Elon University and the (Burlington, N.C.) Times-News will hold the fourth and final "Community Connections" panel discussion of the 2015-16 academic year on March 7 from 7-8:15 p.m. in McKinnon Hall of the Moseley Center.
“Education, Race and Ethnicity in Alamance County and Beyond” will be the theme for the final Community Connections campus program taking place during the 2015-16 academic year. Community Connections is a partnership between Elon University and the Times-News of Burlington, N.C. This event is the fourth Community Connections of the school year and the third in a series on race relations.
The conversation will focus on early childhood through higher education as well informal educational networks and partnerships. How are communities working together to share cultural and business knowledge? What opportunities are available through education to decrease achievement gaps and economic disparities? We will discuss these questions and other issues with our panel of experts.
“We have two successful conversations about race relations this academic year,” said Assistant Professor Jason Husser, Faculty Fellow for Civic Engagement and moderator of the series. “Those discussions made clear that education remains a crucial means to improving social problems. We hope the event on March 7 provides more than a simple affirmation about education’s importance, but also concrete ways the educational experience in the American life can more effectively remedy America’s difficulties.”
Madison Taylor, editor of the Times-News, wrote in a recent column: “Last month we decided our first forum topic would be Race Relations. But after a few minutes of discussion on Monday, we quickly determined that a single one-hour forum would hardly be enough to cover such a complex subject and quickly decided to make Race Relations the theme for all of our forums this coming school year. This offers a great opportunity for a running discussion about what is arguably the most important issue in America today.”
The discussion takes place from 7-8:15 p.m. on Monday, March 7, in McKinnon Hall inside the university’s Moseley Center. The event is free and open to the public.
The following panelists will provide broad perspective and encourage a conversation with the audience.
Patsy Simpson
-Board Member, Alamance-Burlington School System
Carrie Theall
-Executive Director, Alamance Partnership for Children
Carlos Valera
-Teacher, Alamance-Burlington School System
Randy Williams
-Presidential Fellow and Special Assistant to the President, Dean of Multicultural Affairs, Elon University
Community Connections forums take on a lively format. They consist in large part of a well-informed panel having an open conversation with audience members.
The goal of Community Connections forums is to create thoughtful dialog with members of the university community as well as those who in live in Alamance County and the surrounding area. forums have explored issues surrounding on domestic violence, hunger, downtown revitalization, health care, gun violence and welfare.