Deborah Loewenberg Ball Awarded for Work
In late 2004, the Regents of the University of Michigan named four Collegiate Professorships in Education. A named chair or professorship is a unique way that the University honors both its historical figures and its current distinguished faculty. The regents honored Deborah Ball as the first holders of these professorships.
William H. Payne Collegiate Professorship in Education (Deborah Loewenberg Ball)
William H. Payne was the first
education faculty member at the
University of Michigan. He began
his career as a teacher in country
schools and later served two posts as
school principal. In 1866 he became
head of the Union Seminary in Ypsilanti. From 1869 to 1879 he was
superintendent of public schools in
Adrian, Michigan, where his reputation grew as an administrator and
writer on educational subjects. In
1879, President James Angell created a special Chair of the Art and
Science of Teaching and appointed
William H. Payne to the position.
Professor Payne led the organizational work needed for the newly
developed education department.
Moreover, as Chair, he was also a
distinctive innovator responsible for
the formation of teacher education
at Michigan. Principles he pursued
included the special disciplinary
preparation of teachers, equipping
them to understand subjects in ways
that would enable them to help others learn those subjects.
Deborah Loewenberg Ball’s work lies at the intersection of teacher education and mathematics education, with a strong interest in the relations of policy and practice. Her work draws on her many years of experience as an elementary teacher. Ball’s work focuses on studies of instruction and teacher development. She also investigates efforts to improve instruction through policy, reform initiatives, and teacher education. Ball has published widely on teacher learning and teacher education, the role of subject matter knowledge in instruction, endemic challenges of teaching, and the relations of policy and practice in instructional improvement. Ball received her Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1988, and prior to that, was a classroom teacher since 1975.
This profile appeared in the Spring 2005 edition of Innovator
