Spring 2013 Askwith Forums Announced

The Harvard Graduate School of Education is pleased to announce its spring 2013 Askwith Forums, a series of public lectures dedicated to discussing challenges facing education, sharing new knowledge, and generating spirited conversation. Highlights this spring will include a discussion about school violence with Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, and PBS NewsHour correspondent John Merrow, Ed.D.’73; “Advice for Living from the Oldest (and Wisest) Americans” with Cornell University Professor Karl Pillemer; and a celebration of the 45th anniversary of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed with historian Noam Chomsky, Visiting Lecturer Bruno della Chiesa, and Professor Howard Gardner.

The Askwith Forums, which are free and open to the public, attract more than 3,500 attendees each year. The series provides an opportunity for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to share their work, talk with one another, and advance proven practices that will improve learning opportunities for all children.

January 23: Preparing for the Future: What Educational Assessment Must Do with Randy Bennett of the Educational Testing Service and Professor Daniel Koretz.  Moderated by Professor Chris Dede. 4 – 5:30 p.m.

January 29: The Futures of School Reform with Lecturer Elizabeth City; Frederick Hess, director of educational policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute; Professor Paul Hill of University of Washington – Bothell; Assistant Professor Jal Mehta; and Professors Paul Reville and Robert Schwartz. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

February 5: A Discussion with Jon Schnur, cofounder and executive chairman of America Achieves. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

March 1: Denise Juneau, state superintendent of public instruction for Montana. In conjunction with the 11th Annual Alumni of Color Conference.  5 – 7 p.m.

March 4: Teaching Empathy and Preventing Bullying: Solutions for Families with Emily Bazelon, author of Schools with Sticks and Stones: Defeating the Culture of Bullying and Rediscovering the Power of Empathy, and R.J. Palacio, author of Wonder.  Moderated by Lecturer Richard Weissbourd. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

March 6: Presentation of the Anne Roe Award with speech by the recipient. (Note: The winner of this award will be announced at a later date.) 5:30 – 7 p.m.

March 11: Norman Atkins, cofounder and president of The Relay Graduate School of Education. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

March 13: A discussion on school violence with Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, and PBS NewsHour correspondent John Merrow. Time to be announced.

April 3: Advice for Living from the Oldest (and Wisest) Americans with Cornell University Professor Karl Pillemer, director of Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

April 11: Semper Teaching: What Public Schools Can Learn from the Marines. Time to be announced.

April 23: Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? with Pasi Sahlberg, director general of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation.  5:30 – 7 p.m.

May 1: The 45th Anniversary of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed with historian Noam Chomsky, Visiting Lecturer Bruno della Chiesa, and Professor Howard Gardner. 5:30 – 7 p.m.

All forums are held in Askwith Hall at the Longfellow building on Appian Way in Cambridge, Mass., and open to the public unless otherwise noted as a ticketed event. All Askwith Forums also will be live-streamed on the HGSE website. For an opportunity to win tickets to Askwith Forums, please become a fan of HarvardEducation on Facebook or follow HGSE on Twitter.

About Askwith Forums: The Askwith Forums, established in 1998 by an anonymous donor and named in memory of New York City public-relations consultant, writer and publishing executive Herbert Askwith, is a series of public lectures at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Over the past few years, the Askwith Forums have featured a wide range of topics, including early childhood, civic and moral engagement, bullying, expanded learning models, educating for human rights, and international education. Topics are initiated by faculty, students, and alumni, and aim to address the highest-priority challenges facing the education sector.

Prominent speakers have included former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein, Harvard Medical School Professor Atul Gawande, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, American Federation of Teacher’s President Randi Weingarten, Pop singer Lady Gaga, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and author Diane Ravitch.