Lessons of intercultural dialogue to be topic of Hassinger lecture

“Muslim communities in Orange County and Teacher Education: What can we learn from each other?” is the topic of this year’s Hassinger Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Educational Studies, Friday, Sept. 16, from 5 to 7 p.m. in Beckman 404.

The keynote speaker will be Shirley R. Steinberg, Ph.D., director and chair of the Werklund Foundation centre for Youth Leadership in Education, and professor of youth studies at the University of Calgary. Dr. Steinberg is also the director of the Paulo and Nita Freire International Project for Critical Pedagogy.

The presentation will include a panel discussion. Panelists include Dina Eletreby, Ph.D., head of New Horizon Elementary School in Irvine and an American Muslim of Egyptian descent who was raised in two religiously and culturally different worlds of home and school; Shabbir Mansuri, founder and CEO of the Institute on Religion and Civic Values and a member of the editorial board of the
Religion & Education Journal;
and Muzammil Siddiqi, religious director of the Islamic Society of Orange County, a Chapman instructor and president of the Academy of Judaic Christian and Islamic Studies at UCLA.

A fireside chat from 7 to 8 p.m. will follow.

The Hassinger Lecture Series is named for the late Paula Hassinger ‘43, a distinguished educator and ESL expert in the Los Angeles Unified School District, who donated her estate to establish the Jack H. and Paula Hassinger Endowed Chair in Education. The event is timed each year to commemorate the birthday of pioneering educator Paulo Freire.