Welcome to the home page of

Carol E. Harris, Ed.d.

Professor
Leadership Studies

250.721.7760 ph
250.721.6190 fax
Maclaurin A470 office
harrisce@uvic.ca

RESEARCH and TEACHING AREAS

I came to UVic in 1993 to teach organizational theory and leadership studies, and to pursue my own research in these fields. Formerly, I was with the Department of Music, University of Calgary, where I specialized in music pedagogy and qualitative research methodologies. My organizational interests are in tracking the political and gendered location of school rhetoric and practice, that is, in assessing from a critical standpoint the larger context of educational action. My particular leadership focus has been on women, both in formal roles of authority and in less-commonly recognized areas, such as community leadership and teaching. Encompassing both interest areas has been a study of society's steady drift toward technological (or bureaucratic) rationality in a context of high capitalism.

In the past few years, I have supervised descriptive/ interpretive and critical research in a wide variety of areas that include girls and women in technology, learning in coop programs, the teacher-administrator, school restructuring, special needs students, women in non-traditional work, and values underlying school governance.

RESEARCH PROJECTS and OTHER ACTIVITIES

From 1992 to 1997, my research centered on the life and times of Dr. Elizabeth (Betty) Murray – Nova Scotian adult educator, school teacher, and community leader. The story of Betty Murray, as an historical and ethnographic study, is published by Fernwood Books as A Sense of Themselves (1998). Several of my papers deal with aspects of this leader's career.

In 1996, a new research interest in educational restructuring and its impact on women leaders led me to coastal communities in eastern Canada. There I study the various ways that restructuring is played out in the intersection between schools and the broader community. My major research at present concerns the impact of economic and social restructuring in coastal communities. One large project is located in Newfoundland where I am the Principal Investigator for a study entitled Technologies of the New Economy in Five Coastal Settings: A Participatory Assessment of Impacts on Small Business, Health Care, and Education. The funding for the study, provided by SSHRCC as an Initiative of the New Economy, will run for three years, until the spring of 2005. My other community study is part of the large, bi-coastal and interdisciplinary Coasts Under Stress headed by Rosemary Ommer.

In 2000, my community service was realized in the political arena. In the autumn of that year, I ran in the Federal Election as the NDP Candidate for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca (EJDF). For me, personally, this offered a rich opportunity to serve and learn from the people of my district and, at the same time, to address a large audience about critical issues of our era.

Most Recent Publications

(2006). Collingwood on imagination, expression and action: Advancing an aesthetically critical study of educational administration. In E. Samier & R. Bates, (Eds.), Aesthetics and Administration (pp. 45-63).London: Routledge.

(2005). Agency, isolation and the coming of new technologies: Exploring ëdependencyí in coastal communities of Newfoundland through participatory research. Alberta Journal of Education, 51, 1, 18-33 (co-authored with Darlene Clover).

(2004). Communication technologies and leadership for resilience: Participatory research outreach in five coastal communities. In Education and Social Action Conference 2004, (pp. 204-208). Centre for Popular Education, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, December 6-8.

2004. Harris, C.E. and Clover, D.E. Technological rationality in five coastal communities of Newfoundland: Historical and contemporary challenges to Lifelong learning. In Adult education for democracy, social justice and a culture of peace: Proceedings of the joint international conference of the AERC/CASAE (pp. 196-201). Victoria, May 27-30.

2003. Clover, D. E. and Harris, C. E. Promises and problems of technology in creating the world they want in coastal communities of Newfoundland: Reflections on a participatory research workshop. See Proceedings of the Conference, The World We Want (pp. 101-106).Victoria, November. (http://www.educ.uvic.ca/learning/proceedings.pdf>

2002 A sense of themselves: Leadership, communicative learning, and government policy in the service of community renewal. Canadian Journal for Studies in Adult Education, 16, 2, 30-53.

2002 Expanding Dimensions of the `Knowledge Society: Technology, Discourse Ethics, and Agency in Coastal Communities. Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations, 16 (2), 37-65.

2002 Imagining the good organization: Educational restructuring in a coastal community. Journal of Educational Management and Administration, 30 (1), 65-82. (Special Edition: Theorists and Theorizing in Educational Administration and Management)

2002 Heidegger's inheritors: Embodied technological knowledge in a `new era' of educational reform. In S. Abbey, Ways of knowing in and through the body: Diverse perspectives on embodiment (pp. 130-133), Proceedings of the 4^th Bi-Annual Summer Institute of the Canadian Association for the Study of Women in Education Summer Institute, Toronto May 26-28, Soleil Publishing.

