How do we know if we are making a difference?
October 15, 2013
Donald N. Cardinal, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
College of Educational Studies
The CES faculty and staff are neither interested in simple compliance to standards nor the mere graduation of countless students. The faculty and staff demand a meaningful and purposeful environment that supports our graduates to obtain the finest positions in order to have an immediate impact in realizing our mission of “Changing Education, Changing the World!
Among other elements, such lofty goals require a vibrant and personalized environment in which to learn. The CES is a place where students want to be and where they want to interact with faculty and colleagues. How do we create and maintain such vibrancy? An essential step is to boldly examine the most important societal issues and understand the purpose of education within a comprehensive social context. To do this well, we need the best thinkers and doers the world has to offer. While our faculty members represent the core of this group, they continually and systematically invite other world class thinkers and doers to the CES table.
Faculty, often with their students, travel the world—18 countries this year alone—to work with world-class academics and practitioners who are making a difference. Faculty invite these individuals to campus to work together with our students and within our local community. They may stay for a few days, a semester, a year or longer and often join us as Faculty Associates. A Faculty Associate is an individual selected by the faculty and with whom the faculty and students would like an ongoing relationship.
The Faculty Associate model has enabled our faculty to create an energetic and vibrant learning environment. The presence of Faculty Associates motivates students to gather before and after class, to come on weekends for special events, and to work together in our local community. The students come wide-eyed and ready to learn and share their ideas. Graduates also regularly take advantage of these opportunities for meaningful interaction with educators and colleagues. We believe then, that an authentic indicator that we are making a difference is our students’ and graduates’ commitment to seek challenges, solve problems, and impart their zeal to others to make this a better world.
Some of our Faculty Associates, critical friends, and thinkers and doers are highlighted in this newsletter. As you read, keep in mind that Chapman’s College of Educational Studies is your venue for “Changing Education, Changing the World.”
Donald N. Cardinal, Ph.D
College of Educational Studies, Dean & Professor
Peter McLaren, Ph.D.
Distinguished Fellow in Critical Studies
College of Educational Studies
Peter McLaren, Ph.D
., professor of Urban Schooling at UCLA, and is a Distinguished Fellow in Critical Studies in the
College of Educational Studies
. He is the author of numerous books and journal article on the subject of critical pedagogy and social justice including,
Che Guevara, Paulo Freire, and the Pedagogy of Revolution
,
Revolutionary Multiculturalism: Pedagogies Of Dissent For The New Millennium,
and
Capitalists and Conquerors: A Critical Pedagogy Against Empire
.
In 2012, Peter McLaren was inducted as an American Educational Research Fellow and was made Honorary Chair Professor of Northeast Normal University in China and Honorary Professor of the Faculty of Education, University of Auckland. He also received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Peace Studies by the Central New York Peace Studies Consortium, one of the oldest peace studies organizations in the world recognized by the United Nations.
McLaren will be associated with Chapman’s historical commitment to the memory of Paulo Freire, as demonstrated by the university’s Freire archive collection and the only known North American bust of the well-known Brazilian pedagogical theorist. He has been invited to collaborate with Tom Wilson, Ed.D., director of Chapman’s Paulo Freire Democratic Project, and Suzanne SooHoo, Ph.D., Hassinger Endowed Chair in Culture, Community and Collaboration, in the reinvention of the Freire Project at Chapman, as well as formal and informal educational projects of ethical and democratic practices.
In a recent
Orange County Register
interview, CES Distinguished Fellow Peter McLaren, Ph.D. remarked,
Professors and students alike have been warm, courteous, engaging, and open-minded. In my view the best universities are those that foster vigorous scholarship, and welcome divergent viewpoints that help both to extend and deepen democracy. Building a dynamic public sphere where students learn to think critically and develop coherent arguments about important issues of the day is a sign of a healthy democracy. I’m pleased to report that this has been my experience at Chapman. I think this would surprise folks who might view Chapman as a bastion of the right. I’ve lectured at universities in over a dozen countries and Chapman is as committed to a well-rounded education as anywhere I’ve experienced. Just look at the statues on the grounds-you have Margaret Thatcher and Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand but you also have the great Brazilian leftist educator Paulo Freire, Benito Juarez and Martin Luther King. What has impressed me about the College of Educational Studies at Chapman has been the commitment to justice and equality and the fostering of critical thinking. Take a look at the events and programs at the Martinez Bookstore in Santa Ana as but one example. That’s where social justice walks the talk. I’m delighted to be here in such an invigorating intellectual environment.
Scot Danforth, Ph.D.
Visiting Scholar
College of Educational Studies
The PhD program is honored and excited to welcome Professor Scot Danforth to campus in the spring of 2014 to teach EDUC 772, International Perspectives on Disability, a required course in the Disability Studies emphasis of the program. According to
Susan L. Gabel
, Professor and Director of the
Ph,D. in Education Program
, “Scot is a valued colleague and scholar. I’m thrilled we have made it possible for our students to study with him.”
Known internationally for his work in inclusive education, Scot Danforth began his career as a special educator, working for a number of years in programs designed for students experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties. Currently, Scot is a Professor and Director of the School of Teacher Education at San Diego State University. He served for six years as Co-Editor of Disability
Studies Quarterly, the journal of the Society for Disability Studies
. He is Co-Editor of the
Peter Lang series, Disability Studies in Education
.
Professor Danforth’s scholarship falls into the interdisciplinary area of Disability Studies. He has published numerous articles and books, many analyzing the social or historical construction of childhood disabilities. His work has explored the social and scientific processes that give shape and meaning to childhood disabilities.
