PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION SOCIETY

July 2009 Update

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Call for Dues - Jeffrey Milligan

It is that time of year again--time to renew your membership for 2009-2010. I know it may seem like just yesterday that you paid your dues (because many just did, in Montreal anyway!), but this past year's membership expired June 30. If you have not done so already please log in to our secure payment system and renew your membership for 2009-2010. It does have the forgotten password feature, and you can pay with a credit card -Visa or Master Card. Check payments are also available, but use the on-line system nevertheless. If you have forgotten whether you paid or not, log in and check under the Membership tab. You can also take this time to update your address and other information. Let's make a resurgence in PES membership one of those "green shoots" promising a recovering economy!

Message from the President - Audrey Thompson

As always, the planning of the annual PES conference is the work of many hands and minds.  On behalf of the Executive Board, I am delighted to invite all of you to join us in San Francisco for the 2010 meeting.  We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Lorraine Code of York University in Toronto has agreed to serve as our Kneller Lecturer, and we look forward to the ways in which her paper, as well as the invited responses, push our educational and philosophical conversations in fresh directions.

We plan to explore some new approaches to conversation this year.  In keeping with the ecological and pluralistic themes that Dr. Code explores, Gert Biesta, the program chair, has suggested that the occasion of the presidential address be used to begin to promote some local but sustained discussions as an alternative to the more familiar Q&A session that follows the responses.  For the half hour following the responses, therefore, audience members will be asked to gather at round tables for small group discussions, after which we will encourage you to take up further discussions over food at a venue of your choice.  There will be a break in the schedule to allow everyone to enjoy an extended conversation with colleagues before the next session.

Another change to the program will be that, although the regular sessions will start as usual on Friday morning, we will kick off with a participatory general event on Thursday evening.  We also invite your own ideas for alternative conversational approaches.  However, because the submission format and schedule remain the same, and because the meeting rooms are contracted for a year in advance, only some changes will be possible.  Be sure to contact Gert by mid-September if you are interested in suggesting a different format for a particular session, to determine whether that is an option.

The conference will be held at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf, with lots of good food nearby in a variety of price ranges.  As usual, we have arranged for some shared student rooms at discounted rates, and we strongly encourage graduate students to attend the conference and submit papers or proposals for alternative sessions.

Susan Verducci has generously agreed to serve as this year’s hospitality chair, and Michael Katz has offered to work with her as co-chair.  Michael and his colleague, Lonna Smith, were indispensable in helping Jeff Milligan and me work out a good contract with the hotel.  I am profoundly grateful to Gert Biesta, Jeff Milligan, Susan Verducci, Michael Katz, Lonna Smith, David Hansen, Cris Mayo, and Kathy Hytten for their indispensable advice, support, and sheer labor (as well as the additional labor and advice for which they are sure to be called upon over the next few months).

I very much look forward to the program that Gert and his excellent committee will be putting together, and to seeing as many of you as possible in San Francisco!

Call for Papers - Gert Biesta

I am delighted to announce the first Call for Papers and Proposals for the 66th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society (PES) to be held April 8-12, 2010 at the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

•Call for Papers and Proposals: Please click on the link to find specific information regarding papers and alternative session proposals, including instructions for submitting your paper or proposal electronically on the Open Journal System (OJS). The deadline for receipt of all submissions is November 1, 2009. To make the work of all involved manageable we will adhere tightly to the November 1 deadline. OJS will be available to receive submissions beginning September 15, 2009. Please forward this information to all interested, especially those who are new to the Society.

Papers and proposals that bring the resources of educational philosophy to bear on contemporary educational questions and problems through a critical engagement with the diversity of national and international perspectives and traditions are particularly welcome.

• 2010 Kneller Lecture: Professor Lorraine Code of York University, Toronto, has accepted President Audrey Thompson’s invitation to serve as our 2010 George F. Kneller lecturer. Professor Code's best known book, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Cornell University Press, 1991) is a path-breaking book in feminist epistemology. In Rhetorical Spaces: Essays on (Gendered) Locations (Routledge 1991), she addresses such issues in the politics of knowledge as incredulity, empathy, relativism, voice and voicelessness, and the epistemological value of gossip. Her most recent book, Ecological Thinking: The Politics of Epistemic Location (Oxford University Press, 2006) develops an "ecological naturalism", which looking to ecological science as a place - both literal and metaphorical - where knowledge is "naturally" made. We are delighted that she will be joining us in San Francisco.

