Turner earns appointment as Lincoln Professor of Education Ethics

March 29, 2007

Caroline Sotello Viernes Turner, a professor of educational leadership and policy studies within the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, has been appointed Lincoln Professor of Education Ethics. She joins a distinguished community of Lincoln professors from colleges throughout ASU that work closely with the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics.<separator></separator>“We chose Caroline as a Lincoln Professor because of her outstanding work in educational leadership and diversity,” says Peter French, Lincoln Chair in Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and director of the Lincoln Center . “She was extremely successful in co-coordinating a program in Educational Leadership and Policy in the state of Minnesota . We heard from those who are involved in that program nationally, who described Caroline as ‘brilliant' in the area of diversity issues and a major contributor to that field and others.”<separator></separator>The center was established to support ethical education, and each Lincoln professor serves as a liaison between their college and the center. The center's board of directors unanimously endorsed becoming involved in educational leadership, adding that ethical leadership in education should be one of the center's main goals.<separator></separator>While she was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, Turner participated in an educational policy fellowship program that was one of several state programs affiliated with the Institute for Educational Leadership, located in Washington, D.C.<separator></separator>“I learned a great deal about the preschool to postsecondary educational issues facing the state of Minnesota and was afforded the opportunity to learn from and work together with other fellows interested in developing strategies to address these issues,” Turner says.<separator></separator>Emerging from this experience, Turner became a researcher in a multistate study of educational policy reforms and their promise for a seamless educational system from preschool through college.<separator></separator>“When I was contacted by Peter French about the opportunity to develop an educational policy fellowship program here in Arizona, I was very interested because of my previous experience in Minnesota, but also because the Lincoln Center was also very supportive of developing a program that would draw on my research interests in educational access and equity,” Turner says.<separator></separator>Adds French: “Because of her professional accomplishments, Caroline Turner was a natural choice to become the Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Education in the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education. We look forward to working with her to create a statewide educational leadership and policy fellowship program that will also have ties to the national Institute for Educational Leadership.”<separator></separator>Under Turner's leadership, the Arizona Educational Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) will focus on educational policy around the nexus of ethics, diversity and educational leadership.<separator></separator>The Lincoln Center, the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, and the Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies have committed to support the Arizona EPFP for the next three years. It will consist of a 10-month professional development program for individuals whose work record reflects strong leadership abilities and a concern for improving the life chances of children and youth.<separator></separator><div id="contactInfo"> <a href="mailto:Joan.Sherwood@asu.edu">Joan M. Sherwood</a>, joan.sherwood@asu.edu (480) 965-2114<separator></separator></div>

Education Employee