on Innovation in Education www.ColumbiaSeminar.org The focus of this Seminar is on the process of learning -- in individuals, organizations, and society. Its scope includes learning throughout the lifespan, and via major institutions such as mass media, libraries, voluntary organizations, cyber-culture, and educational systems.
Kirsten Olson, author WOUNDED BY SCHOOL: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing Up to the Old School Culture For information about the Seminar: Ronald Gross at GrossAssoc@AOL.com Roster of Members, Associates, and Correspondents grossassoc@aol.com rom2@columbia.edu JAMES SLOAN ALLEN E-mail: jsallen@aol.com Publications: The Romance of Commerce and Culture (U.of Chicago Press); IArticles and reviews on the arts, ideas, and culture in numerous publications, including The New Criterion, The Georgia Review, The Sewanee Review, The American Scholar, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Design and Lifestyles India, Aspen Magazine ,and France Today Current Projects: Worldly Wisdom, a volume of essays on great books and good ideas; The Storytellers of Marrakesh, a volume of travel essays; She Went to the Elephant Races, a volume of travel stories; Life Line, a philosophical romance. JANET AVERY E-Mail: Vehicles@worldnet.att.net Current Projects and Affiliations: Doctoral Candidate - The Union Institute (Cincinnait, Ohio - Expected graduation date: October 2001; Serving two-year term on the National Advisory Council of the U. S. Small Business Administration (starting June 30, 2000). MAURICE BERGER E-mail: mberger104@aol.com Recent books: WHITE LIES: RACE AND THE MYTHS OF WHITENESS (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1999); THE CRISIS OF CRITICISM (The New Press, 1998) CONSTRUCTING MASCULINITY (Routledge, 1995) MODERN ART & SOCIETY (HarperCollins, 1994) HOW ART BECOMES HISTORY (HarperCollins, 1992) LABYRINTHS: ROBERT MORRIS, MINIMALISM, AND THE 1960s (Harper & Row, 1989) GRACE CAPORINO 213 California Road, Yorktown Hts, N.Y. 10598 Mandel Fellow of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Adjunct Prof. of Holocaust Education in the Graduate Program at Manhattanville College, Purchase, New York. Interest: Holocaust Studies WILLIAM CASPARY Associate Professor of Political Science, Washington University, St. Louis, and Visiting Scholar, Politics, New York University E mail: Caspary@aol.com Phone: 212-243-5909 Publications: DEWEY ON DEMOCRACY, Cornell University Press; journal articles. Current interests: Co-editor, GEO: Grassroots Economic Organizing Newsletter ELIZABETH COHN CHARLOTTE A. FLEISHER E-Mail: Cafhugs@aol.com CONSTANCE H. GEMSON E-mail: Chgemson@aol.com Publications: Essay in "Creating From the Spirit: Living Each Day as a Creative Act; Poetry in " 4 Centuries of Jewish Women's Spirituality". Articles in "New York Newsday, Teachers Reading, and the National Business Employment Weekly" RICHARD GUMMERE Station Hill Road D. MARIE GRIECO RONALD GROSS E-mail: GrossAssoc@AOL.com Current Project: Socrates' Way; On-line columnist, ABOUT.COM. LESLIE S. JACOBSON DR. JOSEPH J. McGOWAN ROBERT McCLINTOCK John L. and Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. E-mail address: rom2@columbia.edu LINDA MEYER Publications: Helping Your Child Learn; articles and conference presentations. HARRY MOODY E-mail: HRMoody@yahoo.com Publications: The Five Stages of the Soul: Charting the Spiritual Passages that Shape Our Lives (Doubleday, 1997); Aging: Concepts and Controversies (3rd. Ed., Pine Forge-Sage, 1999); Ethics in an Aging Society (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1992); Abundance of Life: Human Development Policies for an Aging Society (Columbia Univ. Press, 1988). Current Projects: Books underway: Life-Review: Becoming the Person You Were Meant to Be; Handbook of Transpersonal Gerontology; empirical study of transformative learning in Elderhostel. Director, Institute for Human Values in Aging, Brookdale Center on Aging of Hunter College. Chairman of the Board, Elderhostel. ZEEV E. NEUWIRTH. M.D. Publications: Articles in The Lancet, Academic Medicine, The Journal of General Internal Medicine, The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine, Newsweek, and The New York Times Current interests: Doctor-Patient Relationships; Doctor-Family Relationships; Family & Illness ; Healing the Healers (Helping clinicians care for themselves); Listening as a Healing Intervention. PETER ROJCEWICZ MELANIE ROSEN New York Times College Scholarship Program JIMMY SCHWARZ 435 E. 57 St. NYC 10022 ROBEN TOROSYAN, PH.D Assistant Director of the Center for Academic Excellence, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT. E-mail: roben@gmail.com, Phone: 203 254-4000 X. 3190 Most recent publication: "Show Me the Meta: Public Discourse and the Stewart Model of Critical Thinking", in J. Holt (Ed.), The Daily Show and Philosophy, Open Court/Blackwell, 1970. JANET I. WASSERMAN Publications: Co-compiler, Classified and Annotated Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Immigration and Acculturation of Jews from Central Europe to the USA since 1933, New York: K.G. Saur, 1981. Background on The University Seminars at Columbia University (www.columbia.edu/cu/seminars) "The strength of its structure lies in the very multiplicity of its forms; each a small living world in itself, the seminars can be indestructible, as strong as the freedom and as flourishing as the play of intellect they encourage." Margaret Mead "The Seminars take each of us out of his or her ivory tower and expose us to the informed and often brilliant thinking of our peers." Hannah Arendt The seminars have as their central goal the integration of otherwise fragmented knowledge, a pulling together of the many threads of knowledge and