The College of Education: An Engaged Community of Scholars
Addressing Society's Needs Today, Preparing Leaders for Tomorrow
Long-range trends point to far-reaching changes in human diversity,
technology, and global economic structures. Our changing society
demands innovative and highly-adaptive educators, researchers, and
human development professionals who are prepared for leadership
roles in diverse urban, rural, and suburban settings, both in this
country and abroad. We need to attract, prepare, and help our
partner institutions (e.g., schools, community agencies, businesses,
corporations) retain a more culturally diverse population. As a
research institution, the College of Education must increase its
leadership role in preparing professionals for the variety of settings
in which education occurs. In response to the challenges of todayıs
society we envision a multifaceted, interdependent, and evolving
role for the COE characterized by a high level of engagement with
critical educational and human development needs in partnerships
with our constituents; increased impact of our research to anticipate
and address critical needs in schools and other settings and to
guide practice and policy; and leadership as a distinguishing
characteristic of COE graduates. To these ends we have established
five interrelated goals.
1. The COE will Increase the Impact of our Research. We will
promote college research efforts through organizational change and
college-wide support such as establishing cross-disciplinary research
teams on important issues of education and human development,
implementing a faculty research leave program, and significantly
expanding the level of external support. We will focus research in
selected areas (e.g., critical educational and human development
problems with clientele from community agencies, schools, and
corporations; issues with potential global impact ). We will enhance
funding opportunities, visibility, and impact (e.g., in relation to
improved practice, development of theory, and generation of new
research).
2. The COE will Improve the Quality of Teaching and Learning in
all settings in which education occurs, especially public schools. We
will address specific teacher shortages through vigorous recruitment
(e.g., in feeder colleges and historically black colleges and
universities) and retention (e.g., first year induction and paid
internship programs) efforts. We will enhance COE graduates'
preparation to bring students from diverse backgrounds in a variety
of demographic settings to high levels of achievement by, for
example, increased preparation to work in urban, rural, and low SES
settings; second-language, cross-cultural, special educational, and
international experiences; and integrated information technology.
We will prepare COE graduates to work collaboratively with families,
school personnel, community leaders, health care professionals, and
members of the media to address social issues.
3. The COE will Increase Active Engagement with
Constituents.We will develop a COE model of an engaged college
that entails responsive partnerships with schools, community
agencies, businesses, corporations, and other universities, both at
home and abroad. Our faculty, students, and staff will anticipate
and respond to societal challenges through direct involvement with
constituents in programmatic efforts in research, teaching, and
outreach.We will increase the number and variety of international
activities of the college. Active engagement will be a primary
pathway to improving the quality of teaching and learning,
developing leadership, and increasing the impact of research.
4. The COE will Promote Leadership Development in
undergraduate and graduate programs. We will identify
experiences for becoming change agents and prepare COE faculty
and graduates to be innovators and leaders in applying information
technology and distance learning.
5. The COE will Establish a Self-Renewing Process. The COE will
continuously examine its goals, structures, and resources in order to
be responsive to the needs of our students, the people of Georgia,
and other constituents. We will institutionalize a process that
incorporates feedback from faculty, staff, graduates and other
stakeholders to critique and revise strategic plans and establish
priorities annually.
