Gadsden to deliver AERA Distinguished Lecture

Vivian Gadsden will help kick off the American Educational Research Association’s Annual Meeting by delivering a Distinguished Lecture April 9.

Titled “The Education and Social Imperative for Responsibility and Partnerships: Can Children and Their Families Count on Us?”, Gadsden will ask two guiding questions: Whether and how our field responds to the call to fulfill our commitment to the well-being of children and their families and how we will demonstrate that they can count on us to dream with them and to act with purpose in their best interests.

A past president of AERA, Gadsden’s work focuses on the cultural and social factors affecting learning and literacy across the life-course and within families, particularly those at the greatest risk for academic and social vulnerability.

Also at AERA this year, Yasmin Kafai will chair a Research Science & Policy Forum session April 9: “Cultivating Interest and Competencies in Computing: Authentic Experiences and Design Factors – A Report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine”. 

On April 10, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas will chair “Topsy, Bopsy, and Black Girlhood: What Lovecraft Country Can Teach Us About How Black Girls Are Seen (And See Themselves)”, part of the Cinematic Intersection Series of Presidential Sessions.