PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION SOCIETY
February 2000 Update
UPDATE OVERVIEW
This mailing contains information on the 2001 PES Annual Conference, a
copy of the preliminary conference program accompanied by an Advance Registration
Form, a ballot for the Executive Board and COPA, a dues
notice (for those who have not yet paid their 00-01 dues only), and a
brief survey to determine membership interest in issues related to public
schooling.
INVITATION FROM THE PRESIDENT Nick Burbules
As we approach the date of our conference, more and more pieces are falling
into place to make this a very special and memorable event. Through the
efforts of Steve Tozer and David Hansen, Co-chairs of the
Hospitality Committee, we have an excellent conference venue, and we have
received significant institutional support that will allow us to provide
some special benefits to conference registrants.
Thanks to Craig Cunningham and others, we also have a conference web site:
http://cuip.uchicago.edu/pes/conference2001.htm.
It will be updated with information right up until the conference.
We have two major invited sessions on the program: Iris Marion Young,
giving the inaugural Kneller Invited Lecture (Natasha Levinson and Emily
Robertson responding), and Larry Hickman, Director of the Center for Dewey
Studies (Jim Garrison responding). My Presidential Address is entitled
"2001: A Philosophical Odyssey," and I hope that piques your
curiosity. Wendy Kohli and Harvey Siegel have generously agreed to respond
to that paper. The program put together by Suzanne Rice and the Program
Committee looks very strong, including several special sessions sponsored
by SIGs and other PES committees.
Finally, we all owe another round of appreciation to Barbara Stengel,
who has kept all the strings tied together, including the occasional friendly
but necessary reminder to keep your President and the other conference
officers in mind of their duties and deadlines.
See you in Chicago!
57th ANNUAL CONFERENCE: March 30-April 2, 2001 David Hansen & Steve Tozer
The 2001 Annual Meeting will be held at the Congress Plaza Hotel &
Convention Center. Established in 1893, the hotel is located on Chicago's
famed Michigan Avenue, just south of the world renowned Art Institute
and
close to numerous other cultural sites. Across the street is Grant Park,
with a short, scenic walk along Lake Michigan to the Field Museum, the
Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium, and Navy Pier with its Childrens'
Museum and other attractions. There are fine restaurants near the hotel's
downtown location, and many, many more a short cab ride away (or, e.g.,
a
pleasant walk away as you take Michigan Avenue north). The hotel is also
close to well-known shopping venues such as Marshall Field's, as well
as a
host of others north across the Chicago river, where Michigan Avenue takes
on the name "the magnificent mile."
The Congress Plaza Hotel will offer PES members a special discount rate
for the conference. Single rooms are $125.00 per night, and double rooms
$145.00, with a $25.00 charge for each additional person (rooms are also
subject to the local 14.9% hotel tax). The conference rate will apply
for
the three nights prior to the meeting and the three nights after, based
upon availability, for those members who want to extend their stay in
Chicago. Reservations can be made by calling (312) 427-3800, ext. 5025,
or (800) 635-1666. Please identify yourself with PES to receive the
conference rate. Call now! Deadline for special-rate reservations is
February 27th.
An advance registration form is available with this mailing. Please note
that ALL presenters and participants must be registered for the
conference.
The Hospitality Committee will have further information available later
with respect to restaurants, sight-seeing, and so forth. For example,
Steve is organizing a visit for interested members to Hull House, located
at the heart of where Jane Addams performed her remarkable educational
work at the turn of the century for immigrant families. Chicago truly
bustles with cultural, historical, and educational wonders, not to mention
exceptional cuisine and entertainment, so make a point of reserving your
room early!
This conference may be the most "social" in PES history. Because
of the
generosity of host institutions and the good fortune of the Kneller
Endowment, we will have three receptions! Friday evening will be the
Kneller Lecture reception; Saturday evening the New Member Reception (open
to all with new members as our special guests) subsidized by UIUC; and
Sunday evening the President's Reception subsidized by UIC.
The Presidential Luncheon, immediately following Nick Burbules' address,
will be held Sunday at 12:45 PM. Tickets for the luncheon can be
reserved using the enclosed pre- registration form or purchased at the
registration table on-site. Cost is $25.00 for regular members and $12.00
for student members. There will also be a COSW lunch session. Those who
like to eat at lunchtime can purchase a lunch ticket at the registration
desk on Friday, but eating is not a requirement for participating in the
session.