• 2010 Program Committee: A brilliant group of colleagues has agreed to serve on the 2010 Program Committee. I look forward to working with them and would like to thank them on behalf of PES for their service. This year’s Program Committee members are: Charles Bingham (Simon Fraser University); David Blacker (University of Delaware); Eduardo Duarte (Hofstra University); Denise Egéa-Kuehne (Louisiana State University); Maureen Ford (OISE-University of Toronto); Clarence Joldersma (Calvin College); Megan Laverty (Teachers College Columbia University); Huey-li Li (University of Akron); Jennifer Logue (University of Illinois as Urbana-Champagin); Luise Prior-McCarthy (Indiana University); John Portelli (OISE-University of Toronto); Karen Sihra (OISE-University of Toronto); Sarah Stitzlein (University of New Hampshire); Barbara Thayer-Bacon (University of Tennessee); Winston Thompson (Hofstra University); Bryan Warnick (Ohio State University).

I look forward to seeing you all in San Francisco!

Hospitality Committee - Susan Verducci

In 2010, PES returns to one of America’s favorite and most beautiful cities, San Francisco.  Our annual meeting will be held from April 8-10 in the heart of the city in the Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf.  Our room rate for the conference is $169 a night. You can find more about the hotel at http://fishermanswharf.hyatt.com/.  Detailed information about reservations, including a link to accommodate online reservations, will be forthcoming in future PES updates. 

If you have never been to San Francisco, you are in for a treat.  The natural beauty of the city is stunning, and Fisherman’s Wharf is San Francisco’s most popular destination.  There is plenty to do in this centrally and ideally located area. 
Of course, you will need to eat.  Choices in dining range from street stands along the water serving fresh crab cocktails to bakeries with hot sourdough loaves filled with rich New England clam chowder to four-star restaurants like Gary Danko.  You can watch chocolate being made at the Ghiradelli Chocolate factory as you enjoy their sinful ice cream sundays.  Abundant pleasures of the body will surely complement the way PES sessions stretch your mind.

Although you can find everything you need within walking distance, those who want a quintessential San Francisco experience can simply step out of the hotel and onto a cable car and ride up and down the ridiculously steep streets of the city.  Nearby Chinatown, North Beach (the Italian section of the city) and Union Square (a shopping Mecca) are destinations full of interesting sights and good food.  You might also want to bundle up and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge or head to Marin’s redwood-filled Muir Woods for a hike. 

You can also see the city floating on the bay.  Take a ferry to the quaint town of Sausalito or simply park yourself on a Bay cruise and enjoy the city amidst a fleet of weekend boaters.  The boat tour to Alcatraz Island leaves from Fisherman’s Wharf and combines a ride on the water with one of the best tours in the area. 

Finally, you won’t want to miss the raucous barking sea lions at Pier 39.  They provide the most unique experience the city has to offer.

We have given you a small sampling of the pleasures of San Francisco.  You will, of course, need extra time to fully enjoy the city, so plan on coming early and staying late! 

Announcements and Calls for Papers

CALLS FOR PAPERS

  • Papers are invited for the 38th Annual Meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia (PESA), to be held from Thursday, December 3 to Sunday, December 6, 2009 at the Imin International Conference Center, East-West Center, Honolulu, Hawaii. The Program Committee invites submissions that address a wide range of educational issues from a variety of theoretical/philosophical perspectives and traditions. Click here for the complete call for papers: PESA Call for Papers

ANNOUNCEMENTS

  • The Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB) is pleased to announce the second annual Student Essay Contest.
    Graduate and undergraduate students registered after March 2009 for a degree in Education, Philosophy or related areas are invited to submit an original piece of philosophical work on an educational topic of their own choosing. Essays should not exceed 6,500 words.

    All submissions should be double-spaced, referenced in standard form (for details see Journal of Philosophy of Education), and must include the author's full name, e-mail address, postal address and institutional affiliation, on a separate sheet. Deadline for submissions: 3rd January 2010

    The author of the winning essay will receive a £500 prize and a bursary to attend the PESGB annual conference at New College, Oxford, in April 2010.

    Please send submissions electronically to Judith Suissa at j.suissa@ioe.ac.uk (indicating "essay contest" in the subject bar) or by post to Judith Suissa, Faculty of Policy and Society, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, U.K. For questions, please contact Judith Suissa (j.suissa@ioe.ac.uk) or Doret de Ruyter (dj.de.ruyter@psy.vu.nl)

CONTACT: PES Executive Director Jeffrey Ayala Milligan
850-644-8171; milligan@coe.fsu.edu