HGSE Announces Fall 2015 Askwith Forums

The Harvard Graduate School of Education is pleased to announce its fall 2015 Askwith Forums, a series of public lectures dedicated to discussing challenges facing education, sharing new knowledge, and generating spirited conversation. This season’s forum series kicks off with U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who has long focused on critical issues in education including college affordability and student debt. Other highlights include a discussion of the democratization of American higher education with Harvard Law School Professor Lani Guinier; and a conversation with district superintendents — including Joseph Davis of the Ferguson-Florrisant (Missouri) School District — on the social responsibility of urban districts to provide equity. Many of this fall’s forums are planned in conjunction with the Fulfilling the Promise of Diversity, an ongoing conversation and set of cohesive experiences bringing the HGSE community together around a topic central to our work as educators and individuals.

The fall schedule of events follows:

September 18: An Afternoon with the Honorable Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator for Massachusetts. Noon–1 p.m. This is a ticketed event. Please see the calendar listing for student and HGSE community ticket lottery information. Limited seating will be available on a first-come, first-seated basis for the general public.

October 15: Rac(e)ing to Class: We Are in This Together! with University of Pittsburgh Professor H. Richard Milner IV, Helen Faison Endowed Chair of Urban Education and director of the Center for Urban Education; editor of Urban Education; and author of Rac(e)ing to Class: Confronting Poverty and Race in Schools and Classrooms. Introduced by Dean James Ryan. 4–5:30 p.m. This forum is planned in conjunction with the Fulfilling the Promise of Diversity Faculty Series.

October 19: Schooling in the Workplace: The Swiss Model with Noel Ginsburg, chairman and CEO of Intertech Plastics and chair of Colorado Advanced Manufacturing Alliance; Nancy Hoffman, vice president of Jobs for the Future and author of Schooling in the Workplace; Ursula Renold, head of the Comparative Education System Research Division, Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zürich; and Marc Tucker, president of National Center on Education and the Economy and leader of NCEE’s international study of vocational education systems. Moderated by Professor Robert Schwartz. 5:30–7 p.m.

October 27: Ivy League Meritocracy Lie with Lani Guinier, Bennett Boskey Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and author of The Tyranny of the Meritocracy: Democratizing Higher Education in America. 5:30–7 p.m. This forum is planned in conjunction with Fulfilling the Promise of Diversity.

October 30: Everybody's Talking About Equity, But Nobody Knows the Meaning of the Word with Jennifer Cheatham, Ed.M.’06, Ed.D.’10, superintendent of Madison (Wisconsin) Metropolitan School District; Joseph Davis, Ed.M.’00, Ed.D.’08, superintendent of Ferguson-Florrisant (Missouri) School District; and Stephen Zrike Jr., Ed.M.’03, Ed.D.’10, receiver of Holyoke (Massachusetts) Public Schools. Remarks by Professor Robert Peterkin. Moderated by Charles Ogletree, Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice, Harvard Law School. 5–7 p.m. This forum is being held in conjunction with the Urban Superintendents Program (USP) Convening in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the introduction of the USP Program. This forum is planned in conjunction with Fulfilling the Promise of Diversity.

November 17: If You Want to Go Fast, Go Alone. If You Want to Go Far, Go Together with Kaya Henderson, chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools and Josephine Bias Robinson, chief of Office of Family and Public Engagement for Office of the Chancellor at District of Columbia Public Schools. Moderated by Senior Lecturer Karen Mapp. 5:30–7 p.m. This forum is planned in conjunction with Fulfilling the Promise of Diversity.

All forums are held in Askwith Hall at the Longfellow building on Appian Way in Cambridge and are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted on the calendar description. Askwith Forums also will be streamed live 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, filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, autism activist Temple Grandin, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, Khan Academy founder and director Sal Khan, and Whistling Vivaldi author Claude Steele.