UIC's Susan McDonough and Michelle Pierczynski-Ward are co-coordinating
the Conference Book Display. Inquiries regarding the Display should be
forwarded to them at smcdon2@uic.edu
(Susan) or onwarduic@email.msn.com
(Michelle).
Eric Bredo will chair the Resolutions Committee, the group charged with
recognizing, thanking and appreciating all those who make it possible
for
this conference (and this Society) to run smoothly. The Committee
occasionally has other work of congratulating and consoling, for example.
If you know of persons who should be recognized by the Resolutions
Committee, please let Eric know by email (bredo@virginia.edu)
or in
Chicago.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE - Suzanne Rice
The program for the Chicago conference is substantially complete and
looks
very strong. A preliminary program is included in this mailing so you
can
plan your conference time. Thanks to the Program Committee members for
their faithful work in selecting this varied and interesting program.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE John Covaleskie
As has been the case for some years now, new members who attend the
conference will have name tags that indicate their status. The committee
asks all members to go out of your way to be welcoming to these folks,
recalling how intimidating a new organization can be, even when we do
not
mean to be. Members of the Membership Committee will also be identified
by our name tags so you can be nice to us, too.
Also, as has been the case in the past, the members of the Committee
(and
any other willing members) will join interested new members for dinner
on
Friday and/or Saturday evenings following the receptions. (Don't miss
the
New Member Reception on Saturday evening!) Look for information about
where to meet on the bulletin board, but we will probably gather in the
lobby of the hotel. New members: please join us. Veterans: making new
members feel welcome and comfortable at their first PES Annual Meeting
is
a good way to increase the likelihood that people will return. The
Committee asks your help in this important part of building membership.
See you all in Chicago!
GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE ROOMS AVAILABLE
PES is continuing to offer subsidized rooms for graduate students at
this
year's Conference. There are still a few spaces available. If you are
interested in subsidized accommodations (four per room at $10 per night),
please send your name, email address, sex and full payment to Barbara
Stengel, PES Exec. Sec., Educational Foundations, Millersville
University, Millersville PA 17551.
THIRD CALL FOR 2000-01 DUES
Dues status can be checked by examining your mailing label. Next to your
name is the dues year you are paid through. If your label says "00-01"
or
later, you are current and will not be receiving a dues notice in this
mailing. If your label indicates "99-00" or earlier, a notice
and
envelope are included. (Note that the PES fiscal and dues year runs from
July 1 through June 30.) Prompt dues payment insures continued
publications and a fiscally healthy organization!
BALLOT ENCLOSED
The Nominating Committee, chaired by Clive Beck, has selected candidates
for the Executive Board and for the Committee on Professional Affairs.
Suzanne Rice (University of Kansas) and Susan Laird (University of
Oklahoma) are the candidates for the Board; and Hilary Davis (York
University) and Dilafruz Williams (Portland State University) are the
candidates for COPA. Please return the attached ballot by March 20, 2001.
A postage paid envelope is provided for both your ballot and your survey.
(See below).
SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION SURVEY
Included with this issue of Update is a brief survey about public schools.
At our meeting last spring in Toronto, a well-attended Special Symposium
on the "Transformation of the School System" resulted in animated
discussion about some fundamental problems facing the schools. In order
to
discover how widespread concern might be among PES members for these
problems, the presenters of that Symposium have constructed a brief,
six-item survey. The PES Board hopes that everyone receiving the Update
will respond to this survey and return it to Barbara Stengel in the
enclosed reply envelope by March 1st. The results of the survey will be
available for review and discussion in
Chicago.
NOTE FROM BARB: Please complete both ballot and survey NOW, place together
in one of the two reply envelopes mailed to you, and drop it right in
the
mail. No fuss, no muss! We need your participation to make both the
election and the survey meaningful.
JOBS COMMITTEE Barbara Thayer-Bacon
The Jobs Committee would like to announce a session "Advice on successful
publishing and grant writing," we are sponsoring at the spring conference,
especially planned for graduate students and junior faculty in philosophy
of education. The session will be offered on Saturday, March 31st,
2:30-3:45 pm. A full listing of the accomplished cast of presenters can
be found in the enclosed program.
Our plan is for the presenters to offer some advice to attendees and
then
to open the session up and participants will try to answer any questions
attendees may have. Please come with your questions and we'll try to help
you not only get a job, but keep one!
