West Virginia University Professor to Speak at UH Manoa on Educational Renewal and Importance of Partnerships

Van Dempsey is latest guest speaker in the Alice and Carl Daeufer Lecture Series

University of Hawaiʻi
Contact:
Heather Wong, (808)956-6219
Public Information Officer
Posted: Jan 21, 2004


HONOLULU — Van Dempsey, director of the Benedum Collaborative and the Benedum Center for Educational Renewal at West Virginia University, is the sixth guest lecturer in the Alice and Carl Daeufer Lecture Series of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa‘s College of Education. Dempsey will present a lecture entitled, "Struggles, Strategy, and Taking the Long View: How Partnerships Can Advance the Agenda for Educational Renewal," on Monday, January 26, from 6:30 — 7:30 p.m. at the UH Mānoa School of Architecture Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

In his presentation, Dempsey will address issues of educational improvement in a democracy, and areas in which reforms have proven especially challenging for elementary, secondary and higher education. Dempsey will also offer commentary on how K-12 and higher education can work together to create successful partnerships.

Dempsey is an associate professor of Social and Cultural Foundations at West Virginia University. His primary areas of research and publication include school desegregation, partnership development, and school renewal. He is in his sixth year as director of the Benedum Collaborative, a school-university partnership between West Virginia University and 28 West Virginia public schools that is built on the philosophy of the simultaneous renewal of educator preparation and K-12 schools. The Collaborative was recognized in 2003 as an exemplary initiative in teacher education by the U.S. Secretary of Education in the report "Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The Secretary‘s Second Annual Report on Teacher Quality."

As the director of the Benedum Center for Educational Renewal, Dempsey provides leadership to a statewide effort in West Virginia to build partnerships between 10 institutions of higher education and over 60 public schools in 17 school districts.

The Alice and Carl Daeufer Lecture Series is sponsored by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's College of Education and the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly.

To RSVP and for more information about the event, call 956-6219. Parking will be available on a first-come, first-served basis in the Architecture building parking lot (entrance on University Avenue) for a $3 fee.