PHILOSOPHY of EDUCATION SOCIETY
PES UPDATE JULY 2004
PES UPDATE JULY 2004
UPDATE OVERVIEW
The July Update brings you a Call for Dues for the just-beginning fiscal and membership year 2004-05, greetings from PES President Bob Floden, information from 2005 Program Chair Ken Howe and the San Francisco Hospitality Committee regarding next year's conference, action summaries from the Board and Membership Meetings in Toronto, and a series of announcements of potential interest to members.
Also accompanying this Update (and arriving separately if you receive your Update by email) are the Dues Form, a ballot for the Election Committee, the Call for Papers for the San Francisco Conference, and the Copyright Permission Form to be submitted with papers. A business reply envelope has been provided for your convenience. You may use it for your dues and/or ballot.
FIRST CALL FOR 2004-05 DUES
Included in this mailing is the dues form for the new fiscal year, 2004-05. In order to ensure that you continue to receive Educational Theory in a timely manner, you need to pay your dues as soon as possible. Please make your check or money order (in U.S. funds) payable to "Philosophy of Education Society" or complete the required credit card information. Return the form to Kathy Hytten in the envelope provided. (No postage necessary!) You may also wish to take advantage of Pay Pal, a convenient way to pay your dues on-line. One advantage to using Pay Pal is that the credit card surcharge is slightly lower. For more information, please visit the PES website at www.philosophyofeducation.org .
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT - Bob Floden
Somehow I can't believe it is already summer. My university finishes the academic year early (around May 1), but somehow I haven't yet hit the "summer" mode. And the days are already getting shorter!
But to serious business. Finding a suitable date for PES 2005 was more of a challenge than usual. With Valerie Phillips' extraordinary assistance (or should I say, "leadership"), I had negotiated the contract with the Crowne Plaza Union Square in San Francisco, only to learn that the date I had picked was the same at that selected by the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain. (My only excuse was that they hadn't posted the date on their web site.) Keeping those two meetings on separate dates is important for both societies, because a good number of people try to attend both.
Fortunately, I was able to identify another weekend that didn't conflict with holidays or major meetings, and was delighted to find that the hotel could accommodate the shift! So, as you probably already learned from Kathy Hytten, the meeting will be March 18-21, 2005 . Details on how to book your room will be forthcoming from the Hospitality Committee.
Even before the 2004 meeting had even begun, Program Chair Ken Howe and I started talking about 2005. He has put together a terrific program committee, who are looking forward to reading the proposals that come in this fall. He has also secured Allison Jaggar for the Kneller lecture, and is looking at possibilities for other special participants. Jaggar was a founding member of the Society for Women in Philosophy and is past chair of the American Philosophical Association Committee on the Status of Women. She is currently working on a book with the tentative title, "Sex, Truth and Power: A Feminist Theory of Moral Reason." Should be a Kneller lecture you won't want to miss.
As you may know, the PES Legacy Fund has been able to provide some support for graduate students to attend the Annual Meeting. We try to draw graduate students into our community early in their careers, both for the immediate contributions they make and as a way to build a long-term commitment to PES. If we can build up the Fund we'll be able to offer more support, to more graduate students. Please consider making a contribution.
Well, better get back to work on my presidential address.
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS - Ken Howe
I am pleased to announce the program committee and contributing editors to the Yearbook for the 2005 PES meeting: Deron Boyles, Eric Bredo, Pamela Courtney-Hall, Scott Fletcher, Frank Margonis, Michele Moses, John Petrovic, Steve Norris, Suzanne Rice, and Stacy Smith. The committee represents a diversity of philosophical perspectives and includes a significant contingent of first-time program committee members. I was delighted by the unreserved willingness of these individuals to perform this important task. It bodes well for the upcoming meeting, as well as the overall health of the Society.
The Call for Papers is included in this issue of Update and provides the details for paper submissions and for other kinds of sessions. The Style Guidelines and the Copyright Permission Form are included as well. The deadline postmark for submissions is November 1, 2004 . E-mail inquiries should be directed to ken.howe@colorado.edu .
Program planning is proceeding well. Feminist philosopher Alison Jaggar ( University of Colorado ) has accepted our invitation to deliver the Kneller lecture. Her general topic is citizenship in relation to the global order. Moral philosopher Martin Benjamin ( Michigan State University ) has also accepted our invitation. He will speak on the general topic of ethics teaching centering on wide reflective equilibrium.
