SOCIAL FOUNDATIONSSUMMER 2013

Happenings Now and On the HorizonBY DERRICK P. ALRIDGE, PROFESSOR

The 2012-2013 academic year was exciting for Social Foundations. Several initiatives fell into place that will help the program build a solid infrastructure in U.Va.’s new academic environment.

This past year, we focused on building the master’s and Ph.D. programs and made inroads in playing a greater role in undergraduate education. Our new undergraduate minor in Global Studies directed by Carol Anne Spreen is now up and running, we became one of the central programs in the new Youth Development and Policy major in Curry, and we will offer courses in the new MBA/MEd in Curriculum & Instruction: Innovation in Education Reform pro-gram. Last but not least, we are offering a Social Foundations master’s degree for Peace Corps students before they embark on their assignments.

Faculty members and students are working hard to build a vibrant intellectual community and culture within Social Foundations. In fall 2012, we admitted three new doctoral students. Danielle Wingfield joined us from William & Mary to study the history of education with Derrick Alridge, Chenyu Wang came from the University of Maryland to work with Diane Hoffman in comparative education, and Sahtiya Logan joined us from Princeton to work with Carol Anne Spreen in sociology of education and comparative education.

This year we held several informal dinners to provide students with opportunities to discuss their scholarship and the program and meet faculty and friends of Social Foundations across the university. Our community-building effort was a major initiative this year and will con-tinue in the years to come.

In August 2012, our off-Grounds program in Social Foundations officially became part of the Curry School. Dan Driscoll, a Social Foundations Ph.D. graduate, became the director of the Social Foundations off-Grounds program and is now a member of the Social Foundations faculty.

Student AchievementDoctoral student Christine Monaghan (M.Ed. ‘10) received a fellowship from the Buckner W. Clay Endowment for the Humanities, which supports inno-vative work in the humanities at the University of Virginia. Monaghan’s research focuses on the history of education policies and programming for refugees in protracted refugee situations.

Master’s student Lindsey Jones was accepted into U.Va.’s Tomorrow’s Professor Today program, which is designed to facilitate the transition from student to academic profes-sional.

Social Foundations Faculty

Derrick P. Alridge, ProfessorDiane Hoffman, Assoc. ProfessorDaniel Driscoll, Assoc. ProfessorCarol Ann Spreen, Assoc. Professor

Go online to read about the achieve-ments and current work of the Social Foundations faculty.

of Education

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/// Around Curry: Ruffner Hall is undergoing renovation and maintenance inside and out. The interior has been completely gutted. Read more about Ruffner at curry.virginia.edu/magazine

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curry.virginia.edu/social-foundations-newsletter

Social Foundations is published by the Curry School Social Foundations program and is sponsored by the Curry School of Education Foundation.

As if all the other aspects of completing master’s study in Social Foundations weren’t enough—including capstone

coursework and comprehensive exams—two candidates completing degree requirements in northern Virginia tackled international field research this past year.

Peter G. Nippard, a middle school teacher at Burgundy Farm School in Alexandria, Va., and Christopher Seeger, a new Ph.D. candidate at George Mason University this fall, con-ducted their research for an Independent Study Project, an elective course (EDLF 9993) in the Social Foundations M.Ed. program.

Nippard presented at the Australian and New Zealand Studies Association of North America Conference held in mid-February at Georgetown University’s Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies. His paper described how the origins and early develop-ment patterns of formal schooling systems in

Australia and the United States influenced significant differences in contemporary edu-cational structures, policies and practices in the two countries, despite their shared British colonial educational heritage.

An Australian, Nippard returned there late last year and worked with government edu-cation officials, university faculty members, and administrators to analyze the educational foundations, traditions, and philosophies that shaped Australian education.

His investigation found fundamental differ-ences in those educational origins compared with those in the United States, despite similar-ities between the countries in language, culture, and demographics and a common colonial past.

