Final lecture in Fien series to feature Luis C. Moll

The three-part Fien Lecture Series wraps up on Monday, March 6, with a talk by Luis C. Moll, associate dean for academic affairs and professor of language, reading and culture at the University of Arizona College of Education. Moll’s presentation – “The Cultural Mediation of Thinking: From Funds of Knowledge to New Activity Systems” – will take place at 3:30 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Norman Hall.

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. Moll’s address will focus on his research with households and schools in the Southwest and preview the development of new university, community and school partnerships in mediating opportunities for both the educational and economic development of families.

Moll’s main research interest is the connection among culture, psychology and education, especially as it relates to the education of Latino children in the United States. Among other studies, Moll has analyzed the quality of classroom teaching, examined literacy instruction in English and Spanish, studied how learning takes place in the broader social contexts of household and community life, and attempted to establish pedagogical relationships among these domains of study. He is currently conducting a longitudinal study of biliteracy development in children and the language ideologies that mediate that development.

Moll has served on the editorial boards of several national and international journals, including American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Reading Research Quarterly, Journal of Literacy Research, Cultura y Educación (Spain), Pedagogía (Puerto Rico), Pedagogies (Singapore) and Mind, Culture and Activity. He is the co-author of the recently published book, “Funds of knowledge: Theorizing practices in household, communities, and classrooms.” In 1998, Moll was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education. He received the Sylvia Scribner Award from the American Educational Research Association in 2005.

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.

Other events related to Moll’s March 6 visit to UF include conversations with Education doctoral students and faculty. Moll will meet with the students at 10 a.m. and faculty at 11:30 a.m. in Norman Hall 158.

# # #

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