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American Indian Education Research Center Established at Penn State
by Joe Savrock (April 2007)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The College of Education at Penn State announces the formation of the Center for the Study of Leadership in American Indian Education.
The mission of the new center is to conduct research and outreach that helps inform the public and improve the education of American Indians and Alaska Natives at the local, state, tribal, national, and international levels.
John Tippeconnic |
Susan Faircloth |
The center, housed in the Education Policy Studies Department, will serve as a clearinghouse on American Indian/Alaska Native education research, policy, and practice. It is expected to significantly increase the amount and quality of research and publications in the field of Indian education and disseminate research findings to practicing educators and policy makers.
John W. Tippeconnic, professor of educational leadership, and Susan C. Faircloth, assistant professor of educational leadership, will serve as the center’s co-directors.
The center will build on and extend Penn State’s tradition of preparing leaders in the field of American Indian and Alaska Native education. Penn State is also the home of the American Indian Leadership Program (AILP), directed by Tippeconnic. The AILP is the nation’s longest continuously operating educational leadership program for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Since 1970, the AILP has graduated nearly 215 American Indian/Alaska Native students. These graduates have earned master’s and doctoral degrees in educational administration/leadership and special education and have gone on to assume leadership positions at a variety of levels. The AILP and the research center will work collaboratively to maintain a focus on the preparation of educational leaders.
"We are delighted to see this growth in Penn State’s commitment to the study of American Indian education," said David Monk, dean of the College of Education. "The new center will build upon the impressive accomplishments of the AILP and will strengthen the knowledge base we need to sustain improvements in the quality of schools serving American Indian students throughout the nation."
According to Tippeconnic, “the new center presents an opportunity for Penn State to move the research agenda in Indian education forward and, along with the American Indian Leadership Program, prepare future researchers.” Tippeconnic also “looks forward to building the center and collaborating with others at Penn State.”
Faircloth echoed these thoughts. According to her, “as we approach the 40th anniversary of the American Indian Leadership Program at Penn State, we continue to seek ways in which we can engage both scholars and practitioners in the improvement of education for American Indian and Alaska Native students, schools, and communities across the nation. The establishment of the new research center is an integral step in this process. We look forward to our continued work in this arena.”
The co-directors envision hosting an annual research and policy institute, in collaboration with Indian Studies programs that are tied to the Big Ten’s Committee on Institutional Cooperation and other organizations. They also anticipate sponsoring a research-focused preconference event to be held in conjunction with a national conference, such as the annual meeting of the National Indian Education Association.
For more information, please contact Tippeconnic at 302A Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16802, or e-mail jwt7@psu.edu.
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The Penn State College of Education serves approximately 2,800 undergraduate and 1,200 graduate students each year. The College prepares administrators, counselors, psychologists and researchers, as well as K-12 teachers in 21 different specialty areas. All of the College of Education graduate programs, that are ranked by the U.S. News & World Report, appear at least in the top 15, with six programs in the top ten.The College's Higher Education Administration program is ranked 1st and the Workforce Education and Development program is ranked 2nd. The College is known nationally for its education research and outreach, housing such centers as the Center for the Study of Higher Education, the Center for Science and the Schools, the Mid-Atlantic Center for Mathematics Teaching and Learning, and the Regional Education Laboratory--Mid-Atlantic.
For more information on Penn State’s College of Education, contact EdRelations@psu.edu, call 814-863-1192, or visit www.ed.psu.edu.