SOU Education Professor to Discuss Teaching, Learning and Research in Greenland

(Ashland, Ore.) – What’s it like to teach in Greenland? What’s it like to BE in Greenland? Over three years, Dr. Geoff Mills traveled nine times to Greenland’s arctic region to teach education research to graduate students. “Traveling and teaching in Greenland has been one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my 25 years in higher education and a unique opportunity to work in one of the most isolated places on earth,” says the former dean of SOU’s School of Education.
Dr. Mills (left) will discuss teaching in a country where English is the residents’ third language (after Danish and Greenlandic) and where challenging economic and social issues have deeply affected the education system. His presentation, “From Ashland to the Arctic: Teaching, Learning, and Research in Greenland,” is Thursday, April 18 at 4:00 p.m. in the Meese Room of the Hannon Library on the SOU campus. A reception follows immediately. The talk is free and open to the public. The Mills presentation is part of the Insights Distinguished Lecture Series.
Although granted “home rule” in 1979 (Greenland became a Danish colony in 1814), Greenland has experienced a challenging economic, social, educational, and cultural post-colonization period with increasing power being granted to the Greenland government. The education system has seen considerable changes in the past five years with a progressive educational reform agenda that provided many research opportunities for graduate education students. Dr. Mills will speak about these research outcomes and their contribution to the future of Greenlandic society. He will also speak about the major cultural, social, and educational challenges facing Greenland as it seeks to complete in a global economy.
Dr. Mills has taught at SOU since 1988, and is the author of Action Research: A guide for the teacher researcher, Merrill/Prentice Hall, now in its fifth edition. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from West Australian Institute of Technology, and his Ph.D from the University of Oregon.
The Insights Distinguished Lecture Series was created by SOU President Mary Cullinan “to showcase the excellent work of our faculty and to share the high caliber of SOU teaching and research with audiences from on and off campus.”