PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION SOCIETY

February 2005 Update

Home
Conference
Membership
Publications
Archive
Resources

PES UPDATE FEBRUARY 2005          

UPDATE OVERVIEW

I hope you are all enjoying the spring semester and getting ready for our upcoming conference.   You will find all the usual stuff in this mailing (or arriving separately if you receive this newsletter via email).

• The Preliminary Conference Program
• An Advanced Registration Form for the 2005 Conference
• A Dues Notice (only included if you are not paid up for the 2004-2005 year)
• The Ballot for positions on the Executive Board and COPA
• A business reply envelope – you may use this to send dues, registration fees, the ballot, or all three

INVITATION FROM THE PRESIDENT – Bob Floden

With every passing winter day, I look forward more to welcoming spring in San Francisco.   That is just one more reason, in addition the terrific program, engaging discussions, colleagues, cable cars, and wonderful food, to attend this year’s Annual Meeting from start to finish!   Rooms are filling up at the Crowne Plaza Union Square (480 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94108), where we plan to meet March 18-21.  

Room rates are $145.00, single or double occupancy, plus state and local taxes.   To make reservations: call 888-218-0808 and tell them you are part of the Philosophy of Education Society meeting.   Call soon if you want a chance to get the rooms at our negotiated rate.

As you may have heard, there is still a chance of a hotel strike in San Francisco just before our meeting.   We’re keeping touch there and considering contingency plans.   We think we can stick to our current arrangements, but will be in touch via email if there is going to be any change.

The program looks strong.   Ken Howe and the Program Committee thought that they had an unusually strong pool of submitted papers, so I’m expecting every session to be enlightening, provocative, stimulating, and educational.   Featured speakers include Martin Benjamin, drawing on a long career in practical ethics and Alison Jaggar, known for her distinguished work in feminist ethics.  

Hope to see all of you in the City by the Bay!

PROGRAM COMMITTEE – Ken Howe

The program for San Francisco is now pretty much set.   A copy is enclosed in this mailing and is also available on the web at philosophyofeducation.org .   The program committee and I reviewed 100 submissions and selected the 27 strongest papers, with an eye also toward assembling a well-balanced array of sessions. The program includes papers on a variety of topics such as multi-cultural education, professional ethics, citizenship education, tolerance versus recognition, cosmopolitanism and civic education, and W.E.B. DuBois’ philosophy of education. The program also includes eight alternative sessions.   Topics include listening and education, Levinas and education, a critique of the Socratic spirit, and a panel in on R. Fullinwinder’s and J. Lichtenberg’s Leveling the Playing Field: Justice Politics and College Admissions.  

Catherine Elgin and Nel Noddings each accepted invitations to participate in general sessions, where they will be responding to critical examinations of their work.   Feminist philosopher Alison Jaggar is delivering an invited address on the formation of feminist citizenship; moral philosopher and award winning teacher Martin Benjamin is delivering the Kneller Lecture; and Robert Floden promises to give a provocative presidential address.  Also on the program are a COSW panel on the contribution of feminist inquiry to philosophy of education and a COPA panel on the current state of philosophy of education in North America.

I would like to thank my program committee for their hard work in providing conscientious and prompt reviews and for their many valuable recommendations for putting together what I judge to be a very strong program.   Looking forward to a big turn out in San Francisco!

MESSAGE FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS

PES is committed to supporting graduate students in their efforts to attend the annual conference.   Due to the generous contributions of Society members to our Legacy Fund, we are waiving the registration fee this year for graduate students who are presenting concurrent or general session papers (we are not yet able to also waive this fee for respondents and/or chairs).   Please contact Kathy Hytten (khytten@siu.edu) if you think you qualify for this fee waiver.   If you have already paid registration, it can be refunded.   If you haven’t already registered, please do so and simply indicate on the form that the fee is waived because you are a presenting graduate student.   We are also continuing to offer subsidized rooms to graduate students at the meeting.   However, at this point in time, all four rooms have already been reserved, though there are occasional odd nights available.   Contact Kathy if you want your name on a waiting list in case any vacancies become available.

THIRD CALL FOR 2004-2005 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 “04-05" or later, you are current and will not be receiving a dues notice in this mailing.   If your label indicates “03-04" 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!   If your dues are not up-to-date, you will notice that you have not been receiving Educational Theory.  Your subscription will be resumed, and back issues sent, as soon as you pay.   If you have any questions about this, about the date listed, or would like a double check of your membership file, please email Kathy Hytten at khytten@siu.edu.   On a related note, if you have not also received this update via email, please contact me so I can make sure we have your correct email address in our files.

