Timeline 1990-2003

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Timeline

College of Education timeline: 1990-2003

1990 Reading Center

The Department of Consumer Resources and Technology transfers from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences to become a department in the College of Education. The same year, the department’s International Study Program conducts its first annual trip abroad. It also assumes directorship of the Sara Swickard Preschool, although the on-campus preschool continues to be administered by the Division of Student Affairs, which had founded it.
The Reading Center and Clinic becomes an official training site for the Reading Recovery Program, a national program with sites all over the country. The program trains first-grade teachers in intensive short-term help for students who are struggling in the beginning stages of reading.
In the March issue of the Network, the dean of the COE discusses the debate on whether or not to make Sangren Hall a smoke-free building.

1991

The Department of Consumer Resources and Technology introduces a ten-month graduate program in dietetics.

1994

The Department of health, Physical Education and Recreation moves into office, classroom and lab facilities in WMU’s new Student Recreation Center, its permanent home.
The Department of Consumer Resources and Technology renames its Vocational Education section Career and Technical Education, which now consists of all of the department’s undergraduate programs. The department educates all prospective secondary teachers in the fields of home economics, vocational education and business education.

1995

The Department of Consumer Resources and Technology is renamed the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences.

1996

The Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation initiates its Unified Sports Program, the adult version of the Special Olympics that involves both community and student volunteers. This is the first such program offered on a university campus.
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences chair co-develops curriculum materials for Michigan’s custodial grandparent support groups. It becomes a nationally recognized program and its published materials are widely used.
The Reading Center and Clinic is remodeled and renamed the Dorothy J. McGinnis Reading Center and Clinic.
The Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology now offers the Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, as well as the Ed.D.

1997

The Department of Family and Consumer Science’s interior design program earns six-year accreditation, the longest term of accreditation granted by the National Foundation for Interior Design Research. The department’s dietetics program earns national accreditation the same year.

1998

The College of Education restructures itself into its current five departments: Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology; Educational Studies; Family and Consumer Sciences; Health, Physical Education and Recreation; Teaching, Learning and Leadership. The former Department of Special Education is now part of the Department of Educational Studies, which administers the former Department of Educational Leadership’s Ph.D. program in Measurement, Research and Evaluation. The Ed.D., Specialist and master’s programs of the former Department of Educational Leadership now make up a unit of seven full-time faculty in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership.
The Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation’s Special Olympics program earns for WMU the Special Olympics Michigan Outstanding School Award.
The Department of Educational Studies begins its project for training teachers to accommodate special needs students in science classrooms: Science Education-Adapted Learning for Students (SEALS).

1999

Faculty from the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership launch and maintain the Oak Park ( Michigan) Project, an on-site graduate program that meets the specific needs of this transforming urban school system.
Kent County launches a pilot program of services for custodial grandparents, coordinated by the Departments of Family and Consumer Sciences and Teaching, Learning and Leadership.

2000

The Merze Tate Center for Research on School Reform receives a three-year grant for Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology (PT3). This program prepares all pre-service elementary teaching students to master the COE’s rigorous technology standards required for their graduation.
The Midwest Educational Reform Consortium (MERC),a three-state collegiate consortium of which WMU is a partner, is awarded $14 million by the U.S. Department of Education’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) to establish GEAR UP Learning Centers in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. The program is administered in the College of Education and is affiliated with its Merze Tate Center for Research on School Reform.
The College of Education gives its first monthly Way to Go! Award (to a faculty member) and Trail Blazer Award (to a graduate student).

2001

On Mar. 27, the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation’s offices and facilities are closed during President George W. Bush’s speech in the Student Recreation Center. The press occupies the department’s SPELL laboratory facilities on the first floor, while the Secret Service utilizes its third-floor offices and maintenance room.
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences offers a new family studies major with child development emphasis, the first such program in Michigan.
The College of Education creates a new position, Coordinator of Educational Data, which provides all data needed for the college’s academic operations.
The COE gives its first monthly High Five! Award (to a staff member).
The college presents its first annual College of Education Awards to staff, students and faculty.

2002

WMU renames its academic year’s terms fall, spring, summer I, summer II.
The Department of Educational Studies offers a master’s degree program in Educational Technology. It also launches programs for master’s and doctoral degrees in Evaluation, Measurement and Research.
The Departments of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology and Family and Consumer Sciences begin a joint master’s degree program in Marriage and Family Therapy.
The Department of Family and Consumer Sciences offers its first courses for the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with concentration in Career and Technical Education. It is a cooperative program with Ferris State University.
The Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership enrolls 5,000 undergraduates from WMU’s 23,000 undergraduate students. One thousand graduate students are enrolled in the department. On a scale of 1-5, the students rate the department’s quality of instruction at 4.5. Its excellent reputation draws teaching students from most states and many countries.
Overall, the College of Education is WMU’s largest professional college, granting over one-fourth of all of the University’s graduate degrees.

2003

The College of Education begins the centennial celebration of its beginning as Western State Normal School.
WMU awards varsity letters to its women student-athletes who competed at WMU from the 1940s though the 1970s, years during which female intercollegiate athletes did not receive letters and WMU women’s athletics was part of the Department of Physical Education for Women.
The Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership begins a Ph.D. program in Educational Leadership with concentration in higher education.
The College of Education collaborates with several other WMU colleges on a Ph.D. program with concentration in evaluation.

Click on the timeline at the top of the page for more historical events.

2006

After an extensive review, multiple departments within the College of Education were renamed and reconfigured. Three new academic departments will be formed and named. The new Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology contains the programs, courses and faculty associated with educational leadership; evaluation, measurement and research; and educational technology. The new Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies contains the programs, courses and faculty associated with special education and reading. And the new Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies contains the programs, courses and faculty associated with early childhood education, elementary education, middle level education, secondary education and socio-cultural foundations.

The Department of Educational Studies was deleted, with programs, courses and faculty transferred. Special education programs and faculty moved to Department of Special Education and Literacy Studies; programs and faculty in educational technology and evaluation, measurement and research moved to the new Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology; and socio-cultural foundations moved to the new Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies.

The other departmental change involved the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, which was deleted. Programs, courses and faculty in early childhood education, elementary education, middle level education, secondary education and education and professional development moved to the Department of Teaching, Learning and Educational Studies, while educational leadership courses and faculty moved to the new Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology.

2009

The WMU Board of Trustees approved a name change for the college. We are now the College of Education and Human Development (CoEHD). The rationale supporting the change was: "Approximately, one-third of the students in programs in the College of Education do not relate to the preparation of teachers. A few of these programs include athletic training, exercise science, recreation, family studies, dietetics, interior design, textiles and apparel studies, as well as many students in our graduate programs. In order to project a sense of 'inclusiveness' for all students and programs within the college and, in turn assist faculty in planning programs and seeking recognition for their work within the college's organizational structure; the new was approved by most faculty, staff and appropriate curriculum review groups within the University."

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