News From U-M
U-M faculty named Fulbright Scholars
Three U-M scholars from the Ann Arbor campus and one from UM-Dearborn were awarded U.S. Department of State Fulbright Scholar grants to conduct research abroad. The recipients are Farina Mir (Department of History), Pieter Smith, (Department of Chemistry), Molly Yunker, (School of Education), and William DeGenaro (Department of Language, Culture and Communication, UM-Dearborn). The Fulbright Scholar Program sends 800 U.S. faculty and professionals abroad each year. These prestigious grants provide funding for recipients to lecture or conduct research abroad for periods of two to 12 months in 140 countries. [Read more...]
The Cost of Education Wars
"Americans seem to be experts at starting and fighting wars over our children's education, rather than experts in building it," writes Deborah Loewenberg Ball, dean of the U-Michigan School of Education in an opinion essay for the Huffington Post. "We are slipping rapidly into a new education war, this one about how to get better teaching for our nation's students. The good news is that we agree on something very important: Teaching matters." [Read more...]
School of Education Dean confirmed by Senate to membership on the National Board for Education Sciences
Deborah Loewenberg Ball has been approved by the U.S. Senate as a member of the National Board for Education Sciences. President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Ball on February 23, 2010. The National Board for Education Sciences provides guidance and advice to the director of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The board’s duties include advising the director on ways to strengthen education research and approving priorities proposed by the director to guide the work of IES. [Read more...]
U-M’s Lee elected to National Academy of Education
Valerie Lee, professor of education and faculty associate at the Institute for Social Research, was recently elected to the National Academy of Education, which consists of U.S. members and foreign associates who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship or contributions to education.
U-M higher education professor selected as 2010 AERA Fellow
Edward St. John, the University of Michigan's Algo D. Henderson Collegiate Professor of Higher Education, has been selected as a 2010 American Educational Research Association Fellow. St. John's work concentrates on public policies that promote equity in higher education and professional education. [Read more...]
New book by U-M Ford School faculty member examines federal influence on public schools
In his new book, "The Ordeal of Equality: Did Federal Regulation Fix the Schools?" (Harvard University Press, 2010), David K. Cohen, a professor in the Ford School of Public Policy and the School of Education, examines federal influence on public schools. Prior to the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act, American schools were locally created and controlled. This legislation was created to improve education for children from low-income families. Cohen and co-author Susan L. Moffitt look at the gaps between policies and programs and the real-world practices they attempted to change, discuss the evidence behind what works and what has failed, and consider possible solutions. [Read more...]
Michigan’s black/white male education gap is worst in nation
African-American males in Michigan have the lowest high school graduation rate in the country—33 percent, compared to 74 percent for white males in the state, according to University of Michigan research. Moreover, African-American female college students nationwide now outnumber black men in college, 2-1. While a number of studies have examined Michigan's college attainment and high school graduation rates, the numbers from U-M's Black Male Project show the disparities are "alarming" when progress is measured comparing males with females, said Larry Rowley, U-M assistant professor of higher education and Afroamerican and African Studies. "Researchers, policymakers and educators increasingly acknowledge that low K-12 academic performance, high school completion and higher education participation levels for African- American males represent a national crisis," Rowley said. "National data reveal that African- American male students are underperforming at alarming rates across the K-12 educational pipeline as well as in their college attendance and completion rates." [Read more...]
U-M professor selected as a Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching senior partner
Magdalene Lampert, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor in Education, has been selected by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of five senior partners who will guide the development of the program’s agenda. The first topic is expected to be high failure rates among students in developmental mathematics in community colleges. [Read more...]
Michigan Solar Car Team finishes third in Australian race
For the fourth time in U-M Solar Car Team history, the students placed third in a biennial 1,880-mile race across Australia. Infinium crossed the finish line in Adelaide Wednesday evening (EDT), after competing for five days in the Global Green Challenge, formerly known as the World Solar Challenge. Tokai University of Japan won the race. Michigan fought hard with four-time champion team Nuon of the Netherlands for second place. On day four, the teams leap-frogged six times. But Infinium received a 10-minute penalty when the students had to push it up a tough hill toward the end of the race. That solidified Nuon’s lead. [Read more...]