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Short & Schubert Curriculum Studies Collections

Edmond C. Short - Biographical Sketch

Edmund C. Short grew up in Indiana in a family of educators. His Bachelor’s Degree was in English Education from Purdue University (1953), and he taught High School English in Indiana, New York, and New Jersey. He served in the Army Transportation Corps, received a Master’s Degree in Guidance and Counseling from Texas Christian University (1957), and studied religious education at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He pursued a doctoral degree in curriculum through the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University.  There, he was a student of Florence Stratemeyer (his adviser) and worked with other luminaries in curriculum, teaching, and foundations at TC: Philip Phenix, Dwayne Huebner, Arno Bellack (all on his dissertation committee), Gordon Mackenzie, Arthur (Wells) Foshay, Margaret Lindsey, and Alice Miel.  While finishing his dissertation, he took a faculty post at Ball State University (1963-1966) and received his Doctor of Education degree in 1965. In 1966 he became a faculty member for six years at the University of Toledo. The central portion of his career was at The Pennsylvania State University (1972-1995), where he taught in the Teacher Education Program and led the Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Curriculum and Supervision. Upon retirement, he was named Professor Emeritus.

Although he retired from The Pennsylvania State University, he did not retire from his commitment to education.  He became a professor at Georgia Southern University (1995-1999) where he helped develop their excellent Doctoral Program in Curriculum Studies. Still not content to retire completely, he moved to Orlando in 1999 and joined the University of Central Florida College of Education faculty where he has served part-time for the last fifteen years, teaching and advising in their Doctoral Program as a Courtesy Associate Graduate Faculty member.  Living in Orlando, he continues his scholarship, educates and serves through church and civic activities, enjoys traveling, and does research to construct his family genealogy.

He has published numerous articles, chapters, and several excellent books that link foundations of education and curriculum studies. The books include: Contemporary Thought in Public School Curriculum (Short & Marconnit, 1968); A Search for Valid Content for Curriculum Courses (1970); Competence: Inquiries into Its Meaning and Acquisition in Educational Settings (1984); Curriculum Professors’ Specialized Knowledge (Rosales-Dordelly & Short, 1985); Toward Excellence in Curriculum Inquiry (Short, Willis, & Schubert, 1985); his classic Forms of Curriculum Inquiry (1991) which has provided a basis in diverse modes of research for generations of scholars; and more recently the informative and inspiring historical and autobiographical volume in the Leaders in Educational Studies Series of Sense Publishers, entitled Leaders in Curriculum Studies: Intellectual Self-Portraits (Short and Waks, 2009). 

Professor Short has mentored many graduate students, served on national and international committees and boards, and influenced curriculum development in schools and universities. He served on 157 doctoral dissertation committees, chairing 24 of these. He was active in several professional organizations, including Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, American Educational Research Association, Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Delta Kappa, John Dewey Society, Society for the Study of Curriculum History, Society of Professors of Education, American Educational Studies Association, among others.  He was elected to Professors of Curriculum in 1971, to the College of Preceptors, London, England, in 1991, and received the Mary Ann Raywid Award for his contributions to educational scholarship by the Society of Professors of Education in 2014.  He has taught and lectured in a number of universities throughout the United States, Canada, and Venezula.  He was principal founder of the AERA Special Interest Group on Creation and Utilization of Curriculum Knowledge (now the AERA SIG on Critical Issues in Curriculum and Cultural Studies), and was founding editor of the scholarly ASCD publication, the Journal of Curriculum and Supervision.   He has maintained a searchable online annotated bibliography of citations in “Curriculum Inquiry and Related Studies” available to interested scholars at: http://education.ucf.edu/CIRS/

Professor Short’s collection of books, monographs, journals, and documents that he developed and catalogued over the years in curriculum, teaching, supervision, foundations, and teacher education has recently been donated to the Zach S. Henderson Library at Georgia Southern University and is archived there as The Edmund C. Short Curriculum Studies Collection, for use by students, faculty, and other scholars.