EARLY INFORMATION FROM THE HOSPITALITY COMMITTEE - Denis Phillips, Valerie Phillips, Eamonn Callan, Michael Katz
The Hospitality Committee for PES 2005 cordially invites all PES members to the Annual Meeting in San Francisco , March 18-21, 2005 . The "City by the Bay" is a favorite convention (and tourist) destination, with congenial weather (average about 60high/50low F in March), great restaurants (see www.zagat.com ), fascinating neighborhoods, great views, cable cars, and more. For more information on San Francisco , visit:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/north_america/san_francisco/
http://onlysf.sfvisitor.org/plan_your_trip/
We will be meeting at the Crowne Plaza Union Square , 480 Sutter St. , San Francisco , CA 94108 . You can walk to Union Square shopping and theaters, North Beach and Chinatown . A bit longer walk takes you to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or to Pier 39 shopping and restaurants. Or, grab a cable car right outside the hotel to go to Nob Hill, Fisherman's Wharf, and the Cannery. More information on the hotel is at www.crowneplaza.com/sfo-unionsq
Room rates are $145.00, single or double occupancy, plus state and local taxes. To make reservations: call 888-218-0808 and tell them you are part of the Philosophy of Education Society meeting.
Like many before you, you'll be leaving your heart in San Francisco .
COMMITTEE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION: CALL FOR PAPERS - Barbara Thayer-Bacon and Gayle Turner
The Philosophy of Education Society's Committee on the Status of Women in the Profession (COSW) invites paper submissions for a topical symposium at the PES Annual Meeting in San Francisco , March 18-21, 2005 . The symposium will explore how various modes of feminist inquiry have contributed to new ways of doing contemporary philosophy and philosophy of education. We wish to explore in particular what feminist philosophizing has contributed to a re-positioning of reason as pluralistic. We encourage the submission of papers from many different perspectives that would contribute to this analysis of both reason and philosophical discourse. Papers should be submitted as an email attachment in Microsoft Word format to Barbara J. Thayer-Bacon at bthayer@utk.edu . The papers selected for this symposium will be published together as a special issue of Educational Theory . Please follow Educational Theory's basic guidelines for manuscript submissions, specifically the 7500 word limit and Chicago Manual of Style format. Please include an abstract of your paper (up to 300 words) to help us know who to send it to for review, and a separate title page with your identity and contact information. Do not include your name on the subsequent pages of your paper. All papers will be blind reviewed by two PES - COSW members as well as both the co-chairs of the symposium. Deadline for submissions is the same date as for PES submissions, November 1, 2004 . We look forward to your submissions!
ELECTION RESULTS
As those attending the Toronto Conference know, Sharon Bailin has been named President Elect. James Giarelli was elected to the Executive Board and Natasha Levinson was elected to COPA. Congratulations to all who were elected and thanks to them for their willingness to serve! Thanks also to those who are rotating out of these responsibilities: Past Past-President Sophie Haroutunian-Gordon, retiring Board member Michael Katz, and COPA representative Susan Laird. Recognition is due to Barb Houston (Chair) and the Election Committee (Dwight Boyd, Jim Garrison, Wendy Kohli, Cris Mayo, Lynda Stone and Audrey Thompson) for a job well done.
ELECTION OF THE ELECTION COMMITTEE - Ballot included
The following 11 candidates have been nominated by President Bob Floden to serve on the election committee: Gert Biesta, Deanne Bogdan, David Hansen, Natasha Levinson, Michelle Moses, Al Neiman, Walter Okshevsky, Robert Reich, Suzanne Rice, Barbara Stengel and Iris Yob. A ballot is enclosed with this mailing (or will arrive separately if you receive the update via email). Please return your ballot no later than September 15, 2004 to Executive Secretary Kathy Hytten. You may use the business reply envelope enclosed for this purpose.
