Pitt Learning Policy Center to Present a Lecture Dec. 9 on Breaking Down Barriers That Isolate the Learning Experience

PITTSBURGH-The University of Pittsburgh's Learning Policy Center (LPC) will present a lecture by William F. Tate from 2:30 to 4 p.m. Dec. 9 in 5604 Posvar Hall, 230 S. Bouquet St., Oakland. The lecture, "Beyond the Business of Parallel Play: Engineering Change in METS," is part of LPC's 2009-10 colloquium series, Preparing Students for Life Beyond K-12.

The lecture will focus on developing quality academic and social opportunities for urban school students in the face of barriers, which include organizational tendencies to treat learning as a discrete set of isolated events. Examples will be drawn from mathematics, engineering, technology, and science (METS) research and development.

An Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University professor in the Department of Arts and Sciences at Washington University, Tate serves as chair of the Department of Education. He also serves as a member of the executive committee in American Culture Studies, the Center for Applied Statistics and Computation, and Urban Studies, and he is chair of the executive committee of the Center for Urban Research and Public Policy.

In addition to his academic role, Tate is director of the Center for the Study of Regional Competitiveness in Science and Technology at Washington University and coprincipal investigator of the National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems. He was formerly president of the American Educational and Research Association and editor of the "American Educational Research Journal."

Tate has written several scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and textbooks on subjects such as human capital development in mathematics, science, and technology; political economy of metropolitan regions; and adolescent development and health in urban communities.

Tate received his BA in economics from Northern Illinois University, his MA in mathematical sciences education from the University of Texas at Dallas, and a Ph.D. with a focus in mathematics education from the University of Maryland at College Park.

The LPC colloquium series works to create an informed dialogue between researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and university students around timely national and local education policy questions. 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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12/3/09/tmw