UGA Names 2001 Group of Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education

UGA Names 2001 Group of Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education

The Cyril O. Houle Scholars in Adult and Continuing Education Program officially announced its fourth group of recipients April 6, 2001. The program, made possible by a W. K. Kellogg Foundation grant to the Department of Adult Education of The University of Georgia, supports emerging scholars expected to make a significant contribution to the field of adult and continuing education. Groups of scholars were also selected in 1998, 1999, and 2000.

The 2001 Houle Scholars represent three regions of the world - Southern Africa, Latin America, and the United States of America. One South African scholar, two Latin American scholars, and four U.S. scholars were selected, as follows:

Cecilia Amaluisa Fiallos, Centro de Educación y Promoción Popular, Ecuador
Rita Ceballos Diaz, Centro Cultural Poveda, Dominican Republic
Andrea Ellinger, Penn State Harrisburg, United States of America
John Holst, University of St. Thomas, U.S.
Rita Kizito, University of South Africa, South Africa
Vivian Mott, East Carolina University, U.S.
Marsha Rossiter, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, U.S.

The Houle Scholarship is a two-year award that provides the recipient support to pursue research or demonstration projects that address problems relevant to adult education identified by the scholar.

The program began in 1998 as a five-year program, awarding 45 scholarships, nine each year for five years, with five from the U.S., and two each from Latin America and Southern Africa. Awards are $20,000 per year for the two-year scholarship period, up to $40,000.

The Houle Scholars participate in two annual retreats and a global dialogue that utilizes Internet technology to conduct a continuous exchange. The fourth annual retreat was held March 9-13, 2001, in Gaborone, Botswana. Faculty from the Department of Adult Education and 16 Houle Scholars from the third (2000) and fourth (2001) groups attended. The fifth annual retreat is being planned for March 2002.

The program is administered through the Department of Adult Education of UGA's School of Leadership and Lifelong Learning of the College of Education. Faculty from the department are involved in the creation and development of the program, which includes designing and facilitating the annual retreats; serving as project liaisons to consult with the scholars on their research projects; and chairing selection committees in Latin America, Southern Africa, and the U. S. Several graduate assistants also work on the program.

Funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the five-year life of the program totals $2.6 million. Individual applicants must have received their degree (bachelor's degree minimum in Latin America, master's degree minimum in Southern Africa, and doctoral degree minimum in the U.S.) in adult education or a closely related field, on or after January 1, 1995. They must be currently employed in a research-related position in adult education or a closely related field.

The program honors Cyril O. Houle, who was an internationally recognized leader in adult and continuing education. Houle, who died on May 6, 1998, was a faculty member of the University of Chicago from 1939-1978, and provided counsel to the Kellogg Foundation for some 60 years. His books include The Inquiring Mind, The Design of Education, Continuing Learning in the Professions, and Patterns of Learning.

For more information about the Houle Scholars Program or its application processes: Bradley C. Courtenay, Department of Adult Education, The University of Georgia, 423 River's Crossing, 850 College Station Road, Athens, Georgia 30602-4811, U.S.A., phone: 706-542-2214 or 800-816-3382, fax: 706-542-4024, e-mail: hsp@arches.uga.edu, or visit the program's Web site at www.coe.uga.edu/hsp. Application deadline for 2002 scholarships is July 31, 2001.

Information for this article was gathered from the Web sites of the Houle Scholars (address above) and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (www.wkkf.org), and from UGA's Department of Adult Education (www.coe.uga.edu/adulted).