Articles
From the Dean
By Linda Samek, Dean of the School of Education
Welcome to the inaugural issue of the George Fox University School of Education eNews. We are pleased that you have chosen to join us as we share news and coming events from the Undergraduate Teacher Education, Master of Arts in Teaching, Educational Foundations and Leadership departments, and the Graduate Department of Counseling. More…
Spotlight on Success: What's Working in Oregon High Schools?
By Ginny Birky, Associate Professor of Education
Most people are aware of a national conversation related to high school reform. Much of the news is dismal, but pockets of success are also evident. During the 2007-2008 school year, I had the privilege of taking a sabbatical leave from my normal work with the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) department. Since I teach a class entitled "Rethinking High School" to our MAT students, I chose to pursue a research agenda related to this topic. I also wanted to make a contribution to my teaching, my scholarship, and the educational community. More…
Impacted to Remain Connected
By Wade Witherspoon, EdD ‘07
On occasion I find myself back on the George Fox campus holding a meeting, attending an event, or just visiting my wife. As I walk across the beautiful grounds I am once again reminded of the outstanding education I received here. Not just academically, although the quality of this specific facet is unquestionable, but socially and spiritually as well. Just the other day this phrase crossed my mind: "George Fox University is a place where my friends became professors and my professors became my friends." More…
From the Alumni Director
By Robby Larson, Director of Alumni Relations
In my role as director of alumni relations, I am tasked with the role of establishing and enhancing opportunities for nearly 20,000 George Fox alumni to stay connected with the university. It is an incredible job in which I find a great deal of personal satisfaction. Since arriving two years ago, however, one thing has consistently nagged at me: how do we serve alumni of our various graduate programs? Largely due to our small staff, Alumni Relations has long focused the majority of its efforts on alumni of the traditional undergraduate program. Now, after significant discussion by the Alumni Board, Alumni Relations team, and numerous faculty members, momentum is building, with this e-newsletter being the first outcome. More…
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News
Murdock Grant Awarded for Mentoring Christian Schools
The School of Education has received a $400,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust for the purpose of providing professional development and mentoring services to Christian Schools in our region over the next three years. Dr. Gary Kilburg, the director of the Mentoring Institute at George Fox, and Dr. Scot Headley, a professor in the Educational Foundations and Leadership Department, will direct the program and provide services to schools, associations and individual educators throughout the Northwest. More…
MAT Introduces International Practicum Opportunity
The Master of Arts in Teaching program is introducing an exciting international practicum opportunity for the spring of 2009. Candidates will be doing their first, 30-hour practicum in Quito, Ecuador, in May. Approximately 25 MAT cohort members will be making the journey with faculty members Rebecca Addleman, Tatiana Cevallos and Carol Brazo. The group will spend mornings in both public and private school classrooms, while afternoons will be spent in Spanish immersion classes. Two weekend trips are planned for Banos and Otavallo.
Professors Addleman, Cevallos and Brazo are expecting that opportunities like this will become an annual offering. There are future plans to add an international school visit in Vienna and possibly work in China in the year 2011. Please keep this new program in your prayers as we plan and prepare for the adventure.
The Northwest Center for Play Therapy Studies at the GDC
The Graduate Department of Counseling (GDC) in the School of Education is pleased to be the home of the Northwest Center for Play Therapy Studies (NWCPTS). This past November, the NWCPTS sponsored its sixth annual Fall Play Therapy Conference. The featured speaker was Dr. Sue Bratton, director of the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas. On Nov. 14, 2008, Dr. Bratton presented a workshop entitled "Play Therapy with Interpersonal Trauma and Attachment Disruption." Conference attendees included current GDC students and alumni, and mental health professionals from across the country. More…
MAT Plus Programs
In January 2006, the Master of Arts in Teaching program launched two exciting new programs. The MAT Plus Reading and MAT Plus ESOL programs were created to meet the growing needs of our Oregon public schools. The MAT Plus programs are a combination of our traditional MAT program and additional courses that lead to an endorsement in either reading or ESOL. While students meet with their cohorts in their regularly scheduled time, they are also enrolled in an endorsement course online. While this combination makes for a very challenging program, students who have completed the programs have returned to tell us how well prepared they feel. They have often found employment before others because of their specialty endorsements.
Not only are our graduates being recruited before students of traditional single programs, but they are also fulfilling a Christian mission of serving children who are most in need. The faculty in the MAT Plus program are proud of how we are fulfilling our Christian mission of preparing pre-service teachers to teach an underserved population. For more information about the MAT Plus programs, click here.
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Events
Homecoming 2009
Homecoming 2009 is only a few months away and we want to make sure that you join your classmates at the celebration! Taking place on campus Feb. 20-21, homecoming is a great opportunity for all alumni to return to George Fox and reconnect with old friends. Make plans now to come home to your alma mater and join in the exciting homecoming festivities.
Reunions will be held for the classes of 1939, 1949, 1969, 1979, 1984, 1989 and 1999. Affinity reunions also will take place for anyone associated with the George Fox football program and for all alumni who went through a business program at either the graduate or undergraduate level. For more information, visit homecoming.georgefox.edu.
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Announcements
Know a Good Candidate for School of Education Graduate Programs?
Alumni are our very best referral source for new students! If you know someone who might be a good candidate for any of our graduate programs, please refer them to our admissions staff.
Upcoming MAT Information Meetings: georgefox.edu/soe/mat/meetings.html
Travel with George Fox to Alpine Europe, Summer 2010
George Fox University is excited to offer our tour of alpine Europe to see the Passion Play at Oberammergau, Germany, in early-summer 2010. Open to all alumni, parents, and friends of George Fox, our 11-day tour, departing May 31, will include visits to the beautiful alpine European cities of Frankfurt and Munich, Germany; Salzburg, Austria; and Lucerne and Interlaken, Switzerland. Among many other highlights, the tour will include travel through the Rhine Valley, Black Forest, as well as the Swiss, Austrian, and Bavarian Alps. Additionally, visits are planned to Neuschwanstein and Heidelberg castles, and Rothenburg, Germany's best-preserved medieval town. The highlight of the trip will be the Passion Play, an inspiring one-day play, dating back nearly 375 years, which is performed for sold-out audiences every 10 years in a magnificent outdoor covered amphitheater with the Bavarian Alps as a backdrop. To read the full itinerary, request more information, and register for the trip, click here.
eBruin Still Available
With the creation of the School of Education Alumni eNews, you will no longer receive the monthly eBruin newsletter that has been sent for the past few years. Instead you will receive this e-newsletter containing School of Education-specific content as well as some university-wide content several times a year. If you would like to continue reading eBruin, you can find a link to it on the Alumni Relations website, or by clicking here.
George Fox University on iTunes U
Starting this fall, George Fox can now be found on Apple’s iTunes U. The George Fox page includes audio and video podcasts of university events, course content, athletic contests, chapels, and more. New content is added all the time. To get to the George Fox page, go to the iTunes U page in the iTunes Store or click here.
George Fox Journal Online
Recently, the fall 2008 issue of the George Fox Journal magazine was sent out to alumni and friends of the university. This redesigned issue features the 30-year anniversary of Richard Foster’s (‘64) book Celebration of Discipline, a look at the lives of George Fox’s Chinese students, and the impact that the engineering department is making beyond campus. To read these articles in the George Fox Journal Online, click here. You can also use this link to read past issues of the George Fox Journal.
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