President’s UPDATE – No. 1

June 20, 2008

We are pleased to announce a new Graduate Student Membership category for 50% off the regular $40 member rate. Enrolled graduate students can now become members for only $20 a year. They will still receive the PEA Yearbooks, the special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education, the electronic newsletter – the PEA Bulletin, and listserv registration. To join or renew, visit - https://www.aera.net/membershipinfo/Default.aspx?menu_id=16&id=48

To head up our AERA Program efforts, Michael McLendon of Vanderbilt University has agreed to serve as our AERA Program Chair. PEA is seeking a record number of submissions for presentation at the 2009 AERA Annual Meeting on April 13-17 2009 in San Diego, California. The proposal submission system for the 2009 AERA Annual Convention (http://www.aera.net/ ) opened on June 1 and closes on August 1, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. The number of sessions that AERA allots to SIGs is based on the number of submitted proposals to a given SIG. So, please make a submission.

James Cibulka of NCATE and Dorothy Shipps of Baruch College, CUNY have agreed to continue heading up PEA’s Professional Awards and Dissertation Awards Committees, respectively. Calls for nominees will be issued this fall.

Katy Bulkley of Montclair State University has been appointed to lead a committee to plan the second annual National Educational Politics Workshop (NEPW) with UCEA. A survey of mentors and participants from the ’08 event will be conducted in the next couple of weeks and used in planning next year’s event.

Katie McDermott of UMASS-Amherst has agreed to continue chairing the Publication Committee. The committee is currently reviewing proposals for the 2010 Yearbook.

PEA’s Secretary, Stacey Rutledge of Florida State University, and I are working to redesign the Association’s logo and website. We are also leading up efforts for a 40th Anniversary gala. Please reserve Monday evening, April 13, 2009 (the first evening of the AERA annual meeting) to celebrate.

Our PEA Bulletin editors Kyle Ingle of Bowling Green State University and Brendan Maxcy of the University of Missouri along with Managing Editor and Graduate Assistant Roxanne Hughes (FSU) have secured article authors for the Fall Bulletin. Upcoming issues will feature pieces from the 2008 PEA Outstanding Dissertation Award Winners, Jal Mehta of Harvard University and David Tandberg of Penn State.

PRESIDENT’S UPDATE – NO. 2

November 9, 2008

Thirty-five people were in attendance at the PEA Annual Breakfast held on Nov. 1 during the UCEA conference in Orlando, Florida. As we reported on our various initiatives during the meeting, one particularly intriguing discussion arose around the possibility of "wiki"-izing our Database and Conceptual Frameworks projects. These projects seek to make the PEA web site a (cost-free) clearinghouse for secondary (and primary) data and frameworks for political analysis. Using wiki's to complete these projects would mean opening them up to our members and friends to edit on-line, much as one can do on sites like "Wikipedia." If any one has experience with this technology, I would like to hear from you.

I want to give a "shout-out" (the Palinisms persist) to Michael McLendon who sifted through the 24 AERA presentation proposals and 60+ reviews to put together what promises to be an excellent program to accompany our 40th anniversary celebration in San Diego, CA. Thanks also to Kyle Ingle, Brendan Maxcy, and Roxanne Hughes for a terrific PEA Bulletin distributed to you via the listserv a few weeks back.
Moreover, I want to thank Catherine Lugg who delivered an interesting and timely talk on the election and upcoming agenda for education reform just 3 days before Election Day '08. Cath will join Katy Bulkley to chair a committee of eight to plan and execute the William L. Boyd National Education Politics Workshop. The Workshop will take place at 1 pm on Monday, April 13, 2009 in San Diego...just hours before the 40th Anniversary Gala. Mark your calendars!
Speaking of the Gala, you will receive your invitations next month. In addition to a talk by Paul Vallas of the Recovery School District, the dinner event - at the Hotel Del Coronado - will include the release of the PEA Legacy Film. I worked with our production team at UCEA to tape interviews with the seven former PEA presidents in attendance. The interviews are currently being transcribed and cataloged, and will be edited into a 12-minute video by our production crew and editor over the next several months.
It is also our intention to complete interviews - audio, visual, or emailed - with more former presidents and friends. Don Layton, for example, is answering our questions by email; Mike Milstein will be audiotaped by Doug Mitchell in New Zealand next month; and, Bill Firestone is responding to questions posed to him by colleague, Cath Lugg. This project may extend well into the next academic year; it is our hope that the interviews will eventually be posted to the Association's web site.
We are still looking for volunteers to work with us to redesign the web site and to work with Bruce Cooper on the Conceptual Frameworks project. If you would like to volunteer or know someone else who would, please let me know.

