10/20/2005
Contact: K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199;
e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu
SRU TO HOST FREDERICK DOUGLASS COLLABORATIVE
AT REGIONAL LEARNING ALLIANCE
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.
– Slippery Rock University’s Frederick Douglass
Institute will host the two-day Pennsylvania State System of Higher
Education Frederick Douglass Institute Collaborative fall meeting
on Friday and Saturday [Oct. 21-22] the Regional Learning Alliance
at Cranberry Woods Corporate Office Park.
As a state system
collaborative, the institute encourages faculty and staff
professional development around issues of equality and diversity by
providing information and programs, and through scholarships and
research, forums, exhibits, conferences, and visiting scholars,
says Dr. Christophas Walker, director of the Douglass Institute at
SRU and organizer for the local program.
The
institutes, located at various state system universities, include
university programs for advancing multicultural studies across the
curriculum and for deepening the intellectual heritage of Frederick
Douglass, the former slave, distinguished orator, journalist,
author and statesman. Douglass, who was a frequent visitor to the
West Chester area of Pennsylvania, gave his last public lecture on
West Chester's campus Feb. 1, 1895. Goals of the Frederick Douglass
Collaborative include playing a role in serving the traditionally
underserved members of universities and civic communities, and
providing opportunities for faculty to work with these groups and
to serve as sources of encouragement, Walker points out.
This
year’s collaborative meeting will include directors and other
representatives from the Frederick Douglass Institutes across the
state along with Slippery Rock University’s President Robert
Smith, Provost and Vice President William Williams and Associate
Provost Amanda Yale. The meeting will give the Frederick Douglass
Collaborative an opportunity to focus on improving collaborative
programming, obtaining state program funding, and the continued
improvement of its academic journal “Making
Connections.” Dr. Renay Scales, SRU assistant vice president
for human resources and diversity, and Sandra Stevenson, assistant
director of diversity and staff training at SRU, will offer a
workshop on coalition building for diversity.
PN, PgN, WPN, PR
FrederickDouglass.kes.doc