1980s
Events include: AIDS epidemic is identified,
popularization of personal computers, accident at
Chernobyl nuclear reactor, Reaganomics, Dow Jones
Industrial Average passes 2,000 point, Minnesota
Twins win the World Series, Space Shuttle Challenger
disaster (among the crew was Christa McAuliffe,
scheduled to be the first teacher in space), Chinese
students are killed in Tiananmen Square, fall of the
Berlin Wall
Art on the Berlin Wall commemorating its fall
U.S. presidents
George H.W.
Bush (1989–1993)
Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
1987 | E. D. Hirsch, Jr. publishes
Cultural Literacy: What
Every American Needs to Know.
1983 |
The National Commission on
Excellence in Education releases A Nation at Risk.
Walter Karp publishes “Why Johnny Can’t Think: The
Politics of Bad Schooling” in Harper's Magazine. |
Timeline
1989
Curman Gaines earns a Ph.D. from
the college. A
long-time teacher and administrator for schools in
Louisiana and Minnesota, as well as holding
positions in the Minnesota Department of Human
Rights and Minnesota Department of Education, Gaines
becomes the superintendent of the St. Paul Public
Schools in 1991. He serves there for seven years
before moving to the private sector with Sylvan
Learning Systems.
The National Career Development
Guidelines (NCDG) debut, following the model of the counseling
and student personnel psychology's (CSPP) Career Development
Curriculum (Tennyson, Hansen, K. Laurens, & Antholz, 1980). The
NCDG framework
describes a continuum of personal, education, and career skills
young people and adults should master to get the most from
education, life, and work. The CSPP model is still evident in
the 2005 online revision being used by schools in the U.S. and
Canada.
1987
 As part of the University’s
Commitment to Focus, the college begins shifting
most teacher training programs to the graduate
level, requiring participants to already have a
bachelor’s degree. As a result, entering students
arrive with richer backgrounds in the sciences or
liberal arts.
1986
Geraldene Hodelin earns a master’s degree in home
economics education from the college. In 1999, she
receives a Ph.D. in education. Her career carries
her to the home economics faculty of the University
of Technology-Jamaica, and in 1999 she becomes that
institution’s dean of the faculty of education of
liberal studies.
1985
University President Ken
Keller’s Commitment to Focus plan calls for an
increased emphasis on research that “should be
stimulated by the needs of society and the results
should be transmitted to society through active
teaching programs, through outreach and service
activities, through technological transfer.” The
college responds by building closer relationships
with K–12 schools throughout the state.
Margaret Sughrue Carlson
(Ph.D. ’83) becomes executive director of the
University of Minnesota Alumni Association and
associate vice president of institutional relations.
1980
 Carol
Johnson receives a master’s degree in curriculum
and instruction from the college. Seventeen years
later, she earns a Ph.D. in educational
administration and
is named superintendent of the Minneapolis schools.
She is currently superintendent of the Memphis,
Tenn., city schools. Johnson’s many honors include
Minnesota Superintendent of the Year and Outstanding
Achievement Award (OAA).
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