Academic Affairs. Dean, College of Education (University Of Maine) Records

The first courses to prepare pupils for education (department of education) at the University of Maine were established at the May 1, 1906 Board of Trustees meeting.

The School of Education was established in 1930 with the first meeting of the faculty of the School held on September 23, 1930 with Dr. Olin Silas Lutes as the first dean, a position he would hold until 1944. The School provided professional aspects of instruction, guidance, and leadership for students who planned a career in education. In 1958, College status was granted by the University of Maine Board of Trustees and so the School of Education became the College of Education. In 1961, Shibles Hall was named in honor of Dean Mark Shibles. The College has gone through a number of reorganizations and in 1997 was renamed the College of Education and Human Development.

The following have also served as deans of the College: Glenn Kendall (1946-1947), Mark R. Shibles (1947-1971), Robert E. Grinder (1972-1974), James J. Muro (1974-1977), Robert A. Cobb (1978-2007), Anne Pooler (2009-2012), William D. Nichols (2012-2016), Timothy Reagan (2016-2019), Mary Gresham (interim dean, 2019-2021), and Penny Bishop (2021-present).

There are a number of records regarding the five-year Team Teaching Project at UMaine which was supported in the first three years by a grant from the Ford Foundation submitted in 1961. Team Teaching sought to make more efficient use of teachers and to better adapt instruction to the individual pupil. Through the grant UMaine planned to establish team teaching for elementary and secondary schools of Maine, develop opportunities for student teaching experience in team teaching situations, develop a working relationship with public schools in Orono, implement closed circuit television for purposes observing teaching, provide and make use of such electronic devices and machines as may be used efficiently in teaching, create a fifth-year program of education for some of its students, and study and recast the basic program of preparation for its potential teachers.

Another area of focus in this record group is the Comprehensive Career Education Project (1975-1978), which was supported by two grants from the U.S. Office of Education under the direction of Dr. Charles (Chas) W. Ryan, Professor of Education and Director of the Research Coordinating Unit. The major objectives of the Project were to: demonstrate methods and techniques for installing a comprehensive career education project in Maine, procedures for initiating career education on the university/college campus, and procedures for initiating a Maine State Plan for Career Education. The University of Maine partnered with Bangor and South Portland public schools on the project and The Ohio State University. There are records for proposals submitted to the Ford Foundation for a Project for The Improvement of Rural Education in Maine and a U.S. Office of Education supported project for Counselors of Rural Schools.