MESSAGE FOR NEW MEMBERS

As has been past practice, new members will receive special treatment at the San Francisco conference. Name tag stickers that identify new members will allow officers and others to extend a warm welcome.   The Kneller/New Members Reception on Friday evening will enable new members to introduce themselves to folks they haven’t met.   Please plan to attend.

BALLOT ENCLOSED

The Election Committee, chaired by Barbara Stengel, has selected candidates for the Executive Board and for the Committee on Professional Affairs.   Rene Arcilla (New York University) and Deborah Kerdeman (University of Washington) are the candidates for the Board ; and John Covaleskie (Northern Michigan University) and Iris Yob (Walden University) are the candidates for COPA.   Please return the attached ballot by March 7, 2005.   A postage paid envelope is provided.   You can use the envelope to send back the ballot, membership form, and/or the conference registration form.

As a reminder, Eamonn Callan from Stanford University is coordinating the book display in San Francisco.   Email him (ecallan@stanford.edu) with suggestions for recently published work that would be nice to have on display.   We will also need some volunteers during the conference to staff the book display room in return for first choice on a free book(s).   Look for a sign up sheet at the registration table or contact Eamonn with available times you would like to volunteer.   The book display room will be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9am – 3:30pm.  

PES ON THE WEB

PES strives to maintain an up-to-date website with lots of relevant information for our members. Thanks to our webmaster, Craig Cunningham, new information is added on a regular basis.   Recent highlights include a membership list updated as of January 2005 and full text links to PES Yearbooks through 2003 (thanks to Tim McDonough for all his work formatting and getting this link up to date).   Craig welcomes comments and suggestions for the website.   He can be reached at Craig.Cunningham@nl.edu.

CALLS FOR PAPERS AND CONFERENCE NOTICES

• THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION SOCIETY OF AUSTRALASIA will hold its conference in Hong Kong in late November 2005.   A call for papers will be posted next month on their website (www.pesa.org.au).   This conference will be of particular interest to those interested in critical thinking and values in education.

• The first bi-annual GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE ON PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION (GSCOPE) will be held at Teachers College, Columbia University on April 1-3, 2005.  This inaugural conference is being generously sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic States Philosophy of Education Society.   The purpose of the conference is to provide a space in which graduate students from the United States, Canada, and abroad can present ideas, workshop papers for future publication, and build a community of future scholars of the field.   Both faculty members and students are welcome to attend!  Registration information is available at http://www.tc.columbia.edu/a&h/philosophy/maspes.html.   Please send any questions to preservingthenew@yahoo.com.

• The eighth conference of the INTERNATIONAL HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE TEACHING GROUP will be held in Leeds, England, July 15-18, 2005.   The conference is being held in conjunction with the British History of Science Society conference.   The IHPST conferences began in 1989 and are held each second year.   Normally about 200 scholars from 20-30 countries participate.   They include scientists, historians, educators, philosophers, mathematicians and cognitive scientists.   Deadline for submission of 500 word Abstracts is the end of February 2005 (email to: enquiries@ihpst2005.leeds.ac.uk).   Details about conference can be found at web site: http://www.ihpst2005.leeds.ac.uk
  
• The INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE PHILOSOPHY OF SPORT invites the submission of abstracts to be considered for presentation at the 2005 IAPS meeting. The conference will be held at Palacky University in Olomouc, Czech Republic on September 15-18, 2005.   Abstracts are welcome on any area of philosophy of sport and from any theoretical approach.  Abstracts should be 300-500 words long and must be received by April 1, 2005. The preferred mode of submission is by e-mail. Please submit e-mail copies of abstracts to the Conference Chair at: danny.rosenberg@brocku.ca

• The INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN (IAPC) announces its annual Summer Seminars in Philosophy for Children: an Advanced Seminar May 22-31 and an Introductory Seminar August 17-27.   The IAPC Summer Seminars bring together faculty and graduate students from Montclair State University and school teachers, professors and other visiting scholars from around the world, for ten days of intensive study, dialogue and production. The seminars provide MSU graduate students with credits towards their degree; provide school teachers with professional development; provide Philosophy for Children specialists a venue for reporting on their work; assist US and international scholars to bring P4C to their communities; and provide all involved with experience in a community of philosophical inquiry. More information available at http://cehs.montclair.edu/academic/iapc/summerseminars.shtml. Inquiries to Assistant Director Joanne Matkowski: matkowskij@mail.montclair.edu; (973) 655-4278.  