PRESIDENT’S UPDATE – NO. 3

June 10, 2009

One hundred people were in attendance as PEA celebrated its 40th anniversary at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego on April 13. We presented a 10-minute film entitled PEA at 40: Building a Legacy in honor of the anniversary. (We are working to format the film so that it might be viewable from our website, and will inform you when it is.) James Cibulka (NCATE), on behalf of the PEA Scholarship and Service Awards Committee, presented the Stephen K. Bailey Award for shaping the intellectual and research agenda of the field to Catherine Marshall (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).

During PEA’s Annual Business Meeting on April 14, Dorothy Shipps (Baruch College, CUNY) presented the Outstanding Dissertation Award to Christopher Loss (Ph.D., University of Virginia) for his study From Democracy to Diversity: The Politics of American Higher Education in the 20th Century. Christopher is now Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Higher Education at Vanderbilt University. Also at the meeting, Brendan Maxcy (University of Missouri) who chaired the Elections Committee announced the results of the recent PEA election. Stacey Rutledge (Florida State University) was re-elected as Secretary for a second, two-year term, and Janelle Scott (University of California, Berkeley) was elected as an At-large Member.

Over 120 were in attendance as PEA and UCEA hosted the second annual William L. Boyd National Educational Politics Workshop (NEPW) during AERA ’09. Katrina Bulkley (Montclair State University) and Catherine Lugg (Rutgers University) planned the event, which pairs graduate students and early career scholars with leading education politics and policy scholars. Katrina has agreed to co-chair the event for a second year, and planning for ’10 is already underway.

Heading up our AERA Program efforts in 2010 will be Rebecca Jacobsen (Michigan State University). As you know, AERA has instituted changes to the program effective for the 2010 meeting. Among these changes is a new, earlier submission deadline. The proposal submission system for the 2009 AERA Annual Convention (http://www.aera.net/ ) is already open. It will close on July 15, 2009 at 11:59 p.m. Additionally, Rebecca is preparing to solicit volunteers to serve on our SIG Review Panel. The AERA Council approved a resolution in which “AERA units (division, division/section, SIG) that review paper submissions and session proposals will appoint Review Panels of individuals to serve as reviewers. Those serving on a panel will not deliberate. They will be invited in advance of the start of the review cycle, with the understanding that they will review more than just a few submissions. Responsibility for program decisions still remains with the Program Chair and Committee.” Rebecca’s call for panel members will come under separate cover.

The Association’s Publications Committee is currently soliciting proposals for PEA’s 2011 Yearbook, published simultaneously as a double-issue of Education Policy. The deadline for proposals has been extended to June 15, 2009. Proposal guidelines can be found at http://www.fsu.edu/~pea/proposal_guideline.html. In 2011, PEA’s special issue of the Peabody Journal of Education will be entitled "Race and the Politics of Education" and edited by Larry Parker (University of Illinois), Enrique Aleman (University of Utah), and Andrea Rorrer (University of Utah). Catherine Lugg (Rutgers University) and John Fitz (Cardiff University) have retired from the committee; we thank them for their years of service. Remaining committee members will be joined by Bob Johnson (University of Utah), Michael McLendon (Vanderbilt University), Janelle Scott (University of California, Berkeley) and Michelle Young (University of Texas, Austin).

PEA Bulletin Editors Kyle Ingle (Bowling Green State University) and Brendan Maxcy (University of Missouri) released two issues during ’08-’09 featuring the scholarship of PEA’s 2008 dissertation award winners, among other articles. Kyle and Brendan have agreed to serve as editors for another year, and are already hard at work on the Fall ’09 issue. Additionally, they will publish the second issue of Off the Press this summer. Inaugurated in 2008, Off the Press highlights recent publications of PEA members. Calls for submissions to Off the Press will be sent after the AERA deadline on July 15.

Led by Bruce Cooper (Fordham University), the Frameworks Committee has solicited descriptions of theories and frameworks for political analysis from our members. Completed submissions are now available at the “Resources for Research” link from the PEA homepage or you can visit http://www.fsu.edu/~pea/resources_for_research.html. Committee member Ann Allen (Ohio State University) has agreed to serve as “Wiki Master” and has begun to investigate ways to enable members and web site visitors to both add frameworks and edit existing frameworks in real time.

Volunteers are needed to fill vacancies on the Dissertation Award Committee, the Awards Committee, and the newly-established Select Committee on Web site Redesign. If you are interested in serving on any of these committees, please email me by June 20, 2009. (cohenvog@coe.fsu.edu)

Finally, remember to tell your students that PEA has a Graduate Student Membership rate that is 50% off the regular membership fee. Enrolled graduate students can now become members for only $20 a year. To join or renew, visit - https://www.aera.net/membershipinfo/Default.aspx?menu_id=16&id=48