Camarillo, Calif. April 19, 2010 – CSU Channel Islands (CI) will present its Second Annual Conference for Social Justice in Education on Saturday, April 24 in the John Spoor Broome Library on campus. The conference is hosted by CI’s School of Education and co-sponsored by the Counseling and Guidance Department in the School of Education at Cal Lutheran University, the Center for Equality and Justice/Diversity and Educational Excellence Working Group at Cal Lutheran and Corwin Press of Thousand Oaks.
The conference will begin with registration and coffee at 8 a.m. At 9 a.m. Dr. Joan Karp, CI’s Senior Associate Dean and Director of the School of Education, will welcome participants and President Richard R. Rush will provide opening remarks. The conference will continue with three separate multi-choice sessions and a free lunch provided by an anonymous donor.
The keynote address, “Brave Questions about Equity and Access in Ventura County Public Education”, will be given by Joe I. Mendoza, Director of the Migrant Education Program in the Ventura County Office of Education.
Mendoza said he hoped the result of the conference would be that people would be exposed to new ideas and increased awareness, particularly about out-of-school factors that are not being considered in the education of our children. “I have one family who lives in a garage, paying $1,200 a month. The mother and father are up at 4 a.m. so they can be out of the house at 5 a.m. The children are on their own to get up and get to school. There is no bathroom and no way to heat food,” he said. “Now imagine these kids in a classroom where they are talking about test scores, college, plans for the future, the internet and computers – like something from another planet. Can you imagine?” He concluded wearily, “I see this every day.”
The first session begins at 10:45 a.m. and will feature five different topics to choose from. Lunch will begin at noon and will be followed by the second session at 1 p.m. Some of the five topics offered include The Bracero Oral History Project at CSU Channel Islands, and Educational Drama, Equity and Voice. After a break, the third session will begin at 2:45 p.m. and end at 4 p.m. Speakers from CI, Cal Lutheran and the community, all experts in their fields, will offer a wide ranging and authoritative overview how social justice issues impact education from early childhood on.
The conference is free of charge and open to educators, students, parents, youth advocates, activists and anyone interested in education and issues of equity, access and accountability. There will be free campus parking, but registration is strongly encouraged and is available online at http://www.education4liberation.com. To learn more about social justice education at CI, please visit socialjustice@csuci.edu.
For media inquiries contact Nancy Covarrubias Gill, Director of Communication & Marketing at CSU Channel Islands, 805-437-8456 or nancy.gill@csuci.edu.
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CI Mission Statement
Placing students at the center of the educational experience, California State University Channel Islands provides undergraduate and graduate education that facilitates learning within and across disciplines through integrative approaches, emphasizes experiential and service learning, and graduates students with multicultural and international perspectives.
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About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands(CI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CI's Social Media.