MEETING MINUTES - ACTION SUMMARY
Minutes for Executive Board and Business meetings conducted at the annual Conference can be viewed on the Society's web site ( www.philosophyofeducation.org ). Corrections and comments may be forwarded to Kathy Hytten ( khytten@siu.edu ). In brief, the following are some of the central issues we discussed:
• PES Resolution on Public Policy : The membership approved a policy drafted by President Fran Schrag on PES Resolutions. The policy is as follows: ( a) A resolution adopted by a majority of the PES Executive Committee, at the request of any member, shall be placed on the agenda of the regular business meeting. (b) Any resolution which purports to represent the collective sentiments of PES on matters of public policy must be voted on by the membership on an electronic ballot, if a motion to do so is authorized by the majority of those present at the annual business meeting. (c) The Executive Secretary shall allow a period of at least two weeks from announcement for members to debate the motion. The ballot shall include a summary of the arguments presented. (d) The outcome of the membership polling shall be forwarded to the membership. For a resolution to be used in publicity outside PES, it must have the backing of the majority of those voting and at least 25% of the membership must cast ballots.
• Legacy Fund : We are still discussing how to use the Legacy Fund interest that we will be generating. Several members of the executive committee are working on drafting a proposal about who should be able to apply for these funds and how they should be used to support members attending the conference.
• Fellow Status : The status of "fellow" was discussed again briefly, as it has been at the last several meetings. Good reasons for both eliminating and keeping this category were given. We decided to leave fellow status as it is until someone lays out a reason to change it and then we will deal with a change to the constitution. Three candidates were approved for fellow this year: Chris Higgins, Jeffrey Milligan, and Leonard Waks.
• Educational Theory : The shift to Blackwell as the publisher of Educational Theory is now complete. Members now have on-line access (through Blackwell's synergy site) to Educational Theory and four other journals: Journal of Philosophy of Education, British Journal of Educational Studies, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Curriculum Inquiry. Several new initiatives with Blackwell were also discussed.
• Yearbook : One recurring issue with the yearbook is that occasionally over the past few years we've felt the absence of single person with PES authority in charge of production details. The Executive Board is talking about appointing a series editor to oversee the production process, including keeping an eye on deadlines, costs, and maintaining continuity.
MEMBER SERVICES
You may stay in touch with PES electronically by emailing khytten@siu.edu . If your email address has changed, please let us know. You can also find all the information (including membership forms, Call for Papers, etc.) you need at our web site, reachable at www.philosophyofeducation.org . The maintenance of this site is courtesy of our web builder Craig Cunningham. Craig has done a great job with this site, and he is always willing to add information that is of interest to our members, such as postings for conferences and jobs. You can reach him at cac@cuip.net if you have questions, concerns or additions.
CALLS AND CONFERENCES OF POTENTIAL INTEREST
• Eighth IHPST Group International Conference - T he eighth conference of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group will be held in Leeds , England , July 15-18, 2005 . The conference is being held in conjunction with the British History of Science Society conference. Sessions of both conferences will be available to participants, and there will be some shared social events. Deadline for submission of 500 word Abstracts is the end of January 2005 (email to: ihpst2005@blueyonder.co.uk ). Details about conference can be found at web site: www.ihpst.org , or by contacting the IHPST secretary, Michael Matthews ( m.matthews@unsw.edu.au )
• The Third Interdisciplinary Conference on Current Educational Questions : Education in the Context of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights will be held Friday, October 22, 2004 , at the University of Navarra . More information will soon be available at the following website: http://www.unav.es/educacion/jornadaedu/
• The Sixth International Symposium on the Philosophy of Music Education will be held May 18-21, 2005 at the University of Hamburg, Germany. The symposium will provide an important opportunity for philosophers, teachers, performers, composers, and others interested in philosophical issues in music education to rethink music and music education from an international perspective. Paper submissions are due October 1, 2004 to Dr. Paul Woodford, Don Wright Faculty of Music, University of Western Ontario , London , Ontario , Canada , N6A 3K7. For more information contact Program Co-Chairs Frede V. Nielson ( fvn@dpu.dk ), Charlene Morton ( charlene.morton@ubc.ca ) or Paul Woodford ( woodford@uwo.ca ).
• The 33 rd Annual Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia Conference will be held November 26-28, 2004 at Australian Catholic University , Fitzroy, Melbourne . The theme for the conference is Education and Values , although papers demonstrating philosophical competence on other matters of educational interest are welcomed. The theme is intended to allow a range of interpretations and is not limited to any particular philosophical genre. There are three sub-themes: 1) Internationalisation; 2) Civics and 3) Identity and the Development of Human persons . The Australian Association for Research in Education conference follows on after PESA. For more information, contact Ms. Susanne Dick at s.dick@patrick.acu.edu.au .
