Four College of Education faculty members call it a career


Four education faculty call it  a career

College of Education faculty gather to see off four of their retiring colleagues, Linda Blanton, Leonard Bliss, Erskine Dottin and Joan Wynne.

The thousands of graduates who walked across the stage at FIU Arena this week won’t be the only ones leaving FIU this semester.

Add to their ranks four College of Education faculty members who taught scores of future teachers, principals, higher education leaders and professionals. Leonard Bliss, Erskine S. Dottin, Joan Wynne, and former dean Linda Blanton are all retiring this spring.

“Linda was my dean. She was a mentor and a friend,” said Delia C. Garcia, dean of the College of Education. “She helped create a solid infrastructure for the college that is still evident today. She continues to exercise leadership roles in the area of teacher education nationally.”

Blanton, who served as dean from 1999 to 2006, was as a special education professor throughout her tenure at the university.

Dottin joined FIU in 1992 just before Hurricane Andrew barreled its way into south Miami-Dade County.

“I moved into Country Walk and got blown away,” Dottin said of the Kendall-area neighborhood that was mostly leveled by the category five hurricane.

Thankfully it would be smooth sailing for the rest of Dottin’s tenure at the university. He would go on to help establish a partnership with the Habits of Mind Institute and infuse those lessons into the classroom.

“My passion for teaching is still there,” said Dottin, who taught courses on the foundation of education. “I haven’t come to the realization that I’m leaving.”

Professors Dottin and Bliss pose with Dean Garcia.

Erskine Dottin, College of Education Dean Delia C. Garcia, and Leonard Bliss pose for a photo at a ceremony honoring the four retiring professors from the College of Education. Bliss, Dottin, and professors Linda Blanton and Joan Wynne are calling it a career.

For his part, Bliss will miss the opportunity to mentor students most, especially those who he advised on their dissertations.

“FIU is a special place,” Bliss said. “There are so many first generation students here. I was a first generation student in New York and when I got to FIU 16 years ago, I heard so many different languages in the Graham Center. I thought FIU students are me.”

Colleagues lauded Bliss for his passion for education and research, and his singular ability to simplify research methodology to help students better understand the statistical analyses that underpin research.

Joan Wynne poster

College of Education faculty and staff signed posters for each of the four retiring professors, thanking them for their service and friendship.

Wynne, however, won’t know what it’s like to wind down. In the fall, she expects to publish a new book and to continue working with civil rights leader Bob Moses on projects involving youth in Liberty City.

Just recently, she was awarded a first-ever honorable mention for the 2015 Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award from the Urban Affairs Association for her work with The Education Effect, The Algebra Project, The Young Peoples Project, and for having her graduate students and middle and high school students participate in the Freedom Summer 50 Experience.

“I’ve been a part of the FIU family for 13 years and I have a lot of mixed emotions about leaving,” said Wynne, who served as program leader for the Master of Urban Education program in the College of Education. “I’m happy about entering a new phase in my life and continuing the fight for justice, but I’ll miss my students and my colleagues.”

The feeling is mutual.

“At one end, I’m very happy for our faculty members who are entering new and exciting chapters in their lives, but we are sad to see them go,” said Garcia. “They have all been strong pillars in the college’s development. We wish them the best.”