President Blake implements her new speaker series

President of UHCL Ira K. Blake recently launched The President’s Speaker Series: The Big Questions. 

“While some of our existing speaker series’ stick to a certain subject or discipline, the Presidential Speaker Series will not only address the most pressing and forward-thinking issues confronting educators but will seek to do so in a sequential way that links one presentation to the next,” Blake said. “Over time, a body of work and cadre of participants will evolve that will allow us to better understand where education has been, where it is at the moment, and where it is headed.”

The first event in the series discussed the future of higher education. The event included three panelists: Peter Bishop, a former UHCL faculty member in future studies and a retired University of Houston faculty member; Chris Dede, a former UHCL faculty member in Future Studies and a current faculty member at Harvard University; and Jennifer Jarratt, a former UHCL student and faculty member, an author and consultant. 

“I hope that participants understand that future studies and foresight is a real discipline, with real methods and real perspectives and real things to learn,” Bishop said. 

The first event included a morning session to discuss the history of UHCL as a university, its early years and interdisciplinary culture, current and future needs and strategic challenges for institutions of higher education. 

Panelists took part in a virtual reception where participants had the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.

“It is important to come away from the speaker series with a sense that UHCL is a place where these kinds of ideas and possibilities are discussed and that the university can partner with the community to help address these issues,” said Kevin Wooten, chief strategy officer. 

The first workshop presented by Dede included the 60-year curriculum. Dede centered his discussion around the 60-year curriculum book, which includes new models for lifelong learning in the digital economy. 

“The 60-year curriculum is about reconceptualizing lifelong learning to be continuous so that you are continuously building your capacity,” Dede said. 

The second workshop, presented by Jarratt, covered the transformation of work in a post-pandemic world and digital economy, redefining the world of work and the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. 

The third workshop, presented by Bishop, discussed how to integrate future thinking into the curriculum. The discussion centered around how to integrate future-thinking across elementary, middle, secondary, college and university curriculum.  

“It is basically about how we teach about the future and why we should teach about the future and here are some ideas you can include in the curriculum,” Bishop said. 

The second event takes place Nov. 13 and discusses the future of diversity, inclusion, and globalism in higher education. 

The morning session includes a discussion of transforming higher education and understanding diversity, inclusion and global perspectives in the classroom.

“I think it is important that our goal for the university is that UHCL will be a thought-leader in higher education and not just for the label of it, but for the doing of it,” Wooten said.  

There will be an educator workshop that will include strategies and techniques for inclusion, diversity, ethnicity and globalism. The workshop will also cover methods to consider in the curriculum, program design and practical teaching strategies. 

Panelists will take part in a virtual reception where participants have the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.

There will be a closed session for the UHCL core leadership team to discuss inclusion, ethnicity, diversity and globalism and how these areas are addressed on campus.

Additionally, there will be a closed session with UHCL deans, associate deans, department chairs, student affairs staff, academic affairs staff, the chief diversity officer, UHCL anti-racism groups and student representatives to discuss current issues and curriculum changes. 

The vice president of student affairs for UHCL selects student representatives based on students’ roles in various organizations, particularly those attuned to diversity, inclusion and/or international issues. 

The speaker series will continue in the spring 2021 semester. The spring 2021 events will center around future technology in education. For more information on these events, visit the UHCL website. 

UHCL administration brought in speakers from different universities to speak at these events. There have been faculty concerns around these events in relation to administration bringing in people from outside of the university. 

“UHCL has many faculty with nationally recognized expertise in their fields,” said Elizabeth Beavers, president of the faculty senate and associate professor of special education. “As such, it is hoped that as this series continues our own faculty will be spotlighted and we look internally to recognize the research-based contributions and educationally powerful learning innovations in pedagogy, technology and curricula which make UHCL great.”