Message from the dean

Greetings from the College of Education!

We had an amazing year in the College of Education (COE), and I am so proud of our students, faculty, faculty associates, staff, alumni, and donors for all their collective achievements and support. During my first year as interim dean, we focused on supporting our currently enrolled students and on developing innovative approaches to supporting the Illinois teacher education pipeline. In this year’s Statewide Standard, we are pleased to share stories about how our Redbird Educators are recruiting, preparing, and supporting the next generation of teachers and education leaders and how we are working to fill the needs of education shortages throughout the state.

Our student enrollments remain strong across our programs, and we graduated almost 1,000 teachers and 190 graduate students into higher education and school district leadership positions. Thanks to the generous support of our donors, we provided over $845,000 to 451 students for scholarships. And, in conjunction with our remarkable donors, we developed a COE Persistence Fund to help our students with short-term financial hardships that prevent them from registering for classes and thereby obstructing their dream of becoming teachers. In only the past few months we have raised more than $160,000, and we are striving to grow the fund more because we know that student financial stresses are not new and will only continue.

We have also benefitted from state and federal support of our academic programs and initiatives. For example, last fall we were awarded a grant from the Illinois State Board of Education for the Redbird Educator Scholars Program that provides peer mentoring, community building activities, and connections to academic resources for first-year teacher education students.

We started new academic programs for early childhood professionals and special education paraprofessionals to earn their bachelor’s degree and teacher licensure. In addition, we are looking forward to launching new minors in special education and early childhood education to expand opportunities for students across all licensure programs. There are more updates in this issue about these new programs as well as our revised graduate programs.

We had the honor of celebrating many alumni this year through our Hall of Fame, Teacher of the Year, and Outstanding Young Alumni award programs. They have each made significant contributions in their schools, districts, and communities, and their stories of success are truly inspirational. We also hosted an inaugural Educator Appreciation Day in May to celebrate local educators and the commitment they have made to enrich the lives and expand the minds of young people every day.

On behalf of all my talented colleagues in the College of Education, we extend our best wishes to you as you prepare for another year of creating your legacy as a Redbird Educator, shaping the future of education.

With Redbird pride,

Dr. Todd McLoda, Interim Dean