Patrick A. Roberts
Assistant Professor and Director of the Curriculum & Social Inquiry Doctoral Program
Office Location: Room 213, Evanston Campus
Office Phone Number: 847-905-2767
Office Fax Number:847-256-1057
Email address: proberts@nl.edu

EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction, May 2002, University of Illinois at Chicago
Area of specialization: Curriculum Studies
Dissertation: A Tenuous Weave: Understanding Curriculum as Poetic Social Practice
Advisor: Dr. William H. Schubert

M.A. in English, July 1995, University of Illinois at Chicago
Area of specialization: Literary Criticism & Theory
Thesis: The Enantiomorphic Image: The Question of Mimesis in Heidegger, Derrida, and Charles Olson
Advisor: Dr. Ned Lukacher

B.A. in Government and Politics, May 1989, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Area of specialization: International Studies

PROFESSIONAL STATEMENT

Theory and practice, writes bell hooks [sic], are inseparable when authentically approached in pursuit of collective liberation (hooks, 1994. Teaching to transgress. Routledge). I try to keep this notion of liberatory educational practice in mind whenever I reflect on the work I do as a student, teacher, and researcher.

The best teachers, I believe, are those that raise more questions than they answer, and thereby instill in their students a preoccupation with searching rather than finding, of giving rather than receiving. As teachers we often find ourselves suspended in the tensions between ask and answer, provoke and appease, anger and delight, confirm and deny, conformity and nonconformity, dependence and independence, obey and disobey, me and you. The reality of these tensions is why I think courses in the history and philosophy of education are so important. In revealing, complicating, and celebrating these tensions, we help welcome our students into our professional community, help transform and affirm their growing sense of themselves as fellow tenuous weavers of the ancient craft that is teaching.

CURRENT COURSES I TEACH
• History and Philosophy of Education
• Contemporary Issues in Education
• Graduate Research: Interpretive/Critical
• Graduate Research: Empirical/Quantitative
• Curriculum Theory: Historical, Philosophical, and Political Issues
• Curriculum Theory: Contemporary Perspectives and Issues
• Curriculum Planning, Organization, and Evaluation
• Professional Seminar in Curriculum Studies
• National College of Education Doctoral Core Seminar

PUBLICATIONS (RECENT)
Books
Marshall, J. D., Sears, J. T., Schubert, W. H., Allen, L. & Roberts, P. A. (In press). Turning points in curriculum: A contemporary American memoir (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Published Conference Proceedings
Edgerton, S. H. & Roberts, P. A. (2004) Curriculum theory and practice: Searching for the secret in that historic tension. In L. Coia, N. J. Brooks, S. J. Mayer, P. Pritchard, E. Heilman, M. L. Birch, & A. Mountain (Eds.), Democratic responses in an era of standardization: Papers from the 4th Curriculum and Pedagogy Annual Conference, Decatur, GA, October 2003 (pp. 1-17). Troy, NY: Educators’ International Press, Inc.
Articles
Quinn, T. & Roberts, P. A. (manuscript under review). Standards-based School Reform and Museum Education: Examining the Need for the Critical Study of Museum Curriculum.
Roberts, P. A. & Schubert, W. H. (2003). James B. Macdonald. In J. W. Guthrie (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Education, 2nd ed. (pp. 1525-1526). New York: Macmillian.
Roberts, P. A. (2000). Content’s dream: Curriculum texts and the vision of synopsis. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, 2, 101-106.
Roberts, P. A. (2000). [Review of the book Turning points in curriculum: A contemporary American memoir]. Journal of Critical Inquiry into Curriculum and Instruction, 2, 42.

Multi-media
Content Producer & Curriculum Designer. (2000, Summer). The Great Debate & Beyond: The History of Televised Presidential Debate. Chicago: Museum of Broadcast Communications. [Web site]
Project Coordinator & Curriculum Designer. (2000, Fall) The Great Debate CD-ROM. Chicago: Museum of Broadcast Communications.

PRESENTATIONS (Recent)
Beyer, C. K., Buhring, E., Gallegos, B., Michie, G., Roberts, P. A., Berger, S., & Williams, M. (2000, November). Lessons at the crossroads: Education, cultural studies, and the circle of performance. Panel presentation delivered at the American Educational Studies Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC.
Pagani, A., Quinn, T., Roberts, P. A. & Small, M. (1998, October). Graduate students in translation: The challenge to build and sustain graduate student voices. Panel presentation at the Twentieth Annual JCT Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, Bloomington, IN.
Quinn, T. & Roberts, P. (2004, May). Standards-Based School Reform: Implications for Museums. Paper presented at the American Association of Museums Conference, New Orleans, LA.
Roberts, P. A. (2002, October). “Then Say It, For Christ’s Sake!” Oleanna and the Speaking of Theory. Paper delivered at the Third Annual Curriculum and Pedagogy Conference, Decatur, GA.
Roberts, P. A. (1999, October). Content’s dream: Curriculum texts and the vision of synopsis. Paper delivered at the Twenty-first Annual JCT Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, Dayton, OH.
Roberts, P. A. (1999, April). Strategic ambivalence and the IRE pattern of exchange: Tension in the content-based ESL classroom. Paper delivered at the Thirteenth Annual International Conference on Pragmatics and Language Learning, Urbana-Champaign, IL.
Roberts, P. A. & Orphan, S. (2000, October). Stepping out from under nostalgia: New terrain and new technology. Paper delivered at the Illinois Association of Museums Annual Conference, Mundelein, IL.
Roberts, P. A. & Steiner, D. (2004, September). Labor Zionist youth movements: A video ethnography. Paper delivered at the World Congress on Comparative Education, Havana, Cuba.

WORK IN SCHOOLS AND COMMUNITY
• Board Member for the Middle East Youth Association, Chicago, IL

RESEARCH INTERESTS
• Peace Education
• Museum Education
• Curriculum Deliberation
• Philosophy of Language

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
• Israel & Ram Allah, West Bank: Peace education study trip, 2005
• Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hertzegovinia: Reconciliation and human rights conference, 2005
• Havana, Cuba: International Comparative Education Society conference, 2004

PERSONAL INTERESTS
• Bluegrass, Folk, & Mountain Music
• Poetry
• Baseball