• The Woodring Center for Educational Pluralism at Western Washington University is starting a new referred electronic journal entitled, Ethical Dilemmas and Perplexities: Teaching and Learning in a Pluralistic Society . This unique journal will pose a dilemma related to teaching in a pluralistic society in each issue and invite readers to submit a short response (500-1500 words) to it. Subsequent issues will pose a new dilemma along with a Rejoinder Section to allow the conversation to continue. DILEMMA OR PERPLEXITY FOR THE FIRST ISSUE. Many of the tensions in public school policies are deeply rooted in the tensions inherent in the philosophy of a liberal democratic state. For example, while we seek to promote values like equality and liberty, there are times when these values conflict. In a recent court decision, Saxe v. Student Doe 2, the third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a school district's anti-harassment policy as a violation of the first amendment. The policy was intended to provide a safe, secure, and nurturing school environment for all students, including gay and lesbian students, to achieve equal educational opportunities. The plaintiffs in the case argued that their religion compelled them to speak out against what they considered the harmful and sinful nature of homosexuality, and argued that the school policy was a constitutional violation of their free speech and free exercise of their religion. Is there a principled way to think about the tensions inherent in these conflicts? How do we promote both the values of individual liberty and equal educational opportunity - liberty and equality? How would you construct a school policy that would stand up to constitutional muster? How would you phrase it? What would you include? Please submit articles by Jan. 15, 2005 to Lorraine.Kasprisin@wwu.edu .
• Educational Philosophy and Theory will publish a special issue on "Wittgenstein and Educational Thought" to appear in 2006. Paul Smeyers and Nicholas C. Burbules will guest edit. Papers are invited on original topics that bring to bear aspects of Wittgenstein's views on language, learning, knowledge, perception, philosophical psychology, or other subjects, as they help illuminate significant educational problems. Papers should be in the range of 6000 words. First submissions are due February 1, 2005 and will be subject to review. Final versions will be expected by July 1, 2005 . For more information, contact paul.smeyers@psy.kuleuven.ac.be or burbules@uiuc.edu .
KEEPING TRACK OF EACH OTHER
As usual, several PES members have changed positions/locations in the past year and graduate student members were successful in claiming academic positions for the first time. While it is impossible for us to reprint all the comings and goings with contact information in this space, we would like to assist members in keeping track of each other. If you are changing positions and would like to notify colleague friends of this fact, send an e-mail with new affiliation to khytten@siu.edu . (Don't forget to include full contact info so we can make the change in PES files). We will list changes received and direct members to the website for contact information. Here are three changes that have come to our attention.
- Dawn Riley - to Educational Studies at Skidmore College
- Eunsook Hong - to Sungkyul University
- Craig Cunningham - to National-Louis University (Chicago)
I am sure others of you have moved and/or are taking new positions. Best wishes to all of you.
MEMORIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
• From Debby Kerdeman: Ken Sirotnik , Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in the College of Education at the University of Washington, and PES member, died at age 61 on January 29, 2004, after a brief battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Ken's publications span a range of issues, including statistics and quantitative methodology, teacher education, educational leadership, school reform and renewal, and the moral dimensions of teaching. Ken's latest edited volume, Holding Accountability Accountable, was published this spring by Teachers College Press. At the heart of all Ken's work lay a deep commitment to educational philosophy. Ken was a member of PES and a faithful reader of both Educational Theory and Philosophy of Education. He believed that philosophy and foundational studies were indispensable to the education of pre-service teachers and educational leaders, and he helped shaped our College's professional preparation programs to reflect this commitment. Ken's passion for critical inquiry and social justice was informed, in part, by his reading of Habermas and other critical theorists. Educational philosophers influenced the way Ken approached his own teaching and policy work. He once told me, for example, that Israel Scheffler's Of Human Potential completely changed the way he thought about and structured classroom environments.
For 12 years, Ken and I co-taught a two-quarter course in educational inquiry, required for all Ph.D. students in our College. The "Inquiry Course" brought together quantitative and qualitative methodologists, historians, and philosophers to ponder the question, what is educational inquiry? Examining a range of empirical research studies, methodological explanations, and readings in philosophy of science, Ken and I tried to help students probe assumptions about knowing and knowledge that permeate (often unwittingly) the full range of educational inquiry. Our hope was that students would leave our class more reflective about their own pre-dispositions, more open to the positions of others, more appreciative of complexity, and better able to critically assess and thoughtfully conduct research.
