News Releases

Social justice activist to discuss higher education as pathway out of poverty

September 18, 2007

Exhibition kicks off social justice concentration in educational leadership in policy studies at ISU

Vyvyan Adair

A scholar and advocate for improving lives through higher education will talk on Monday, Sept. 24, from 2:30-4:30 p.m., in 2019 Morrill Hall on the Iowa State University campus in Ames. Vivyan Adair, associate professor of women’s studies at Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and director of the Access project, will talk about poverty and the promise of higher education.

The talk is part of the kick-off of the social justice concentration offered to graduate students by the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State Unversity.

Social Justice Concentration

Instituted this fall, the social justice concentration in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State is designed to provide students with the opportunity to engage in rigorous study of higher education in connection with social justice. Students study the dynamics of priviledge and oppression at the individual, group and systemic levels. They also learn skills for helping to change policies and practices that effect social and economic justice. For more information about the social justice concentration, contact Nancy Evans, professor of higher education, email nevans@iastate.edu, 515 294-7113, or Nana Osei-Kofi, assistant professor of higher education, email oseikofi@iastate.edu, phone 515 294-5529.

Exhibition offers insider's view of poverty, higher education as track to prosperity

At the Sept. 24 talk, Adair will also discuss an exhibition of color photographs and stories created by women and men who either are – or were – poor parents or students. The exhibition is showing at the Gallery in the Round in the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames at 1015 N. Hyland Avenue through Sept. 28. The exhibition, “The Missing Story of Ourselves: Poverty and the Promise of Higher Education,” illustrates how the creators’ lives have changed through the pathway of higher education.

Photographed from an insider’s perspective, the images and stories present a poignant view of poverty and reframe the cultural valuations of poor parents, families, work and higher education in the U.S. They also demonstrate how higher education can offer a passageway to a better life.

Contacts:

Nancy Evans, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, phone 515 294-7113.

Nana Osei-Kofi, assistant professor of higher education, phone 515 294-5529.

Cathy Curtis, College of Human Sciences, phone 515 294-8175.