November 6, 2008
Social expert to discuss media and diversity at ISU Nov. 10
The creative and cultural advisor for Nickelodeon's "Dora the Explorer" children's television series and its sequel, "Go, Diego, Go!," will lecture on how the media are shaping American perspectives on diversity, Monday night, on the Iowa State University campus. Carlos E. Cortés - who draws from historical dynamics to identify opportunities for change - will discuss "How the Media Teach about Diversity" on Monday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m., in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union in Ames. The lecture is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will immediately follow the talk.
Cortés is the author of two recent books, "The Children Are Watching: How the Media Teach about Diversity" and "The Making - and Remaking - of a Multiculturalist," coauthor of the Houghton Mifflin Social Studies textbook series, and senior consultant for the McDougal Littell World History series. He has written film and television documentaries and appeared as guest host on the PBS national television series, "Why in the World?"
A professor emeritus of history at the University of California in Riverside, Cortés has served on the summer faculty of the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education in Cambridge, Mass., since 1990 and on the faculty of the Summer Institute for Intercultural Communication in Portland, Ore., since 1995.
The lecture is one of a series offered by the social justice concentration in higher education, part of the educational leadership and policy studies at Iowa State University.
"Graduate students who study social justice selected Cortés for the lecture because of his work with the media and their recognition of its impact on people's thinking," said Nana Osei-Kofi, an ISU assistant professor in educational leadership and policy studies who coordinates the social justice concentration program. "This lecture series gives our students the chance to meet with international scholars one-on-one and discuss their social justice work," she said.
Students in the social justice program study privilege, oppression, and higher education as well as effective methods for promoting equity for social and economic justice. Osei-Kofi says the lecture series underscores the growing influence of the social justice program at Iowa State.
"The lectures series draws attention to the central role of social justice work in education at Iowa State," said Osei-Kofi.
The lecture is co-sponsored by the Iowa State University Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, College of Human Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Center for American Intercultural Studies, Dean of Students Office, Multicultural Student Affairs, YWCA Ames-ISU, and the Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).
Editor's note: For more information about the social justice concentration, visit www.elps.hs.iastate.edu/sjhe.
Contacts:
Nana Osei-Kofi, assistant professor, educational leadership and policy studies, cell phone 806-252-1241.
Pat Miller, Lectures Program, phone 515 294-9935, email pamiler@iastate.edu
Laura Dillavou, communications specialist, College of Human Sciences, phone 515 294-3689, email laurad@iastate.edu.
Cathy Curtis, communications editor, College of Human Sciences, phone 515 294-8175, email ccurtis@iastate.edu.
