A Forum on the History of Education in Kentucky

September 8, 20011
8:30 AM – 4 PM
Eastern Kentucky University
Perkins Building
(Free parking at Perkins)

 

Schedule below

 

Before the Forum
Book Chat with Bill Ellis
September 7th, 4:30 PM
John Grant Crabbe Library
Grand Reading Room
A book signing will follow
until 6:30 PM

 

Cost: $70 + $3 for credit card processing
Credit card reservations may be made
by phone at (859) 622-1444

 

Education in Kentucky, the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, got off to a poor start. An incongruous land system created a society dominated by the wealthy who had little interest in educating the masses, and thus, until the advent of the 20th century, no taxing system approaching “adequate” supported a democratic common school system. Like citizens in other slave states, early Kentuckians did not highly value public common school education.

Emeritus EKU History Professor Bill Ellis argues in his new book A History of Education in Kentucky that the Commonwealth more closely followed the old English system of education rather than the more democratic system found in New England. 

Ellis’s book is the first single-volume history of schooling in the state and the first of any kind since 1964. Much has changed since the 60’s, and it’s time to talk about it.

To celebrate the book’s release, EKU and WEKU radio have partnered with the University Press of Kentucky, and Kentucky Educational Television to present a forum on education in the state on September 8th at the Perkins Building on the south side of the EKU campus. The Forum will run from 8:30 AM until 4 PM. The response from the education community has been very positive and I believe we can promise attendees a good cross-section of educators, scholars and writers who will examine our past and forecast the future of schooling in Kentucky.

From the beginning the educational system in Kentucky has been fraught with inefficiency, politicization, and localism. The efforts of Robert J. Breckinridge to develop a common school system in Kentucky highlighted the reformism of the late antebellum period. Throughout the 19th Century and well into the 20th Century, taxation laws to fund and improve the public schools were often ill-conceived, haphazardly collected, and the funds were even raided by the legislature. Poorer counties found themselves incapable of adequately funding needed education improvements. When reform came it was often negated by a tight-fisted General Assembly and localism that thwarted needed change. Ellis points to the Sullivan Law, the Normal School law, the Minimum Foundation Program, the Kentucky Education Reform Act, and reorganization of higher education during the Patton administration as improvements to both public school and higher education in the state, but says “the Commonwealth of Kentucky remains, by most standards, among the average to lowest states in the nation in funding, literacy, school dropouts and other areas of educational attainment."

Ellis says he wrote the book to “educate Kentuckians about our educational history and heritage and then [to] encourage us to push for even greater sacrifice and change. We must do better in the 21st century,” he says.

The development of institutions of higher education is also treated in the history. Ellis describes how colleges, most of which were little more than high schools, abounded but many lasted only for a short time. The highlight of early Kentucky higher education history was the administration of Horace Holley at Transylvania. Ultimately sectarian controversy led to his resignation and the development of other colleges, including Centre and Georgetown, until the Civil War devastated education in the state. Following the Civil War higher education actually recovered quite quickly as numerous private colleges were formed including Asbury College and Seminary, Central University, Union College, Thomas More, Cumberland, Campbellsville and Nazareth Colleges. From its origins as a normal school for blacks in Frankfort, Kentucky State Normal and Industrial Institute became the under-funded, politically sensitive, land grant school for African Americans. What would become the University of Kentucky in 1916 evolved from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky University (1865-78), the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky (1878-1908), and State University (1908-1916).

While the majority of college students were attending private colleges at the turn of the 20th Century, a major change came with the founding of the Eastern and Western normal schools in 1906. Morehead and Murray would follow in 1922. All four schools evolved into four year colleges and by World War II public higher education began to outpace private colleges. Later Governor Paul Patton confronted the issue of governance of the commonwealth’s system of higher education in House Bill 1 which created a new Council on Postsecondary Education, removed UK’s hold on community colleges, and redefined the goals of UL, Kentucky State, and the regional universities.

After a campaign led by State Superintendent Wendell Butler, the legislature passed the Minimum Foundation Program in 1954, a further attempt to equalize state funding of the public schools according to need based on a per capita basis with an equalization fund. The passage of a sales tax in 1960 under the leadership of Governor Bert T. Combs improved school funding. For the first time, teacher retirement became a priority. Two years later the legislature authorized the beginning of Kentucky Educational Television. Kentucky education followed national trends in reaction to numerous federal mandates, including Title I, Title IX and civil rights legislation. The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence was formed in 1983 to study education and seek needed changes.

An attempt to rectify the continued inequities between poor and more affluent school districts finally began to bear fruit with a 1985 lawsuit in Franklin Circuit Court. “Sixty-six” school districts and twenty-two students (through their parents) filed a law suit claiming that the General Assembly failed in their duty to uphold Sections 183 and 186 of the Kentucky Constitution by not treating school districts equitably. The state Supreme Court unanimously concurred and ruled the education system of Kentucky to be unconstitutional. After an extensive study by a legislative task force, the General Assembly passed the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990, radically reconstructing public education.

To assure a stimulating treatment of the issues surrounding education in the state, we are assembling an impressive group of practitioners, scholars, writers, and remarkably few politicians. And we are using a roundtable format which I will describe below… and here’s the tentative schedule:

The Forum
September 8, 2011

• 8:30 AM: Refreshments

 

• 9 AM: Opening Comments and Introductions, Richard Day

• 9:15 AM: Bill Ellis: Reflections on the history and future of education in Kentucky

• 10 AM – 11:30 AM: P-12 Forum
• Bill Goodman, KET, Moderator. Confirmed panelists include…

• o P. G. Peeples, Lexington Fayette County Urban League
• o Stu Silberman, Prichard Committee for academic Excellence
• o Elaine Farris, Clark Co Superintendent
• o Ruthanne Palumbo, Fayette County legislator
• o Kevin Noland, KDE/UofL
• o Richard Angelo, UK Education Policy
• o Terry Holliday, Kentucky Education Commissioner
• o Sharron Oxendine, KEA President
• o Erik Myrup, History, UK/FayetteABC

• 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM: Lunch
o Former Kentucky Governor Paul Patton, President of UPike

• 1 PM – 2:30 PM: Higher Education Forum
• David Hawpe, Courier-Journal, retired, Moderator. Confirmed panelists include…

• o Doug Whitlock, President, EKU
• o Lindsey Apple, History, Georgetown
• o Bob King, President Council on Postsecondary Education
• o John Hardin, History, WKU
• o Gary Cox, President, Assn of Independent Kentucky Colleges and Universities
• o Peg Pitman Munke, Murray, COSFL
• o David Atkisson, Ky Chamber of Commerce

• 2:45 PM – 4 PM: Media Forum
• Tom Eblen, Herald-Leader, Moderator. Confirmed panelists include…

• o Linda Blackford, H-L
• o Mark Neikirk, NKU
• o Mark Hebert, WHAS/UofL
• o Ronnie Ellis, CNHI News
• o Richard Wilson, C-J/Independent Colleges

• 4 PM: Adjourn

The Idea:

When Bill Ellis asked me to plan a symposium that would deal with the issues raised in his new book, A History of Education in Kentucky (University Press of Kentucky, 2011), I was both honored and challenged.

