Jerome Harste, the first Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Chair in teacher education (center), is pictured with Barbara Wilcox, executive associate dean of the School of Education at IUPUI (left), and Michael Cohen, chair of the teacher education faculty at IUPUI.
Photo by Nick Judy
A professor who honed his teaching skills in grade schools in Minnesota and Bolivia has been named the first Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Chair in teacher education at the Indiana University School of Education.
"Jerome C. Harste is both an outstanding scholar and an experienced teacher," said Donald Warren, university dean of the School of Education. "His efforts to create a theory of literacy learning have been instrumental in changing the way that all educators think about literacy education and education in general. In addition, he currently teaches four courses a year at the School of Education."
Harste, a professor of language education, will hold the chairship for three years.
The Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong Fund in Teacher Education was established through a gift from the Cook Group Companies Inc. The fund has allowed the School of Education to establish the chair in teacher education to be held by a faculty member distinguished in that field. In addition, the fund will bring outstanding K-12 classroom teachers to the school to lead workshops and seminars for students enrolled in teacher education.
Harste, who this year splits his time between the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses, said he believes that significant teacher education reform can only occur "from the inside out, by teachers and teacher educators working with parents and community.
"I firmly believe that unless interaction patterns change in classroom after classroom -- how teacher educators interact with current and prospective classroom teachers, how teachers interact with students, how students interact with knowledge systems -- no significant reform in either teaching or teacher education will occur," he said.
Harste praised Gayle and Bill Cook and Martha Lea and Bill Armstrong for bringing renewed attention to teacher education.
"You do the university proud by highlighting the most important work of the School of Education and the university -- teacher education," Harste said at a recent luncheon recognizing his appointment.
Harste joined the faculty in 1971, after receiving his doctorate in education from the University of Minnesota. He had previously worked several years as an elementary school teacher in Minnesota and Bolivia, where he served in the Peace Corps. His major areas of professional interest include curriculum development, socio-psycholinguists, evolution of literacy, reading comprehension and semiotics.
Harste has lectured throughout the world on such issues as literacy, language learning and whole language. His work in educational film has been recognized with several national awards, including in 1993 the Bronze Apple Award from the American Film Festival, and he has received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Minnesota. Recently, he was elected a member of the Reading Hall of Fame.
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