Faculty member Norma Hafenstein, Ph.D., has been named the Daniel L. Ritchie Endowed Chair in Gifted Education. The Chair reflects the University of Denver’s—and the Morgridge College of Education’s (MCE)—long history of commitment to gifted education through service to gifted children, training of teachers to serve children’s needs, and support of doctoral research around giftedness.
Dr. Hafenstein’s award-winning professional career spans numerous positions in leadership and scholarship. She is a Full Clinical Professor—and former Ricks Endowed Chair for Gifted Education—in the Teaching and Learning Sciences (TLS) department at MCE. She founded the Ricks Center for Gifted Children, a PS-8 school on the DU campus, in 1984. In addition, she founded the Institute for the Development of Gifted Education in 1997, which has moved to a dormant phase. The work of the Institute will be subsumed by the Ritchie Endowed Chair, and the widely respected annual conference on gifted education will continue to be offered. The cast bronze bell at the entrance of the Ricks Center carrying the inscription, “Dr. Norma Hafenstein, Our Founder”, was a gift from former Chancellor Ritchie, and is tuned with the carillon at the Ritchie Center.
The impact of the gifted programming in MCE extends beyond the DU campus. In 2013, MCE launched an Ed.D. with a Specialization in Gifted Education in the TLS department. Led by Dr. Hafenstein, students work on research and impact projects such as training preschool teachers to understand giftedness, working with principals to implement school gifted programs, and examining social and emotional curricula for gifted learners.
Dr. Hafenstein’s accolades include the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented Lifetime Achievement Award and DU’s Outstanding Service to the University Award. She is the Co-Principal Investigator on a federally-funded Jacob K. Javits state grant for Right 4 Rural (R4R), a project developed in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Education. R4R focuses on the identification of and service to underrepresented gifted children in rural Colorado. Additional research work includes E-RiDGE, a Bradley Foundation-funded project to measure the impact of doctoral training at the student-service level.
Dr. Hafenstein presents extensively on giftedness at national and international conferences. Upcoming engagements include the National Association for Gifted Children, where she will give three presentations at the 2016 conference titled, Evaluation and Replicability in Doctoral Gifted Education: Impact and Implications; Radical Acceleration: When is it Time to Imagine Early College Attendance; and Giftedness in Rural Poverty: What do we Know? Furthermore, Dr. Hafenstein has presented at the International Dabrowski Congress, Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted Annual Conference (SENG), World Council on Gifted and Talented Children Biennial World Conference (WCGTC), and the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting (AERA).
The Daniel L. Ritchie Endowed Chair of Gifted Education was established in October 2016 by the Considine Family Foundation, making it the fourth endowed chair in the Morgridge College of Education. The College expresses its gratitude to the foundation for this generous gift.
October 21, 2016 – I’ve been thinking about the question of what makes for a great teacher because one of my students recently commented: “The greatest teacher is the one who is present at the moment of your greatest need, not the one with the most golden apples”. Her observation, offered in the midst of a spontaneous class discussion, captures much of the essence of good teaching. Greatness is not really something that can be planned or trained for using a rigid series of instructional protocols. It is not even a quality that can be mastered through the acquisition of external accolades, although it is important for good teaching to be rewarded and lifted up. Greatness, emerges amidst the unpredictable alchemy of a teacher who is “listening” deeply to the needs (intellectual, emotional and spiritual) of her students and a learner who is willing to be vulnerable and open to a teacher/student relationship that goes beyond content and technique. Parker Palmer, who is a noted author on education, calls this the distinction between teachers who fully show up and are “authentic” and teachers who are just “phoning it in” and playing at the role of educator.
What makes for a great teacher? How do you know one when you see one? When you think back across your educational experiences who stands out and why? Is the greatest teacher the one who knew the most content knowledge? How about the teacher who spent extra time with you because you were struggling with an assignment? Maybe it was the teacher who created a classroom climate that allowed you to explore some aspect of your personal life that you always wanted to know more about. And it might have even been the teacher who pushed you hard because you were capable of more, praised you for your hard work and ability to rise to the challenge, and still gave you the only “B” in your educational career.
My greatest teachers come in many forms and represent several competing ways of understanding the craft of teaching. I only remember two or three teachers across my K-12 experience, which is often surprising to me given my interest in education. My high school Chemistry teacher was noteworthy for his daily ritual of walking into class, opening a jar of instant coffee, dumping a good amount into a stained mug and heating it up with hot water from the tap. I learned or at least retained little knowledge of chemistry but he did teach me, through negative example, the importance of passion, interest and authenticity for the work of teaching. While in college I had a mentor who took me aside one day and talked to me about the importance of communication and following through on commitments. Without his thoughtful and challenging feedback I would have continued to perform below my potential as an educator. His greatness as a teacher was his authenticity and ability to call out my gifts and hold me to standard commensurate with my native skills. I’m deeply indebted to all my great teachers. Thanks.
The Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department in the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver has been selected to participate in The Wallace Foundation’s $47-million initiative to develop models over the next four years for improving university principal preparation programs and to examine state policy to see if it could be strengthened to encourage higher-quality training statewide.
The University Principal Preparation Initiative builds on 15 years of Wallace-supported research and experience about what makes for effective principals and their “pre-service” training at universities. The initiative seeks to explore how university programs can improve their training so it reflects the evidence on how best to prepare effective principals, and then to share these insights to benefit the broader field.
After a selection process that included site visits and assistance from experts in state policy and education, the foundation selected seven universities to redesign their principal preparation programs: Albany State University (Georgia), Florida Atlantic University, North Carolina State University, San Diego State University, the University of Connecticut, Virginia State University and Western Kentucky University. In addition to working with local schools districts and their states, each university selected a partner program that was known for high-quality training to serve as mentor and support the redesign process.
Florida Atlantic University and North Carolina State University selected the University of Denver’s Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department in the Morgridge College of Education to serve as their exemplary program partner.
Developing and implementing high-quality courses of study with practical, on-the-job experiences.
Putting in place strong university-district partnerships.
Developing state policies about program accreditation, principal licensure or certification, and other matters (funded internships, for example) to promote more effective training statewide.
The seven states in which the universities are located will receive funding to review their policies pertaining to university-based principal training and determine if changes—such as program accreditation and principal licensure or certification requirements—would encourage the development of more effective preparation programs statewide.
RAND Corporation will conduct an independent evaluation of the initiative over four years, with a final report in year five. The study will assess how the participating universities go about trying to implement high-quality courses of study and to form strong partnerships with local, high-needs school districts. A series of public reports will share lessons and insights and describe whatever credible models emerge so that other universities, districts and states can adopt or adapt the initiative work.