experience through the stimulus of continuing discussion. Frank Tannenbaum, Professor of Latin American History at Columbia, founder of the University Seminars, and director until his death in 1969, was an ardent believer in the potential for enlightenment contained in meaningful dialogue. In an essay entitled "Implications of an Education Movement," Tannenbaum wrote: "The primary aim of the University Seminar is the attempt to see things whole, to merge the disciplines for the purpose of getting a unified view. The aim is synthesis, insight, wisdom, the understanding of the full incidence of the ongoing phenomenon to which any collegium is devoted." "Without money, publicity, or organization, and following a course pretty much uncompromisingly irrelevant to the needs of the front office, the Seminar Movement seems to have no other strengths than that it is a good idea." Paul Goodman Members of the seminars are drawn from numerous departments in the faculties of Columbia University, from other colleges and universities, and from experts and specialists in nonacademic pursuits. Apart from the members, seminars attract authorities in many fields of scholarship as speakers and guests. Seminars range from small discussion groups to larger bodies that, in some cases, have become regional centers for intellectual exchange where such centers would not otherwise exist. Seminar activities, contributions, publications, etc. The Seminar was recently asked to answer the two questions below, about its activities, contributions, and publications, as part of a Long-Range Planning exercise of the University Seminars Program. What has your seminar contributed to the intellectual world? The Seminar has produced or participated substantially in the development of the following books and published reports: Socrates' Way (Penguin/Putnam/Tarcher (2003) Peak Learning -- Revised Edition (Tarcher/Penguin-Putnam, 2001) Peak Learning (Tarcher, 1990) The Great School Debate: Which Way for American Education? (Doubleday, 1985) Independent Scholarship: Promise, Problems and Prospects (The College Board, 1983) Our contributions to the intellectual world have been regularly reported in a wide range of media, from The Christian Science Monitor to The New Criterion magazine. Over the past year, for example, reports of our sessions have appeared in journals ranging from ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, to The Georgia Review, to the Proceedings of the National Coalition of Independent Scholars. We have co-sponsored three major national conferences, including the "Education Summit" in at George Mason University. Results of our deliberations have also been presented at many major conferences, such as the National Conference on Higher Education and Workforce Development sponsored by SUNY. The leading professional journal in our field, Lifelong Learning Today, has said of our work: "some of the most influential innovations in lifelong learning are being generated by the Seminar." What has your seminar contributed to the world of practical affairs and activities? Our Seminar contributes to the world of practical affairs and activities by regularly addressing specific issues which can be illuminated by the scholarly, intellectual, and professional perspectives of our members. Since the attack of September 11th, our members have been highly active in responding to new local and national needs through teaching, speaking, publishing, and consulting. Among other issues we are actively involved in the provocative and consequential issue of mandated "high-stakes" testing of New York State's schoolchildren, including i with three ex-members of the Board of Regents who came out of retirement to challenge the State Regents policies. These sessions contributed demonstrably to the effectiveness of their efforts to prevent disservice to students with disabilities, non-English-speaking children, and others "at risk." Last year, we also examined the Education platforms of the major parties and the Green Party. Over the years, our Seminar has been at the center of two significant "movements" in American education and academe : the School Reform movement which resulted in our major book THE GREAT SCHOOL DEBATE (Simon and Schuster), and the Independent Scholarship movement which resulted in our books INDEPENDENT SCHOLARSHIP: Policies, Practices, and Problems (The College Board) and THE INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR'S HANDBOOK (Addison-Wesley) and a national conference, network, and newsletter. Currently, the Seminar is exploring the applicability of The Socratic Approach to contemporary education, professional life, and politics. These products of our Seminar have been commended in print by a wide range of leaders and experts in our field and in intellectual life more broadly, including the late Buckminster Fuller, Jonathan Kozol, Diane Ravitch, John Goodlad, and Mary Hatwood Futrell when she was President of the National Education Association.
University Seminar
This page provides:
Announcement of next monthly meeting
Attendance is by invitation and RSVP
Dates for upcoming meetings
For academic year 2008-9
Location
The Seminar meets at the Gottesman Libraries at 525 West 120th St., New York City.
Members Roster --
Contact information, etc.
(For members' use only.)
Background on the University Seminars Program
www.columbia.edu/cu/seminars/
Activities, publications, etc.
CO-CHAIRS:
Ronald Gross, author: Socrates' Way, Peak Learning, The Great School Debate; Facilitator of the Socratic Conversations at the Gottesman Libraries.
Robert McClintock, John L. and Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in the Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University.
Founder and Director, Vehicles, Inc.
