BUFFALO, NY – Canisius University will welcome Marilyn Cochran-Smith, PhD, to campus on Wednesday, June 12 from 4:00 – 6:30 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center, located at the corner of Main Street and Eastwood Place. Cochran-Smith is the Cawthorne Chair in Teacher Education for Urban Schools and director of the doctoral program in curriculum and instruction at Boston College. Her lecture, entitled “Culturally Relevant Teaching: What’s Justice Got To Do With It,” is open to the public. Registration is $10 per person. The event is made possible by the JUSTICE Project at Canisius University.
A teacher education scholar and practitioner for 30 years, Cochran-Smith is widely-known for her scholarship regarding teacher education research, practice and policy, and for her sustained commitment to teaching and teacher education for diversity and social justice.
Elected to the National Academy of Education in 2009, she currently serves as chair of its Professional Development Committee, which oversees the Academy’s professional development program. Cochran-Smith previously served on NCATE’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Clinical Preparation and Partnerships for Improved Student Learning, whose report, Transforming Teacher Education through Clinical Practice: A National Strategy to Prepare Effective Teachers, was published in 2010. She was also a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Teacher Education, which was charged by Congress to study the state of teacher preparation in the U.S. the group’s report, Preparing Teachers: Building Sound Evidence for Policy, was published in 2010.
Cochran-Smith is the author of nine books, five of which received national awards or recognitions. She served as chief editor of the Journal of Teacher Education, from 2000-2006.
Cochran-Smith holds a BA in sociology from the College of Wooster, where she also earned certification as an elementary teacher (K-8). She later earned certification as a reading specialist and reading supervisor for all grade levels. Cochran-Smith received her PhD in language and education from the University of Pennsylvania. She was a professor of education in the university’s Graduate School of Education until 1995, when Cochran-Smith joined the Lynch School of Education faculty at Boston College as professor of education. In 2005, she was named the inaugural holder of the John E. Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education for Urban Schools.
The JUSTICE Project at Canisius University offers continual professional development opportunities to cultivate learning experiences that advance the instructional practices of teachers, teacher candidates, and college faculty, by improving and enhancing inclusive classroom practices for under-served students in urban schools. Each professional development offering is aligned with the JUSTICE Project elements that are focused on promoting pedagogy that is grounded on evidence based practice.
Click here to register for Marilyn Cochran-Smith's lecture.
One of 28 Jesuit universities in the nation, Canisius is the premier private university in Western New York.
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