Pitt's Learning Policy Center to Present a Lecture April 2 by Alan Lesgold, Dean of the School of Education

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh's Learning Policy Center (LPC) will present a lecture by Alan Lesgold, dean of Pitt's School of Education, from 2:30 to 4 p.m. April 2 in 5604 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. The lecture, "Better Schools for the 21st Century," is part of LPC's 2008-09 colloquium series, Excellence and Equity in an Era of Accountability.

Lesgold's lecture will focus on commonly accepted inadequacies in American education and present research on ways to overcome them. In particular, he will address the evolving role of computers in the classroom, how instructional goals and strategies are developed, and the need to support learning by doing.

A professor and dean in the School of Education as well as a professor of psychology and intelligent systems at Pitt, Lesgold is a fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Psychological Society, and the American Educational Research Association. He also is a Lifetime National Associate of the National Research Council and serves on the boards of A+ Schools, Youthworks, and the Union for Reform Judaism.

Lesgold served as president of the Applied Cognitive Psychology Division of the International Association for Applied Psychology from 2002 to 2006 and was appointed a member of Governor Rendell's Commission on Preparing America's Teachers in 2005. He also is a member of the Commonwealth's Commission on Virtual High Schools.

Among Lesgold's honors are the APA award for distinguished contributions of applications of psychology to education and training in 2001 and the Educom Medal in 1995. He received his PhD degree in psychology from Stanford University in 1971 and holds an honorary doctorate from the Open University of the Netherlands.

The LPC's colloquium series aims to facilitate an informed discussion among researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and university students, faculty, and staff around current national and local education policy issues. The lectures are free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. To RSVP, visit www.learningpolicycenter.org or contact Julia Kaufman at lpc@pitt.edu.

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