Be watching for a late-April announcement of the first fellowships awarded to Masters in Teaching students by Edgar and Holli Martinez, who through their Martinez Foundation are on a mission to increase the number of teachers of color in our schools.  The winners will be honored at the Seattle Mariners’ June 6 “Latinos in Beisbol” game.  Put on your crimson T-shirt and cheer them on. Each ticket bought through this link will result in $7 going to support the foundation’s efforts.

Speaking of sports…
Assistant Professor John Wong of our sport management faculty scored in the publishing scene with his chapter in The Chicago Sports Reader, “a celebration of the strong, the agile, and the tricky.”  John’s chapter is about the founding of the Chicago Blackhawks Professional sport-bookHockey Team. It uses literature in entrepreneurship as a framework in examining why the Chicago team succeeded when some of the other NHL teams folded during or shortly after the Great Depression. Of 20 chapters submitted to the editors, John’s was one of 13 chosen. I asked him how he got involved with the literary project. His reply:
“I got an e-mail about a couple of years ago from one of the editors – a fellow sport historian. He told me he and another sport historian were going to work on an anthology of sport in Chicago. They had started gathering contributors but then realized they did not have a chapter on hockey. Since Chicago had one of the oldest franchises in the NHL, they felt that hockey should be included. Because hockey is one of my research interests (and they know that from my conference presentations and publications), they approached me to take on the chapter. At the time, I did not know who the other contributors were. Now that I have received my copy of the book, I realize that the editors have recruited some of the big names in sport history. And, of course, I am very flattered and humbled by their invitation for me to participate.

By the way, John and his colleagues have ventured into the blogosphere with SMANET, a way to connect sport management alumni.

Reading matter
Washington Senate passes major education reform bill.
The state could eventually pay more for basic education under a bill passed by the state Senate on Thursday. Just how the state will find money for that obligation, however, is still far from certain.
UW is getting a big demotion
. Scarcely any state, even those with worse economies, is planning to cut higher education funding more than the Washington Legislature.
Don’t Just Rebuild Schools—Reinvent Them Prakash Nair writes, “What may be great for bridges and highways may be exactly the wrong thing for schools.”
Appreciation: Judith Krug. Defending the freedom to read from damaging assaults by censors in and out of government was a life’s work.