes, sustain continuous improvement, to create collaborative cultures of data-driven decision-making and practice, and to advance learning and dissemination of best practices.

IRIS Center for Training Enhancements: IRIS-West. IRIS-West coordinates the training and outreach services for The IRIS (IDEA ‘04 and Research for Inclusive Settings) Center for Training Enhancements. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) (Project #H325F060003), IRIS seeks to improve the results of all struggling students, including those with disabilities. Free resources include interactive, challenge-based modules, problem-based case studies, activities, and other instructional materials. Developed by IRIS staff at Vanderbilt University, these resources are about research-based, effective instructional strategies and are made available through its barrier-free website, www.iriscenter.com. IRIS-West, through its offices at CGU, offers training to teacher educators and professional development providers across the nation through services that include web tours, webinars, faculty seminars, and topical institutes.

The Journal of Higher Education. Founded in 1930, The Journal of Higher Education is the leading scholarly journal on the institution of higher education. Articles combine disciplinary methods with critical insight to investigate issues important to faculty, administrators, and program managers. The Journal is edited by Scott L. Thomas and regularly employs graduate students as editorial assistants. The Journal office regularly hosts publishing workshops and round tables for CGU Students.

George G. Stone Center for Children’s Books. The Stone Center is a special library of Education at CGU. In addition to its circulating collection of more than 25,000 trade books for young people (babies through young adults), the Center manages a non-circulating collection of historically significant children’s books and reference materials on children’s literature. The collection is available to teacher candidates in the Teacher Education program. Other interested persons may support the Center and its programs by becoming members of the Friends of the Stone Library (see http://www.cgu.edu/pages/3613.asp).