212 722-1111 665-6321
Fax: 212 722-0019
1832 Madison Avenue
Rm 202
NY, NY 10035
Senior Fellow, The Vera List Center for Art & Politics, New School for Social Research
Daytime phone: 212. 866.7614
Home phone: Same
Fax phone: 212.663.1083
Address: 740 West End Avenue, Apt. 22A, New York, New York 10025
Current interests: I'm working on a book on the shifting nature of identity in the age of multiculturalism.
914 962-3683
E-Mail: gcap@bestweb.net
Assistant Professor of Nursing, Adelphi University
E mail: cohn@adelphi.edu
Publications: FLIP AND SEE ECG (Saunders), and numerous peer-review journal articles.
Current interests: Nursing, medical, and healthcare education; communication between patients and healthcare providers.
Affiliation: former educator/ psychotherapist
516-466-2124
160 Middle Neck Rd. Great Neck, N.Y. 11021
Current interests- spirituality, growth, education, etc.
Affiliations: Consultant at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Adjunct Faculty Member at LaGuardia Community College
Creative Writing Instructor at Isabellla Geriatric Center
Daytime phone: 212-717-3527
Home Phone 212-874-7788
Current interests: teaching writing for cancer survivors
Barrytown NY 12507
914-758-5088
E-mail: Rgummere@ webjogger.net
Project Consultant, Database on Archival Tapes,
International Film Seminars; Advisory Board, Library Connections
(Program to improve inner city school libraries)
E-mail address: dmarieg@con2.com
Phone: 212-862-7508
Fax phone: none
Address: 626 Riverside Dr. #17C, New York, NY 10031
Current projects: Creating a database on Robert Flaherty Film Seminar; working on International Residencies Programs for filmmakers; working with Gilder Foundation and Patrons Program of NYC Archdiocese to improve libraries in inner city schools.
www.SocratesWay.com
Phone: 516-487-0235
Fax: 516-829-8426
Address: 17 Myrtle Drive, Great Neck, New York 11021
Books: The Great School Debate, Radical School Reform, High School, The Teacher and the Taught, Peak Learning, Invitation to Lifelong Learning, The New Professionals, Individualism, Independent Scholarship.
Professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences, Brooklyn College, CUNY
E-mail address jacobson@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Daytime phone 1-718-951-5707
Home phone -212-245-5292
Fax phone: 718-951-4670
Address: 200 Central Park South, NY 10019
Current interests e.g. Bioethics
President, Bellarmine University
Email: jmcgowan@bellarmine.edu
Daytime Phone: 502-452-8234
FAX: 502-452-8033
2001 Newburg Road, Louisville, KY 40205
Daytime phone: 212 678 3375
Home phone: 212 866 3368
FAX 212 678 8227
Address : 106 Morningside Drive, #62, New York, NY 10227
Publications: THE EDUCATORS MANIFESTO
Current projects: The City as Educator
Founder-Director
Meyer Learning Center
E-mail: MeyerLearningCenter@Juno.com
Telephone: 303-680-8727
Mailing Address: 4026 S. Parker Rd.
Aurora, CO. 80014
Phone: 845-365-0024
Address: P.O. Box 575, Palisades, NY 10964
Lenox Hill Hospital - Department of Medicine
Faculty Member , Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, NYU School of Medicine
Daytime phone: 212-434-2104
E-mail: zeevie@aol.com
Home phone: 212-628-9052
Fax phone 212-434-2446
Address: 200 East 82nd Street #19C New York, NY 10028
The Juillard School
60 Lincoln Center Plaza NY 10023
E-MAIL: PMR@JUILLIARD.EDU
229 West 43rd St.
NYC 10036
917 445-2361
melrose@nytimes.com
Home: 212 734-5574
Independent scholar
212 755-2233
Independent Scholar
President, National Coalition of Independent Scholars
E-mail: mae08ben02@aol.com
Phone/Fax: 212-222-2015
Address: 752 West End Ave #5H, New York, NY 10025-6231
Print articles: "Karoline Eberstaller: The Real Link Between Schubert and Bruckner?" The Schubertian, October 2000, 5-13; "Schubert as Painted by Gustav Klimt and Julius Schmid," The Schubertian, July 2001, 14-20; "Schubert at the Movies," The Schubertian, October 2001, 14-17., and others in print and on-line.
Current Projects: "The Fate of Margarethe Schindler Legler"; "Julius Schmid: Blundering Into Oblivion"; "Carl Moll, Vermeer and the Artist's Dilemma."
Interests: Music history, esp. Austria; Art History, esp. Austria; the Intersection of Music and Art.
The University Seminar Movement has flourished for over fifty years, growing from the original five seminars in 1945 to approximately seventy-five seminars today. Each seminar acts as an autonomous and voluntary grouping of scholars and practitioners brought together under the auspices of Columbia University by their dedication to a particular line of investigation. The movement is not only interdisciplinary, but inter-institutional, and involves members of the community who might not otherwise participate in university activity.
Dr. Dee Dickinson, director of the international network New Horizons for Learning, has commented: "The Seminar exerts significant influence among leaders in research and innovative practice throughout the world."