Second lecture in Fien series to feature Gloria Ladson-Billings

The College of Education’s yearlong Centennial Celebration continues Friday, Feb. 17, with a presentation by Gloria Ladson-Billings at 2 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Norman Hall.

Ladson-Billings is the Kellner Family Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author of the critically acclaimed books “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children,” “Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms” and “Beyond the Big House: African-American Educators on Teacher Education.” Her talk is the second address in the Fien Lecture Series. Initiated by the College of Education at the University of Florida as part of its centennial year celebrations and in conjunction with its search for the Fien Professorship in Education, the Fien lectures are designed to help keep the University of Florida connected to outstanding scholars in the field.

Ladson-Billings’ address – “What if We Leave All the Children Behind: The Challenge of Teaching in the New Millennium” – will focus on the complexities of teaching and learning in the 21st century. Ladson-Billings says society’s responsibilities to children have consistently slipped over the past few decades while education reform efforts and state and federal legislation have placed the responsibilities to improve student achievement squarely on the shoulders of schools and more specifically, teachers. “The holes in the social network and the increasing economic disparities make it unlikely schools can make dramatic improvements in student achievement on their own,” she says.

Ladson-Billings’ scholarship in multicultural education, social studies, critical race theory and education, and culturally relevant pedagogy is extensive. The former editor of the American Educational Research Journal and a member of several editorial boards, Ladson-Billings is the author of more than 50 publications, including books, journal articles and book chapters. Her work has won numerous scholarly awards including the H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship, the Spencer Post-doctoral Fellowship and the Palmer O. Johnson outstanding research award.

Established in 1998, the Fien Professorship in Education was made possible in part through a $600,000 donation from businessman and philanthropist Irving Fien. The College of Education combined Fien’s gift with $420,000 in state matching funds to create a $1.02 million permanent endowment for the Irving and Rose Fien Professorship in Education. Richard Allington, the first recipient of the Fien Professorship, joined the College in 2000. The chair opened up when Allington left the College for the University of Tennessee in 2004.

The final speaker in the series is Luis Moll, professor of language, reading and culture in the College of Education at the University of Arizona. His talk will take place on Monday, March 6, 2006.

# # #

Writer
    Joy L. Rodgers, jrodgers@coe.ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 274