News
On October 15, 2024, we celebrated Dr. Wilson Kwamogi Okello and the launch of his compelling new book, On Blackness, Liveliness, and What It Means to Be Human: Toward Black Specificity in Higher Education. The event occurred at Chambers 119 and was also streamed via Zoom, bringing together an engaged audience eager to explore Dr. Okello's fresh perspectives on Blackness and human development.
About the Book:
Dr. Okello's work extends Sylvia Wynter's critical framework to examine how Black specificity can reimagine human development and academic knowledge production. Rather than focusing on reform, his book challenges us to rethink the "self" in holistic development theory, offering new possibilities for Black existence in higher education. During the event, Dr. Okello shared insights into his multimodal and multisensory approach, drawing on an impressive range of thinkers, including James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, Dionne Brand, Saidiya Hartman, and more.
The audience participated in a lively discussion, reflecting on the book’s themes of Black liveliness and identity in academic spaces, and how these ideas might shape future educational policies and practices.
Special Thanks:
We extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Okello for sharing his visionary work with us, and to everyone who participated, either in person or online. This event served as a meaningful dialogue on how Blackness informs how we understand humanity, education, and the potential for systemic transformation.
For those who were unable to attend, the event recording might be available soon. Stay tuned for more details.
Given that Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that has seen their Latinx population grow rapidly and has the 10th largest Latinx population in the U.S,, CI 297 might be helpful for those planning to teach and/or work with the Latinx community across Pennsylvania. In Ci 297, students will be learning more about the educational experiences of Latinxs in U.S. public schools from a theoretical and empirical perspective. The course will pay particular attention to how race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and immigration status shape Latinxs' K-16 educational trajectories.
The course will count towards the Social Justice Minor (or Latina/o Studies minor).
John D. Holst, Associate Professor of Lifelong Education and Adult Education, was recently appointed to the team of International Researchers at the Youth and Adult Education (EPJA-Spanish acronym) Observatory at the University of Playa Ancha. The Observatory is a new research center at the University of Playa Ancha in Chile.
Erica Frankenberg, professor of education and demography at Penn State, has been recognized in the 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. The annual list highlights the top 200 university-based U.S. scholars who significantly influenced educational practice and policy throughout the previous year. Frankenberg's inclusion follows her recent op-ed, "70 years after Brown v. Board of Ed., public schools still segregated," published in The Conversation.
José Cossa, an associate professor specializing in lifelong learning, adult education, comparative and international education, and African studies, has been selected as one of five new fellows at the UNESCO IBE Documentation Center. This center plays a pivotal role in promoting interdisciplinary research, scholarly inquiry, and intellectual dialogue, utilizing its vast resources to facilitate connections among scholars, educators, and the wider public.
Cossa's appointment underscores his significant contributions to the field, supported by his role as a consortium affiliate and his expertise in fostering global educational initiatives.
Noel Habashy, Assistant Teaching Professor at the College of Agricultural Sciences and a consortium affiliate, received a grant to present "Exploding Silos: Fostering Integrative Thinking through Co-Curricular Global Learning" at the AAC&U Conference on Global Learning as part of the 2023-24 Schreyer Institute Teaching & Learning Scholarship grants.