ANNOUNCEMENTS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST
The International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group
is holding its 6thconference in Denver, November 7-11, 2001. Submissions
are due June 1, 2001. Please contact the conference chair, William
McComas (mccomas@usc.edu).
PES Great Britain is hosting its annual conference at New College,
Oxford April 6-8, 2001. For more information, contact Richard Davies
(richard.davies2@lmh.ox.ac.uk)
or log on to the society website at
(www.philosophy-of-education.org).
The observant reader will note that
PES and PESGB are separated on the web by mere hyphens!)
The annual meeting of the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education
Society (OVPES) will be held Friday and Saturday, September 28th and 29th
at the University of Dayton campus in the Kennedy Student Union. This
year's conference theme is: Things Change? Classic Educational Ideas:
Then, Now, and In The Future. Deadline for proposal submissions is May
12, 2001. For more information, contact William Fridley, Program Chair,
at wfridley@sosu.edu or check on
the OVPES web site
(www.bgsu.edu/organizations/ovpes).
IN MEMORIAM
Michael Oliker has informed us of the death of Foster McMurray on October
20th. Foster was an active philosopher of education who had a hand in
the
education of quite a few PES members at institutions ranging from
Teachers' College to Texas to Temple . . . . and others including the
University of Illinois. (He was, I might add parochially and personally,
a 1938 graduate of the Millersville State Normal College before earning
master's and doctoral degrees at Columbia University, Teachers College.)
He will be remembered fondly.
MEMBER SERVICES
Thanks once again to web builder Craig Cunningham, we have a bulletin
board for any kind of member exchange, substantive or otherwise. The
bulletin board can be accessed through our web site at
http://www.philosophyofeducation.org.
There is one pressing, if
non-substantive matter, for which a bulletin board seems ideal
matchmaking of roommates at the conference. If you are looking for
someone to share conference expenses, I urge you to go to the bulletin
board, check and see if anybody else has posted a roommate call, and post
your own.
Also, David Hansen as Hospitality Co-Chair, has put out a request for
folks' favorite Chicago restaurants, so he can recommend them to the rest
of us. If you know the ideal spot in Chicago, please post it on the
bulletin board or email David directly (dhansen@uic.edu).
MEMBERS ON THE MOVE
We have received word of the following (relatively) new affiliations or
positions:
Wendy Kohli to Director of Teacher Education at the New School for
Social Research
Ken Strike to Chair, Department of Educational Policy and
Leadership at the University of Maryland
Michael Ross to Millersville University
Kevin Vinson to University of Arizona
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S NOTE -- Barb Stengel
>From my vantage point at the center of PES' comings and goings, I
get a
very good look at what has been and at what's coming. From this place,
it
appears that a great conference is coming in Chicago. Predictably,
Suzanne Rice and her committee have put together a high quality, nicely
constructed program. The folks at UIUC, UIC and Northwestern are set on
making sure we have a good time in Chicago; they are providing generous
financial support to underwrite the efforts of the Hospitality Committee.
Our featured speakers are tuning up their words. I'm looking forward to
spirited encounters between Iris Young, Emily Robertson and Natasha
Levinson, between Larry Hickman and Jim Garrison, and between Nick
Burbules, Wendy Kohli and Harvey Siegel. Now all we need is you. Make
those travel plans today!
Some recent events promise new things in the future. For example, Megan
Boler and Ames Brown are co-chairing a brand new Technology SIG. The SIG
has just begun a series of (of course!) web-based discussions and will
be
reporting on those discussions and shaping the future of the SIG at the
Chicago meeting.
I have also been keeping close watch on our financial situation. The good
news is that we seem to be living within our means; the more ambiguous
news is that recent market downturns have shrunk the size of our
"cushion." At this time, I do not anticipate recommending a
dues increase
to the Board in March; I will make a final decision on that soon. Still,
I do have some questions about our dues structure, based as it is on rank
and not on income, and I hope to generate some discussion about these
issues at the Chicago meeting. As always, the best way to enhance PES'
fiscal condition is to pay your dues now and invite a new member along
for
the ride . . .
If you need to share a ride or a room to get to Chicago, get on the web
site bulletin
board and make those arrangements today. I hope to see you
there!
CONTACT: PES Executive Director Jeff Milligan
850-644-8171; milligan@coe.fsu.edu