Last month we mentioned that University of Maryland College (UMUC) President Gerald Heeger was moving to a new international education initiative called Whitney International University (WIU). We also alluded to a May 6 article published in Inside Higher Ed titled "Global and Local," written by Inside Higher Ed Editor and Co-founder Scott Jaschik. The May 6 piece noted that WIU’s creator was Best Associates, a Dallas-based merchant bank. Jaschik quoted Heeger as saying that WIU was a "very sizable" project that was "well funded." Additionally, a spokesperson for Best, Rena Pederson, said that WIU anticipated having a U.S.-based teacher’s college that would emphasize training teachers to work in urban areas.

Jaschik, who was former editor of The Chronicle of Higher Education, followed up on WIU’s progress with a story in the June 14 issue of Inside Higher Ed, titled "Challenge to Teacher Ed." Jaschik’s story revealed that WIU’s teacher college will be called the American College of Education.

The article also noted that G. Reid Lyon is leaving a position as chief of child development and behavior at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to take on the job of developing WIU’s new teacher education program. Lyon, in reference to the discipline of education at colleges and universities, in general, was quoted as saying that "the majority of education courses are not rigorous whatsoever. They typically are based on philosophical ideas and ideology, not the research we have on how children learn."

Lyon went on to say that the American College of Education will emphasize the application of new research, educate cohorts of students from the same school district (future or current employees) and thus be able to focus on specific district issues.

The American College of Education purchased educational programs from Barat College, a former private institution that merged into DePaul University. The Barat/DePaul program, however, is closing down, and the American College of Education will be seeking its own accreditation. It was announced that the American College of Education will launch this fall with one master’s in curriculum instruction and another master’s in education leadership. Both are anticipated to be provided in a blended format, with students learning online as well as face-to-face.

See "Global and Local" at www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/05/06/whitney

See "Challenge to Teacher Ed," at www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/06/14/teachered