• THE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY WITH CHILDREN (ICPIC) announces its bi-annual conference to be held July 17-22, 2005 at the National Museum of History in México City. The theme for this conference will be “Education for Peace.” Call for papers at www.simnet.is/heimspekiskolinn/icpic.html. Inquiries to Dr. Teresa de la Garza: teresa.garza@uia.mx

• The ASSOCIATION FOR PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, as part of the Pacific Division of the American Philosophy Association, will hold a group session that may be of interest to PES members at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Saturday, March 26 th from 7:00 – 10:00 pm.   The topic is Alienation and Self-Knowledge.   The session will be chaired by Angela Smith (University of Washington).   Speakers include Pamela Hieronymi (UCLA) and Victoria McGeer (Princeton University) and commentator Julie Tannenbaum (UC-Santa Cruz).

• The INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCOLOGY (IJE), a CD produced and refereed professional journal in educology and philosophy of educology, invites submissions from PES members.   For more information about the journal and its contents, consult the website of Educology Research Associates/USA at www.era-usa.net, or contact Institute Head James E. Fisher at fisher_james@msn.com.

• The INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR EDUCATIONAL BIOGRAPHY invites proposal submissions for the 22 nd Annual Conference to be held April 28-30, 2005 in San Antonio, TX.   Deadline for proposals is February 14, 2005.   For more information, consult the website at http://www.usask.ca/education/iseb/ or contact program chair Anna Lathrop at anna.lathrop@brocku.ca.

• The SOCIETY OF PHILOSOPHY AND HISTORY OF EDUCATION (SOPHE) invites proposals for their Annual Conference to be held September 15-17, 2005 in Oklahoma City.   For more information contact David C. Snelgrove at dcsnelgrov@aol.com.

• Dartmouth College is hosting a faculty seminar that will explore the ethical, legal and social implications of the human genome project.   For more information about the project, see http://www.dartmouth.edu/~ethics/smi.html.  Contact Aine Donovan for further information (Aine.Donovan@Dartmouth.edu).

• The THIRD ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON IMAGINATION AND EDUCATION, “Engaging the Imagination in Teaching and Learning” will meet July 13-16 th, 2005 in Vancouver, Canada.   For more information, consult the conference website at: http://www3.educ.sfu.ca/conferences/ierg2005.

ANNOUNCEMENTS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

• The CANADIAN PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION SOCIETY is pleased to announce that Dr. William Hare will receive the Society's Distinguished Service Award this coming May at the annual meeting of the Society, held this year at the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.  Dr. Hare's contributions to the discipline of philosophy of education and to the Society span over a 30 year period.  He has published 6 books, over 89 articles and more than 30 book reviews.  Among the many honors he has already received, Dr. Hare served as President of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society, was Editor of Paideusis: Journal of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society and he was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award of the Canadian Association of Foundations in Education.  Dr. Hare was Professor of Education and Philosophy at Dalhousie University for 25 years and is presently Professor of Education in the Faculty of Education at Mount St. Vincent University.   His friends and colleagues from around the world wish him all the best in his present and future projects.

• The INSTITUTE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN (IAPC; www.montclair.edu/iapc) at Montclair State University (Montclair, NJ) celebrated its 30 th Anniversary in November 2004 with an international conference, “Toward a Philosophy of Thinking.”   In the last 30 years the IAPC has led the world movement of bringing philosophy and children together.  Curriculum materials in Philosophy for Children (P4C) are available for grades P-12, and a large body of philosophical and empirical studies on the program have been published by university presses and in academic journals.  The IAPC conducts regular P4C workshops and seminars, and Montclair State University offers certificate, masters and doctoral degrees in Philosophy for Children. The IAPC has won recognition by UNESCO, the US Department of Education and the American Philosophical Association, and has affiliate centers in over 40 countries.

• Long time PES member Richard La Brecque would like “to hear from colleagues out of my tawdry past about their reflection on the state of philosophy of education as well as their notions as to the state of the union.”   He can be reached at 3409 45 th St., West, Bradenton, FL   34209 or by email at Paris96@juno.com.

• Once again, PES members are invited to submit their updated or new syllabi to the "FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION SYLLABI CLEARINGHOUSE." This is a database of syllabi for undergraduate or master's level foundations of education courses used in teacher education & certification programs. Please email your syllabi, as Word or RTF files, to Lucille Eckrich at lteckri@ilstu.edu. They will be added to the Clearinghouse, which can be viewed at http://coe.ilstu.edu/lteckri/phyedsyll/  If you are submitting updates, please indicate whether you want them to replace or be added to your existing syllabi. New contributors to and users of the Clearinghouse are welcome.

