Detailed Timeline of Activities: 2005 - 2008
2005
January 2005
Teachers College Press publishes Educating Citizens for Global Awareness, edited by Nel Noddings and developed by the Boston Research Center. The book features contributions from prominent US education scholars and practitioners.
January 27, 2005
Center holds the fourth Women of Courage Lecture, co-organized with the Wellesley Centers for Women led by Susan Bailey. The lecture, entitled “Standing on the Shoulders of Harriet Tubman: I Am My Sister’s Keeper,” was delivered by pediatrician and minister, Reverend Gloria White-Hammond.
April 12-16, 2005
BRC staff attend American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting in Montreal, Quebec, and host symposium chaired by Tianlong Yu of D’Youville College, which was entitled “Educating Global Citizens: International Perspectives.” Speakers were:
Lee Wing On, Hong Kong Institute of Education, China
Stephen Thornton, Teachers College, Columbia University
Lynn Lemisko, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Wiel Veugelers, University of Amsterdam, University for Humanistics, the Netherlands
Nel Noddings, Professor Emerita, Stanford University (discussant)
September 30-October 1, 2005
Center hosts second annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Leaves of Grass with an event entitled “ ‘Talking Back’ to Whitman: Poetry Matters.”
Friday Seminar entitled “Expanding Democracy: The Promises and Perils of Walt Whitman’s Internationalism” focused on a paper by Whitman scholar Ed Folsom and explored themes of global citizenship and community building.
Saturday Public Forum included the following speakers:
Ronald Bosco, Professor of English, State University of New York-Albany (Seminar Chair)
Ed Folsom, Professor of English, University of Iowa (Seminar Convener and Keynote Speaker)
Phyllis Cole, Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Penn State University
Guiyou Huang, Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Programs and Professor of English, St. Thomas University
Yuji Kami, Professor of English, Soka University
Cristanne Miller, Professor of English, Pomona College
Joel Myerson, Professor Emeritus of American Literature, University of South Carolina
Kenneth Price, Professor of American Literature, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Enrico Mario Santi, Professor of Hispanic Studies, University of Kentucky
Natasha Trethewey, Professor of English and Creative Writing, Emory University
Sarah Wider, Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Colgate University.
2006
February 1, 2006
Center hosts fifth and final Women of Courage Lecture, entitled “The Eleanor Roosevelt Lecture on Global Vision” by Shulamith Koenig with portrayal of Eleanor Roosevelt by Elena Dodd.
April 7-11, 2006
Center staff attend AERA 2006 meeting in San Francisco and host “international” symposium entitled “Four Enduring Philosophies of Education and the Challenges Facing Teachers Today” based on forthcoming Ethical Visions book edited by David Hansen. Speakers were:
Doris Santoro Gomez, Bowdoin College, chair
David Hansen on Dewey, Columbia University
Jacqueline Cossentino on Montessori, University of Maryland
Andrew Gebert on Makiguchi, Waseda University
Kathleen O’Connell on Tagore, University of Toronto
Ann Diller, University of New Hampshire, discussant
August 2006
During spring and summer of 2006, Center staff develops the Ikeda Education Fellows Program to support young scholars doing dissertation research on or relating to Soka education. The distinguished Advisory Council includes:
Larry Hickman, Southern Illinois University, Chair
Ann Diller, University of New Hampshire
David Hansen, Teachers College
Nel Noddings, Stanford University Emerita
September 28-30, 2006
Center organized third annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, entitled “Emerson and the Power of Imagination.” Co-convener was Sarah Wider, professor of English at Colgate University and president of the Emerson Society.
Seminar participants, September 28 & 29:
Jeannette Armstrong, Okanagan author and director of En’owkin Centre
Ronald Bosco, Professor of English and American Literature, University at Albany, State University of New York
Sarah Cahill, pianist, writer, and radio producer
Andrew Gebert, poet and professional translator of Japanese
William Henry Lewis, professor of English, Colgate University
Nathanael Fareed Mahluli, musician and director, IU Soul Revue, Indiana University
Joel Myerson, professor of American Literature Emeritus, University of South Carolina
Deborah O’Grady, photographer
Anita Patterson, professor of English, Boston University
Joseph Suina (Cochiti Pueblo), director of the Institute for Native American Education, University of New Mexico
Sarah Wider, professor of English and Women’s studies, Colgate University and President of the Emerson Society
Public forum speakers:
Opening by Virginia Benson and Masao Yokota
Sarah Wider gave keynote lecture
Summer Justice Project students with Betsy Bard, Program Director, and Radhika Rao, Ed.D Candidate, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Jeannette Armstrong, Okanagan author
William Henry Lewis, author, I Got Somebody in Staunton
Nathanael Fareed Mahluli, musician
2007
February 13, 2007
Center hosts lecture by David Hansen, entitled “Re-imagining the Purposes of Education in Our Time” with a commentary by Ann Diller, Professor of Education and Director of Doctoral Studies, University of New Hampshire.