Seeger traveled twice last year to remote areas in Nicaragua to conduct ethnographic research with parents, academics, and govern-ment officials along the country’s Atlantic coast region.

In mid-April, he presented a paper on his research at the Education Across the Americas Conference at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York.

His paper, “Applied Freirian Theory in the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua: Autonomy as an Alternative,” examined the political aspects of the intercultural bilingual education system serving the indigenous and Afro-Caribbean populations in the region.

Separated from most of Nicaragua by geog-raphy, ethnicity, and economics, the Atlantic coast region represented a unique opportu-nity to study Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy theories in practice in a real world, lived-in environment.

Seeger expects to specialize in compara-tive and global education during his doctoral study.

Off-Grounds Student Research

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/// Derrick Alridge

Under Dan’s leadership, the off-Grounds program has been revamped to include Comparative and International Education and Educational Policy Studies as areas of concen-tration. We are working hard to create greater academic synergy between our off-Grounds and on-Grounds programs.

This spring Bob McNergney, a good friend and supporter of Social Foundations, developed and taught a new social foundations course/workshop focused on navigating the disser-tation process. The workshop included ses-sions on writing a literature review, developing research questions, and establishing a writing routine. The workshop also provided students with opportunities to write and develop a sup-port system. Students praised Bob’s workshop for helping sharpen their ideas and writing. We plan to offer this workshop each spring.

In fall 2013 Social Foundations will teach EDLF 5000: Multicultural Education, and the course will become a regular offering in the program. Over the past twenty years, the legendary Bob Covert taught the course and inspired thousands of students to become self-reflective about issues of diversity and astute of critical issues regarding gender, race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, and class.

Social Foundations intends to build on the solid foundation constructed by Bob and will

develop the course around the humanities and critical frameworks of social foundations.

Also, beginning this fall Social Foundations intends to develop a new student-run online journal. The journal will be called Cypher: A Journal of Education, Art, and Culture. Cypher will be a journal for educators, poets, artists, and humanists. The inaugural issue “Movements,” will explore various educational and social movements in the US and abroad that have brought about social justice and radical change. The journal will launch in spring 2014. A call for staff members and writers will be announced in early August 2013.

As you may be aware, Professor Emeriti Jennings Wagoner passed last January. Needless to say, we were all saddened by this extraordi-nary loss for Social Foundations, Curry, and the university as a whole. Jennings was the epitome of a scholar and gentleman.

I met Jennings over a decade ago and became familiar with his scholarship in the history of education as a graduate student in the 1990s. Fortunately, I got to know Jennings well over the past few years, as we conversed about the future of social foundations in the 21st-century academy.

And of course, we also discussed our mutual interests in Thomas Jefferson, W.E.B. Du Bois, education, and the history of ideas. This coming

year, Social Foundations and Higher Education will hold a symposium on the scholarship and life of Jennings (details forthcoming).

[You can read alumni tributes to Jennings and add your own in the online version of this newsletter at curry.virginia.edu/social-foundations-newsletter.]

Expect to see increased activity in Social Foundations this year as we continue our efforts to become part of the fabric of Curry, the university, and community. We will work more closely with our colleagues in teacher education to influence future teachers. We will increase our undergraduate offerings. We will further engage the local community through efforts like Cypher and other initiatives.

We will continue to build our master’s and doctoral programs through our apprenticeship model of academic training that provides stu-dents with opportunities to present their work at conferences and publish articles and write grants with faculty.

As always, we hope you will visit us in Bavaro Hall or email us to provide us with your advice or just to say hello (dpa8w@virginia.edu).

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BY DANIEL DRISCOLL, ASSOC. PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR, SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OFF-GROUNDS PROGRAM

Christopher Loss is a historian who has plenty to say about the present.

“I like to look at the lineage of contemporary issues and trace the connections to the past,” he says. Take, for example, the student loan crisis and spiraling debt load of college graduates today, which is a major policy issue to be resolved.

