About the Centre

The Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics of UCEA


Ron Wideman, Director
Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University (Ontario, Canada)

The Nipissing University Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics (NUCSLE) is one of seven university centres in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Sweden, and the United States that comprise the University Council for Educational Administration Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics (UCEACSLE). NUCSLE is a research center devoted to the support, promotion and dissemination of theory and research on values and leadership.

NUCSLE was established in 2009 by Dr. Paul Begley who had returned to Canada and joined the Nipissing University faculty as a Full Professor. Paul served as Director of the NUCSLE and shepherded the centre through its formative years until his retirement in June 2011.
In 2009, Paul Begley was already Executive Director of the University Council for Educational Administration Program Center for the Study of Leadership and Ethics (UCEACSLE) having founded that umbrella organization in 1996. At its inception, therefore, NUCSLE became one of the consortium of seven international research centers operating as the UCEACSLE. This was made possible by a resolution adopted by the UCEACSLE Board of Trustees at a business meeting held at Penn State University during the 14th Annual Values and Leadership Conference. The resolution reconstituted the UCEACSLE as a multi-institution, international organization with the NUCSLE as one of its members.
The establishment of the NUCSLE generated several positive outcomes for Nipissing University and its Schulich School of Education. These included:

  • an expanded international profile and association with the other center affiliates,
  • access for the faculty and students to a large network of scholars in five or more countries,
  • a new quarterly refereed journal entitled the Journal for Authentic Leadership (JALE),
  • the existing Values and Ethics in Educational Administration (VEEA) journal,
  • the opportunity for students and faculty to become involved in the design and delivery of an annual international conference,
  • formal connections with multiple universities that currently operate masters and doctoral programs,
  • facilitated access to multiple universities in support of study leaves, visiting scholar appointments, and research data collection in other countries.

As part of this process, Nipissing University became an affiliate member of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). Affiliate membership of Nipissing University within the UCEA was approved at the Spring 2010 meeting of the UCEA executive.


Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees for the Nipissing University Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics (NUCSLE) is composed currently of the following members:

  • Charles Burford (Australian Catholic University, Sydney)
  • Carolyn Crippen, (University of Victoria)
  • William Frick (University of Oklahoma)
  • Olof Johansson ( Umea University)
  • Lyse Langlois (Laval University)
  • Pauline Leonard (Louisiana Tech University)
  • Gordon Miller (Ontario Commissioner for the Environment)
  • Anthony Normore ( California State University Dominguez Hills )
  • Sharon Rich (Nipissing University)
  • Heather Rintoul (Nipissing University)
  • Joan Poliner-Shapiro (Temple University)
  • Robert Starratt (Boston College)
  • Allan Walker (Hong Kong Institute of Education)
  • Lindy Zaretsky (Geneva Centre for Autism, Toronto)

Signature Events
A number of signature events are typically sponsored by the centres comprising the UCEACSLE throughout the year. These include:

  • the Annual Moral Literacy Colloquium sponsored by the Rock Ethics Institute and the Willower Center at Penn State University during February,
  • the annual New DEEL Conference held in March at Temple University in Philadelphia,
  • the Annual UCEACSLE Values and Leadership Conference scheduled each year in late September or early October.

Since its inception, the NUCSLE has played a key role in the development of the annual UCEACSLE conference. During 2011/12, the NUCSLE is working toward hosting its first independent signature event. Further information about this event will be posted as it develops.

The Annual Values and Leadership Conference
The UCEACSLE conference is held annually in the Fall. The most recent annual conference took place in Victoria, British Columbian September 25 to 27, 2011. The 2009 and 2010 conferences were held respectively at Penn State University and at the University of Umea, Sweden. Typical attendance is 125 to 150 scholars and practitioners from five or more countries. In other years the conference has taken place in Victoria, BC (2006 and 2008), Barbados (2000 and 2004) as well as OISE/UT, Penn State and the University of Virginia.

The 2012 conference, hosted by the Australian Catholic University, will take place October 1 to 2, 2012 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia. See the conference website for details.

Other Centre Projects:
Journal of Leadership and Ethics (JALE)
The Electronic Refereed Journal of the NUCSLE

Journal of Authentic Leadership in Education (JALE) is a refereed journal established in January 2010. This journal is published quarterly, online and in traditional paper format. JALE is a project operated by Nipissing University Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics of UCEA, which was established centre of the University Council for Educational Administration Centre for the Study of Leadership and Ethics in 2009. The journal is housed in the Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University, Ontario, Canada under the editorship of Ron Wideman and Heather Rintoul.

Journal of Authentic Leadership in Education is dedicated to promoting and disseminating a broad range of scholarly inquiry relating to the areas of values and ethics, and their relationship to theory and practice in educational administration. The editor believes that the areas of values and ethics remain a critically important direction for research into the practice of educational administration, and is prepared to consider a wide range of disciplined empirical and conceptual works of interest to both scholars in the field as well as practicing administrators. The JALE journal is accessed through the left-hand menu on this page.

The Paul Begley Director’s Award

At the 2011 Values and Leadership Conference in Victoria, British Columbia (September 25 to 27, 2011) Ron Wideman and Heather Rintoul announced that the NUCSLE Board of Trustees had approved the establishment of a Paul Begley Director’s Award. The award will be for excellence by a graduate student whose work demonstrates academic and social commitment to “values, ethics, and leadership” within the field of education, including but not limited to practice, policy-making, implementation, and scholarly publications.
Paul Begley founded the Nipissing University CSLE in 2009, when he joined the faculty of the Schulich School of Education. He guided the NUCSLE through its initial years of development in the role of Director until he retired in 2011. Previously,
Paul had founded the UCEACSLE (of which the NUCSLE is part) and had served as its Executive Director from 1996 until 2011.

In addition to his other contributions, Paul was a key member in the committee of Nipissing University faculty members who planned and obtained approval for Nipissing University’s first PhD program – in educational sustainability. The program will begin with the first intake of six students in July 2012.

Although he had retired in June 2011, Paul continued to co-ordinate and manage the 16th Annual Values and Leadership Conference held in Victoria, British Columbia September 25 to 27, 2011. The conference was an extraordinary success with over 160 participants.
The faculty of the Schulich School of Education will certainly miss Paul; his career contribution to the study and practice of educational leadership has been enormous; we wish him the very best.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RETURN TO MAIN PAGE