Book

1998. A sense of themselves: Elizabeth Murray's leadership in school and community. Halifax: Fernwood.

Book Chapters

2003 Heidegger's `Question concerning technology': Implications for responsible school leadership in an era of restructuring. In E. Samier (Ed.), Ethical Foundations for Educational Administrion: Essays in Honour of Christopher Hodgkinson, pp. 178-198. London: Routledge.

2003 The naked participant: Balancing personal perspectives with the concept of `Verstehen' in interpretive inquiry. In R. Mcmillan (Ed.), Questioning Leadership: The Greenfield legacy, pp. 117-143. London, ON: Althouse Press.

1998 Administration as pedagogy or as new management: Principles and practices in an era of restructuring. In E. Cramer and J. Panagapka (Eds.), Lois Choksy: Teacher of teachers (pp. 199-218). Langley: Tall Timbers Press.

1995 Innovative leadership in a community context: Elizabeth Murray and the history plays of Tatamagouche. In C. Reynolds and B. Young, Women and leadership in Canadian education (pp. 173-192). Calgary: Detselig.

Other Selected Publications

2000. Technology and humanities at the crossroads: A principal's dilemma as a matter of principle. In Engendering education. Proceedings of the Canadian Association for the Study of Women in Education (International Institute), pp. 103-107. University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 27-28.

1999. The emancipatory potential of “Community Arts”: In search of three dimensionality. In Passion and politics: 99 years of adult education. Proceedings of the 18th annual conference of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education, pp. 109-113. Montréal: Université de Montréal.

1999. Lessons from history: A biographical exploration of school and community. In S. L. Gibbons & J.O. Anderson (Eds.). Connections `98, pp. 54-63. Victoria: Faculty of Education.

1998. Administration as pedagogy or as new management: Principles and practices in an era of restructuring. In E. Cramer and J. Panagapka (Eds.), Lois Choksy: Teacher of teachers, pp. 199-218. Langley: Tall Timbers Press.

1998. Review essay: Democracy, chaos, and the new school order (by Spencer J. Maxcy). International Journal of Educational Reform, 6 (1), 121-125.

1996. The aesthetic of Thomas B. Greenfield: An exploration of practices that leave no mark. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32 (4), 487-511.

1996. Technology, rationalities, and experience in school music policy: Underlying myths. Arts Education Policy Review, 97 (6), 23-32.

1996. Aesthetic imagination in the literacy-based music classroom: Implications for school policy and practice. Canadian University Music Review, 16 (2), 100-115.

1995. Innovative leadership in a community context: Elizabeth Murray and the history plays of Tatamagouche. In C. Reynolds and B. Young, Women and leadership in Canadian education. Calgary: Detselig, pp. 173-192.

Most Recent Paper Presentations

Umpleby, S. and Harris, C. E. (2004). Students as community participants: Knowledge through engagement in the coastal context. Paper presented for the Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration (CASEA), Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Winnipeg, May 29-June 1.

Harris, C.E., Robinson, L. and Riley, S. (2004). A question of power: Linking political will, discourse and health in a coastal community school. Paper presented for the Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration (CASEA), Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Winnipeg, May 29-June 1.

Exploring resistance through the arts: Aesthetic moments in the educational leadership classroom and beyond (22 pp.). Paper presentation as part of the symposium ,“The preparation of educational leadership for the New Era: Resisting boundaries through arts and artistic sensibilities.” Canadian Association for the Study of Educational Administration, Toronto, May 25-28, 2002.

Expanding dimensions of the `Knowledge Society': Technology, discourse ethics, and agency in coastal communities. Paper presentation as part of symposium entitled “To administer education in a knowledge society: Querying one-dimensionality.” Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), Laval University, May 23-26, 2001.

Educational restructuring, a community affair: Charting a course through the shoals of democratic deficits. Paper presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, Washington, April 10-14, 2001.

Imagining the good organization: Educational restructuring in a coastal community. Paper as part of symposium entitled “Discourses of restructuring in school and community” for the Canadian Association for Studies in Educational Administration (CASEA), XXVIII Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Studies in Education (CSSE). University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 24-27, 2000.

A sense of themselves: Reflections on educational leadership and community renewal. CASEA, XXVII Annual Conference of the CSSE. Université de Sherbrooke, Québec, June 9-11, 1999.

Restructuring and the story of one woman's educational leadership: Pedagogy, new management, and the re-turn to community. SIG/Research on Women & Education, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Researcher Association, Montréal, April 19-23, 1999.