“Where did the demand come from?” Loss asks. “The federal government got into the stu-dent loan business with the National Defense Act of 1958 and then the 1965 Higher Education Act, because private lending agen-cies wouldn’t give loans to everyone at a time when the demand for college was mounting.”

An assistant professor of Public Policy and Higher Education at Vanderbilt University, Loss has an academic lineage. “I was raised by two professors,” he says. Many of his extended family members are teachers and scholars, as well.

“The family business has always been educa-tion.”

He came to the University of Virginia as a graduate student, certain since his sophomore year that he wanted to be an academic, but less certain about where to focus.

“I had met a few students from the Curry social foundations program, and they impressed me. I had heard great things about the faculty,” he says. “I also was attracted to the combina-tion of humanities and education that social foundations provides.”

One master’s degree was not enough, how-ever, as he also wanted to hone his training in research from the history department in the College. He ultimately discovered his fascina-tion with the history of higher education and wrote his master’s thesis on the GI bill.

From his dual masters degrees he went on to earn two simultaneous Ph.D.’s in 2007—one from the Curry School higher education program and the second from the U.Va. history department.

In his brief career since then, Loss has racked up an impressive record, much of which has focused on linking the past to the pres-ent. A 2005 paper in the Journal of American History received the James Madison Prize from the Society for History in the Federal

Government. He spent a year as a research fellow in the Brookings Institution. His dis-sertation work garnered three awards.

His 2012 book, Between Citizens and the State: The Politics of American Higher Education in the Twentieth Century, received the 2013 American Educational Research Association Outstanding Book Award.

This past year Loss was a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, where he began working on a new book project. Front and Center: Academic Expertise and Its Challengers in the Post-1945 United States, examines the challenges to academic expertise in the U.S. since World War II.

Loss says he is grateful for the prepara-tion he received in the Curry School’s Social Foundations program.

“The social foundations degree gave me a solid background for my doctoral work in education and in history,” he says.

He believes the social foundations degree has practical applications in many other fields, as well.

“I think it’s incredibly important for profes-sional schools to provide their students with a deeper understanding of the work they are being trained to do.”

Past and PresentChristopher P. LossM.Ed. ’00 Soc Fdns; M.A. ’01 HistoryPh.D. ’07 Higher Ed; Ph.D. ’07 History

Thank You!

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The Curry School Foundation recognizes the generosity of the following alumni from the Social Foundations program who have made donations so far in fiscal year 2013:

Jill K. Boatright

Carolyn C. Bertke

Judith H. Bowns

Maureen Brain

Patricia B. Brennan

John F. Callahan

Steve Delice

Richard Ewing, Jr.

Sally C. Friedman

Bob Gibson

Robert C. Gimm

Tatia D. Granger

Kathleen H. Gray

Patricia R. Griffin

Tanya S. Harvin

Anne C. Hayes

Carol V. Horn

Meredith K. Houff

Alison S. Houser

Astrid G. Howell

Jay A. Jackson

Todd W. Kent

James G. La Prad

Tamara L. La Prad

Cynthia L. Lewis

Sarah B. McConnell

William McDermott

Betty J. McNeilly

Rita E. McSorley

Michael J. Morgan

Tracey C. Pilone

Christine B. Reed

Andrew Rotherham

Diane L. Runnels

Barbara Schmertz

Richard F. Schupp

LTC James Shannon

Karen F. Siple

Michael R. Sorrell

Kenena H. Spalding

Beatrice K. Sparling

Teresa S. Taylor

Tracy Hartzler-Toon

Eileen M. Vassallo

Everett S. Vaughn III

Nancy H. Vogt

Xu Wang

Jennifer Washburn

Ann H. Westlake

These gifts directly benefit Curry students and the quality of their educational experiences. Your support is very much appreciated!

2013 Curry Foundation Award RecipientsCongratulations to the following Social Foundations students who received awards and fellowships estab-lished by donors to the Curry School Foundation.