I have attended a few symposia in my day, but they all featured three or four professors reading their own papers, and a few speeches, typically delivered by deans or politicians. That didn’t seem quite right for a topic as wide-ranging as the history of schooling in the Commonwealth. It seemed to me that we needed more voices.

As I thought about the problem, my mind traveled back to my youth and a program I used to watch on KET. The program was a moderated debate that was conducted in the round. The moderator would raise issues around the theme of that week’s debate and pose questions of policy to smart advocates who came from a variety of backgrounds and who looked at issues from different perspectives. It led to many lively discussions.

The program I was recalling may have been “The Advocates,” which originated from Vanderbilt University (and was produced by KCET, Los Angeles and WGBH, Boston; not Harvard Law, as I originally thought), ran from 1969 to 1979, and featured some of the leading thinkers of the day, including several Harvard Law professors.

It is – roughly - this design we are hoping to replicate in three panel discussions related to education in Kentucky – its past, present, and future. What began as an idea for a symposium has become more of a Forum. Because of the quality of panelists who have agreed to participate, I believe it may end up as a Master Class for those who attend. There will also be an opportunity for questions from the audience.

The moderators play a key role and are free to guide the discussion in whatever direction they (and the panelists) determine to be most interesting. Along the way, panelists are sure to engage key topics.
• Who is it that has access to an excellent education?

• • Has Kentucky overcome its history of educational inequities?
• • What constitutes an adequate education?
• • Does “all” really mean all?
• • How has (and will) technology change schooling?
• • Is the need for higher education changing?
• • What is the likely result of increased privatization of educational opportunity and for-profit education in Kentucky?  

I also hope panelists will touch upon some of the stories that help us understand how students have experienced our schools and what schools mean to the communities they serve.

Our third panel (Media) is a little different. Here we are hoping our media panelists will do what the press does – reflect on our past, question the popular narratives, and opine on the direction schools should go. Media panelists may also reflect on stories they have covered.

It should be a great day.

They're baaaaack

Move In Day At EKU

EKU Makes Chronicle's Honor Roll as a Great College to Work For

Eastern Kentucky University was recognized once again by the Chronicle of Higher Education in it's 2011 survey of "Great Colleges to Work For." Honor Roll recognition, for four-year colleges, was given to the 10 institutions in each size that were cited most often across all of the recognition categories.

EKU was recognized in the categories of Leadership (Collaborative Governance, Confidence in Senior Leadership and Department Chair relationships), Compensation (..and benefits, Job satisfaction, respect and appreciation), Professional (career-dev programs, teaching enviromnment, tenure clarity and process) and Environment (facilities, Workspace and security, Work/life balance). The faculty has a voluntary turnover rate of 7% (8% for staff) and average pay for full-time faculty just shy of $62,000.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed's 2011 Survey is based on responses from nearly 44,000 people at 310 institutions. Four-year colleges and universities accounted for 245 of the institutions, and two-year colleges for 65. All accredited institutions in the United States are invited to participate, and participation is free. Approximately 20,000 of the people responding were faculty members, about 15,000 were professional staff members, and about 8,000 were administrators. The survey was sent to almost 111,000 people, with an overall response rate of about 40 percent.

Other large college Honor Roll schools were: Baylor, Duke, Georgia Tech, Lindenwood, Sam Houston State, U of Maryland-Baltimore County, Mississippi, Notre Dame, and Southern California.

EKU Earns an A+ in Career Development

Eastern Kentucky University used to conduct faculty-development programs by bribing professors with a free lunch.

"We were lucky if 10 percent showed up," says Charlie Sweet, a co-director of the university's Teaching and Learning Center.

When the university switched gears and invited both faculty and staff members to take a more active role—through so-called professional-learning communities—participation soared.

Now, at any given time, small groups of faculty and staff members are tackling university problems and honing their own skills by participating in these gatherings.

Over the past four years, about 60 percent of faculty members have taken part in at least one cross-disciplinary professional-learning community. And over the past year alone, 36 different groups took on topics from encouraging creativity in teaching to developing a code of ethics for faculty members.

The groups are one of several strategies that employees cited in giving their employer high marks for professional and career development in The Chronicle's fourth annual Great Colleges to Work For survey.

At Eastern Kentucky, a public institution of about 15,000 students, more seasoned professors serve as mentors to new faculty members, and all full-time employees can receive tuition waivers for job-related university courses. The university provides matching funds to departments for staff development. Senior staff leaders can tap into a professional-development fund to pay for on- or off-campus workshops on such topics as leadership development and customer service.

But the learning communities—an approach taken by a growing number of colleges—are one of the most popular career-development options, according to Mr. Sweet and Hal Blythe, the other co-director of the university's Teaching and Learning Center.

Groups typically meet for a few hours, six or seven times a semester. "In the old days, every morning people would come to the faculty lounge, meet with their colleagues and talk about what's going on at the university," says Mr. Blythe. "Now, in this computer age, there's so little face-to-face interaction, and so many of the nuances of those interactions are being missed." The learning groups are one way to restore that sense of community, he says.

Stephen J. Haggerty, Eastern Kentucky's assistant director of a student-support program for first-generation college students, is leading an 18-month-long learning group for professional staff members. The group's nine members, who include librarians, technology workers, and writing coaches, are developing ways to encourage students to think critically and creatively. Then they'll pass those strategies on to students they train as consultants. One group member created a card game in which students, working with two decks of cards, try to cure "zombies," who lack purpose or make quick assumptions, by teaching them the right critical-thinking skills. The player with the most cured zombies at the end of the game wins.

"In the process of working on these projects, the participants have become much more critical and creative in their own thinking processes, and they're developing skills that will make them much more marketable," says Mr. Haggerty...

And this from the Chronicle:

Humanity Plus Flexibility Add Up to Strong Work-Life Balance

After Sharon Whitehead was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2001, she worried about how her employer, Somerset Community College, would respond to her request for leave. Even if she returned, she feared she might not immediately be able to perform her job as director of a regional campus center, which required a 30-minute commute.

"I was afraid that the world would go on without me," says Ms. Whitehead, who had worked for the Kentucky college since 1978. "I wondered what my position might be when I came back."

But Somerset's president, Jo Marshall, says her decision wasn't difficult. She granted Ms. Whitehead the paid leave for nearly a year and relied on an interim replacement. When Ms. Whitehead returned, she was allowed to teach a reduced load of classes for a semester until she could resume her old job. She has since been promoted to dean of arts and sciences.

"I just kept renewing that medical leave," Ms. Marshall says, "because I knew that if she came back she would be worth every penny. You can have all the rules and regulations that you need, but if you don't treat people with respect, they won't treat you with respect." ...

