William Byron, S.J. served as President of The Catholic University of America from 1982 until 1992. He saw the School of Education move back to a Department of Education. Image: Special Collections, University Photographs, The Catholic University of America.

William Byron, S.J. was appointed President of The Catholic University of America in 1982. In 1984 he released a memo to the Academic Senate titled “On Choosing Between and Among the Children.” Here, he ranked the eleven schools of the University with the aim of reorganizing their structure to fit with his view of the mission of the University. The School of Education ranked fifth in importance to mission, behind Religious Studies, Philosophy, Arts and Sciences, and Law.

Byron proposed that the School of Education become a department within the School of Arts and Sciences using the following rationale:

“I would like to see us focus on teacher preparation in a Department of Education. In this Department, an opportunity for doctoral work should be offered in cooperation with the Center for the Study of Youth Development in the apprenticeship mode. Our Department of Education should have a research-and- service relationship to several selected schools in close geographic proximity to CUA. We should grant “research associate” status to some faculty and administrators from those schools. We should also look to those schools for our own adjunct faculty in Education. In selecting faculty members for full-time status in our own Department of Education, we should try in each instance to arrange a joint appointment with other CUA faculties. This would facilitate the provision, by our Department of Education, of a “sub-concentration” to students with other majors who might want to pursue career opportunities in teaching, particularly in Catholic schools.”

Though not the only rationale, Byron’s arguments were key in the discussions around returning the School of Education to a Department. In December, 1984, the School of Education voted 10-4 in favor of a proposal to become a Department of Education within the School of Arts and Sciences. In early 1985, the Board of Trustees approved the proposal, and the transition to a Department was made in the 1985-1986 academic year.

Source:

John J. Convey, Professor of Education at The Catholic University of America, “The Catholic University Department of Education, 1908-2021 (Unpublished manuscript, 2021), Special Collections, Archives, The Catholic University of America, quote from Byron on 54. 54-59.