Baldacci to speak at Forester Lecture Series
FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Huntington, Ind. "The Huntington College Forester Lecture Series welcomes Leslie Baldacci, who will present Faces of Social Justice in Public Education at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 11, in the Zurcher Auditorium of the Merillat Centre for the Arts. Baldacci will speak on the challenges of public education today, drawing from her experiences as a journalist and educator. The public is cordially invited to attend. Admission is free. Baldacci is a former journalist for United Press International and a twenty-five year veteran of the Chicago Sun-Times. She also serves as a Fellow with the Casey Journalism Center for Children and Families at the University of Maryland. In 1999, she left a distinguished journalism career to teach in the Chicago Public Schools.
Her classroom experiences are chronicled in a first-hand narrative, Inside Mrs. B's classroom: Courage, Hope, and Learning on Chicago's South Side, published in 2003 by McGraw-Hill. . Publishers Weekly proclaimed the book both beautiful and heartbreaking, suggesting it belongs in a first-day kit for new teachers and deserves a hard look from legislators, school administrators and voters who are considering cutting budgets in school districts across the country. Baldacci recently served as the keynote speaker for the National Education Writers Association, and her book, now in its third printing, is used in teacher training programs across the country.
Huntington College is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. Following a decade of growth and development, Huntington College will become Huntington University in mid-2005. U.S.News & World Report ranks Huntington among the top comprehensive colleges in the Midwest. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington College is located on a contemporary, lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. Huntington is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and was named one of the 50 best Christian places to work by Christianity Today magazine.
