The educational research center and programs at Chapman strive to improve educational experiences and enhance academic achievement. Our research projects encourage innovation, creativity and collaboration while focusing on developing global educators-leaders who are distinctively prepared to enhance education by putting theory into practice. The centers and projects below all contribute to “changing education, changing the world.
The Donna Ford Attallah Academy for Teaching and Learning
The DFAATL focuses on developing future K-12 teachers with a special emphasis on civic engagement activities that will both serve our surrounding community and prepare our pre-service teachers to engage in their respective communities as they enter the teaching profession. The DFAATL board works to bring events and research opportunities to the Chapman campus that challenge students to change the world by improving education through meaningful and reciprocal engagement among communities, schools and higher education.
Hassinger Endowed Chair of Culture, Community and Collaboration
The Hassinger Endowed Chair was established in 1996 to reward distinguished professors who advance and foster education, through teaching and administration, at any level. The chair honors the life work of Paula Hassinger, who had a distinguished career as an educator, ranging from Chapman University to American elementary schools in Japan and South America. The chair further pays tribute to her husband, Jack, also a career educator and administrator who supported numerous teaching efforts in China.
On September 28-29, 2012 the 2nd Annual Emerging Scholars Conference was held at Chapman Unievrsity. The conference focused on the topic of bullying, which is pervasive in our society, occurring at home, between siblings, in schools, and in the community at large. It can happen to anyone at any age, but is especially devastating for our children and youth, our seniors and members of any marginalized or disenfranchised group. It is quickly gaining notoriety, and as technology continues to grow the opportunities for cyber-bullying become more serious. Students and faculty from Chapman Univeristy along with those from many other universities came together to talk about this pervasive issue and the ways it manifests itself in our schools and communities. Solutions were discussed along with research presentations. Many of our keynote speakers and presenters were recorded and are available for viewing through an iTunes U Course "Bully Prevention."
The 2011 Emerging Scholars Conference explored issues of disability, diversity, and human rights in education, the social sciences, humanities, and law. Keynote presentations were given by Laura Rothstein and Alfredor Artiles. The documentary Wretches and Jabberers was also screened with the gentlemen featured in the film, Larry Bissonnette, Tracy Thresher, Pascal Cheng, and Harvey Lavoy, were in attendance for a Q&A after the film. To see the presentation videos from the Keynote speakers and the Q&A from the film please visit the CES iTunes U page (videos from this conference are titled "Emerging Scholars"). To view conference presenter abstracts and papers please visit the ESC 2011 Proceedings page.
Evolution Education Research Center
This EERC is an exciting collaboration between faculty at Chapman, McGill and Harvard Universities dedicated to advancing the teaching, learning and study of biological evolution through research.
Kathleen Muth Reading and Learning Center
The Literacy Tutoring Program is a community outreach program that teaches reading and writing to culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. The program trains undergraduate and graduate students in the CES to be effective literacy teachers including involving families in the literary development of their children. The program also offers a Home Library Program where young readers are given books in their current and next reading levels for their homes.
Paulo Freire Democratic Project
The Paulo Freire Democratic Project's (PFDP) strives to follow the educational philosophy put forth by Paulo Freire. To accomplish this mission, PFDP gathers together a number of constituencies from all levels of education to promote the full democratic, intellectual and critical development of students, teachers, administrators, parents and other community members.
The Global Education Yellow Pages
This electronic directory of global education resources for K-12
teachers contains nearly 1,000 entries (many of which link to additional
sources). These resources are organized into categories shown in the
Table of Contents. Information about the resources was obtained from a
questionnaire distributed to educational service providers and from a
search of the Internet.
Collaborate Initiative
The Collaborate Initiative is in the process of being developed and will aim to re-conceptualize meanings of higher education by helping students make meaningful connections between college education and their lives. Students who participate in the Collaborate Initiative will engage in student-led and student-centered internship research projects.
4th Annual Closing the Latino Achievement Gap Summit (CLAGS) was hosted at Chapman University on September 14, 2012. A powerful, passionate group of teachers, administrators, authors, politicians, entrepreneurs and students came together to talk about what it would take to close the Latino achievement gap. Learn more about this wonderful day of discussion, collaboration and planning for action by visiting the CLAGS page.
Characterizing Bone Health in Orange County Residents
In order to promote greater health and longevity in the community, Chapman’s Science Teaching and Research (STAR) Institute has launched part one of a three-part study to evaluate bone health. Researchers will work to develop specific dietary and pharmaceutical interventions for persons at risk for osteoporosis, osteopenia and other bone-loss pathologies.
A Study of Successful Approaches to Minority Faculty Retention in U.S. Schools of Education
This nationwide study shows how schools of education might better recruit, develop and support their U.S. faculty of color. In particular, shielding minority faculty from intentional or unintentional racism. This preliminary study asks the deans of 70 schools of education across the U.S. to describe cases where their U.S. minority faculty have successfully navigated the tenure process and to communicate the factors they feel should be included in a larger study to follow.
While the larger follow-up study would lead to a model or models demonstrating how schools of education might achieve minority faculty retention, and in particular protect them from racism, input from deans will only be sought in this initial phase of the research. This allows the deans an opportunity to provide direct input into the potential parameters of that larger study. Research team members include: Dr. Greg Tanaka (UCLA and Pacific Oaks College), Kris Gutierrez (UCLA), Adrienne Ann Mullen (East Los Angeles College), Beverly Cross ( Memphis State University ), Suzanne SooHoo ( Chapman University ), Cindy Cruz (Cornell University), ReGena Booze (Pacific Oaks College), Olga Winbush (Pacific Oaks College), and Tim Sundeen (Pacific Oaks College).
A National and International Perspective of Social Justice
National:
The College of Educational Studies is committed to the development of critical scholarship and skillful leadership that inspires and respects individuals, serves communities, enriches diversity, and ensures a socially just society. Social justice is central to the mission of the College of Educational Studies because education is a powerful tool in understanding and responding to social inequities. Chapman’s teacher education, masters in education and doctoral program have a commitment to social justice and civic engagement through collaborative work with K-12 schools to improve their effectiveness in educating students, as well as have a national impact through subsequent conference presentations and publications.
The newly minted Donna Ford Attallah Academy for teaching and learning will soon begin working to coordinate the resources and current efforts within the College of Educational Studies in regards to the various work being done for civil engagement.
International:
The College of Educational Studies (CES) and the University of Waikato, a premier research institution in New Zealand, have a formal exchange agreement. Faculty and administration have had the opportunity to meet and interact on both campuses during special forums and several dynamic research projects that explore the commonalities and challenges we face in educating diverse student populations.
For example, Suzanne Soohoo's reputable work in the area of participatory/action research coincides with the action research being conducted in New Zealand and has led to a promising network of educators on both sides of the globe who will attempt to address best practices in conducting research with diverse populations and how the findings can lead to academic improvements without sacrificing culture, language and social justice for students.
