Edward Janak, Ph.D.

Associate Professor/Department Chair
Department of Educational Studies

Academic program:
Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Office: Gillham Hall 5000-C
Office Phone: 419-530-4114
Email: edward.janak@utoledo.edu
Mailing address: Mail Stop 921
2801 West Bancroft St.
Toledo, OH 43606-3390

List of Degrees:

Ph.D. Social, Philosophical, and Historical Foundations of Education, University of South Carolina—Columbia, August 2003
M.Ed., Secondary Education—English, U.S.C. Columbia, August 1996
B.A., English, S.U.N.Y. College at Fredonia, May 1992

Awards and Honors:

Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Felicia F. Campbell Area Chair Award, 2014
University of Wyoming Mortarboard Society “Top Prof,” 2006, 2011 & 2012
University of Wyoming College of Education Faculty Award for Outstanding Advising, 2011
University of Wyoming Promoting Intellectual Engagement Award, 2009 & 2011
University of Wyoming College of Education Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching, 2010

Biography:

I am a foundations of education scholar who focuses on historical foundations and educational biography—I love good stories from the past that can inform the present. I also enjoy exploring means in which popular culture can inform teaching and research in education.

Research Focus Areas:

Historical foundations of education/historical intersections between schooling and marginalized populations
Life writing/educational biography and oral history

Current Research Projects:

My current research explores the impact of the Rockefeller-sponsored General Education Board funding on the marginalized populations of the US West in the early 20^th Century.

Outreach Projects/Community Engagement:

I serve on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Council of Community Schools and serve on their Performance and Accountability Committee.

Selected Publications:

Janak, E. (2019). A Brief History of Schooling in the United States: From Pre-Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan Press.
Janak, E. & Sourdot, L. Eds. (2018). Educating through Popular Culture: You’re Not Cool Just Because You Teach with Comics. Lanham, MD: Lexington Press.
Burrows, A.C., Lockwood, M., Belardo, C. & Janak, E. (2018). Action research: The researcher’s role and engagement in K-20 STEM education. In (Participatory) Action research: Principles, approaches and applications. New York: Nova Science Publishers.
Janak, E. (2018). Bridgers and brokers: Collective biography in the study of the General Education Board in the US West. Vitae Scholasticae, 35(1), 5-24.
Janak, E. (2018). Bracketing and bridling: Using narrative reflexivity to confront researcher bias and the impact of social identity in a historical study. Philanthropy and Education, 1(2), 82-93.
Dousay, T. & Janak, E. (2018). All things considered: Educational radio as the first MOOCs. TechTrends 62(6), 555-562.
Burrows, A.C., Lockwood, M., Borowczak, M., & Janak, E. (2017). Integrated STEM: Focus on Informal Education and Community Collaboration through Engineering. Education Sciences, 8(4).
Janak, E. & Pescara-Kovach, L. (2017). Four decades, three songs, too much violence: Using popular culture media analysis to prepare preservice teachers for dealing with school violence. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy 4(1),
Janak, E. & Helmsing, M. (2017). Problematizing philanthropy: How a historical study of the General Education Board in the U.S. West puts the ‘social’ in race and region as social constructs. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(2), 277-288.
Janak, E. (2014). Politics, Disability and Education Reform in the South: The Work of John Eldred Swearingen. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan Press.

Courses Taught:

TSOC 2000: Diversity in Contemporary Society First Year Experience
TSOC 3000: Schooling and Democratic Society
TSOC 5/7100: Group Processes in Education
TSOC 5/7110: Modern Educational Controversies
TSOC 5/7400: History of Schooling and Teaching in the US
TSOC 6/8140: Socio-Political Issues in School-State Relations

Department of Educational Studies