For Immediate Release :

Dr. Hazel Arnett Ervin, President 
HBCU-GEA 
336-596-9097 
hervin@hbcugea.com 

   

Shaw University Hosts HBCU Education Conference 

Conference Will Feature Leadership Roundtable with Dr. Martha Kanter, Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education  

RALEIGH, NC (May 25, 2012) - Shaw University, the first historically black university in the South, will host the second annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities—General Education Alliance (HBCU-GEA) Conference on Tuesday, May 29 through Thursday, May 31, 2012. The conference, designed to discuss strategies, models and plans of action for educating 21st century African-American students, will feature a roundtable discussion with Dr. Martha J. Kanter, Under Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education and Dr. Susan Cooper Loomis, Assistant Director of Psychometrics for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) - the Nation’s Report Card. 

The conference theme, “Blueprints For Educating the African-American Student,” seeks to bring together national leadership, national, regional and local educators, members of the alliance, parents and community members to explore objectively the quality and the effectiveness of student achievement in institutions of higher learning, especially on behalf of students of color. The conference opens with a plenary session featuring U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Martha Kanter and NAEP Assistant Director of Psychometrics Susan Loomis discussing “blueprints” for boosting minority student enrollment. In addition, participants can attend conference workshops on a variety of topics, including “Research Studies in Higher Education: Educating Multicultural College Students;” “The Secrets for Motivating, Educating, and Lifting the Spirit of African American Males;” and “Helping African American and Latino Students Rise in School and in Life.”  

“The General Education Alliance (GEA) is  the umbrella under which national leaders, academicians, and members of communities come together and engage in dialogue about quality education in America, especially for the underprepared and underrepresented student of color,” said HBCU-GEA President Dr. Hazel Ervin. “The GEA’s three-day conference is intentionally designed to provide a setting where participants might reflect and deepen their understanding of “how” significant education is in America for communal and global survival, and “how” leaders, academicians, parents and other members of communities might collectively support and ensure student success, especially among students of color.”  

Founded in 2009 by provosts, deans, and program directors from historically black colleges and universities, the HBCU-GEA seeks to foster outcome-based, liberal education learning through (1) models of student development which promote and advance student demonstrations of skills and proficiencies that are consistent, intentional, and integrative; (2) faculty development in general education (and in the majors) which promotes and advances a student-centered, culture-centered, collaborative, engaged, and interdisciplinary Core; and (3) research-based documentation of initiatives, reports, studies, and pedagogical strategies and practices in minority education that are tempered by the values, experiences, and commitments of the African-American community. 

For a full conference schedule, please visit: http://www.hbcugea.com/conference2011.html 

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Shaw University was founded in 1865 and is the oldest historically black university in the south. Shaw University is a private, co-educational liberal arts University, that awards degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The primary mission of Shaw University is teaching with the commitment to maintain excellence in research and academic programs that foster intellectual enhancement and technological skills.