Major Strengths of the Department

February 16, 1995

The strengths of the Department are found in the quality of its 12 faculty and 70 graduate students and their productivity in scholarship, teaching, and service. The Department is recognized on campus and nationally as one of the nation's leading programs in educational foundations. The campus 1990 COPE report on EPS made the following assessment: "During this second evaluation, COPE continues to be impressed by the quality of the Department's research and instructional program, and by the recognition it has received for both among its peers nationally" (p. 7, COPE Report, February 6, 1990). In a more recent survey of productivity and prestige rankings for 27 educational policy studies departments, the EPS Department at UIUC was ranked 3 in productivity and 3 in perceived national prestige. Although other departments have strengths that are not present in our programs, it is doubtful that any program can match our strengths in philosophy and history.

Because of its traditional reputation as one of the top foundations departments in the nation, the EPS department has been able to attract and graduate exceptional students who impact the field nationally. This continues to be a major strength. Our enrollment of graduate students has grown from 45 in 1985-86 to 70 in 1994-95 and the demand for admission continues to escalate. During the 1970s and early 1980s most foundations programs sharply reduced the size of their graduate enrollments while we continued to train and place our graduates. Consequently, our influence nationally has increased tremendously in recent years. As the Head of a foundations department at a peer institution reported to COPE in 1990, "I know of none who do as well in combining research and scholarly productivity with doctoral programs that are viewed by other institutions as the national model" (pp. 5-6, COPE Report, February, 1990). We are unique in this regard because we have made a self-conscious effort to impact educational policy and practice not only through our research, writings, and publications, but also through our teaching, advising and training of new generations of scholars in philosophical and social foundations of education.

As we look to the future we are convinced that our graduates will have an even greater impact on educational policy studies throughout the nation and play a central role in the national discourse on philosophical and social foundations of education. We have the nation's most diverse pool of graduate students and as educational policy studies departments and national educational forums conclude that a diverse faculty can carry out the research, teaching and service missions better than a nondiverse one, our current strengths in this area will bring us larger national influence and prestige.