Karen M. Boatman
Position:		Associate Clinical Professor
Department:		Administration, Training and Policy
Program:		International Educational Development, Community Education Agency Administration, Undergraduate core teacher education

Educational History

Contact Information
Phone:		617-353-3187 e-mail preferred
E-mail:		kboats@bu.edu

Profile

After working on community development in Senegal, I came to Boston University in 1969 as the evaluator of SED's federally funded program called EPIC (Educational Personnel for the Inner City) to train new types of teachers for Boston. I joined the faculty in 1970 and constructed the first field-based course in the School of Education (outside of student teaching). We worked in urban and suburban schools. I then developed a new doctoral level course in urban education, which stressed developing programs to remedy problems. More than half of the students in each class received funding for their proposals. This proposal success continues in a course on community education that I now teach. At the request of the dean, I co-authored a new plan for collaboration with school districts and community agencies where SED's students were located for various types of fieldwork; pre-practica, student teaching, etc.. This Consortium Council continues and holds an annual conference on educational issues for the Greater Boston area. I serve as the coordinator for the community agencies. In 1981, the dean asked me to select a team and develop a new graduate program in international development. Unique among such graduate programs, this one goes beyond the scholarship of development and requires the study of the practice of development as well as a thesis. Partly because of this program, I became the national chair of the Honor Society of International Scholars in 1992. In 1985, the faculty approved a requirement that all undergraduate students in SED have a significant cross-cultural experience. As one mechanism to meet this requirement, I developed a field-based program in England, Israel, and in Niger as part of SED's Professional International Linkage Program (PILP). During the last two years I have worked with our International Programs office and the educators in Niger to develop a new program now called the Niamey International Development Program. I created a new core required course for the program , International Development Studies (SED IE 490), and held several workshops with program faculty in January 2006 to prepare them for this change. I am a member of the African Studies Center. Some of my courses are listed at the Center as they can fulfill some of the requirements for an African Studies concentration. I am a member of two emerging university-wide efforts. One is to connect all faculty interested in international development and explore joint programming and advocacy. The other concerns faculty on both campuses involved in human rights activities. The aim of this group is to develop a multidisciplinary concentration for students. It is currently called the BU Consortium on Human Rights. I have been a pro bono consultant for numerous educational organizations in the Greater Boston area and served on the first commission for human services in Cambridge. I'm currently serving on the board of a locally based NGO, which provides high quality schooling for poor children in South Asia.

Courses Taught

SED�AP502 �Community Education: Program Implementation
SED�ED101 �A portion called Alternatives to Traditional Public School Classroom Teaching
SED�ED410 �The Social Context of Education (section B)
SED�ED412 �The Civic Context of Education (section B)
SED�IE600 �Perspectives on Education for Development
SED�IE602 �Practicum and Seminar: The Practice of Education for Development
SED�IE604 �Project Seminar: Current Educational Development Issues
SED�IE605 �International Educational Development Thesis
SED�AP900 �Independent Study
SED�AP999 �Dissertation Advisement
SED�AP500 �Directed Study (for undergraduates)
SED�ED101 �Lab to Foundations of Education