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School of Education students excel in teacher exams

SED students had among the highest passing rates in recently released Massachusetts teacher licensure test results. SED Dean Douglas Sears says they placed in the top quarter of test takers, with an average passing grade of 93 percent for the 1999-2000 academic year. The average statewide was 81 percent.

The Tests for Educator Licensure, initiated by the Education Reform Act of 1993, tests those seeking initial licensure to teach in state public schools for the necessary knowledge and skills, including communication and literacy skills and subject matter.

Of the 236 SED students taking the test, 220 passed in communication and literacy skills. Of the 13 schools with 100 or more test takers, only Simmons College, with a 96 percent average passing rate, scored higher than BU. Among the 11 remaining schools, scores ranged from 62 percent to 91 percent.

NASW honors three at SSW

The Massachusetts chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) will recognize contributions of three individuals associated with the School of Social Work at its annual awards ceremony on March 13.

Wilma Peebles-Wilkins, SSW dean, will be honored for Greatest Contributions to Social Work Education; Ruth Cowin, a former SSW faculty member, will be recognized as Social Worker of the Year; and Celina Miranda (SSW'01) will be given an award for Social Worker with Less Than Five Years Experience.

According to the NASW, Peebles-Wilkins "has made outstanding contributions during some 25 years of experience in higher education and as a practitioner and administrator with children and families in both the public and private sectors. Her contributions to social work have been of exceptional value to the profession and to the community at large." She joined SSW in 1991 as associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor. In 1994, she was appointed dean and professor.

Cowin's career as a social worker spans over six decades, starting in President Roosevelt's administration finding jobs for handicapped men and single mothers. She taught, advised, and developed SSW programs for over 40 years and was instrumental in establishing the school's dual-degree program in social work and public health.

Miranda is codirector of the capacity training program at the National Institute of Drug Abuse Minority Research Center at SSW and has coordinated, among other things, a research project on Puerto Rican and Dominican gangs and substance abuse. She is being recognized for social work that "is rooted in her strong commitment to social justice and provision of services to underserved populations."

CFA Opera Institute students earn recognition at Met

New York's Metropolitan Opera held its New England final auditions at the New England Conservatory in Boston on February 10, part of a national competition to discover new talent for the Met and to encourage young singers in preparation for their musical careers.

Soprano Amanda Pabyan (CFA'02) placed first at the audition and will compete in the national finals in New York in April. Bass/baritone David Crawford (CFA'02) placed third. Other finalists included tenor Patrick Miller (CFA'03), baritone Arturo Chacun Cruz (CFA'03), and tenor Yeghishe Manucharian (CFA'01). Tenor Alan Schneider (CFA'03) was a semifinalist.

BU's Upward Bound program celebrates National TRIO Day

BU's Upward Bound Program, one of 722 in the United States, is part of the federally funded TRIO Programs, established by Congress over 34 years ago and designed to help students from low-income families finish high school and enter college.

To honor students who have succeeded in college with the support of the programs, TRIO students, college graduates, administrators, counselors, and teachers will celebrate National TRIO Day on February 22 and 23. Included in TRIO Day in New England will be a college fair and campus visits that include BU.

BU's Upward Bound Program currently serves 115 students, selected from one of four target high schools -- Brighton, English, Hyde Park, and Snowden International at Copley -- and six target neighborhoods -- Allston, Brighton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and Mattapan. Students enter the program in either the 9th or 10th grade and remain until high school graduation. Program services, located on the BU campus, include an academically intensive six-week summer residential program, after-school tutoring, and academic courses during the school year.

According to Michael Dennehy, director of BU's program, "TRIO Day proclaims the importance of educational opportunity for all people and celebrates the success of the federally funded TRIO Programs, which have made a college education a reality for millions of low-income and first-generation college Americans over the past 35 years."

Paideia for the 21st century

Teaching for what? was the question guiding deliberations at the inaugural conference of the Paideia Project in Vienna in late January. Funded by the Carnegie Foundation of New York and the BU Humanities Foundation and organized by Alan Olson, a CAS professor of religion, and David Steiner, an associate professor of curriculum and teaching, and hosted by Krzysztof Michalski, a CAS professor of philosophy, the conference provoked a wide variety of responses from North American and European senior scholars.

BU Chancellor John Silber argued that if philosophy remains unconcerned with paideia -- that is, with moral education -- it has no justification in a university curriculum. But he also conceded that philosophy's posture today may have to be defensive by way of "stemming the tide against the cultural tricksters" who would devalue the rightful moral inheritance of children for economic reasons. "The enlightened fusion of elite and popular cultures is the definitive mark and challenge of any lasting civilization," he said. "Failing this, we will have succeeded only in educating highly intelligent beasts."

22 February 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations