HGSE Announces Spring 2014 Askwith Forums

The Harvard Graduate School of Education is pleased to announce its spring 2014 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 how hip-hop culture can offer teaching and learning tools in science with Assistant Columbia University Professor Christopher Emdin; a conversation with Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum; a presentation by filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan on his research on closing America’s achievement gap; and a talk with autism activist Temple Grandin.

February 13: Income Inequality and America’s Schools with HGSE Professor Richard Murnane and University of California – Irvine Professor Greg Duncan. Discussants include Harvard Law School Professor Martha Minow; columnist and editorial writer Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune; and Sonja Brookins Santelises, vice president for K–12 Policy and Practice at The Education Trust. Moderated by Professor Paul Reville. 5:30–7 p.m. Presented in conjunction with Harvard Book Store and Harvard Education Press.

February 28: The Hidden Science in Hip-Hop with Assistant Professor Christopher Emdin, Teacher’s College, Columbia University. Introduced by Adjunct Lecturer Daren Graves, assistant professor at Simmons College. 5:30–7 p.m. Presented in conjunction with the Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC).

March 1: Conversations with Beverly Daniel Tatum: From Dreams to Movements with Spelman College President Beverly Daniel Tatum. Introduced by Dean James Ryan. 9 – 10:30 a.m. Presented in conjunction with Alumni of Color Conference (AOCC).

March 3: Effectiveness in Leadership with Mitchell Chester, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and John King Jr., commissioner of education for the State of New York. Moderated by Professor Paul Reville. 5:30–7 p.m.

March 6: Farah Anwar Pandith, spring 2014 fellow, Institute of Politics, Harvard University; former Special Representative to Muslim Communities, U.S. Department of State. 5:30–7 p.m.  Presented in conjunction with Women in Leadership Institute.

March 13: Is Public Education Dead? with University of California – Berkeley Professor David Kirp; Harvard Kennedy School Professor Christopher Sandy Jencks; and Associate Professor Jal Mehta. Moderated by Dean James Ryan. 5:30–7 p.m.

March 26: All Kinds of Minds Help the World with Professor Temple Grandin, Colorado State University. 5:30–7 p.m.

April 10: The Future of Child and Family Policy with Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund. 5:30–7 p.m.

April 28: M. Night Shyamalan: I Got Schooled with screenwriter, director, producer, and author M. Night Shyamalan. 5:30–7 p.m.

April 29: Urban Neighborhoods and the Persistence of Racial Inequality with New York University Associate Professor Patrick Sharkey; Senior Fellow Richard Rothstein, University of California-Berkeley School of Law; and Harvard University Professor William Julius Wilson, director of Harvard Kennedy School Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program. Moderated by Dean James Ryan. 5:30–7 p.m.

All forums are held in Askwith Hall at the Longfellow building on Appian Way in Cambridge, Mass. Forums are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted on the calendar description. Askwith Forums also will be live streamed on the HGSE website and archived events can be viewed on the Harvard Education YouTube channel. For an opportunity to win reserved seating tickets to Askwith Forums, please like HarvardEducation on Facebook. To join the conversation online follow HGSE on Twitter or use the #Askwith hashtag.

The Askwith Forums were established in 1998 by the children and grandchildren of New York City public-relations consultant, writer, and publishing executive Herbert Askwith A.B.’(19)07.

Prominent speakers have included U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, historian Noam Chomsky, edX President Anant Agarwal, mindfulness guru Jon Kabat Zinn, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Colin Powell, pop singer Lady Gaga, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and Khan Academy Founder and Director Sal Khan.