School of Education NEWS Release

DR. GERALD PONDER IS COORDINATOR OF
ALLIANCE FOR PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION

GREENSBORO--Dr. Gerald Ponder, head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, is serving as coordinator for the Kenan Alliance for Partnerships in Education.

The alliance was created as a partnership between the UNC Center for Public Television, the National Humanities Center, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and the UNC system’s Kenan Best Practices Center. The organization’s goal is to invent, test and report new ideas in learning and educational leadership that can be developed through university-school partnerships. The operation, housed in the UNCG School of Education, has been funded through a grant from the William B. Kenan Charitable Trust.

During the past year, the alliance enabled the production of a program series on professional development of teachers, titled “Models of Teaching.” The series had its premier during the fall with the initial showing of “No Greater Calling,” a documentary on the teaching profession which profiled some of the nation’s top teachers. The hour-long program was produced by and broadcast on UNC-TV and was narrated by actor Edward James Olmos.

Ponder worked with Karen Dyer of CCL to design three other 30-minute programs that will be completed by UNC-TV this winter. Broadcast dates have not been scheduled, but the programs will be made available statewide for teacher education programs. Their overall theme is professional development of teachers. Titles are “Every Student’s Right: A Competent, Caring Teacher,” “Becoming the Best: The Journeys to Accomplished Teaching” and “Leading Together: Creating Teacher and School Leaders.”

Ponder also holds appointment as a professor at UNCG. He came to UNCG in 1994 from the University of North Texas, where he was chair of the Department of Secondary Education from 1988-93 and was director of the North Texas Center for Professional Development and Technology Center from 1991-94. He is co-author of "Learning from Student Teaching: A Handbook," "Exploring Texas" and "Looking at History: A Review of Major U.S. History Textbooks." He holds the Ph.D. from the University of Texas.

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