Emeritus Faculty Len Froyen
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fter retiring from the UNI’s Education Psychology and Foundations in 1994, Len Froyen, ’57, spends most days doing something worthwhile and with a purpose. One of his first post-retirement projects was to petition the Board of Regents, State of Iowa to retain Lang Hall and not tear it down. “But, remodeling Lang Hall was going to cost $500,000 more,” Froyen recalls. “I felt responsible to help raise as much of that as possible.” He and Pat Maxwell, ’58, created the Lang Society and raised $400,000 to remodel the building. In 1994, he also agreed to be co-director for the College Hill Arts Festival and continued in this role through 2003. Beginning in 1996, Froyen served as director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate for the Archdiocese of Dubuque. He worked at the St. Stephen the Witness Catholic Student Center near UNI to prepare multiple classes of men in becoming deacons in the archdiocese. Froyen himself was ordained a deacon in 1989 to support the work of the church in presiding at baptisms, witnessing marriages and officiating at wake services and funerals. He retired from the diaconate formation program last fall. n addition, Froyen serves on the UNI Alumni Association board of directors and continues his professional writing. He and Radhi Al-Mabuk, interim head of the Department of Educational Psychology and Foundations, co-authored a self-help book on forgiveness. Froyen is now writing a book on gratitude, using his life stories to help others shape their lives on a foundation of gratitude. One of the most enjoyable UNI events he helped organize was the Stadium Hall Reunion in 2005 for all men who lived under Latham Football Stadium, the current site of Schindler Education Center. “The 24 dorm rooms were built for veterans after World War II,” Froyen reminisces. “We had five men to one room with two Army bunk beds, one single bed, two dressers in the middle of the room, and a clothes rack along one wall. We used the showers in the football locker room one floor below our rooms.” Froyen lived in Stadium Hall for two years when he attended then Iowa State Teachers College to earn a degree in social science teaching with a minor in chemistry. Len Froyen lives in Cedar Falls with his wife, Gail, a professional storyteller. Their three children are all UNI graduates.
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Program Highlights Multicultural Initiatives in Teaching Program
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ver the past 20 years, the MIT program under director Janet McClain has worked with several Iowa school districts with large, ethnically diverse student populations to encourage students to attend UNI and enroll in teacher education. The MIT program targets middle and high school students from diverse ethnic backgrounds who are interested in pursuing a teaching career. Students learn more about the teaching profession and are assisted in becoming teachers through pre-collegiate activities and MIT scholarships. Once enrolled at UNI, these students have access to academic advising and mentoring opportunities through the university’s student support services, Center for Multicultural Education and the College of Education Advising Center. Eligible students can also apply for the many teacher education scholarships available. As part of the MIT program, students can enroll in a seminar titled Studies in Multicultural Issues in Teaching and Learning and also become involved in the Multicultural Teaching Alliance student organization. During these activities they learn more about diversity, multicultural education and teaching. Students have opportunities to attend professional workshops and conferences and work with pre-K-12 educators and students from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. “Teaching is a good career choice for the future,” McClain tells students. “Iowa needs highly qualified multicultural teachers who can relate to all students. If students haven’t thought about teaching as a profession, the MIT program can help them do that and support students in their teacher education program at UNI.”
Homecoming 2007 brought together COE faculty Kimberly Knesting, MIT director Janet McClain, COE dean William Callahan and MIT program alum and scholarship recipient Jamie Walker Sallis, who is now teaching in the Davenport schools.
University of Northern Iowa College of Education
Technology facilitator UNI only Iowa certificate program Regents university offered in fall offering technology teacher preparation
In response to the need for teachers who are technology literate and understand how to use technology as another tool for learning, the Instructional Technology division of UNI’s Curriculum & Instruction Department will offer a Technology Facilitator Certificate program beginning in fall 2008. Leigh Zeitz, associate professor, said this certificate program is the first of its kind in Iowa. “We’re filling a need in several ways by offering this certificate program,” he explained. “Some students do not wish or need our two-year master’s degree program in instructional technology for K-12, so this certificate will give them the skills to become leaders in using technology.” Also, the certificate application states, many school districts are eliminating technology coordinators due to lack of funding, yet teachers are still expected to integrate technology into their classrooms. Because the six required classes for the certificate are currently offered in the master’s degree sequence, the completed certificate coursework can be applied toward a master’s degree, Zeitz noted. “We hope there will be some students in the certificate program who decide to continue for a master’s degree.” The certificate is targeted toward facilitating teaching and learning environments supported by technology. It is aligned to the International Society for Technology in Education’s Technology Facilitator Standards. Required classes are in emergent technology, technology in education, coordinating technology programs, advanced media, principles of publication design and selection and integration of educational technology. “Technology is not the answer to improved learning, but it is another tool for teaching,” Zeitz says. “It provides more ways for students to access learning and increases the experiences in a classroom.” For information on the Technology Facilitator Certificate program, contact Ana Donaldson, Instructional Technology coordinator, 319-273-2724, ana.donaldson@uni.edu.
Excellence in Education—Spring 2008
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he Technology Education and Training program offered through the Department of Industrial Technology prepares students to teach technology education or industrial technology at the secondary level (middle school and high school) in Iowa as well as other places around the country. Doug Hotek, associate professor of industrial technology, states there is a critical need for technology teachers across the nation. In Iowa, UNI is the only Regents institution that offers a technology teacher preparation program at the undergraduate level. Technological literacy is a major focus of the program—that is, to know the nature of technology and its effects on society, and to experience problem-solving through engineering design, innovation and practical abilities for living in a technological world. Students also learn to integrate math and science into technology by taking courses in the development, production, use and assessment of technological systems. These include construction, communication, energy and power, manufacturing and transportation. Pre-service teachers can choose an emphasis among these technological systems, indicates Hotek. With secondary school teacher licensure courses offered through the College of Education, and major core and professional courses through the College of Natural Sciences, technology teacher candidates learn to plan their curriculum, apply suitable teaching strategies and methods, and manage both traditional and contemporary instructional laboratories. Modular laboratories (interactive computerized workstations) are now being utilized in approximately 50 percent of Iowa’s secondary schools. To help supply teachers for these labs, UNI’s Technology Education and Training program has developed a modular lab consisting of artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, automotive exploration, computer numerical controlled machining, exploratory electronics, flight simulation, residential design, small engine mechanics and virtual reality.
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