Professional Biography

Paul Copley has been an instructor at Lewis & Clark's Graduate School of Education and Counseling since 1995. An adjunct until 2003, he joined the full faculty after completing a high school social studies teaching career.

After completing an undergraduate degree in history at Lewis & Clark, Paul began teaching in Compton, California in 1968. He earned his M.A. in history in 1971 and returned to Oregon, where he subsequently taught for 32 years at Sunset High School. For 20 of those years, he also served as department chair of social studies. Paul was an adjunct professor in history at Portland State University from 1991 to 2003 and served as a consultant in economics to the College Board between1988 and 2003.

His major academic interests are in political economy and 20th-century history. Paul teaches elective courses in both content areas, and serves as a cohort coordinator, specialist, and advisor in teaching social studies with a particular emphasis on constructivist curriculum design and instruction. His research has supported political activism directed toward high-quality social studies teaching in Oregon, and writing content text for teachers in both American history and economics.

Publications, Papers Presented

Copley, P. (1977). Propaganda in the classroom. Oregon Competency Based Education Response to Business. Center for Responsive Law.

Copley, P. (1977). Oregon Social Studies Education and The Business Lobby. Paper presented, Oregon Conference on Competency and Control.

Copley, P. (1985). Comparing U.S. and Japanese modes of production. The Productivity Factor. ERIC publishing.

Copley, P. (1985). The productivity factor. Draft presented at Graduate School of Economic Education, University of Delaware.

Copley, P. (1986). Schooling a more productive workforce: What we can learn from the Japanese. The High School Journal. University of North Carolina Press.

Copley, P. (1988). The political role of the department chair. Paper presented to Oregon Consortium for High Schools.

Copley, P. (1992). The homefront, Oregon during World War Two. [Teacher supplement]. The Oregonian (in cooperation with the Oregon History Center).

Copley P., in collaboration with David Horowitz. (1993). Contribution to Chapter 12, “Political Response to the Foundations in the 1950s.” Beyond Left and Right: The Anti-Corporate Impulse in American Politics. University of Illinois Press.

Copley, P. (2000). Market failure and economic justice." In Andra Makler and Ruth Shagoury Hubbard (Eds.), Teaching for Justice in the Social Studies Classroom. Heinemann.

Copley, P. (2002). Public intervention into the market: A case study approach to teaching. Economic Exchange. Federal Reserve Bank of Virginia.

Current Research and Writing

My primary current interest is in writing content curricula for teachers that clarify complexities inherent in economic and historical concepts, honor the subtlety of personal voice, and encourage student engagement through the use of primary documents. Contributions include Micro/Macro Diagrams, with Historical Applications (unpublished text used in coursework at Lewis & Clark, 1995-2008), McCarthy and the Culture of the Cold War (2006), A Personal History of the Vietnam War (2007), A History of Fiscal and Monetary Policy as Class War 1976-2003 (2005), The Long View: Cycle Theory in American History, 1865-2007, and current research into The Decline of Labor Power: Income Distribution and the Crisis in Aggregate Demand 1921-1929 and 1984-2008 (2008-2009).

Academic Credentials

B.A. 1967 Lewis & Clark College

M.A. 1972 California State University, Long Beach