Spring 2007
Teachers College Press publishes the BRC-developed Ethical Visions of Education: Philosophies in Practice, edited by David Hansen, with a foreword by Daisaku Ikeda.
April 9-14, 2007
Center staff attend AERA annual meeting in Chicago and host a book launch reception for Ethical Visions of Education with remarks by David Hansen. Also, the first official Education Fellows Advisory Council meeting is held with Chair Larry Hickman, Nel Noddings, and David Hansen to review “Call for Proposals” and selection process for candidates.
August 2007
Center launches Education Fellows Program with first call for proposals announcing that applications will be accepted from September 1 through December 1, 2007.
Fall 2007
Orbis Books publishes BRC-developed 10th anniversary edition of Subverting Hatred, with new foreword by Daisaku Ikeda, new Introduction and Epilogue by Daniel Smith-Christopher, along with two new chapters, one relating to the Muslim experience in post-9/11 America by Amir Hussain of Loyola Marymount University, and the other to “subverting hatred” in the Maori Tradition in New Zealand, by Donald S. Tamihere.
September 28-29, 2007
Center hosts fourth annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, entitled “Women and the Power of Friendship.” Co-conveners were Sarah Wider, Professor of English and Women’s Studies, Colgate University, and Anita Patterson, Professor of English, Boston University.
Friday Academic Seminar: Using a paper by co-convener Sarah Wider as starting point, this seminar included all the forum speakers and explored the transformative potential of women’s friendship.
Saturday Public Forum included:
Opening words by Masao Yokota and Ginny Benson
Sarah Wider sharing President Ikeda’s poetry about women and peace with translation and commentary by Andrew Gebert.
Morning panel on “Women, Friendship, and Diversity in the 19th Century” with:
Anita Patterson, Boston University
Joycelyn Moody, University of Texas at San Antonio
Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Purdue University
Afternoon panel on “The Power of Friendship for the 21st Century” with:
Sarah Wider, Colgate University
Betty Burkes, Cambridge Peace Commission
Janet Surrey, Jean Baker Miller Training Institute
Scherazade Daruvalla King, Project: Think Different
Susan Retik, Beyond the 11th
2008
February 27, 2008
Center holds public dialogue on theme of “Understanding Death, Appreciating Life.” This was the first in a three-part series. Commentary by cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson was followed by small group dialogues and a panel discussion with Harvard scholars Harvey Cox, Tu Weiming, and Nur Yalman.
March 24, 2008
Center held First Annual Seminar of BRC Education Fellows Program in New York City during the annual AERA conference. Advisory Council members—Larry Hickman, Virginia Benson, Ann Diller, Jim Garrison, David T. Hansen, and Nel Noddings—met with the two fellows, Juliana Finucane and Gonzalo Obelleiro, who summarized their dissertation research and received feedback.
April 11-13, 2008
Center representatives attend Philosophy of Education Society (PES) Annual Meeting in Cambridge, MA, during which Center sponsors a panel discussion focusing on three educators featured in Ethical Visions: W.E.B. Du Bois, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, and Maria Montessori.
The panel chair was:
Jane Roland Martin, University of Massachusetts-Boston
The panelists were:
Rodino Anderson, Bowdoin College
Monte Joffee, Renaissance School in New York
Jennifer Whitcomb, University of Colorado at Boulder
Dale Snauwaert, University of Toledo.
September 2008
Center launches new website.
September 19-20, 2008
Center holds Fifth Annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue entitled “Living With Mortality: How Our Experiences With Death Change Us.” This was the second event in a three-part series on the theme of “Understanding Death, Appreciating Life.” It marked the 15th anniversary of the Center’s founding and a return to an important theme of the founder’s second Harvard lecture.
Friday seminar: The four forum speakers shared their personal experiences with death.
Saturday forum: In the morning, hospice physician Pam Kircher facilitated small group discussions sharing personal stories and in the afternoon, a panel of speakers addressed cultural possibilities for transforming attitudes about death. Speakers at public forum were:
Pam Kircher, hospice physician and Former Board Member of the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS)
Megan Laverty, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
Anthony Marsella, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, University of Hawai’i
Vincent Harding, Professor Emeritus of Religion and Social Transformation, Iliff School of Theology
October 18, 2008
Center hosts lecture by Dr. Yoichi Kawada, Director of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, entitled “Enjoying the Rhythm of Birth and Death: A Buddhist Perspective.” This was the final event in the three-part series. Dr. Kawada’s lecture elucidated two of the main ideas in President Ikeda’s second Harvard lecture. Mary Catherine Bateson provided a commentary on the lecture, connecting these ideas with themes and attitudes in US culture.
