Prominent Educator and Author Gloria Ladson-Billings to Hold Two Lectures at TSU

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) - Renowned educator and author, Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, popularly known for engaging educators in dialogue about improving schools for urban children, will be a guest of the College of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership at Tennessee State University on Tuesday, Sept. 29. More than 200 area educators, including principals, faculty, school district and university administrators will hear Ladson-Billings talk about the nation’s “education debt” and race theory relative to current education policy, during two lectures.

TSU President Glenda Glover is expected to welcome Ladson-Billings at a luncheon in the Executive Dining Room.

“We are excited to host Dr. Ladson-Billings at TSU because of her ability to contribute to a discussion that will inevitably benefit K-12 students and the men and women who teach them,“ said Dr. Kimberly King-Jupiter, Dean of the College of Education. “Dr. Ladson-Billings, across her career, has engaged educators in critical discussions about how to inspire diverse students to excel academically.  Her focus has been on the need for teachers to know their students, to identify and elevate students' gifts amidst the challenges associated with urban schooling.”

Best known for her groundbreaking and influential book, “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children,” Ladson-Billings will also discuss what schools and colleges are doing about the increasing drop in the number of racially diverse teachers, even though PK-12 student demographics reflect an increase in racial and ethnic diversity.

“This is precisely why the department extended the invitation to Dr. Ladson-Billings,” said Dr. Trinetia Respress, chair for the Department of Educational Leadership.

Dr. Ladson-Billings will lead two discussions. The first, “When My Teacher Doesn’t Look Like Me: The Crisis in the African-American Teaching Force,” in the Executive Dining Room at noon on the main campus. The second lecture will be held from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., on “Hip Hop/Hip Hope: The (R)Evolution of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy,” on the Avon Williams Campus.

Ladson-Billings, a pedagogical theorist and teacher educator, is on the faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Education. She is also a researcher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research.

For more information on the lecture or on how to register, call 615-963-5450.

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