EKU to host Forum on the History of Education in Kentucky

Here's another little project of mine...organizing the program for this:

A day-long forum at Eastern Kentucky University on Thursday, Sept. 8, will examine the “History of Education in Kentucky.”

Governmental leaders, historians, educators, journalists and others will discuss the past, present and future of the Commonwealth’s public and private P-16 educational system.

The forum was prompted by the recent release of A History of Education in Kentucky by Dr. Bill Ellis, EKU Foundation professor emeritus of history. A History of Education in Kentucky is the only up-to-date, single-volume history of education in the Commonwealth.  Ellis illuminates the successes and failures of public and private education since the settlement of Kentucky and demonstrates how 19th-century political leaders created a culture that devalued public education and refused to adequately fund it. He also analyzes efforts by policy makers and teachers to enact vital reforms and establish adequate, equal education.  Ellis discusses ongoing battles related to religious instruction, integration and the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). The book is published by University Press of Kentucky.

Sponsors of the event, which will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Eastern's Perkins Building, are EKU, the University Press of Kentucky, Kentucky Educational Television and WEKU-FM.

Confirmed participants include:

• The keynote luncheon speaker, former Gov. Paul Patton, now president of the University of Pikeville
• Dr. Bob King, president of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
• Dr. Terry Holliday, Kentucky commissioner of education
• Dr Doug Whitlock, president of Eastern Kentucky University
• Stu Silberman, executive director of the Prichard Committee
• Renee Shaw, producer with Kentucky Educational Television
• Elaine Farris, Superintendent of the Clark County Schools and Kentucky's first African American superintendent
• Ruthanne Palumbo, legislator
• Kevin Noland, who co-authored KERA and served as interim Commissioner of Education on more than one occassion; presently teaching at UofL
• Richard Angelo, Professor of Education Policy Studies at UK
• Dr Lindsey Apple, Professor of History, Georgetown College, retired
• Dr John Hardin, Professor of History, Western Kentucky University
• Linda Blackford, reporter, Herald-Leader
• Mark Hebert, Director of Communications, UofL and former reporter for WHAS-TV
• and we are awaiting confirmation from several more panlelists

The forum will utilize three moderator-lead roundtable discussions:

• P-12 Education: moderated by Bill Goodman, Kentucky Tonight host on KET
• Higher Education: moderated by David Hawpe, retired editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal
• Media Panel: moderated by Tom Eblen, columnist with the Lexington Herald-Leader

These lively roundtable discussions will explore the historical issues facing Kentucky schools, many of which are still issues today. 

The registration fee of $70 (plus $3 handling fee) includes a continental breakfast, lunch and a signed copy of Ellis’s book. To register with Visa or MasterCard, call EKU Conferencing and Events at 859-622-1444 and provide name, title, school/business, telephone number and e-mail address.

For more information about the event or to be placed on the forum’s mailing list, contact Marc Whitt, associate vice president for public relations at EKU, at marc.whitt@eku.edu.

EKU's New Middle College Program

"As a state public policy matter, 

and as a mission goal of Eastern Kentucky University, 

student success has become a real point of focus 

and what we are announcing today, is part and parcel, 

in an effort aimed at enhancing and increasing student success 

and educational attainment in this commonwealth.""

---EKU President Doug Whitlock

EKU President Doug Whitlock joined Madison County Schools Superintendent, Kentucky Education Education Commissioner Terry Holliday, and CPE President Bob King recently in announcing Kentucky's first middle college program.



The middle college will seek to engage students who are academically capable, but who have circumstances which present barriers to success in the traditional high school setting. The program will serve 60 juniors this fall, and if successful, 60 seniors will be added next year. These juniors and seniors will spend two years finishing high school and beginning college on the EKU campus.

Black Suspensions Mushroming EKU Prof Says

Concerns Raised in

Fayette and Jefferson Counties

Fayette County suspends African-American students at a rate higher than the statewide average.

A complaint filed against the Jefferson County school in May, asks the U.S. Department of Education to intervene.

This from the Herald-Leader:

Web page to address high percentage of Black suspensions

A group that includes African-American professors at Eastern Kentucky University is developing a Web page aimed at getting information to students and educators to help them reduce the disproportionate numbers of black students being suspended in Kentucky schools.

For the 2009-'10 school year, 26 out of every 100 students in Kentucky who were suspended for violations of board policies were African Americans, while eight of every 100 students were white, according to the Kentucky Safe Schools Data Project.

Superintendents, principals, teachers, and students will be able to go to the Web page and find information aimed at reducing suspensions and expulsions, said Sherwood Thompson, Assistant Dean in the College of Education at EKU.

"We want to lend our academic resources to a problem that is mushrooming," Thompson said.

A web presence is anticipated by fall, Thompson told H-L, and will provide information on programs being attempted by other school districts nationally, such as teacher training and creating student courts, to reduce the number of suspensions.

Apparently Jon Akers, executive director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety at EKU, and former PL Dunbar principal in Lexington got it started.

As the honcho at KCSS, Jon shares school safety information and ideas with all Kentucky school districts on a regular basis. Some of that data says...

For the 2009-'10 school year, 35 of every 100 students suspended in Fayette County were African-American, compared with 9 of every 100 students who were white.

In February, Fayette County Public Schools and the Equity Council — a group that advises the school board — joined with the non-profit Children's Law Center to try to cut high rates of suspensions and disciplinary actions involving African-Americans and students with disabilities.

The agreement required Fayette County to reduce the disproportionately large number of suspensions among such students. The Fayette district is implementing a system called PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) to help students and faculty members avoid disciplinary conflicts. The program will be used in five pilot schools.

A tribute to Dr. Dorothy Bowen on the Occasion of her Retirement

The EKU Department of Curriculum and Instruction gathered to honor two retiring faculty members Tuesday and it was my honor to serve as MC for the festivities. This is the second of two posts.

Dr Bowen came to Eastern Kentucky University after having spent 30 years in Kenya.

The original motivation for all those years in Kenya was her desire, from a very young age, to be involved in missionary work. This international interest was apparently inherited by two of her children -Ruth lives in Haiti while Andrew lives in Paraguay. Both are teachers. Younger son Richard, who lives in Lexington, is a web engineer who works out of his home for a company in Baltimore.

And most of you know that her daughter Ruth, and her two children, lived with Dorothy for five months following the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Dorothy was born in southern New Jersey. Her father was a Methodist pastor and her mother was a schoolteacher. Dorothy had three sisters and a brother. As was typical of her generation Dorothy's mother was trained in normal school and never did complete her degree because it was never forced upon her and she was always needed. She taught until 1980 at the age of 70. Grandmother was a teacher too and Dorothy remembers her helping Dorothy with her Latin as a schoolgirl. Dorothy's father studied theology at Princeton Seminary and Temple University.

"My parents put me in school too soon," Dorothy says, "I started at 4 1/2 and I wasn't ready." Apparently Dorothy was a bit of a class clown in kindergarten. Her parents almost took her out of school because she wasn't learning to read, but she soon caught up and was a good student all the way through school.

