The theme for ACI’s Center for Success in High-Need Schools third annual Symposium is From Classroom Success to Community Responsibility: The Compelling Case for Improving Teaching and Learning in High-Need Schools.  The Symposium will be held on Thursday, April 17, 2008, at the Union League Club in Chicago from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.  Lunch is served.

Heading the Symposium will be keynote speaker Walter Earl Fluker, along with panelists:

·         Barbara Eason-Watkins

·         Judy Erwin

·         Carl Nelson

The Symposium will be moderated by Harold R. Wilde.

Walter Earl Fluker, executive director of the Leadership Center at Morehouse College. Fluker assumed the executive director position in 1998. Under his direction the Center has developed pre-eminence in the study and practice of ethical leadership in national and global venues. Fluker is the Coca-Cola Professor of Leadership Studies at Morehouse and also serves as editor of the college’s Howard Thurman Papers Project.  He has completed the first volume of a trilogy, The Sound of the Genuine: The Papers of Howard Washington Thurman, pending publication by University of South Carolina Press. Fluker received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and biblical studies from Trinity College, a master’s of divinity degree from Garrett-Evangelical Seminary, and a doctorate in social ethics from Boston University.

Panelists:

Barbara Eason-Watkins, chief education officer of Chicago Public Schools since 2001. Eason-Watkins is a nationally recognized school principal from Chicago's Woodlawn community who has spent her entire 28-year career working with students, teachers, and parents in the schools. She previously served as principal of McCosh Elementary School in Chicago. A native of Detroit, MI, she received a bachelor’s degree with honors in elementary education from the University of Michigan, a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Chicago State University, and a doctorate in education with a specialty in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University Chicago. Her awards include the Whitman Award for Excellence in Educational Leadership (1989), the CPS Principal of Excellence Award (1990 and 1995), the Phi Delta Kappa Educator of the Year Award (1995), and the CPS Principal Leadership Award (1997).

Judy Erwin, executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE), the State of Illinois’ coordinating board for postsecondary education. She oversees a $2.2 billion higher education budget and manages academic program approvals for Illinois’ colleges and universities. Since her term began in 2005, IBHE has worked successfully to create a P-20 Illinois Education Coordinating Council, launched the development of a “Public Agenda for Higher Education;” advocated for increased higher education funding, supported efforts to reduce remediation in postsecondary education, and worked to improve academic preparation of low income and minority students. Erwin came to IBHE after serving from 1992 to 2003 in the Illinois General Assembly, where she chaired the House Higher Education Committee and served as Vice-Chair of the Appropriations-Higher Education Committee. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a master’s degree from National College of Education (now National-Louis University). She has completed extensive graduate work at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Public Policy Analysis and Political Science and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government’s “Senior Executives in State and Local Government” program. Erwin is a member of the Executive Committee of The Chicago Community Trust.

Carl Nelson, staff assistant in the Education Excellence Unit of State Farm Insurance Companies’ Corporate Public Affairs department. Nelson’s primary responsibilities include managing some of State Farm’s partnerships with service-learning organizations, the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, and with Illinois State University and the University of Illinois. He has played a role in developing many of State Farm’s national education partnerships and initiatives. Nelson has a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in counseling from Illinois State University. He is a former high school, adult education and college teacher.

Symposium Moderator:

Harold R. Wilde is the ninth president of North Central College (Naperville, IL), and member of the Associated Colleges of Illinois.  North Central College is "a community of learners dedicated to preparing informed, involved, principled and productive citizens and leaders over a lifetime." The college has an enrollment of 2,550 students and offers 58 undergraduate majors and six master’s degrees. Wilde's tenure as North Central’s president has been marked by an eightfold increase in endowment; 58% growth in full-time undergraduate enrollment; adoption of the college's first comprehensive new curriculum in 30 years; and a broadened commitment to international programming, service-learning, and interdisciplinary studies. Wilde graduated from Amherst College with high honors and earned a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University.  A native of Wisconsin, he served several years in Wisconsin state government, including four as that state's insurance commissioner. He became president of North Central in 1991.

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