1.1 Other items related to applying for teaching in East Africa

 From Teachers College, Columbia University

March 11,1967

Dear Mr. Cochrane:

    Thank you for your recent inquiry in regard to our recruitment of experienced teachers for service in East Africa under the Teacher Education  in East Africa Project (TEEA).

    I have enclosed a set of applications materials for you to fill out and return to this office. As recruitment is already under way, and we have only thirty places to fill, I urge you to submit these materials immediately.

    At this point, we expect to have completed our recruitment by March 15, 1967. We shall look forward to hearing from you before that time.

                                                    Cordially yours,
                                                            C. Scott Kelly

                                                            Coordinator

(the following form was enclosed along with the application form)

Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, N.Y. 10027 

    Teacher Education in East Africa

    To: Applicant to the Teacher Education in East Africa Project

    From: C. Scott Kelly, Coordinator

    Subject: Application procedures

    In order that we may fully assess you qualifications for TEEA, we are asking that you submit several items which will comprise your completed application file. Please use the following check list to remind yourself that everything required has been submitted.

___one application form

___four Professional References. (please provide each reference with a stamped envelope addressed to Teacher Education in East Africa. Have the completed form sent directly to TEEA Office, Teachers College.)

___an Autobiographical Statement. Please return this statement with your application and other materials.

___Collegiate and Graduate Transcripts. You should request that an original transcript having the seal of the college be sent directly to our office from all college you have attended, even if your record from one school is indicated on the transcript of another.

___If you have one, the college placement folder from the placement service of your university.

    Processing of your file will begin as soon as all of the materials listed above have been received. If they are evaluated favorably, we shall contact you by mail to arrange a personal interview a week to ten days in advance, if time allows. In many instances, however, the shortage of time allows only a phone call, so it would be helpful to us if you include on the first page of you Application Form the phone numbers at which you can be reached during the evening and the day, unless you do not wish to be called at your business address.

    At the time of your personal interview, you will also be given a short battery of tests, details concerning which will be provided prior to the time of interview. The results of these tests, together with an interviewers' report and your completed file, are then reviewed by Teachers College Selection Committee, and a final decision on your candidacy is made. Your file must contain all the materials listed above before such action can be taken. Please bring a photograph of yourself (and if a married male, of your wife as well) to the interview. These photographs will hep to serve as an "aid to memory" when the interviewers meet with the selection committee.

    Tutors are selected throughout the recruitment period. Positions available in certain areas, such as social studies, are filled more rapidly than others; it is therefore advisable to submit your materials as soon as possible.

---Scribbled on the back of the application procedure letter in Frank's handwriting---

    "Received application materials 3-15 will proceed to complete immediately. If all positions filled please notify."

Resume of Life Experience

     My parents are both teachers and I was the fourth of five children, all of whom were encouraged to experiment, build things, and generally use our own ingenuity. It was mostly this background that made me decide to go to college. I financed my education by partial support from my parents, summer jobs, and part time jobs during college.

    My undergraduate degree was in Agricultural Education. I leaned towards this course because of  proficiency in building, fabrication, and agriculture. After my discharge from the Army in 1954, I started work on my Master's degree. This was done during the summers and as a half time evening student while teaching. I managed to finish this work in the spring of 1957.

    I graduated in 1952, with a Bachelor's of Science degree in Agriculture. Shortly after that I was married, and in August of the same year I was inducted into the Army. I was sent to photography school after basic training and then went to Korea where I spend thirteen months. During this time I was sent to fingerprint school in Tokyo. During my tour of duty in Korea I had extensive contact with Korean Army personnel, and Korean civilians who worked with us in the Prisoner of War record section. I found these people to be interesting and made many friends among them.

    My first teaching assignment was in a small high school in Idaho where I taught thirteen different subjects during the course of the year. Besides the teaching assignment I conducted an adult education class in furniture construction, and rebuilt the school's wood working shop. After one year I moved to another small school in Washington, where I taught science, math, metal and wood shop. At this school I filled in many capacities such as senior class sponsor and year book advisor. Other extra duties which were unusual were the classes I too over while other teachers were absent with extended illness. One such class was Home Economics where I taught sewing.

    At this point I decided to stay strictly in the field of science and possibly school administration rather than agriculture. My reasons for this were mostly because I found the science field to be more challenging, interesting, ans satisfying than agriculture. 

    After two years in Washington we decided to move to California in order to secure a better salary and see some new country. I took a job in North California where I taught science, math, and metal shop. I also sponsored the Photography and the Astronomy Clubs. Both of these clubs were quite active, with the most notable activity being the construction of telescopes. I also participated in an in-service training program for elementary teachers of several schools in the vicinity. My responsibilities in this capacity consisted of lecturing in the field of Earth Science.