Dorothy particularly remembers middle school in Camden New Jersey which was difficult. Dorothy didn't like inner-city living but resided in the parsonage of the first Methodist Church. Dorothy says she always got along with the other students in middle school, but felt like a bit of a misfit. She was interested in the violin and always played in the school orchestras and was very active in community work with the church.

Her love of literature came from her parents who she says "read to us a lot. We had a great library. Raggedy Ann books, Mr. Popper's Penguins, Marguarite de Angeli… She's sure that's where her love of literature began.

She carried on family reading time with her own children. In Kenya, Dorothy didn't have television and reading to her children was what the family did. “They went to a boarding school - which was terrible,” Dorothy says, "but when they came home we would read every night." They even kept a schedule of who read what. And, she brags, “my kids are brilliant when it comes to literature and writing poetry. Ruth became a language arts teacher.

Dorothy started high school in Camden and then moved to Long Branch near Asbury Park where she graduated high school. During high school she was an honor student, involved in the orchestra, a high school sorority, her church, and she did lots of things with a tight circle of friends. In fact I'm told that one of her classmates from Long Branch may be here this evening.

Long Branch high school was since torn down. “They tore down all the schools I attended," Dorothy said, and she feels responsible somehow. “It gets to you after a while, you know?”

At the risk of causing the same destruction in Kentucky, Dorothy moved to Wilmore to attend Asbury College. She completed her student teaching at Wilmore Elementary School, where she still volunteers today. When Dorothy came to Kentucky, her parents moved to Bordentown -which has always been something of a family joke.

After graduation in 1962, with her elementary teaching certificate, she returned to New Jersey where she taught third grade.

But Dorothy had always planned that public school teaching would only be a temporary step because she always knew she wanted to be involved in some kind of cross-cultural career. She knew there was a need for missionaries because her parents had hosted missionaries in the family home throughout her youth, and Dorothy felt the call to follow suit.

Dorothy soon began interviewing with the women's division of the Methodist Church for missionary work. It was around that time that she began dating her husband Earl. Dorothy had known Earl throughout her childhood, and had even lived in the same house at different times as kids. Earl's father was a Methodist preacher, and they graduated from Asbury at the same time, but did not begin dating until she began teaching.

By the time they decided to marry, Earl was already on his way to Kenya. Dorothy would follow eight months later. They were married in Kenya which Dorothy now appreciates was a difficult thing to do to one's parents. So she made a deal with her kids that no matter where in the world they were when they married, she would be there. So when her daughter married, in the states, Dorothy and Earl traveled back from Kenya. They were in country when Richard married and Andrew married a Bolivian he met in Paraguay and so Dorothy and Earl made another long trip.

Dorothy began teaching at Tenwek secondary school, a government boarding school in the bush. The name Tenwek, is rumored to have come from Kenyans saying that Americans would not last ten weeks in that land. Dorothy and Earl’s children were born at the bush hospital and the boys - who accurately claim to be African-Americans - were Kenyan citizens and held dual citizenship for a while. They're very proud of their African heritage and even today Richard operates a website for Kenyans to meet and assist each other while in America.

Get this: There are students here at Eastern who went to the Tenwek School. And, having lived in that tribal area, Dorothy is able to distinguish their appearance from that of other African tribes. “They are our runners," Dorothy says, and one of the best female runners is from the village where Dorothy lived. Dorothy says it just blows their minds when she walks up to them in the library and greets them in their native language.

Also somewhat surprising, at least to me, was that Dorothy herself was a runner, having participated in numerous 5K events. They would run 5 days a week. She says they walk now.

(Dorothy seen here with Caldecott-winning author Brian Selznick)

If a Kenyan student graduated high school in those days they were one of the elite of the country and many of Dorothy's former students have gone on to serve in government positions.

Dorothy's next post was at the Kenya Highlands Bible College where Dorothy was told that she would be the librarian. Not, would you like to be the librarian- but that that would be her job. That's how she started out in library work, cataloguing the books and doing whatever was done in that library. Few schools in Kenya had librarians - it was really something to have a library. A lot of the books were cast-off from the US, but still, they loved it.

Dorothy came back to the states in the 70s and she got her first library degree. She attended the University of Kentucky and received her Masters of Library arts, while Earl attended Asbury.

Their next stop was Kenya Highlands Bible College which, after years of effort, was granted a charter by the Kenyan government in March and now goes by the name Kenya Highlands Evangelical University. Go to their website and you can see the building where Dorothy was married. The school was only 25 miles from the equator but over 6000 feet in altitude so climate supported tea production.

Their next stop would be Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology now known as Africa international University, but in order to teach at the graduate level they both needed their doctoral degrees. Dorothy completed hers at Florida State in 1984.
If you have seen the film, Out of Africa, and appreciated the expansive scenery afforded by the film you will also appreciate that that was the view from Dorothy's home. In fact, Earl was selected to be an extra in the film but circumstances prevented him from participating.

There was a period of time when Dorothy and Earl had to leave Kenya for about five months because it was politically untenable to have a white man serve as Dean of a Kenyan College. So Dorothy and Earl went to pre-apartheid South Africa in 1991 at a school working toward accreditation. They traveled back to South Africa later and experienced some of the national excitement surrounding that historic time.

Earl and Dorothy were asked to return to Kenya, but by 1998, there was once again a movement to Africanize the schools. The time seemed right to return to America. They had bought a little house in Wilmore in the early 90s, where their son Richard had lived for a while, and they returned there to live.

As a professor at EKU, Dorothy's publications have related to international librarianship. At the time of her promotion she was invited to write an article about developing world schools with a case study of the graduate school where she had been. Most of the publications on literature that she has done have been on Africa; teaching kids about African culture through picture books.

Probably the most rewarding part of working at Eastern has been the number of school librarians that are working in the area. Dorothy takes pride when she hears that one can tell a difference between EKU graduates and others -- and she takes pride in that.

"A great librarian has to really care about the kids and really want to help them find the material that suits them," Dorothy says, "and help them learn to really want to read, even if it's something that you would not choose for them, but something that will catch their interest."

One of the things that helped Dorothy realize that she really liked being a librarian was the technical side of it: cataloguing and learning how to organize. She likes the form and organization of it.

Dorothy's retirement hobbies will likely include sudoku, crossword puzzles, relearning how to ride a bike, and play violin, and being with her eight grandchildren. That will be hard with some of them so far away, but the three who are in town come to the house twice a week for meals.

Earl has been asked to take a job in central Florida, and Dorothy will be in the Retirement Transition Program, teaching online for EKU from there.

Dorothy's hoping that they will find time for travel. She would love to get back to the ocean. And they've already bought their tickets to Paraguay. But they will retain ownership of the home in Wilmore and plan to return to Kentucky one day.

On behalf of the College of Education and the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, it is my honor to publicly thank you for your service – to the university – to the field of library science – to the to the thousands of students you taught - and lives you touched.