Christine Monaghan Jennings L. Wagoner, Jr. Scholarship and Mary Catherine Ellwein Award

Benjamin Paxton Jessie C. Carpenter Award

Sahtiya Logan Robert Lynn Canady Fellowship

Read more of our interview with Loss at curry.virginia.edu/social-foundations-newsletter

Samuel Crowell, Jr. (Ed.D. ’92) recently published a new book with David Reid-Marr (Rowman & Littlefield) entitled Emergent Teaching: A Path of Creativity, Significance, and Transformation. It is a modified narrative inquiry into complexity theory and the concept of emergence as it applies to pedagogy. As part of the faculty for the UNESCO chair on ESD, he teaches a-one week course for educa-tors in Costa Rica on Education and Values for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter. Paul Gorski (M.Ed. ’95 Soc Fdns; Ph.D. ’98 Educ Eval) was granted tenure and promotion in August 2012 and founded a new undergraduate program in Social Justice in New Century College at George Mason University, which was rolled out in September 2012. (www.edchange.org)Mark Harrington (M.Ed. ’00 Soc Fnds; Ph.D. 02 Educ Eval) is an adjunct professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.Catherine Gavin Loss (Ph.D. ’05) is a faculty member in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College and coordinator for the Master of Public Policy (M.P.P.) Program and the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and Policy (Ed.D.).Jean Lowe (M.Ed. ’81) co-wrote These Are Our People…The Life Stories of 24 People Served at the Fauquier Community Food Bank from

2009-2011. Proceeds benefit the Food Bank. She received her master’s degree through the U.Va. Center in northern Virginia. She spent much of her career as director of the GED Testing Service of the American Council on Education.Meghan O’Leary (M.Ed. ‘08) moved to Princeton, N.J., to pursue a spot on the U.S. Olympic rowing team. She was featured in The Advocate, her hometown Baton Rouge, La., newspaper, on June 12 (theadvocate.com)James Marshall “Marsh” Pattie (M.Ed. ’03 Couns Ed; Ph.D. ’12 Soc Fdns) and his wife, Stacey, welcomed a second son, Miles Monroe, in 2012. He joins a big brother, McKinley.Michael Perfater (M.Ed. ’72) retired on May 1, 2011, from the Virginia Center for Transportation, Innovation, and Research after more than 44 years of service. He began as a part-time employee in the copy center there in 1966, and upon receiving his Curry degree became a research analyst. He was a recipi-ent of the VDOT Commissioner’s Award of Excellence in 2003. He spent the last four years of his tenure there as the Acting Director of Research Operations, where he oversaw VDOT’s $15M program of research in the Commonwealth. Since retiring he continues to pursue various musical endeavors with his wife, Cindy, with whom he resides in the Ivy area of Albemarle County, Va.

Chip Prehn (Ph.D ’05) wrote a chapter titled “Episcopal Schools” in the new two-volume Praeger Handbook of Faith-Based Schools in the United States edited by Thomas C. Hunt and James C. Carper.Jacob H. Rooksby (M.Ed. ’07 Soc Fdns; Ph.D. ’12 Higher Ed) began his appoint-ment as assistant professor of Law at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, Pa., this past fall. He teaches courses on torts, intel-lectual property, and law and higher education. His article “Sue U.,” concerning patent litiga-tion in higher education, was published in the September/October 2012 issue of Academe. Rooksby writes about the intersection of intel-lectual property and higher education. (www.jacobrooksby.com)Kathryn Turner (M.Ed. ’00 Soc Fdns) is an elementary art teacher turned full time professional artist, She recently completed a creative collaboration with her brother called OneNest. You can also see photos of the proj-ect and the collection of her paintings at www.onenestproject.com.

Read more. You can read more class notes online at curry.virginia.edu/social-foundations-newsletter.

CLASS NOTES

Social FoundationS alumni newSletterP.O. Box 400268417 Emmet Street SouthCharlottesville, VA 22904-4268

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