I can't help feeling that Obama's word-which was celebrated from Chicago to Kenya, from the Middle East to the Hawaiian Islands, from South Africa to North Carolina reaches to who we are as educators and to organizations like our own AATC. We don't know yet how the Obama administration will shape educational policy, but I hope for a new era of thoughtful public discourse.
As a University of Chicago alumnus, I hope that Obama's University of Chicago ties will show through and encourage a more widespread belief that "intellectual" is not a dirty word and that "thinking through" a subject is not a waste of time. I hope that the central significance of education for the well-being of our society will be embraced in a way that more
fully acknowledges the expertise and insight of practitioners and scholars.
AATC was founded on these hopes, and I am looking forward to our 2009 conference at the Hilton Crystal City Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia maintaining the tradition of enriching and practice of scholarship. Craig Kridel, who is editor of the SAGE Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies, to be published in 2010, will be the featured speaker. I hope you will start making plans to be there and to give voice to your hopes.
Dr. Robert Boostrom is our current AATC President, University of Southern Indiana. He can be reached by e-mail at:
rboostro@usi.edu