A tribute to Dr. Cheryl Jackson on the Occasion of her Retirement

The EKU Department of Curriculum and Instruction gathered to honor two retiring faculty members Tuesday and it was my honor to serve as MC for the festivities. This is the first of two posts.

Cheryl was born on March 3, 1947, in Appleton City, MO. She grew up with her sister Joyce on the family farm about two miles from Lowry City; population 350.

Like many Americans she started her education in a one-room country school. Cheryl says, "It didn't seem to hurt, in fact, in a lot of ways it got me where I am today. In a one-room school you get a lot of individual attention and I have a lot of memories." Cheryl went through her elementary years in a class of five or six students within a school population of about 35 kids.

Cheryl's father was a farmer who turned to turkey farming while she was still young enough to be chased across the field to school in the mornings. “Those things were mean,” Cheryl recalls.

One of Cheryl's earliest memories relates to school, and what one needed to be a great teacher. Before starting first grade herself, she insisted that her mother get her a smock, which she called an “old rag thing,” so that she could be the teacher when she played school with her cousin Jimmy.

Once in school Cheryl always tried to be productive. One day with her friend Bobby, Cheryl planned to make a paper chain that would stretch all the way around the school. But when her parents began questioning the amount of money Cheryl was spending on paper, her parents called for a conference with the teacher. The project was immediately called to a halt and Cheryl was left holding bags and bags of paper chain.

Cheryl remembers liking the itinerant music teacher who visited the school twice a week for 30 min and says "things haven't changed all that much." A musical prodigy in second grade, Cheryl was permitted, after some convincing, to join the fourth-grade students for their recorder lessons. That's what got her started playing wind instruments. Piano lessons followed in third grade, and because Aunt Patsy had one, Cheryl started playing clarinet in fourth-grade. She switched to bass clarinet in junior high.

As a child, Cheryl spent her playtime playing baseball with anyone who would play with her, or, if no one would, by hitting or throwing baseballs over the barn. She liked riding her bicycle. And since her Grandma and Grandpa Bray lived nearby, Cheryl walked to their house to visit while grandma was cooking, doing laundry, or making lye soap. Her grandmother would often ask Cheryl to play the piano in the living room while she was busy in the kitchen.

All through junior high and high school Cheryl was in every ensemble as she could get into. By that time she knew she wanted to become a music teacher. In her senior year she was in 14 ensembles in one day, prompting a music contest rule change, limiting the number of ensembles in which one student might participate, in subsequent years.

While in school, Cheryl participated in many activities: band, choir, solos, small ensembles, accompanying, plays, cheerleading, and the school newspaper. She kept score for the baseball and basketball teams only because she was not allowed to play with the boys. Her community activities included 4-H Club, Methodist Youth Fellowship and she played organ and piano for the church, and sang in the choir.

Cheryl says she was always pretty shy, but every once in a while her gumption would shine through. As a senior, and valedictorian of her high school, Cheryl surprised herself by approaching Dr. Crew, the best instructor at Central Missouri State, (Go Mules!) and announcing that she was looking forward to studying with him during the next year.
Cheryl married in 1966 between her first and second years of college. On November 20, 1969, her children Aaron and Lisa were born. Cheryl stopped going to school and became the cosmetic buyer for the drug store. But she still gave private music lessons at her home on days off. About 1974, Cheryl and her family moved to Clinton; population 9000.

On her shyness: Cheryl says, "When I'm performing, I take on a different attitude. When I'm teaching a class, directing an ensemble; I become an actor, really. It's not just hearing it - performing music just goes to my soul.”

“Music is unique,” she says. “In painting you can take time to start over if you want. But in performance, it's out there. And the reason why music is kind of difficult to comprehend is because it exists in our memory; it's not tangible.”
Teaching music is Cheryl’s way of sharing that deep joy.

She recalls with pride performing with the top ensemble at Michigan State University. And can recalled an event that still sends chills up her spine. Her ensemble was scheduled to perform a full tour under the baton of well-known Maestro Revelly, when he unfortunately passed away. Amazingly the ensemble conducted their tour, which included Elgar's tricky “Procession to the cathedral,” without a conductor and recalls the long ovation for both the performance and as a tribute to their deceased conductor.

In 1979, Cheryl began teaching in a small elementary school and then returned to Central Missouri to finish her bachelor’s degree in music education (1984). Cheryl’s first job after receiving her degree was in a small school near Butler, MO.

Cheryl returned to CMSU to work towards a MA in music education. After completing her master’s degree, and her marriage, Cheryl accepted a position as music director at Smithton High School and moved to Sedalia: population 20,000.

After one year there, Cheryl took a leap of faith and accepted a position in Avon, in the beautiful southeastern corner of SD: population 550. It was the best public school teaching job she would ever have - in the lowest paying state. She taught instrumental music to grades seven through 12 in Avon for three years teaching. While there, her band played at the annual season opening of Mount Rushmore.

She always knew she wanted to teach at the college level, so after three years, Cheryl fulfilled another dream by completing a PhD at Michigan State.

She accepted a position at Eastern Kentucky University in 1998 she became the only music education teacher in the college of education. …and was ultimately banished to “the tower” in the Campbell building where she has lived out her exile. But after a year in Richmond, Cheryl came to realize that she had left home to come home.

Cheryl has several very good friends from the First United Methodist Church where she is very active in the music ministry. In addition, she has performed with the Central Kentucky Concert Band and the Madison Community Band.

Cheryl says that the best thing about working at EKU has been her interactions with the students. She has enjoyed advising and getting to know the students, personally, and helping them solve problems outside the classroom.

Following 15 years as an EKU professor Cheryl says she still enjoys the teaching. The ability to present at national and international music education conferences has also been among the highlights. She has had the opportunity to conduct the EKU Wind Symphony on two occasions, and has played in the ensemble, as well as in the university clarinet choir.

Cheryl has always liked conducting and believes that learning to conduct has been good for her as a naturally shy person. In conducting she learned to establish a presence and command in front of a group of people.

Cheryl and her sister Joyce call each other and their Aunt Lucille every Sunday evening – a habit that they established after their father died.

In 2005, Cheryl traveled to England and Scotland and recalls the trip as an experience of a lifetime.
In December 2007, Cheryl completed a long search for just the right Bichon Frise when she drove to Crab Orchard, and picked up Chloe, her faithful companion, and swimming buddy. She describes the three-year-old Chloe as "the love of my life...I never dreamed I would become this crazy over a dog."

Cheryl is looking forward to officially retiring in December, and moving to Columbia where she will be two hours away from Aaron or Lisa. She would like to spend some time sewing and exploring other arts and crafts. And she has sufficient skills that she made her daughter's wedding dress. She looks forward to attending concerts, ball games, birthday parties, and other family events that her grandchildren are involved in.

And - she says definitively - "I am going to Ireland as soon as possible. I would even consider retiring over there."

On behalf of the College of Education and the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, it is my honor to publicly thank you for your service – to the university – to the field of music education – to the to the thousands of students you taught - and lives you touched.