    After two years in California we decided to move back to Idaho to take over the family farm. This is an irrigated farm in the Snake River Valley, and we have operated it ourselves for the last eight years. I took a teaching job with the Boise system using the farm as a means of supplementing my income. This has been and enjoyable avocation which afforded the opportunities and reasons for practicing mechanic, and machinery fabrication hobbies. I also have constructed two houses on which I have done all the construction skills, electrical, plumbing, carpentry, window glazing, etc.

    Since we moved to Boise I have worked to improve my background in science and under National Science Foundation stipends i attended a summer institute in Earth Science, in-service program in Chemical Bond Approach Chemistry, an in-service institute in Earth Science Curriculum Project and in-service institute in Modern Math. I have also worked on the curriculum improvement in our school system with the introduction of the Boise school system to the Earth Science Curriculum Project as an experimental program, the first such program in the state. This led further to an Idaho Academy of Sciences program in the promotion of Earth Science in the state. Besides my farming activities I have been working the last two summers with the Bureau of Land Management which gives me an opportunity to travel through out southern sections of Idaho and is the enabling factor in an attempt to carry on some individual field research in areas here to for unexplored geologically. This organization is also conduction a micro climatology survey in south west Idaho which I have participated in by setting up weather stations, instrumenting them, conducting training for observers.

    During the period from 1963 to 1966 I served on the local school board where I was instrumental in the instigation and organization of an extensive in-service training program and curriculum adoption in Modern Math, and in the fall of 1965 I cooperated with Mr. Anders of Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario, Oregon, in the development of elementary education curriculum and vocational training proposal for a Job Corp complex in this area.

    My wife has had two years of college majoring in Home Economics and Elementary Education. She is capable and able to be of assistance where needed. With this background I feel that we could be of service in many ways to the TEEA Program and would like very much an opportunity to do so.

    We have five intelligent children (which would probably be any father's attitude) four of whom are in school and are A students. The entire family is very excited about TEEA possibilities.

                                                                                                    (END)

(this letter cam Special Delivery! from Teachers College)

Mr Frank A. Cochrane

Route 1, Box 102

Caldwell, Idaho 83605

Dear Mr. Cochrane

    I am happy to inform you that your application to the teacher Education in East Africa Project has passed our preliminary screening. Our initial interviewing session in the NOrthwest area will take place next week-end. You and Mrs. Cochrane are asked to meet with Drs. Roger Myers and Robert Beckwith at 11:00 AM on Saturday, April 8. The interview will take place in Drs. Beckwith and Myers' rooms at the hotel Benjamin Franklin, 5th Avenue and Virginia Street, Seattle, Washington. I regret that we have not been able to give you more warning, but as you know, the time is short and we have a number of applicants to interview in the next few weeks. In the meantime, you might wish to know about general interviewing. 

    On the day of the interview, you and your wife will meet for approximately an hour with the two interviewers, one o whom comes from Teachers College, Columbia University. The interview will be conducted on an informal basis; its purpose is to enable the interviewers to meet you personally, to learn more of your background, and also to provide you with an opportunity to ask any questions you may have concerning the project. On the same day, you and Mrs. Cochrane will be asked to take a battery of tests which will last for approximately two hours.

    We are authorized to pay travel expenses in excess of $10 --- the total cost not to exceed the cheapest available air travel --- to the place of interview for you and your wife. If interviewing and transportation schedules are such that it is necessary for you to remain overnight, you may request reimbursement for room and board expenses no to exceed $15 per day per person for you and your wife to not more than two days. In order for us to reimburse you, we will need receipts or expended tickets for basic transportation and any receipts which you might have for any other expenditures. Please submit the enclosed form in duplicate if you are requesting reimbursement. 

    As you know, one of the criteria for selection for the TEEA project is admission to

Teachers College. The Office of Admissions has informed us that all applicants for admission must submit Miller Analogies Test (MAT) results. If you have taken the test within the past five years, it need not be retaken. Should it be necessary for you to take the MAT, please consult the enclosed Psychological Corporation booklet for instruction. At your request the Psychological Corporation will forward your score to the TEEA office. You may submit your statement to this office for reimbursement.

    The final stage of processing is consideration of your candidacy by our Selection Committee.  Generally, the Committee meets withing a few days after week-end interviewing, but only those files which contain all application materials can be considered. I urge you, therefore, to have the MAT results sent to us immediately so that we may be able to give you our final decision as soon after the interview as possible.

    If you are unable to be interviewed this year or if you have urgent question,please call collect either Mr. Joseph Kroh or me at Teachers College.

                                                                    Sincerely yours,

                                                                    LeRoy O. Smith

                                                                    Administrative Assistant