• Seth Halvorson, of Teachers College, Columbia University has created a GRADUATE STUDENT WEB LOG (http://gsphilosophyandeducation.blogspot.com/).  The intent of the web log is to facilitate communication among graduate students in Philosophy and Education.  To post to the log, email Seth Halvorson at sethhalvorson@gmail.com

IN MEMORIUM

• Long time PES member S. Philip Eddy, 74, of Amherst, MA died at home on August 31, 2004 from Lou Gehrig’s disease.   Phillip was a professor of Philosophy of Education at the University of Massachusetts from 1958 -1990.   He was remembered by his colleagues and students as a dedicated and inspiring teacher who always put the needs of his students first.   He was known particularly for his expertise in the works of John Dewey, whose philosophy provided solace for him throughout his life.

PUBLICATIONS OF POTENTIAL INTEREST

• Kwartalnik Pedagogiczny is a quarterly publication whose main purpose is to foster interdisciplinary academic discourse on education.  It publishes scholarly, research-based articles on education, which may be written particularly from the point of view of educational philosophy, history, sociology, psychology or comparative education. The articles may be published in Polish, English or German.   Editorial correspondence, including manuscripts for submission, should be sent to: Rafał Godoń, Faculty of Education, Warsaw University, ul. Mokotowska 16/20, 00-561 Warsaw, Poland; or by e-mail to: kwartalnik@kp.edu.pl.

• Israel Scheffler’s new book Gallery of Scholars will be published in the next couple of months as part of the Kluwer “Philosophy of Education” series.

EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S NOTE – Kathy Hytten

Greetings from Carbondale.   I hope your spring semesters have gotten off to a good start and that you are looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues and friends in San Francisco.   Ken and his committee members have put together a full and rich program.   I have no doubts that it will be a fun and engaging conference.   Denis and Val Phillips have been working closely with the hotel to ensure everything is in place when we arrive next month; I trust if anyone in the society can keep the hotel from going on strike, it is them.   If you haven’t done so already, please register early as it helps us with our planning for receptions and special events, and makes things run much more smoothly at the registration table when you arrive.

Speaking of the conference, if there are issues you would like us to address as a society, or that you would like brought up at either the Executive Board or Business Meetings, please contact me or President Bob Floden ( floden@msu.edu).   If you are on a PES committee, or have ideas for committee members, I’d encourage you to contact chairs or members of those committees .   Here is a list of the current committee chairs (or a contact person) for your reference:

Commission on Professional Affairs, Barbara Applebaum (bappleba@syr.edu)

Committee on the Status of Women, Barbara Thayer-Bacon (bthayer@utk.edu)

Membership Committee, Randall Curren (rrcurren@its.rochester.edu)

Jobs for Philosophers, Stanton Wortham (stantonw@gse.upenn.edu)

I encourage everyone to also bring issues to the Business Meeting on Sunday evening.

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 3 years since I took over as the Executive Secretary and that this is the last update you will receive from me before I turn over the reigns to a new Executive Secretary/Director this spring.   I am very pleased that the election committee has selected Alexander (Sasha) Sidorkin to take over this role, and that he so graciously agreed to transfer operations to his post at Bowling Green State University.   Before taking on this job, I had no idea how much of the everyday operations of the Society depend on the work of one person.   It takes some time to learn how to manage the membership database, negotiate the budget, write the newsletters, interact with our publishers, plan the conferences, and respond to on-going requests for assistance and information.   I certainly appreciate all the help I got while doing this, especially from previous Executive Secretary Barb Stengel, Diane Beckett in the Educational Theory office, and all the presidents I have been fortunate to work under:   Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon, Fran Schrag, and Bob Floden.   I hope you will all be patient and supportive with Sasha as he learns all these new responsibilities and as we work together to make a smooth transition.   I have sure appreciated the opportunity to get to know so many of you in the Society and to really see first hand how valuable the work we all do is.   While I will certainly miss working so closely with PES members, I know I am leaving things in good hands with Sasha.

As usual, I will leave you with my consistent imploring to pay your dues in a timely matter.   Dues for 04-05 were due back in July of 2004.   If you are just now paying for this year, it is more work on our part, as there is additional paperwork and correspondences to ensure you receive all the back issues of Educational Theory to which you are entitled.   Please keep in mind that if you pay your membership dues at the conference, you should be paying for the 05-06 dues year, not the current one.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions you have about your membership or the Society in general.   If I can’t answer your questions right away, I will certainly find out who can.   If you are happy with what PES has been doing, please encourage your colleagues and students to join.   So far this year, we have had 47 new members join PES, which speaks well of the organization.   Let’s work together to welcome and encourage the contributions of those new members in San Francisco.   I am certainly looking forward to the rich program Ken and his committee members have created.   See you soon!

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