What Works in Madison Co. Schools?

This from Madison County Schools Superitntendent Tommy Floyd in the Richmond Register:

Critics continue to write about shortfalls and missed opportunities. Like many of you, we have read and viewed much of this coverage, and, because so many examples are given, we are forced to again ask ourselves the question: How are we doing — really?

For Madison County Schools this has become a daily question. Our teachers are asking it at the end of today’s lessons. Before they continue with the plans they have for tomorrow, they first must know how students mastered today’s learning. As simple as this seems, the next step is very difficult. We must alter our instruction each day depending on how well learning took place today...

Being a great school district...means providing excellent instructional and academic services for students. Some of the ways Madison County Schools accomplishes that goal include:

• Tracking student progress to make instructional decisions. Through the use of instructional rounds, monthly principal cadre meetings, principal walk-throughs, professional learning communities and school leadership teams, the district is able to advance student proficiency by being better informed about where students are in the learning process on an individual and regular basis.

• Accountability for building principals and staff in the ongoing monitoring of student progress to make instructional decisions. With the addition of extra data dissagragation (sic) days, assessment walls, school snapshots MAP, AIMsWeb and APEX Learning, the district is continually improving student success.

• Changes in key personnel, such as the addition of Director of Professional Development, Instructional Supervisor and District Assessment Coordinator, the district is becoming more efficient in monitoring student progress and allowing the data to drive learning. Those results are being utilized for planning.

• Focus on Assessment for Learning and the training necessary for success. The district is implementing “I Can” statements for all content areas district wide, formative assessments to determine student needs and the use of MAP data to modify lessons and to provide interventions for struggling students. All these things and the many others used in the district help teachers and administrators stay focused on learning results.

• Deconstruction of new standards in reading and math to plan instruction. Standards have been deconstructed by each school into a progression of “I Can” statements so that teachers know exactly what students need to know and what they need to be able to do to master each standard. The eventual plan is to have quality assessments that match the targets and then build a variety of instructional strategies to teach the standards.

• Additional data disaggregation day for teachers to plan interventions. Madison County Schools added an additional data disaggregation day on Jan. 3, 2011, as a “teacher only” day to provide time for teachers to disaggregate the MAP data from the December assessment and decide upon interventions.

• Implementing Fountas and Pinnell reading assessment for kindergarten and first grade. Students in kindergarten and first grade take the Fountas and Pinnell Reading assessment, as well as the Student Numeracy Assessment Progressions assessment to provide teachers with baseline data to help determine students’ strengths, areas of growth and possible interventions.

• Use of computer based APEX Learning to assist secondary students in credit recovery, interventions and extensions for students. APEX Learning software is curriculum-based computer software that allows student to work at their own pace to recover credits in classes they have previously failed and to provide interventions and extensions for students.

• Instructional Rounds in all schools in the 2010-2011 school year. Instructional Rounds is where district administrators do a series of observations in classrooms looking specifically for a “Problem of Practice” identified by the school principal and leadership team. The administrators provide feedback and next steps on how the school may progress. This is the second year of instructional rounds in Madison County Schools. The first year of rounds focused on the secondary schools.

• Read 180/System 44 Labs in all schools to assist struggling readers. Title 1 ARRA funds were able to provide the means to purchase READ 180 / System 44 labs for all district elementary schools to provide interventions for struggling readers. READ 180 progresses through three distinct rotations that include teacher instruction, computer-based instruction and independent reading time aimed at assisting students in their reading ability.

• Planning of middle college located on EKU campus. A draft copy of a Memorandum of Agreement has been developed to progress with the implementation of a Middle College at Eastern Kentucky University. The district is currently working through the appropriate channels at EKU and the Kentucky Department of Education to provide an opportunity for students to enroll in the fall of 2011. Middle College focuses on providing students with the ability to graduate high school with as many as 18 college credit hours.

• Instructional technology. Dell Training provided to Library Media Specialists and lead teachers on Oct. 25 is just the latest in a long series of efforts by Madison County Schools to provide teachers and students with the latest in instructional technology. All Madison County Schools classrooms are equipped with Intelligent Classroom technology and the district has a technology integration specialist that offers teachers weekly supplements to improve their use and understanding of the technology available to them for instruction.

• Early Childhood Education is becoming a focus. In Madison County, kindergarten readiness and the expansion of early learning opportunities include the Madison County Early Childhood Alliance and the Literacy Education and Awareness Program. These programs will help ensure that young children have every opportunity to be ready for their first day of kindergarten.

Eastern Adopts Domestic Partnership for Employees

EKU Joins UK, UofL, NKU, Berea & WKU

With a stroke of his pen President Doug Whitlock changed a university regulation and EKU became the fifth Kentucky institution of higher education to grant equal benefits to all employees.

This from the Eastern Progress, graphic by Jacob Pinson:

Employees win decade-long struggle

A decade-long struggle to adopt domestic partner benefits at Eastern came to an end recently when Eastern President Doug Whitlock announced at fall convocation the university would adopt the policy, making it available later this fall.

Referred to in the policy as "sponsored dependent" benefits, the term, President Whitlock told the crowd, wasn't meant to mislead. "Lest anyone accuse me of using a euphemism to cloud this issue, this is what is called at many places 'domestic partner benefits,'" Whitlock said at the Aug. 16 convocation. "To me, this is a matter of fundamental fairness that requires we treat all members of our community equally."

According to the new policy, Eastern employees can now extend their benefits to anyone who lives with them for at least 12 months, so long as the person is:

• 18 years old
• not a relative
• isn't employed by the homeowner
• is not eligible for Medicare

The policy also allows for benefits to dependent children, so long as their primary residence is with the Eastern employee...

Objecting to the President's action in the Progress, history professor Todd Hartch claimed that Whitlock's actions served to undermine marriage, was unconstitutional, and might offend our "generous friends in the legislature." He expressed the vague concern that students might react to Whitlock's endorsement "of unmarried couples living together."

Well, I just couldn't let that pass. So I scribbled out a response.

On EKU’s Domestic Partner Benefits

President Doug Whitlock has signed off on a regulatory change that ended a decade-long push for domestic partner benefits for EKU employees, and history professor Todd Hartch is concerned. (Eastern Progress, 9 Sept)

Apparently, Hartch fears that EKU students have been awaiting guidance from Whitlock and the Board of Regents on whether they should all move in together and make a big pile. Has the university undermined marriage by encouraging students to forego that particular honor in favor of all manner of social intercourse?

Now I consider myself to be something of an expert on marriage, having experienced it with two different women - which the university seemed to think was OK, or perhaps, simply none of their business. Of course it might also be argued that, given the state of heterosexual marriage these days, we straight folks are in no position to offer marital advice to anyone. But both my wives happily enjoyed all of the benefits available to any other state employee’s family without any extraordinary governmental scrutiny.

