The Division of Education would be reconstituted as a full School of Education under a proposal submitted to the UC Office of the President last Friday.
The expansion is designed to help public schools meet challenges facing education today, officials said. Building on existing programs, the new School of Education will work with K-12 schools, other campus departments, and other universities and colleges to train teachers and to improve school teaching.
Through expanded graduate programs, it will also train future teacher educators and leaders for the public school system.
"Establishment of a School of Education is
an important step for the campus. It builds on our Division of Education and reaffirms UC Davis' commitment and obligation as a land-grant university to direct attention and resources to critically important societal needs," said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey.
"I am especially enthusiastic about the distinctive design of the new school, which provides a viable way for interested faculty members from all sectors of the campus to contribute to programs that address the serious issues facing K-12 education in California."
Will help address rising enrollments
The move was announced by Professor Emerita Merna Villarejo, who represented the provost and the new college committee that drew up the proposal, during a lunchtime meeting of Division of Education faculty last week. The new school will help California's public schools meet the challenges of rising enrollments, increasing diversity, and the demand for greater accountability, Villarejo said.
"The goal is to make education an important focus of the campus," she said.
Interim division director Jonathan Sandoval called the establishment of the school "another step in the continuing evolution of the campus's response to the challenges of K-12 education.."
The size of the faculty would increase to 30 full-time positions, 11 more than the current FTE allocation, said Sandoval. He estimated that the number of undergraduate minors served and the number of masters and doctoral students would increase substantially. Plans were already underway to increase the number of teachers credentialled from 120 at present to up to 190 per year, he said.
UC Davis' statement of intent to reconstitute the division as a school has now been sent to the UC Office of the President, and will also pass through the UC Davis Academic Senate and the statewide UC Academic Senate before approval. Villarejo said that the committee expected system-wide support.
Likely to open in 2002
The school would likely come into being in the first half of 2002. It would have greater budget autonomy than a division, and would be led by a dean reporting directly to the provost. It would manage its own personnel affairs, rather than working through the College of Letters and Sciences as it does now. The search for a dean would begin immediately, Villarejo said.
"A hallmark of the new school will be its interdisciplinary ties to the larger campus, and its commitment to collaborating with our partners, the schools and teachers in our region," said education professor Patricia Gándara, who served on the committee.
The Division of Education already collaborates with other campus departments, other UC and California State University campuses and K-12 schools through a number of programs. These include the Graduate Group in Education, the Joint Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, the Center for Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools (CRESS), and teacher credentialing programs.
The new school would enlarge and improve these programs, said Villarejo. Faculty from other departments will be involved in research and teaching through institutes within the school. Initially, up to three institutes are proposed. Suggested topics for the institutes are mathematics and science, language and literacy and the social context of schooling.
Uniting faculty members from different disciplines
"These collaborative programs have been very successful in bringing faculty from different disciplines together, and the committee felt that it was important to continue this working approach," said Sandoval.
Villarejo and Sandoval emphasized that the school would train both teachers, and teacher educators. The division currently offers fifth-year teacher credentials and an undergraduate minor in education, as well as MA, Ph.D. and Ed.D. programs.
Division faculty members were enthusiastic about the proposal.
"I'm thrilled that the university is embracing the opportunity to work at developing and improving K-12 schools, preparing better teachers and transmitting and sharing the original work done at the university with the greater public," said teacher education supervisor Rick Pomeroy.
"This is the first in a long line of opportunities for the division and the school to work closely with all segments of the campus community."
"With the development of the new School of Education, we expect to be able to have a major impact on the education of students in this region and far beyond," Gándara said.