Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

Melissa Armbrester, a 2004 graduate of Earlham's Master of Arts in Teaching Program, will join other alums for a panel discussion at the Graduate Programs in Education's Diversity Seminar on March 8.

RICHMOND, Ind. — Earlham College's Graduate Programs in Education (G.P.E.) is hosting a seminar to draw awareness to the problem of a declining percentage of minority Hoosier schoolteachers. "Connecting Earlham to the World: Diversity in the Classroom" will take place on Saturday, March 8, in the Landrum Bolling Center on the Earlham campus. There is no charge for admission.

According to information recently released by Cornell Burris, president of the greater Indianapolis chapter of the NAACP, public school systems across the country are suffering from a critical shortage of minority teachers. Burris' memo states that nationwide approximately one-third of all public school students are members of racial or ethnic minority groups while the percentage of minority teachers averages 13.5 percent.

Burris, however, finds the problem particularly acute in Indiana. According to data obtained by Burris from the Indiana Department of Education, nearly one quarter of all Hoosier schoolchildren are members of racial and ethnic minority groups while only five percent of Indiana's public school teachers identify as minorities. The percentage of minority teachers in Indiana has fallen over the last 25 years while the minority student population has exploded.

Sensing an urgent need to educate Hoosiers about this problem and to take a leading role in helping to encourage minority students to consider a career in education, the Graduate Programs in Education office conceived this seminar as a first step in creating awareness at Earlham, says G.P.E. Admissions Director Stan Hill.

Hill says that the diversity seminar will bring together a panel of Earlham alumni who are involved in education to help current Earlham students understand why diversity is important in today's secondary schools and to assist them in understanding why an Earlham education makes graduates especially well-suited for teaching careers.

The seminar will feature a keynote address by Dr. Charles Calhoun '74, the chairman of the department of curriculum and instruction at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Other alums scheduled for a panel discussion are Melissa Armbrester M.A.T.'04, Kevin Browder-Handley '98, Pancho Gutierrez '82, Mary Davis '70, and Norma Ross '56 who have all chosen careers in education. Attendees will have a chance to network with these distinguished alumni after the event.

Contact:
Mark Blackmon, director of media relations
765/983-1256 — E-Mail Mark