January 26, 2006

Nazareth Launches Institute on Urban Education, Feb. 3-4

Derrick Bell is the keynote speaker on Feb. 3 for Nazareth's first-ever Helen C. and Walter Cooper Institute on Urban Education

Nazareth College is proud to launch the Helen C. and Walter Cooper Institute on Urban Education on Friday, Feb. 3-4. Headlined by visiting professor of law at New York University Law School, Derrick Bell, the Institute is designed to stimulate participants to contribute to the development of academic equity and excellence. He will address and endorse the Institute's purpose of preparing future teachers while developing their desire to challenge nonsensical school practices that fail to equitably engage all students. Bell will commence the Institute with a keynote address aimed at engaging students and faculty to rethink the purpose and prospects of education on Friday, Feb. 3 at 4:30 p.m. in the Callahan Theater at Nazareth's Art Center. On, Saturday, Feb. 4, Bell and Daan Braveman, president of Nazareth College, will facilitate an instructional education seminar on from 10 a.m. - noon in Nazareth's Shults Center Forum. During this time, seminar participants will be engaged in discussion and problem solving, considering the importance of educating teacher candidates to be effective teachers in urban schools. Both the keynote address and the seminar are free and open to current local teachers and education students. For more information, call Gaynelle Wethers, director of Nazareth's Multicultural Affairs, at (585) 389-2008.

With 15 years of teaching experience at the Harvard Law School and several published books, Bell emphasizes the importance of student participation. His scholarly writings have also placed him at in the forefront of Critical Race Theory.

The Institute is named after Mrs. Helen C. Cooper and Dr. Walter Cooper. The late Mrs. Cooper served as a member of the Nazareth College Board of Trustees from 1990 to 2003 and enjoyed success in various leadership and personnel positions at Eastman Kodak. Similarly, Dr. Walter Cooper serves as a current trustee of Nazareth College and was a scientist at the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories until his retirement in 1986. Dr. Cooper was also Chairman of the NAACP from 1959 - 1965, a founding member of the Rochester Urban League in 1965, and a Regent of the State of New York from 1988 - 1997.

The Helen E. and Walter Cooper Institute on Urban Education is sponsored by the Multicultural Affairs Office, the Frontier Chair in Urban Education, the Teacher Opportunity Corps Program School of Education, and the Monroe County Black Bar Association.

Contact: Julie Long
E-Mail: jlong2@naz.edu
Phone: (585) 389-2456