UB education lecture series addresses access to higher education for all students

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Preparing young students for success throughout their education careers takes a front seat during a lecture series this fall sponsored and organized by the University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy.

The lecture series – “The PreK-20 Educational Pipeline: Research, Policy, Practice and Preparation” – begins Thursday, Sept. 25, with a talk on equity and access in education by Scott Thomas, PhD, dean at Claremont Graduate University in California. Thomas will address the “steep challenges” facing students from non-affluent backgrounds at a luncheon lecture beginning noon at the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, 511 O’Brian Hall.

Registration for the 1 p.m. presentation (following a light luncheon) can be found at: http://bit.ly/1uHmaEZ.

“The lecture series aims to better articulate the set of issues and challenges that center around student transitions across educational systems, the alignment thereof and student success in college,” says Janina Brutt-Griffler, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy.

“The key questions that we ask in this series are how do we prepare tomorrow’s professionals, researchers and school leaders and re-think our curricula to deliver education along the P-20 pipeline?” Brutt-Griffler says.

“How do we ensure educational opportunities for all students and strengthen the country’s global footing and competitiveness?”

Thomas’ presentation argues for the need to invest in elementary and secondary schools to improve academic qualifications of students from non-affluent backgrounds.

“The barriers of inadequate preparation and affordability present steep challenges to the matriculation and success of these students,” says Thomas. “I will argue that these challenges are coincident with the latent public imperative of educational opportunity that can re-strengthen the country’s global footing and competitiveness.”

Brutt-Griffler said success and access to higher education frequently depend on the kind of investment made in elementary and secondary schools.

The last two programs in the PreK-20 Educational Pipeline series also address similar themes.

• Michelle Young, PhD, professor at the Curry School of Education at the University at Virginia, speaks Saturday, Oct. 18, at a location to be announced on UB’s North Campus. Her program, “Developing the Next Generation of School Level Leaders,” is intended for all those preparing educators to work with more diverse student populations, according to Stephen Jacobson, PhD, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy.
• Steven Harvey, PhD, founder and CEO of the Center for Educational and Career Advancement and executive director of the Western New York Consortium of Higher Education, speaks Thursday, Nov. 6, at a location to be announced later.

For additional information and registration contact Monica Washington, 716-645-1350 or mcw22@buffalo.edu.

Brutt-Griffler said the lecture series is intended to fulfill the UB Graduate School of Education’s mission to define and advance the major issues of education, in particular the challenges facing the PreK-20 spectrum.

“Schools of education play an essential role preparing future educators and researchers whose focus is on all facets of education across the P-20 spectrum,” says Megan Holland, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. “But few have attempted to address in a meaningful and comprehensive way what P-20 education will mean for the next generation of educators as well as the students we will serve.

“How we train professionals is central to our ability to re-think how we deliver education along the P-20 pipeline,” says Nathan Daun-Barnett, associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Polic.