It seems to me that the primary focus of the Regents has always been, and should always be providing the continual assurance to each and every EKU student and employee that we are a community of equals where all are respected, and none are second-class. The university’s interest lies in assuring that our students are excellent learners, our faculty are excellent teachers, and both have what they need to be successful.

But I’ve been racking my brain, and I just can’t figure out how my marriage is harmed by domestic partner benefits. Fortunately, that question is getting a thorough examination in the California case, Perry v Schwarzenegger, where the judge asked anti-gay marriage advocates to provide evidence that traditional marriage is harmed by gay marriage. When the judge pressed the lead attorney to identify how straight people would be affected, he responded, "Your honor, my answer is: I don't know.” He was certain, however, that children are better off in a stable home, whether that is a traditional union or a civil union.

As all history professors surely know, traditional marriage was really about property and the joining together of men’s fortunes (women considered essentially chattel well into the twentieth century) for political reasons - not sex – so any anxiety over who is sleeping with whom seems a bit misplaced.

Now I suppose one should always be concerned with the legislature’s potential response, but in this case four other public institutions (UK, NKU, UofL and WKU) have already approved domestic partner benefits without any loss of funding. Perhaps Hartch will encourage “our generous friends in the legislature” - who have steadily reduced state support for higher education thus placing increased burdens on our students - to stop dragging their feet and modernize the state tax code so that we might finally end the biennial sleight of hand that produces an untrustworthy budget built on structural imbalances and bad estimates.

As Hartch suggested, students should contact President Whitlock - and thank him. My hope is that you will agree with the Faculty Senate which supported domestic partner benefits with a unanimous vote last spring. Thank Whitlock and the Regents for assuring that the Essential Eastern is a place where every student, every employee, every individual is equally and highly valued.

EKU College Bass Masters !

We're # 1

Jonas Ertel and Tyler Moberly of Eastern Kentucky University looked at a map of Brewer Lake for about 10 seconds Friday night.

They had just been told it’s where they’d fish for the College Bass National Championship and this was their first look at the body of water.

“Where would you go?” Ertel asked Moberly. Moberly pointed to a spot offshore. Ertel smiled, “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

They had a limit from the spot by 7 a.m. and never left on their way to a 21.39-pound limit that beat second place Georgia by almost 10 pounds. They caught the majority of their fish on a football jig.

The national championship, sponsored by ESPN, will be shown on ESPNU tonight, Saturday night, and Sunday morning. Programs will air at 5 p.m. tonight, July 30; 3 p.m. tomorrow, July 31; and 3 a.m., Aug. 1.

July 30, 5-6 p.m.; July 31, 3-6 p.m.; Aug. 1, 3-5 a.m. Location: ESPNU

“I thought we had it won by 7 a.m.,” said Moberly, who has finished seventh twice in the national championship. “But I started getting more and more nervous as the day went on.”

EKU was the only team that didn’t hit the banks early. Both Moberly and Ertel said they’re more comfortable fishing deep and they do a lot of it in Kentucky, specifically on Kentucky Lake.

“We’re used to sitting in 50 feet of water and throwing into 30 feet,” Ertel said.

Brewer Lake set up perfectly for the pair, but Moberly said it was a stroke of luck that got them that far. After weighing in 8.51 pounds off the Arkansas River on Thursday (eighth place), Moberly said he was excited to see that safety concerns was moving the tournament to Maumelle, a deep, clear lake.

“I don’t think we would have made the cut if the event has stayed on the river,” Moberly said. “Everything worked in our favor.”

Randy Tolbert and Ben Cleary, the team from Georgia who brought in a field-stomping 14.55 pounds on Day One of the event, said he knew they might be in trouble after a short look at Brewer Lake.

“I knew EKU was going to be tough to beat because it really fit their style of fishing,” Tolbert said.

Alabama’s Dustin Connell and Daniel Taylor finished third with 7.88 pounds despite fishing without a graph.

“I knew they were going to be deep, but we had no choice but to fish shallow,” Connell said.

The two teams that tied for the heaviest two-day weight coming into the final – Louisiana State and Northwestern Sate – both struggled on Saturday.

“I knew things were breaking down as soon as I started fishing deep,” said Doug McClung of LSU. “The deepest water in Louisiana is in my bathtub.”

Paul Rini, of Northwestern State, said they had the same trouble – there just aren’t many good deep lakes in Louisiana to practice.

“Most of what I know about fishing deep I’ve learned in the College Bass events,” Rini said. “I’m getting better, but it’s a process.”

As for the champions, who snuck in by .15 ounces over Arkansas on Friday and fell into a perfect situation on Saturday, they said it was EKU’s time.

“I can’t even talk right now,” Ertel said. “This is crazy. My head is going wild right now.”

Moberly said he hopes this helps raise EKU’s status among the top clubs in the country.

“A lot of people overlook EKU, but we’re always at the top,” he said. “It feels good to show people what we’re capable of.”

Personel Board to Furlough State Workers - including Governor, excluding the Schools

The 2010-2012 biennial budget adopted by the legislature required Governor Beshear to find savings in the executive branch in order to balance the budget. Last week, he announced a cut of 1.5 percent for most parts of government. Today, he announced a 6-day furlough without pay for all executive branch employees.

This from Nikki Jackson Secretary of the Personnel Cabinet:

Dear Fellow State Employee:

In the face of an ongoing global economic recession, we have been forced to balance the state budget eight times in two-and-a-half years, and the enacted 2011-12 biennial budget requires cuts even deeper than the enacted appropriations. Today I am presentinga regulation to the State Personnel Board outlining a plan to furlough state employees a total of six days for Fiscal Year 2011, as authorized by the 2011-12 biennial budget passed by the General Assembly. The plan was developed with an eye toward minimizing the impact to state employees and will prevent over 400
layoffs.

The six days include three common days during which state offices will be closed that are adjacent to existing state holiday weekends – Friday, September 3, 2010 (Labor Day weekend); Friday, November 12, 2010 (Veterans Day weekend); and Friday, May 27, 2011 (Memorial Day weekend). In addition, employees will be furloughed for one day each in the months of October, March and June. Agencies will schedule employees to be off work in a manner that minimizes the impact to the public.

Both non-merit and merit system employees, full-time and part-time, including the Governor and all cabinet secretaries, will be furloughed the same numbers of days, regardless of salary, as will contract workers. In addition to furloughing non-merit system employees, the administration will reduce the overall number of non-merit system employees. Decisions about how to achieve those non-merit system employee reductions are still under discussion. Also, the Governor, all Cabinet secretaries and the Governor’s senior staff have taken and continue to take voluntary ten percent pay reductions to help balance the budget.

The administration does not take this step lightly, and it comes only in the face of eight budget-cutting exercises in two-and-a-half years, including the recent $1.5 billion budget deficit. Though the impact of furloughs to state employees should not be downplayed, furloughs are certainly preferable to mass layoffs, something other states are experiencing...

EKU President Doug Whitlock told faculty by email today,

We are fortunate neither the additional 1.5 percent cut, nor the furlough of employees applies to Eastern Kentucky University. The following is a question and answer taken from the Personnel Cabinet web site:

Q: Which employees must be furloughed?
A: All state executive branch merit and non-merit employees, including the Governor and all cabinet secretaries, will be furloughed. This does not apply to employees of the legislative or judicial branch, universities, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) or school districts.

Our exemption from this latest budget cut and the furlough are the latest evidence of the high priority given to higher education by the Governor. We must be mindful that our being spared means that other agencies of state government took heavier reductions than otherwise would have been the case. As I have told you before, I believe this places an even greater responsibility on us to be even better stewards of our resources...

Whitlock Makes Tough Call on Provost, Gets Contract Extension

Vice Selected as Provost

"toughest decision of my presidency"

-- Whitlock

This from EKU President Doug Whitlock:

I am pleased to announce to the University Community that I have offered the position of Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs to Dr. Janna Vice and she has accepted.

The University Community should know that choosing from between two talented, dedicated members of our faculty and staff as Dr. Vice and Dr. Aaron Thompson was the toughest decision of my presidency to date. Both had considerable support and either would have made a fine choice. Both are my valued professional colleagues and personal friends. In the final analysis, I based my decision on which person’s skill set I believed best complemented my leadership style. I am confident I made the right decision and look forward to further developing my working relationship with Dr. Vice.

Dr. Thompson deserves the appreciation of us all for allowing us to consider him for this position. I wish him success in his work at the Council on Postsecondary Education and want him to know that this institution will welcome him back with open arms if he concludes that relationship.

My thanks also go to Dr. John Taylor, chair, and the other members of the search committee for the remarkable job they did in bringing us four such fine candidates. I have spoken with Dr. Thompson, Dr. Bartel, and Dr. Unni and expressed our appreciation for their candidacies and offered our best wishes.

My hope now is that we will continue to work together to advance this great University. If we truly love Eastern we must now bring to her the transformational programmatic and operational changes that will keep her relevant and make her a leader in today’s world. At the same time, we must also work to preserve the Essential Eastern that has always made her the place we love.

Please join me in extending congratulations and best wishes to Provost Janna Vice.

Regents Extend Whitlock's Contract

Also yesterday, EKU Board of Regents Cair Gary C. Abney, announced that the Board demonstrated its continued confidence in and support of President Whitlock by extending his contract for an additional one-year term, to July 31, 2014.

Abney said the Board was not able to offer, nor would President Whitlock have accepted, a compensation increase.

Through these difficult economic times, Dr. Whitlock has continued to focus his energies, vision, and leadership on moving the University forward, reminding us of the Power of Maroon, and of the contributions of all members of the EKU community to the Essential Eastern.

President Whitlock has also shared with us, as he has with you, his commitment to improved compensation for faculty and staff. The Board of Regents shares this commitment and looks forward to an improved economic and budgetary climate that will enable the Board to demonstrate appreciation for the contributions, dedication, and commitment of President Whitlock and of the faculty and staff at Eastern Kentucky University.

EKU Announces Four Provost Finalists

Dr. John Taylor, Chair of the EKU Provost Search Committee announced four finalists for the position.

The Provost Search Committee has worked diligently during the current semester and has narrowed the field of those under consideration to four exceptional candidates.

An itinerary for each candidate was announced and faculty are encouraged to participate in the forums and provide feedback to the committee and to President Whitlock as the search moves forward.

The finalists include two long-time EKU administrators inlcuding the current interim Provost, Janna Vice and Aaron Thompson who currently serves as Interim Vice President, Academic Affairs at CPE.

The finalists are...

Dr. Brad Bartel

Dr. Brad Bartel has served as President of Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., since 2004. Previously, he was Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Florida Gulf Coast University, 2000-04; Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Research at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 1991-2000; and Associate Dean, Graduate Division and Research, at San Diego State University, 1983-91. From 1975 until 1991, Dr. Bartel taught in the Department of Anthropology at San Diego State. Since 2005, Dr. Bartel has served on the Undergraduate Experience Committee of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). In addition, he has been a State Representative on AASCU’s Public Policy Committee since 2004. Dr. Bartel earned a baccalaureate degree in anthropology from Brooklyn College (City University of New York) and a doctoral degree in anthropology from the University of Missouri.
Cover Letter, CV, Environmental Scan, Campus Visit Itinerary

Dr. Aaron Thompson

Dr. Aaron Thompson was named in 2009 as Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs with the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. From 2001 to 2007, Dr. Thompson served as Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at EKU, heading Enrollment Management the first four years and University Programs the latter two. Earlier, he served two years as EKU’s Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Executive Director of the Student Success Institute. Also, Dr. Thompson taught in EKU’s Department of Anthropology, Sociology and Social Work from 1991 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2007, and at the University of Missouri from 1993 to 1997. From 2007 until 2009, he taught in EKU’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies. A member of the EKU Hall of Distinguished Alumni, Dr. Thompson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from EKU, and master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from the University of Kentucky.
Cover Letter, CV, Environmental Scan, Campus Visit Itinerary

Dr. V. K. Unni

Dr. V.K. Unni has served since 1997 as Vice President for Academic Affairs at Bryant University in Smithfield, R.I. Previously, he was Dean of the School of Business and Public Administration at California State University at Bakersfield from 1993 to 1997, becoming the first Asian-American in California and the second in the U.S. to serve as Dean of an accredited business school. After four years at North Carolina A & T State University, Dr. Unni joined Illinois State University in 1980, teaching in the Management and Marketing program until 1989, when he was named Associate Dean of the College of Business at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. In 1997, Dr. Unni served as president of the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Dr. Unni earned an M.B.A. degree from Atlanta University, a doctoral degree in business administration from Louisiana Tech University, and has participated in the Management Development Program and Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.
Cover Letter, CV, Environmental Scan, Campus Visit Itinerary

Dr. Janna Vice

Dr. Janna Vice has served as Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs since July 2009 and as Associate Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs at Eastern Kentucky University since 2007. She joined the EKU business faculty in 1974 and served from 1999 to 2007 as Associate Dean of the University’s College of Business and Technology. In 2004, Dr. Vice received a gubernatorial appointment to a four-year term on the Kentucky Board of Education. From 1994 to 2004, she served as EKU’s Faculty Athletics Representative to the Ohio Valley Conference and National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). In 1999, Dr. Vice was named Kentucky’s Outstanding Business Education Teacher by the Kentucky Business Education Association. Dr. Vice earned baccalaureate and master’s degrees in business education from EKU and an Ed.D. degree, with a business communication emphasis, from the University of Kentucky. In 2009, she participated in the Management and Leadership in Education Program in Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.
Cover Letter, CV, Environmental Scan, Campus Visit Itinerary

A shout out to EKU Corbin

Thanks to Peggy Petrilli's methods students for the invitation to chat about formative assessment on your beautiful campus today. Keep up the great work.

It was great to see Peggy McGuire, too; live and in person this time.

Arrrgh. I think I cut off a couple of students! Sorry.
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