“The Role of the Teacher
Remains the Highest Calling of a Free People”
Alliant Honors
Founding Secretary of US Department of Education by
Naming Graduate School of Education the
Shirley M. Hufstedler School of Education
March 11, 2009 - The Graduate School of
Education, at
Alliant International University, has been named for the Honorable Shirley M. Hufstedler, who
was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the first Secretary of Education
when he established the Department of Education in 1979. The Shirley M.
Hufstedler School of Education is home to one of the largest intern teacher
certification programs in California and is predicated on a trans-disciplinary
approach to professional preparation. Dr. Karen Schuster Webb, the founding
Dean of the Hufstedler School, has said, “From our inception, it was imperative
that we explore a comprehensive and collaborative model of professional
practice for a global society. For education is the cornerstone of community
empowerment and vitality, and communities are the foundations of nations.”
Mrs. Hufstedler has long held ideals of educational
quality, equality and access that parallel those of the innovative school at
Alliant. The spirit of the school may best be captured by a famous quote from
Mrs. Hufstedler, who said, “If you play it safe in life, you’ve decided that
you don’t want to grow.”
A tireless champion of quality and equality in education, Mrs.
Hufstedler has been an advocate of social justice and the expansion of opportunity
throughout her career. She has said, “The role of the teacher remains the
highest calling of a free people.”
The Shirley Hufstedler School of Education:
Taking Risks and Opening Doors
The Hufstedler School of Education at Alliant International
University, a nonprofit, private university with six campuses in California, as
well as in Hong Kong, Mexico City, and Tokyo, is noted for its innovative
programs that have challenged the educational establishment to open wide the
doors of opportunity. The following are examples:
The Teacher Education program, TeachersCHOICESM,
was the first in the state to fully take advantage of legislation that
allowed schools of education to offer an accelerated pathway to teacher
certification. The Early Completion Option (ECO), allows qualified teacher
candidates to demonstrate mastery of selected course content by passing
California’s Teaching Foundations Examination. Along with field mentor
supervision and instruction occurring every other week, the required
content is taught in executive format at selected school district
locations. The HSOE’s ECO program has established partnerships with Teach
for America, the Oakland Teaching Fellows, as well as with teaching
internship programs in Los Angeles, San Jose, and other large urban school
districts.
Alliant-HSOE was also one of the
first six universities to be approved by the California Commission on
Teacher Credentialing’s Committee (CTCC) on Accreditation to offer the California Teachers of English
Learners
(CTEL) program last year. “Our CTEL program addresses the growing need for
qualified teachers in diverse classrooms by providing teachers with the
latest strategies and techniques for teaching English Learners,” said Dr.
Mary-Ellen Butler-Pascoe, System Director of the Program. According to the
CTCC, 25% of all children enrolled in California public schools are
designated as English learners, children attending school in the United
States who come from homes where a language other than English is spoken.
Last year, HSOE’s Educational and School Psychology
Program
began offering the School Based Mental Health Certificate, which enhances the expertise of
school psychologists and other health professionals in the areas of
counseling and family services. This community oriented program addresses
the concerns of school personnel as they encounter the challenges faced by
today’s youth and their families. Dr. Steven Fisher, a clinical and school
psychologist, is System Director for Educational and School Psychology,
and provided leadership for the development of this invaluable
certificate.
The need for community leadership
is great, and the HSOE’s Educational Leadership and
Management Program is providing professional development is this area
with community focused master’s and doctoral programs. The doctorate in Higher Education:
Community College Administration, taught at Community College locations, and our
master’s focused on Community Leadership are two ways in which Alliant’s systemic outreach
benefits the locations surrounding us. Options for online instruction in
the master’s program provide the quality and convenience desired by
today’s professionals. System Director Dr. Suzanne Power brings a wealth
of experience and expertise to the design and delivery of both programs.
A spirit of empowerment and inclusion characterizes the Hufstedler
School of Education, which offers degree and credential programs in Teaching,
Educational Leadership and Management, Educational and School Psychology and
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages in Fresno, Irvine (Orange
County), Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Mexico City.
HSOE’s innovative programs have opened doors to those who might otherwise be disenfranchised,
here and abroad.
More than 1,000 teachers have
completed the ECO program, and they now touch the lives of more than
70,000 primary and secondary student in California’s traditional and
charter schools.
HSOE has developed innovative
teaching and professional development projects in Indonesia, Japan,
Jordan, Mexico, and South Africa.
Our diverse community of expert
faculty has prepared alumni who hold leadership positions in California,
and around the world in education, mental health, intercultural
communication, and management.
More about Shirley M. Hufstedler
In addition to serving as the nation’s first Secretary of
Education, Shirley M. Hufstedler has had a distinguished career at the highest
levels of legal and public service. She began her private practice in Los
Angeles in 1950. From 1960 to 1961, she served as Special Legal Consultant to
the Attorney General of California in the complex Colorado River litigation
before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1961, she was appointed Judge of the Los
Angeles County Superior Court, a position to which she was elected in 1962. In
1966, she was appointed Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeal.
President Lyndon Johnson appointed her Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Ninth Circuit in 1968, where she served for eleven years before President
Jimmy Carter appointed her US Secretary of Education.
In 1981, Hufstedler returned to private life, teaching and
practicing law. She was a partner in the firm Hufstedler & Kaus, now merged
into Morrison & Foerster. She is the recipient of 20 honorary doctoral
degrees from American universities.
Quotes from Recent Alumni
Alliant 2008 TeachersCHOICESM
alumnus George Bandley has been hired in an urban school in Los Angeles, and
teaches in the kind of situation that typically leads to the high new teacher
dropout rate. He recently wrote his professors at the Hufstedler School of
Education to thank them for his excellent preparation:
It
is impossible to put into words how great my classes are going. The kids are
rising to challenges that they never thought possible. These kids amaze me
every single day… I would like to thank each of you personally for shaping me
into the teacher that I am!
An alumna, DMiralynn Malupa-Kim, who received a MAE in TESOL in
2005, has said:
The
TESOL faculty were expert researcher-practitioners who enthusiastically
supported my efforts and development. The program definitely opened several
professional doors for me at renowned institutions.
Margaret Guercio, who graduated from the School Psychology Program
and with the MAE in 2004, tells us:
My
experience at Alliant is one that is invaluable and has made me confident in
knowing that I am prepared for a successful and rewarding career.
The newly named Shirley M. Hufstedler School of Education at
Alliant International University – its professors, students, alumni, and staff
-- are proud to put Ms. Hufstedler’s ideals into practice. They are committed
to creating new approaches for a nation that, in her words, “…can no longer
afford to think about education in the traditional preschool, K-12, and higher
education divisions. Human education is a continuum from birth through each step
of the formal education process and beyond.”
The HSOE community embodies that continuum of learning and Shirley
M. Hufstedler’s lifelong commitment to expanding access to equal education.
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March 11, 2009