Vol. 20, No. 2 - Spring 2004

From the dean

I’ve been told that recent surveys show that the average person doesn’t understand what we mean when we talk about “research universities.” When I mention with pride that the University of Minnesota is a “research one” university it doesn’t seem to resonate the way it does when we say we’re a “Big Ten” university.

Why should you care about and understand the research we do in the College of Education and Human Development?

First, it expands the knowledge base for hundreds of thousands of practitioners—teachers, school administrators, physical therapists, adult educators, business trainers, child care providers, administrators and instructors at community colleges, technical schools, and universities—here in Minnesota and around the world. As we share our findings with them, they use our work to do their own jobs more effectively and efficiently and that adds to the productivity of the state and promotes excellence in education and development for Minnesota’s children and youth. That’s good for all of us.

Secondly, it directly benefits our own students in the college by improving their experience at the University and adding value to the education they are receiving. They benefit from studying with professors who are doing research on the most critical issues facing education and human development professionals today.
Third, our research has, for a century, been creating the foundations of the solid educational reputation that Minnesota enjoys through the country and the world. The nature of research requires patience and critical thinking. Our goal is to be honest brokers of ideas and knowledge, not dispensers of fads or quick fixes.

We feature research updates in every issue of Link and we feature many stories at the CEHD Web site that illustrate the benefits of our research to the state, but a couple current examples come immediately to my mind.

With money from a federal Reading First grant, we are working with 600 teachers in 24 Minnesota schools to improve reading instruction. This work is based in large part on long-term research by Barbara Taylor, literacy professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. The schools involved are already seeing test scores improve for their students.

In our Department of Educational Psychology, researchers under the leadership of Chris Espin, professor of special education, and Terri Wallace, research associate in the college’s Institute on Community Integration, are working with special education teachers to develop a successful method for measuring progress in general classrooms for children with special needs. They are building on research begun more than 20 years ago by their colleague Stan Deno, special education professor, that has been used in schools throughout the United States to help students succeed academically.

Our researchers don’t pursue their work in ivory towers. They are in schools, in neighborhoods, in office buildings, throughout the metro region and the state, working with community colleagues to answer questions that will improve lives and education for children, youth, and families. For me, and I hope for you, that is the true value of a research university.

Steve Yussen
Dean
syussen@umn.edu