MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT:                       Language, Identity and Education Symposium, hosted by DePaul University’s School of Education, presents current issues related to the education of linguistically and culturally diverse students.

WHO:                         Danling Fu presentation: English Language Learners Writing Development from Native Language to English. An internationally known educator, researcher and consultant, Fu is a professor of language and culture in the School of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida and a researcher on literacy education for new immigrant students. Fu has pioneered comprehensive approaches to writing development and literacy for English language learners. She works and researches in the schools with large populations of new immigrant students in New York City and consults on English as a Second Language and bilingual education from K-12. She has authored several books and dozens of articles on teaching immigrant and underprivileged children.

Kris D. Gutiérrez presentation: Educational Equity & the New Latino Diaspora: Supporting Expansive Learning & Powerful Literacies. A professor in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, Gutiérrez serves as director of the Center for the Study of Urban Literacies, as well as director of the education studies minor. Her research focuses on studying the literacy practices of urban schools and examining the relationship between literacy, culture and human development.

Awad Ibrahim presentation: Race-in-the-Gap: Hip-Hop, Identity, Identification & the Politics of Language Learning. An associate professor at the Faculty of Education at the University of Ottawa, Canada, Ibrahim teaches and publishes widely exploring the areas of hip-hop studies, black pop culture, minority adolescents, racially and linguistically mediated identities, anti-racism and critical multiculturalism, applied socio-linguistics, and cultural studies.

WHEN:                       11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday, June 13

WHERE:                     Auditorium Room 161, Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave., DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Campus, Chicago

BACKGROUND:       Educating linguistically diverse students is very much a hot topic in the education world, especially given the current strong anti-immigrant movement. This symposium will be well-attended by a variety of educators and community leaders, including Chicago Public School board members, teachers and administrators; a Chicago Community Trust senior officer; and a member of the Mexican American Legal Defense Education fund.

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