UC Speaker Series Features Part of Century Anniversary Celebrations

The University of Cincinnati College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services (CECH) is marking a century of serving schools, agencies and communities. As part of its centennial celebration, the college is hosting a special speaker series examining the challenges and opportunities in education and the social sciences in the 21st century.

The speaker series is free and is open to the public.

Check the schedule of speakers:

Feb. 22
4:15 p.m., Law School Auditorium, Room 114
The Connection between Student Achievement and Positive Youth Development
Featured speaker Ohio First Lady Hope Taft is a nationally recognized family advocate. Since 1986, she has worked as a full time volunteer to help Ohio organize prevention efforts to effectively address the risk factors that predispose children and adolescents to unhealthy behaviors. Her work began in the Cincinnati-based substance abuse prevention coalition, Citizens Against Substance Abuse. From her Columbus office, her efforts involved numerous national agencies.  For the past 16 years, Taft has worked with the Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities – housed in UC’s Center for Prevention Studies in the College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Services – to develop state initiatives to promote positive youth development and prevent unhealthy youth behavior.

March 1
4-6 p.m., Annie Laws Library, Teachers College
Panel Discussion: Action Research and Social Change
Mary Brydon-Miller, UC associate professor of educational studies; Susan Noffke, University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign; Patricia Maguire, dean of the Gallup Research Center of Western New Mexico University; and Susan Boser Indiana University of Pennsylvania, will participate in a panel discussion. The discussion is part of the North American Action Research Summit, hosted by the University of Cincinnati.

May 12
1:30-3:30 p.m., UC Faculty Club
Trends in Child and Youth Well-Being in the United States, 1975-2005: An Evidence-Based Approach
Speaker Kenneth Land is the John Franklin Crowell Professor, Director of the Center for Demographic Studies and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University. Land is also a Senior Research Fellow at the IC² Institute at the University of Texas. His main research interests are contemporary social trends and social problems, demography, criminology, organizations, and social statistics.

1-4 p.m., University Pavilion, Room 310
Panel Discussion: Providing Help to People Who are Poor
Laura Smith of Columbia University was recently published in the journal American Psychologist. Her article, “Psychotherapy, Classism, and the Poor Conspicuous by Their Absence,” examined the barriers preventing psychotherapists from enacting their professional principles more consistently on behalf of poor clients. Smith will lead a panel discussion hosted by UC Counseling Professor Robert Conyne and the School of Counseling, Center for Ecological Counseling and the Health Resource Center. The panel discussion is the final event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the UC counseling program.

May 18
7-8 p.m., Faculty Club
Education's Challenge in the New Millennium
Gloria Ladson-Billings is president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and is Kellner Family Professor in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as project director at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER). Last year, she was elected to membership in the National Academy of Education, which serves to advance high quality education research and its use in policy formulation and practice. Her research interests include the relationship between culture and schooling, critical race theory, and the successful teaching of African-American children.  She is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children.

For more information on the speaker series, call 513-556-2565.