The Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education (known as FIGSE) at Arizona State University was established in 1954. It disestablished in 2010 by Provost Elizabeth Capaldi amidst strong objections from faculty, students, and relevant professional organizations. FIGSE is sometimes confused with ASU's Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, which was renamed from the regional teaching-intensive West campus College of Teacher Education and Leadership (CTEL) at the same time the historic FIGSE was disestablished.
History
Arizona State University was established in 1885 as the Territorial Normal School at Tempe in the Arizona Territory. The Normal School was charged with providing "instruction of persons, both male and female, in the art of teaching, and in all the various branches that pertain to a good common school education; also, to give instruction in the mechanical arts and in husbandry and agricultural chemistry, in the fundamental law of the United States, and in what regards the rights and duties of citizens."Laws of the Territory of Arizona Thirteenth Legislative Assembly; Also Memorials and Resolutions. San Francisco: H. S. Crocker & Company, 1885, pp. 247-248. An effort by the alumni association changed the name of the institution to Tempe State Teachers College in 1925, and offered its first graduate degree, the Masters in Education, in 1937. Although courses were offered in other academic and professional disciplines, the school remained fundamentally a teachers college until 1945 when it was renamed Arizona State College.
In 1954, the Arizona Board of Regents established four colleges within the institution: Liberal Arts, Education, Applied Arts and Sciences, and Business and Public Administration. Under the leadership of ASU President Grady Gammage, deans were appointed to oversee the administration of each new college.
Guy D. McGrath was appointed as the founding dean of ASU's College of Education, serving from 1954 to 1968. The college remained focused on teacher preparation until the mid-1980s, when Dean Gladys Styles Johnston, as part of the institution's efforts to achieve Carnegie's Research I status, recruited and appointed some of the nation's top education scholars, including Thomas Barone, David Berliner, Gene V Glass, and Mary Lee Smith. Currently, Barone, Berliner, Glass and Smith are emeritus education professors at ASU.
David C. Berliner was appointed as dean in 1997 and began a massive effort to hire new faculty. Berliner recruited Gene V Glass to serve as his associate dean for research and Gale Hackett as his associate dean for academic programs and personnel. Berliner and Glass, both former presidents of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), successfully leveraged their high visibility as education researchers to build the faculty of the College of Education. By the end of his tenure as dean, Berliner had been responsible for hiring approximately 25% of the college faculty, primarily exceptional junior scholars. Berliner and Glass were outspoken critics of the state's education policies; by taking their criticisms and concerns to the public, they created some irritation among state lawmakers and especially the state superintendent of public instruction, Lisa Graham Keegan. Berliner hired a number of progressive faculty who believed in public advocacy, further aggravating lawmakers and future superintendents, such as conservative Tom Horne.
Eugene Garcia was recruited to serve as the college's next dean in 2002, having just finished a successful run as the dean of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. Garcia continued to build the college's national ranking and status with the addition of new faculty talent, increased external research funding, and increased faculty and student diversity. In 2003, Garcia was given the additional role of Vice President for University-School Partnerships in which he coordinated university-wide K-12 education efforts. Under Garcia's leadership, the College of Education obtained a generous $50 million endowment from Mary Lou Fulton, an ASU College of Education alumna and successful Arizona businesswoman. In 2006. Garcia continued the college's engagement in state policy debates, and also worked within the state's education leadership to improve policy decisions. He was appointed by Governor Janet Napolitano to serve on the state's ELL Task Force, a working group charged with implementing new state law regarding the education of English language learners. Garcia maintained his position as a university vice president after he stepped down from the deanship in 2006.
George Hynd was appointed as dean and senior vice provost for education and innovation in January, 2008, serving for two years. The economic downturn of that year resulted in large budget reductions for the university. In response, the university reorganized several units, including education. The name of the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education was changed to the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education (FIGSE), with a new mission to focus exclusively on research and graduate education programs. All undergraduate teacher education programs across the various campuses of the university were consolidated under the College of Teacher Education and Leadership (CTEL). CTEL, headquartered on the West campus, was originally established to meet the needs of teacher education in the West valley.
George Hynd resigned in December, 2009, to serve as provost of the College of Charleston. He was succeeded by interim dean Jim Rund. Rund served as interim dean for one semester, overseeing the disestablishment of FIGSE in May, 2010. In addition, Rund continued serving in his prior position as ASU Senior Vice President for Educational Outreach and Student Services.
