ASU Education Partnerships

Agenda ::

The First National Conference on What Works in Education Partnerships hosted by the Office of the Vice President for Education Partnerships on February 20-21, 2009 in downtown Phoenix attracted some 150 participants representing 20 states, 30 universities and international visitors.  Together with private and public agencies, scholars and practioners shared best practices from across the country for cultivating university-school partnerships. The conference aim, to launch a network of leaders and scholars interested in successful strategies for dealing with important social and educational problems, was realized as participants shared about successful collaborations in the areas of professional preparation, development and retention; student/family engagement in student success; and private, public and community engagement in support of P-20 systemic efforts to improve public eduation. Leaders from the education community, educational researchers, evaluation experts, practitioners, policy-makers, and philanthropists as well as many other individuals, organizations and foundations that are committed to improving educational systems in our communities discussed how by working together we can improve the condition of education.

Featured keynote speakers included Paul Luna, President & Chief Executive Officer of the Helios Education Foundation, Robert J. Baird, Vice President for School-University Partnerships at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowships Foundation, Dr. Ricardo Romo, President of The University of Texas at San Antonio and Dr. Rita M. Cepeda, President of San Diego Mesa College.  A panel of six directors of undergraduate research programs discussed educational pathways to graduate school for underrepresented students through university-industry partnerships.  Institutions represented on this panel (UCLA, University of Michigan, North Carolina A&T State University, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Washington and Howard University) offer undergraduate research opportunities through the generous support of the Intel Undergraduate Research Program.  ASU's Sharon Kortman and Mary Anne Duggan contributed to the morning session on Postsecondary Alliances, Entrepreneurship and Collaborations, moderated by Dean Mari Koerner, with presentations from Columbia University's Teacher's College and the Milton Hershey School in Pennsylvania.  Mia Kim Williams and Heather Lynn Carter, also from ASU, shared lessons learned from community partnerships with Audubon Arizona.  College readiness, access and success, particularly in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) are promoted through collaboration models organized by the Business-Higher Education Forum in Washington, D.C. and through P-20 partnerships developed at the UC Santat Cruz Educational Partnerships Center.  Service learning, parent roles in promoting access and success, Teach for America, and regional and national assessment and evaluation efforts were among other topics.  For the complete program, see the Agenda link at the top of this page. 

In honor of the late William Carstens, friend and supporter of the the ASU Alpha partnership, conference participants gathered to celebrate the enduring legacy that Mr. Carstens' support has made in the lives of so many children and schools at a special reception on Friday evening.