Thomas Heaney
Tom is an associate professor of adult education at National-Louis University and director of the Adult Education Doctoral Program which began in the Summer of 1996. Formerly a member of the graduate faculty at Northern Illinois University, he received his Ph.D. in Adult Education from the Union Institute and University in 1980.
Tom was an associate and co-founder of the Lindeman Center for Community Empowerment through Education, a Chicago-based organization which developed education and research projects with low income and oppressed groups related to local efforts to change conditions in neighborhoods, the city, and beyond. His activities within the Center ranged from supporting the development of "grass roots," literacy organizations grounded in local struggles to a multi-year project developing the capacities of residents in public housing to take over control of their communities through Resident Management.
He was among the founding members of the North American Alliance for Popular and Adult Education (NAAPAE) and a former vice-president of the International Council for Adult Education.
The principal focus of his own research, study and practice has been on relating the education of adults to increased democratic participation in decision-making, linking this educational work with action for social change, and exploring the implications of electronic media for democratizing the production of knowledge and communications.
Tom lives near Wrigley Field in Chicago with his wife, Nancy Kaszak. Their daughter, Krysta, is a recent graduate of the University of Iowa.
312.261.3274 theaney@nl.edu
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Select Papers
"The Political Construction of Adult Education" (with Ian Baptiste) a paper presented at the Midwest Research to Practice Conference, University of Nebraska (October 1996)
Adult Education for Social Change: From Center Stage to the Wings and Back Again ERIC Monograph (Fall 1996).
"Politics of Explanation: Ethical Questions in the Production of Knowledge" The Researcher XI:2 (Fall 1996).
"Learning to Control Democratically: Ethical Questions in Situated Adult Education" Proceedings of the Adult Education Research Conference (University of Alberta, Edmonton 1995).
"Identifying and Dealing with Educational, Social and Political Issues," in Patricia Mulcrone (ed.), Changing Roles and Strategies for the Adult Education Administrator. Jossey-Bass (San Francisco 1993).
"When Adult Education Stood for Democracy" Adult Education Quarterly. 44:1 (Fall 1992).
"Resources for Popular Education" Lifelong Learning (February 1992).
"Learning to be Heard: Organization, Power and Literacy" Beyond Rhetoric: Fundamental Issues in Adult Literacy Education. University of Georgia, Department of Adult Education (Athens, Georgia 1990).
"Freirean Literacy in North America: The Community-Based Education Movement" Thresholds in Education (November 1989).
"The Ambiguities of Education Research or Can a Rabbit Catch the Fox" Proceedings of the Adult Education Research Conference (Northern Illinois University, DeKalb 1981).