Berliner and Glass retired when FIGSE was distablished in spring, 2010; Garcia retired a year later as vice president for schools and community relations. They continue to serve as emeritus professors.
Faculty and rankings FIGSE was highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report for eleven consecutive years preceding its disestablishment. In 2010, the year it was disestablished, FIGSE ranked as the 25th best school of education in the United States among public universities, and was ranked 36th best among both public and private institutions. Arizona State University's graduate education programs retained this ranking when U.S. News & World Report ranked Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College 25th among public graduate schools of education and 35th among all public and private graduate programs in the field in its 2012 rankings. FIGSE achieved its highest ranking in 2003 at 10th best among public institutions and 16th best among both publics and privates. In addition, its specialty programs in educational psychology, counseling, education policy, and curriculum and instruction were typically ranked in the top 15 nationally.
The Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index ranked FIGSE faculty as among the most productive in the nation, and the most productive at Arizona State University. In 2007, faculty in Curriculum and Instruction and Education Leadership and Administration ranked 4th and 6th, respectively, in productivity, out-producing faculty in any other unit within the Arizona State University.
At the time of its disestablishment, FIGSE was home to three Regents Professor, three endowed chairs, two NSF Early Career Scholars, four NAE/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellows, and one Presidential Early Career Award Winner. FIGSE was tied with the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Pennsylvania for number of faculty with membership in the National Academy of Education (David Berliner, Michelene T. H. Chi, James Gee, and Gene V Glass), with only nine institutions boasting higher counts (Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, Chicago, Berkeley, New York University, CU Boulder, UCLA, and Columbia University's Teachers College).
U.S. News & World Report historical rankings of the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education, 1998–2010.
Year Among public GSEs Among all GSEs 1999 18 24 2000 12 17 2002 18 28 2003 10 16 2004 15 22 2005 26 35 2006 23 32 2007 21 31 2008 21 31 2009 14 24
In 2010 and 2011, the U.S. News rankings reflected the newly formed Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College; the 2010 rank was 35th, and the 2011 rank was 26th among all graduate schools of education.
Organization and programs In 2008, the three divisions of the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education (Curriculum and Instruction, Psychology in Education, and Education Leadership and Policy Studies) were reorganized into two new divisions: Advanced Studies in Education Policy, Leadership, and Curriculum; and Advanced Studies in Learning, Technology and Psychology in Education.
FIGSE offered a number of doctoral and masters programs.
Doctoral Applied Linguistics PhD Counseling Psychology PhD Curriculum and Instruction PhD, with concentrations in Art Education Curriculum Studies Early Childhood Education Engineering Education English Education Language and Literacy Mathematics Education Physical Education Pedagogy Science Education Special Education Educational Administration and Supervision EdD Educational Leadership and Policy Studies PhD Educational Psychology PhD, with concentrations in Learning Measurement, Statistics, and Methodological Studies Life-Span Developmental Psychology School Psychology Educational Technology PhD Higher and Postsecondary Education EdD
Masters
FIGSE offered several masters programs, including Curriculum and Instruction, Counseling Psychology, and others.
Disestablishment In April 2010, in response to an order from the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) made at its March meeting to cut 2.75% from the university's salary budget, Provost Elizabeth Phillips submitted a plan to university President Michael Crow to disestablish the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. The plan also proposed the disestablishment or merger of other university units. The university estimated that the disestablishment of FIGSE would save $1,292,000 in salaries, although no faculty would be terminated.College Merging ASU News An external search for a new dean was underway at the time of the proposed closure. The University of Arizona, under the same budget reduction mandate from the Board of Regents, imposed a hiring freeze and tiered furloughs to meet its obligation. University of Arizona Office of the President ASU had lost more than $108 million since 2008, and President Crow was reluctant to impose additional furloughs, which reduced salaries by $24 million the prior year. In a statement to the ASU community, President Crow wrote, "We understand the situation the state faces. During the next 30 days, we will be reviewing implementation measures to try to minimize disruption to our faculty and staff and keep them focused on providing exceptional service and education for Arizona students and their families."
The disestablishment of FIGSE was controversial, as it was opposed by FIGSE's faculty and students, and protested by the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in a letter sent to the University Provost.
Representing the FIGSE faculty, Professor Beth Blue Swadener made the following remarks to the ASU Faculty Senate on May 3, 2010, as the body considered whether or not to support the proposal:
I am substituting today for Carlos Ovando, who is in Denver at the American Educational Research Association annual meeting, where the FIGSE faculty and students have contributed to a total of 181 sessions.