April 16, 2007 (Vol. 5, No. 6)

Associate Dean to Speak at White House Initiative Conference

Dr. Susan Polirstok, Associate Dean of Education at Lehman College, has been invited to participate in an upcoming national conference sponsored by the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. She will discuss The Teacher Academy, the new initiative by The City University of New York to prepare secondary-level math and science teachers, and stress in her presentation that this kind of innovative program is needed "for the United States to maintain its global competitiveness in the next decade."

The three-day conference on "The American Competitiveness Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities for Hispanic Serving Institutions" will bring together Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) from across the country, focusing on building their capacity to meet the nation's need for innovative research and Hispanic talent in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math. It will be held at the University of Texas at El Paso beginning April 23.

Dr. Polirstok will serve as a panelist in the session on "Teacher Preparation: The Role of HSIs in Preparing More Highly Qualified Teachers." The session will address how HSIs can respond to the White House's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI), which aims at preparing 100,000 highly qualified math and science teachers by 2015. ACI, announced last year by President Bush, is an aggressive, long-term approach to ensure that the United States continues its leadership position in science and technology.

Dr. Polirstok, who directs Lehman's Teacher Academy, has written dozens of research articles and text chapters on numerous areas, including "gentle" teaching and functional communication for individuals with autism and severe retardation, peer tutoring, parent training and advocacy, learning and behavior disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, emotional intelligence and self-monitoring strategies.

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