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Lecture series looks at education for social justice

Jan. 25, 2007

KALAMAZOO--A series of talks exploring the relationship between education and social justice as a value will begin Wednesday, Jan. 31, in the Fetzer Center on Western Michigan University's main campus in Kalamazoo.

The Education for Social Justice Lecture Series is free and open to the public and will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. in Kirsch Auditorium on seven Wednesdays during WMU's spring semester.

Jan. 31--"Looking for School Reform in All the Wrong Places" by Dr. George Wood, principal of Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio, where he serves as director of the Forum for Education and Democracy.

Feb. 7--"Orientalism and Sexual Rights" by Dr. Joseph Massad, associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University.

Feb. 21--"Teaching for Democracy in the Age of Corporatocracy" by Dr. Christine E. Sleeter, professor emerita in the College of Professional Studies at California State University-Monterey Bay and vice president of the teaching and teacher education division of the American Educational Research Association.

March 14--"Whiteness and American Historical Memory" by Dr. Cedric Robinson, professor in the Department of Black Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

March 28--"Education and Economic Transformation-Teaching and Practicing Democratic Community Economics" by Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, assistant professor and political economist in the African American Studies Department and co-founder of the Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland, College Park.

April 11--"Historical Lessons: Making a Racial Difference" by Dr. Gladys M. Jimenez-Munoz, who has a doctoral degree in women's history and a Graduate Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Area Studies from Binghamton University.

April 18--"Emancipate Yourself from Mental Slavery" by Dr. William Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago and founder of both the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society.

The Education for Social Justice Lecture Series is an offshoot of a seminar course at WMU taught by Dr. Joseph Kretovics and Dr. W.F. Santiago-Valles. Kretovics is professor of educational leaadership, research and technology and project director of GEAR UP--Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. Santiago-Valles is professor of Africana studies.

Kretovics brings in guest speakers for the seminar and, as in past years, has arranged for these speakers to present talks to the public prior to their seminar appearances. The resulting lecture series is being sponsored by WMU's GEAR UP Learning Centers and the Office of Lifelong Learning and Education, through which the academic credit option is being offered.

Details about each lecture are available online. For additional information, call the Office of Lifelong Learning and Education at (269) 387-4174 or GEAR UP at (269) 387-6865.

Media contact: Jeanne Baron, (269) 387-8400, jeanne.baron@wmich.edu

WMU News
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