Greetings LTEL Members!
As a longtime member of the LTEL SIG, I was both honored and excited to take over the leadership of LTEL SIG beginning Summer of 2022. Let me take a moment to briefly introduce myself to our LTEL community and to share various pieces of information that are timely as of October 2024.
As for my introduction, I am the Dr. Morrill M. Hall Endowed Chair in Educational Administration in the Mary Frances Early College of Education at the University of Georgia (UGA). I moved into this position in August 2024 following my center director and professor role at the University of Illinois Chicago. In addition to this new role, I have also been given the opportunity to launch a new center at UGA. You can learn more about me and my work at my UGA profile page: https://people.coe.uga.edu/shelby-cosner/
Thanks to Various LTEL Executive Officers for Ongoing Contributions: Thanks to our LTEL leadership team for ongoing contributions throughout the spring, summer, and early fall. Here are a few of the highlights from their efforts.
A broad number of LTEL executive committee members collaborated to plan for our spring learning series (which related to our strategic goal #2 discussed below) including Tim Drake (NC State), Erin Anderson (University of Denver), Kathleen Cunningham (University of South Carolina), and Meagan Richard (Old Dominion University). In her role as secretary, Jo Beth Jimmerson (Texas Christian University) has kept communications flowing both within the executive committee and through our listserv. A special thanks to Kathleen (Katie) Cunningham (University of South Carolina) and Tim Drake (North Carolina State University) for co-chairing our conference planning for UCEA Fall 2024. We are particularly grateful to Erin Anderson (University of Denver) and Jennifer Clayton (George Washington University) who have been providing support to the LTEL Awards processes for this upcoming year. A special thanks to Nahed Abdelrahman (Texas A&M University) for her ongoing leadership with the LTEL newsletter and Julie Gray (University of West Florida) for her newsletter editing and support. Daniel Reyes-Guerra (Florida Atlantic University) has provided leadership for all things budget and expense related. There are also additional LTEL members who have stepped in to contribute to our work and strategic planning. Terry Orr (Fordham University) and Kristin Huggins (Washington State University) have been key contributors during 2024 and we are appreciative of their extra efforts on our behalf.
LTEL Visioning: Last summer, we kicked off a visioning and strategic planning session for LTEL SIG and we have continued those efforts over the last year Here are a few things worth sharing from this work. We have established the following goals that will inform our work over the next 5 years.
Goal #1: Build more/deeper connections among LTEL members.
Goal #2: Create a community of practice/learning experiences between individuals/leadership preparation/development programs in our LTEL SIG.
Goal #3: Recognize and disseminate findings about robust preparation programs/program quality within LTEL, and engage recognized programs to support program improvement in other LTEL institutions.
Goal 4: Grow individual memberships and expand base to more institutions.
Goal #5: Promote member work and the work and impact of the LTEL SIG.
Related to Goal #4, I am encouraging everyone in our SIG to consider connecting your colleagues and students to our SIG. Be sure to tell your colleagues about our SIG and our work and invite them to join. They can learn more about our SIG at our website: https://www.aera.net/SIG129/LTEL-SIG-129
We are continuing to plan for strategies that will be enacted related to each of our goals, and we will use the LTEL listserv and newsletters to provide updates. If you are interested in collaborating with us as we devise and enact strategies, can you please contact me at Shelby.Cosner@uga.edu
LTEL 2025 Awards Competitions be on the Lookout: Please be sure to review this newsletter for information about this year’s (2025) LTEL Awards Competitions. We have two awards competitions this year: Kottkamp Outstanding Dissertation Award and Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award. Please consider nominating!
Environmental Scan for Research/Resources of Value to LTEL Members: I want to draw your attention to several settings that have research/resources that are likely to be of interest to LTEL members.
Research: Please be sure to check out the special issue of Education Sciences: Strengthening Educational Leadership Preparation and Development at the following url:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/education/special_issues/8C3YJR8F7F
Articles as being published on this website as they are accepted (just less than a dozen are currently under review from settings in the US and internationally). An important note: manuscripts are continuing to be accepted through January if you have a submission that is aligned with this special issue.
Podcasts: UCEA has a podcast series “In the Lead” and Season #1 focuses on Faculty Insights from the Wallace Foundation’s UPPI Project. If you do not recall, this project focused on the improvement of university-based principal preparation programs. You can see this series at: https://www.ucea.org/ucea_podcast.php
Leadership Framework and Learning Resources: There is a recently launched national technical assistance center called Lead IDEA that is focused on supporting the preparation and development of birth to 5 and PK-12 leaders who can effectively support children with disabilities. In a recent survey within UCEA member institutions we learned that very few principal preparation programs expressed satisfaction with the treatment of IDEA/inclusive leadership within their existing preparation programs. This center will be a place that offers supports in these areas. Because I lead one aspect of work within the center, I will make sure to share regular updates that are relevant to our LTEL community. You can learn about the Lead IDEA work and resources at the center’s website: https://lead-idea.org/
Sending my best wishes to everyone for the remainder of the fall semester! I hope to see you at UCEA in LA!
Shelby
Dr. Shelby Cosner
Dr. Morrill M. Hall Endowed Chair in Educational Administration
Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy
Mary Frances Early College of Education
University of Georgia