University Park, Pa. -- The 2009 Achievement Conference, "Outside the Box, Beyond the Book: Strategies for Learning," will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at The Nittany Lion Inn on Penn State's University Park campus.
This ninth annual event is presented by the Black Graduate Student Association and co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity, the Office of Graduate Educational Equity Programs, the Office of Undergraduate Education, the Commission on Racial/Ethnic Diversity, the Forum on Black Affairs, the Africana Research Center, and the Alliance for Earth Sciences, Engineering and Development in Africa.
The purpose of this conference is to foster relationships among juniors, seniors and graduate students of color, along with faculty and administrators. All faculty, administrators, graduate students and prospective graduate students of color are encouraged to attend. This is an excellent opportunity for faculty to share their knowledge and experiences with tomorrow's research scholars and professionals.
The conference agenda will include professional development workshops, a buffet luncheon, and two keynote speakers, Jhan Doughty Berry, director of student retention and diverse student success in the Offices of the Provost and President at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Shaun R. Harper, faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and the Center for Africana Studies at Penn.
Berry's research and scholarship is in the area of working with adults and children with severe mental health and/or physical disabilities, multicultural issues, intervention-based research, and ethical issues in research. Harper, formerly an assistant professor at Penn State, maintains an active research agenda that examines racism and gender disparities in higher education, black male college access and achievement, and college student engagement.
The conference also will feature a research exhibition for interested conference participants to showcase their work.
To find out more about the Achievement Conference or to register, visit the conference Web site at http://www.outreach.psu.edu/conference/achievement online.