Putting a price on ethics is a fool”™s errand, so it was no surprise that the financial terms of the May 6 acquisition of the Journal of Ethical Educational Leadership by Sacred Heart University”™s Farrington College of Education have not been made public.
And besides, those behind the deal say, the important thing is that it will pay priceless dividends to students and scholars alike.
“Now is the time to re-examine ethical, educational and compassionate leadership, particularly in light of what happened over the last year in education,” said SHU Associate Professor Joseph Polizzi, who made the case that the Fairfield school should pick up the Journal when it became available.
Polizzi, who is also director of the Farrington College of Education”™s principal preparation program and sixth-year certificate in social, emotional and academic learning, had belonged to the journal”™s editorial board while working at Marywood University in Dunmore, Pennsylvania as an associate professor in educational leadership.
Soon after joining SHU in 2019, he began talking with the journal”™s editor, Ed Myers, a law professor at Temple University. Myers was looking to transition away from the scholarly publication, and Polizzi was able to convince him that “Sacred Heart was the way to go.
“The mission and vision will honor what was done in the past,” Polizzi said. “What I want to do is convert it into more of a student publication, a place that will welcome student and faculty submissions.”
He also expects to incorporate the topic of compassion into the journal”™s content, he added. “There will be case studies, literary reviews, discussion and debate about different issues.”
“The journal”™s historical messaging about ethical leadership clearly ties into the broader mission of the university,” said Michael Alfano, dean of the Farrington College of Education. “It”™s in perfect alignment with how we prepare our teachers and educational leaders for their futures.
“Joe was the catalyst” behind the acquisition, he acknowledged. “I helped with the administrative background, making sure the T”™s were crossed and the I”™s were dotted.”
Both Alfano and Polizzi expect the journal to become more of an international presence.
“There have been international submissions before, from India, Nepal, Australia,” Polizzi said. “But through colleagues of mine and people in the field I want to solicit articles on a more international scale. Looking at the world outside of the U.S. will be a chief component.”
Initially Polizzi would like to publish twice a year, to complement the spring and fall semesters, and has his eye on February 2022 for his first issue.
“That may be a little bit ambitious,” he laughed. “I”™m in the process of getting the board together, then we have to have meetings and put out a call for papers, hopefully by September-October. We get the papers in January, then they”™re double-blind peer-reviewed to add to the credibility and the quality of the journal.
“Maybe,” he added, “it will be March.”
