Dean's Perspective

Dear Alumni and Friends:

What do obesity, anxiety, depression, sleep deprivation, poor nutrition, anemia, and malaria all have in common? They are some of the many health-related issues that can seriously impede learning. Sick children miss days, and when they do come to class, they often cannot concentrate or follow along. Some withdraw, others act out.

The theme of this issue of Ed. is the link between health and education and the role that schools can, and should, play in tackling more than just academics. As Assistant Professor Matthew Jukes points out in the feature story about his malaria project in Africa, “You can’t get educated because you’re unhealthy, and because you’re uneducated, you remain unhealthy.”

This issue also examines the fallout that teachers and other educators have to face when health and education collide rather than coincide. In the feature story “What If?” a current student, a recent graduate, and an Ed School lecturer write about the health effects of violence in schools — a rare, but serious, issue that educators deal with and think about every day. And in the story “Can You Hear Me Now?” faculty members, students, and alumni working in schools talk about the quiet health issues that children carry, physically and psychologically, into classrooms and on the playground that can spiral out of control when left unchecked. As Joanna Belcher, Ed.M.’08, points out, “Teachers may not notice quiet problems,” especially with quiet students.

Throughout this issue of Ed., you can also read profiles of alumni and students working in health-related fields — a neurosurgeon in Oregon, for instance. Many are also working on health-related projects — a doctoral student helping street children in Tanzania, another in New York City exploring HIV and AIDS and the psychological experiences that lead to risk taking. One of our students is even helping NASA figure out how to educate astronauts about depression and detect it in one another.

We know this is a complicated topic and clearly we have touched on just a small sampling of stories. There are many more out there and we would love for you to share them with us by submitting a letter to the editor or a classnote.

Sincerely,

Kathleen McCartney
Dean of the Faculty of Education
April 2008