Expert on Minority Students and Special Education to Speak at
Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus on May 3, 2008

Sponsored by Center for Urban Educators

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Professor Beth Harry, an authority on the impact of special education on minority students, will address the annual conference sponsored by the Center for Urban Educators of the School of Education at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus on Saturday, May 3.

Harry, a professor of special education at the University of Miami, will present a talk entitled, “The Families, Those Families: Getting Past the Stereotypes.” Parents, teachers, educators and students are welcome to attend.

The event, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 3, will be held in the Zeckendorf Health Sciences Center at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus, located at Flatbush and DeKalb avenues in downtown Brooklyn. Subway riders may take the B/Q/R trains to DeKalb Avenue, or the 2/3/4/5 trains to Nevins Street. Admission is $20, which includes breakfast, lunch and participation in working groups.

A native of Jamaica, Harry entered the field of special education as a parent of a child with cerebral palsy. In 2002, she served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel to study the disproportionate placement of minority students in special education. In 2003, she received a Fulbright Award to pursue research on Moroccan children’s schooling in Spain. Recently, she co-authored, “Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? Understanding Race and Disability in Schools” (2005) and “Case Studies of Minority Student Placement in Special Education” (2007). Her research and teaching, which has included Puerto Rican, African-American and many other groups, focuses on the impact of special education on families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

The mission of the Center for Urban Educators is the reform of urban teacher education. Its vision of teaching and schools is one that supports teachers as socially responsible people who are intellectually engaged and act as advocates for children, parents and their communities. CUE works within the School of Education at Long Island University’s Brooklyn campus and in partnership with New York City public schools.

For more information, or to register for the conference, please contact Marita Downes at (718) 488-1051.

Posted: April 29, 2008

Media contact: (718) 488-1015