The OSU College of Education enjoys a diversified mission of teaching, research, and service related to the exploration and study of human processes, resources, and development. While the primary instructional emphasis of the College is the preparation of professionals for all sectors and levels in education, the influence of the College extends beyond the traditionally defined boundaries of these areas. It provides a strong emphasis in human resource development and preparation of personnel for positions requiring special skills in human understanding, learning, education, management of training programs, and development of human and material resources.
Undergraduate and graduate programs in the College prepare students for careers as school teachers, counselors, principals, superintendents, and administrators, as well as for careers as media specialists, librarians, commercial pilots and flight instructors, directors of human resource development programs in complex organizations, and mental health and vocational rehabilitation counselors-in short, for a variety of roles that require direct personal contact and an understanding of other people. Each year the College awards approximately 400 bachelor's degrees, and approximately one-half of the University's doctoral degrees and one-fourth of the University's master's degrees.
The College's 135 faculty and staff are engaged in a variety of funded as well as unsponsored research, development, and dissemination activities that support the College's balanced mission of teaching, research, and service. To assist the faculty and staff in maintaining its position in the forefront of the new ideas and knowledge being generated in the field of education, the College is organized into the Departments of Applied Behavioral Studies; Aviation and Space Education; Curriculum and Instruction; Educational Administration and Higher Education; and the Schools of Occupational and Adult Education, and Health, Physical Education, and Leisure.
Supporting the academic units in their research and development activities is the Office of the Associate Dean for Administrative Affairs and Research. The Office provides technical assistance and service to faculty, staff, and departments in support of their research and development projects.
Since October 1979, the College of Education has administered the activities of the Aerospace Education Services Program (AESP) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which provides teachers, students, and the general public nationwide with information about NASA's latest programs and research. Information is disseminated through demonstration and lecture programs provided by 33 aerospace education specialists based at nine space flight and research centers across the nation and by faculty of the College. OSU, through its College of Education, has administered this NASA public affairs national program for 24 of the 31 years of its existence.
Specifically, the project provides for aerospace education community involvement programs; courses and workshops for elementary and secondary school teachers; assistance with curriculum revision and development activities of national, state, regional, and local programs; presentations for delivery on educational television and radio; presentations before civic clubs and professional organizations; special services at science and technology centers; in-service programs for aerospace specialists; and the development of instructional materials for various aerospace activities. This national program offers a number of these activities in selected inner city areas.
Another NASA contract allows the College of Education to direct the general administration of the Teaching From Space Program and the disbursement of its funds. The College also provides logistical support for workshops and conferences associated with the program.
Another well-established program at Oklahoma State University is the National Youth Sports Program (NYSP), conducted through the School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure. For the 20th consecutive year, the NYSP brought approximately 500 children from the surrounding area to the OSU campus to participate in sports activities. Students commuted to campus for 25 days of activities, which included a hot lunch, provided by USDA and State Department of Education funding.
Yet, another long running project is The National Clearing House for Rehabilitation Training Materials, under a cooperative agreement funded by the Rehabilitation Services Administration. The purpose of the Clearing House is to support the collection and dissemination of human resource development materials created by the national vocational rehabilitation community. The project, which began in 1961, has grown to reach an international audience of rehabilitation practitioners in counselor education programs, special education, state agencies, and facilities. The collection contains over 8,000 titles of printed and audio-visual materials on topics related to the employment of disabled persons. Materials are listed, with annotations, in a quarterly newsletter serving an audience of over 36,000.
Activities among the faculty of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction included, among others, the Interdisciplinary Environmental Science: Science, Technology, and Societal Interactions program. This program, a high school student summer academy, received funding from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, as well as corporate grants from McDonald's, Phillips Petroleum, Dolco Packaging Company, and Conoco. The goal of this three-week program was to make a select group of high school students aware of major environmental issues and problems, knowledgeable of the ecological concepts that connect these issues and problems, and capable of identifying the exciting opportunities for dealing with these in the future. Students worked in teams, focusing on the interconnections between the components of the systems. Both male and female faculty and graduate students of varying ethnic and scientific backgrounds presented the programs.
Another project administered through the College funds the final year of a three year proposal to plan, develop, and implement a systematic evaluation program for the NASA Aerospace Education Services Program. Funding for the third year provides for continuing development and partial implementation of the program. Two doctoral fellowships are included in the funding of the project. The project is being designed and completed by faculty in the Research and Evaluation Area of the Department of Applied Behavioral Studies (ABSED).
As with local efforts at education improvement and reform, the College of Education strives to improve education throughout the world. Recent international grants activity through the College of Education includes the Training Program in Competency-Based Education for the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources. The College of Education conducted a training program for fifteen (15) Malaysian education officials on the Stillwater, Oklahoma campus. This intensive vocational training program lasted a period of twelve weeks. The purpose of the program was to provide short term training to encourage an in- depth understanding of concepts and applications of Curriculum Development and Competency Based Education (CBE) by professionals who will become educational leaders in vocational curriculum areas. The project focused on three identified needs/emphasis areas: 1) the development of a good understanding of the basic philosophy of CBE; 2) a complete understanding of the various principles, techniques and approaches to CBE; and 3) application of CBE concepts to develop curriculum and training programs. Members of the School of Occupational and Adult Education directed the project.
While the College is working to bridge the physical and cultural gaps that separate us from our fellow human beings in other countries, similar efforts to construct cultural bridges in our own community are also underway. Increasingly, public schools and universities are addressing the global nature of educational issues engendered by a culturally diverse student population through cooperative programs. The combined resources create opportunities in which innovative programs can be developed and examined. Specifically, the shared resources of each institution provide the public school with the research and expertise of the university, and provide the university with field site experience for undergraduate and graduate students. Created in the spring of 1990, the Oklahoma State University (OSU) Educational Alliance serves the twofold purpose of addressing issues of cultural diversity in a rural school setting and providing multicultural experiences for OSU College of Education students. The alliance links three separate entities: OSU, Frontier Public Schools, and the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. Frontier Public School district is a consolidated rural school site providing K-12 schooling for approximately 425 students. Fifty-two percent of the total student population are of Native American descent. The Otoe-Missouria Tribe is a federally recognized tribal government with 1,564 members. Over one-half of these members live on or close to the original Otoe-Missouria tribal reserve boundaries, which encompasses the Frontier School District. The OSU Educational Alliance was created to enhance the educational environments and opportunities of the diverse organizations and populations contained within the cooperative. The project is designed (1) to provide clinical experiences for the OSU College of Education students in a multicultural setting, (2) to impact the day-to-day life of Frontier School students, and (3) to enhance the instructional skills of the Frontier Public Schools faculty. Participation in all phases of the Alliance activities has been on a voluntary basis.
Consult the following pages to find listed individual data for each project.