Philosophy of education has lost a great friend in Ken Sirotnik. His legacy lives on in his body of scholarship, which continues to compel thoughtful analysis and action, and in the students and colleagues with whom he worked, who continue to be inspired by his vision.
• Susan Moller Okin , Professor of Political Science at Stanford University passed away. While she never attended PES, her work was important to many members. You may wish to read her obituary at http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2004/march10/obitokin-310.html
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
• The Journal of Philosophy of Education encourages PES members to consider writing book reviews. Interested members should contact Rob Reich at reich@stanford.edu .
• Studies in Philosophy and Education is an international peer-reviewed journal that focuses on the philosophical, theoretical, normative and conceptual problems and issues in educational research, policy and practice. For more information about submissions, contact Editor-in-Chief Gert Biesta at g.biesta@exeter.ac.uk . Forthcoming special issues include: "Peirce and Education: The Conflicting Processes of Learning and Discovery," and "The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge: How Incredulous Have We Been?"
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY'S NOTES - Kathy Hytten
Greetings from Carbondale . I hope all of you are having a relaxing and productive summer. For those of you who were unable to attend, you missed out on a great conference this spring in Toronto . Dwight Boyd and his colleagues did a fantastic job of welcoming us all to the city and ensuring a stimulating location for PES members. As usual, Diane Beckett and her volunteers handled the details of money and registration smoothly and easily. Thanks also go Program Committee Chair Chris Higgins for putting together such a rich and diverse program. He also deserves some credit for entertaining us into the wee hours at the Presidential Reception, in particular, through dusting off his college wresting skills with any willing takers (if I recall correctly, Paul Standish put up a good fight). For those of you who were unable to attend the return of the Sunday night presidential reception, you also missed part 2 of Ken Howe's Kneller Lecture response as well as some great conversation and free booze. Hopefully we will be able to continue this more informal and relaxed tradition.
The good news about Toronto is that attendance was up significantly, with 166 paid attendees (and more who volunteered time and/or were otherwise on the program). Our membership numbers are also up with 473 paid members for 03-04. This reverses a downward trend in the past several years, so all in all, we are doing well. Of course, there are still some of you who have not paid dues in several years who we would like to bring back into the PES fold as the health of our organization depends on the strength of its membership. I encourage those of you who haven't paid back dues to please submit them with your upcoming dues payment. Your last date of paid dues is listed on your mailing label. As a reminder, our membership year always begins on July 1 st . If you think there is an error with the date listed on your envelope, please don't hesitate to contact me and I will double check it.
If you attended the Business Meeting in Toronto , you may recall the resolutions committee crafted a resolution for Don Arnstine, wishing him continued progress to good health after two recent hospitalizations. I received a nice letter from Don on behalf of him and Barbara expressing his gratitude for all their rewarding years with PES. In his words, I am reminded of why PES is such a special organization. "I tell colleagues in other education specializations that we are a pretty small group, most of whose members get to know most everyone else in the Society. What we do when we meet is listen to people read papers (from start to finish), and hear their responses to questions about the reasons they offered for what they said. At this point their eyes grow large, for they can hardly believe that we actually talk to each other - and even disagree - in front of an audience. We're very lucky to be able to take our ideas to a forum where they can get sharpened, transformed, or in some cases gratefully abandoned.we're very aware of what PES has done for our ideas, and for us. If there's a better or more worthwhile organization in the field of education, I haven't heard of it!
On an unrelated note, as you know, the transition to Blackwell as the publisher of Educational Theory is now complete. They took over the publication and distribution of the journal with issue 54(1). You should soon be receiving 54(3). As I have mentioned before, you will only receive Educational Theory if your dues are up-to-date. The dues year for 04-05 began as of July 1, 2004 . This means most of you currently owe dues. The sooner you send them, the better. Also, if your dues are up-to-date as of 03-04, you also should currently have on-line access to Educational Theory , as well as British Journal of Educational Studies , Curriculum Inquiry , Educational Philosophy and Theory , and Journal of Philosophy of Education through Blackwell's My Synergy page. This is a great new membership benefit. I hope you have been able to take advantage of it.
Finally, I encourage you all to begin crafting submissions for the San Francisco conference. I hope that you are all enjoying what remains of the summer break. Remember to feel free to contact me if you have any questions, ideas or suggestions.
CONTACT: PES Executive Cris Mayo
217-333-3673; cmayo@illinois.edu