School in Session Point Park establishes School of Education

The Point
Fall 2018

Point Park University has established a School of Education to reflect current needs in education for undergraduate, master’s and doctoral degrees, offered in flexible formats including online, hybrid and on-campus programs.

“Establishing a School of Education reflects the status and reputation of this exceptional department, not only regionally and nationally, but within our own campus community,” said University President Paul Hennigan, Ed.D.

The School of Education announcement was made on Sept 5 at a campus event attended by faculty, students, alumni, education leaders and invited guests, including Katie Berryhill, whose mother Joanne Blum founded Point Park’s education department in the early 1960s.

Growing enrollment

Prior to launching the School of Education, Point Park’s Department of Education has seen its enrollment increase, particularly in graduate programs at the master’s and through the establishment of doctoral level degrees.

Currently, the School of Education offers 10 graduate degree and post-baccalaureate programs in such innovative areas as athletic coaching and a superintendent letter of eligibility, and in more traditional areas such as special education and secondary education

The University's Ed.D program in leadership and administration is a three-year program offering professional leadership, superintendent’s letter of eligibility, K-12 administration and an individualized concentration. 

Undergraduate degree programs in education currently offered at Point Park include Pre-K through fourth grade, fourth through eighth grade and secondary education — all with the option for special education dual certification — as well as programs in instructional studies and early childhood education.

Multifaceted programs

“The field of teacher education is one that is multifaceted with requirements at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The need for expanding programs and recruitment to meet state and national demands is without question,” said Darlene B. Marnich, Ph.D., professor of education and chair of the education programs at Point Park.

“We have always looked at innovation programmatically and our willingness to develop new programs will allow us to continue to meet and exceed the needs of current and future students," Marnich added.

The U.S. is currently facing a teacher shortage across the country and although Western Pennsylvania has historically not been adversely affected by such shortages, that is no longer the case. Every state, including Pennsylvania, is experiencing teacher shortages in key subject and certification areas, including special education, science and math, and middle school education.

Roots and Wings

Remembering Joanne Blum

Katie Berryhill spoke about her mother, founder of Point Park’s education department, at the Sept. 5 announcement of the new School of Education. Following are excerpts of her remarks:

“I am pleased to be here, representing the rest of my family for this announcement. I am the youngest of three daughters of Joanne Blum, the founder and first chair of Point Park’s Department of Education, and Arthur Blum, the second president of Point Park, as well as a granddaughter of the University’s founders, Dorothy and Herb Finkelhor. My sisters (Laurie J. Glodowski and Sherry R. Blum) and I are all educators and are proud to continue that tradition into a third generation.

“Last spring, my family was at Point Park’s commencement for the awarding of an honorary doctorate to my father. My sisters and I wished our mom, who passed away almost three years ago, could have been here for that event, and that she could be remembered for her own unique contributions to Point Park, specifically to the Department of Education … I am [here] to tell you just a little bit about the amazing woman whose legacy you are all sustaining.

“Joanne Blum started the education department in the early 1960s when Point Park was a junior college, which limited it to early childhood programs. After Point Park was granted four-year status in 1966, the department was able to expand beyond early childhood education. Joanne’s own education included a bachelor’s in psychology from Brandeis University and a master’s in elementary education from Harvard. At Brandeis, one of her professors was Abraham Maslow. He once told her that she was a ‘good human being,’ and for the rest of her life, she used the initials ‘ghb’ on the lower left corner of [her] business letters. We also put it in the same position on her gravestone.

“Under her leadership, the department grew to include a laboratory preschool and kindergarten (both of which my sisters attended), six demonstration preschools around the city, which provided experience for student teachers, and a program that reflected her belief that future teachers needed backgrounds in child development and child psychology. As I was discussing the content of my remarks with my father, a phrase he used frequently was that she ‘felt strongly’ about certain aspects of the curriculum. That phrase encapsulates her views on children well: she felt strongly. Something she was fond of saying was, ‘Hug the child who deserves it the least because he needs it the most.’

“Mom also felt strongly that all student teachers should have experience working with special needs children, and so she made particular efforts to include children with special needs in the classrooms. She also felt strongly about exposing children to the arts, and [she] made use of the resources of the college to do just that. Mom loved to tell the story of the time that the renowned poet John Ciardi, who was doing a week-long residency at Point Park, visited the preschool to read to the children. His poetry entranced the children, and a little boy with spina bifida unhooked his leg braces, crawled over to Ciardi, and climbed into his lap. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room, nor in Mom’s audiences whenever she remembered that story.

“Last Thursday would have been my mother’s 86th birthday, which makes today all the more appropriate for the momentous announcement that the Department of Education is becoming its own school. I can think of no better way to honor Joanne Blum than to continue to graduate generations of well-trained, kind, enthusiastic teachers who will leave Point Park’s School of Education to go out into the world to fulfill her last wish, which is on her gravestone, to ‘care for all the children.’”

Photo by John Altdorfer
The Point is the magazine of Point Park University