Leading Educators and Policy Makers from throughout Southwest Mississippi
to Participate in Comprehensive Conference on Writing at Alcorn
State University
Conference to Serve as Follow Up to Highly Successful National
Writing Commission Hearing Hosted by Alcorn State University Last
Fall
Dozens of leading
educators and policy makers from 12 public school districts
throughout southwest Mississippi will spend March 2 on the main
campus of Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi, for the
Spring 2005 Southwest Mississippi Writing Conference.
The conference will
serve as a follow up to the highly successful National Writing
Commission Hearing that the university hosted in partnership with
the College Board and National Writing Project this past fall.
Faculty and staff of Alcorn State University’s School of Education
and Psychology work collaboratively with the 12 public school
systems located throughout southwest Mississippi to address the
educational needs of thousands of students in grades K-12. In order
to ensure a strong K-16 continuum, the school has taken a lead role,
along with the Department of English and the university’s Writing
Center, to plan the conference to further address the writing
deficiencies of students across the United States, and in
Mississippi in particular.
“Academic success
begins with the student’s ability to comprehend the written word, as
well as to critically convey thoughts in written form,” said Alcorn
State President Dr. Clinton Bristow, Jr. “Everything else
flows from reading and writing.”
Participants of the
Spring 2005 conference will include several of the area’s school
superintendents, such as Claiborne County School Superintendent
Dr. Annie M. Kilcrease, and Pike County School Superintendent
Dr. Maggie Griffin. System administrators and classroom
teachers from among the 12 area school districts will also work in
conjunction with Alcorn State faculty, staff, and students.
Keynote speakers
will include Dr. Pamela B. Childers, a nationally renowned
scholar on writing, and Mississippi State Senator Mike Chaney.
Last fall’s venture
with the College Board and National Writing Project, formally titled
The Alcorn State University Hearing of The National Commission on
Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges, was part
of an ongoing effort at selected sites across the nation to identify
the best ways in which to implement recommendations of the
Commission’s first report issued last April. As one of the nation’s
leading institutions of higher learning, Alcorn State University was
selected as one of the few hearing sites by the Commission, which is
co-chaired by former U.S. Senators Bob Kerrey of Nebraska,
and Alan Simpson of Wyoming.
The Commission’s
report, titled The Neglected “R”: The Need for a Writing
Revolution, made several findings that point to a need for vast
improvements in writing instruction in schools across the country.
For example, the report found that people who cannot write and
communicate clearly will not be hired, or are unlikely to last on
their jobs long enough to be considered for promotion. Also,
two-thirds of salaried employees in large American companies have
some writing responsibility.
The report also
found that at least 80 percent of companies in what is known as the
FIRE sectors (finance, insurance, and real estate), the corporations
with the greatest employment growth potential, assess writing during
the hiring process. The report can be found online by visiting
www.writingcommission.org.
During the fall
conference, 50 of the nation’s most prominent educators and policy
makers visited campus to address the writing deficiencies the
nation’s students. As a follow up to the fall conference, Alcorn
State President Bristow called upon faculty and staff to develop an
Alcorn State-specific response to Commission findings and
recommendations. The Spring 2005 conference is the result of that
charge.
“Alcorn State
University plays a lead role in the ongoing development of the
southwest Mississippi and northeast Louisiana corridor,” said Dr.
Bristow. “We take seriously our very concrete position as the
educational and social epicenter of the region. Working with
classroom teachers and school system leaders now to address the
reading and writing needs of thousands of area school children will
ensure their success at Alcorn State and elsewhere.”
During the Spring
2005 conference participants will also share insights and formulate
instructional strategies in a total of seven breakout session
workshops covering a comprehensive range of topics:
Faculty, staff, and
students of the School of Education and Psychology, in conjunction
with English Department and Writing Center colleagues, will develop
a report based on recommendations made during the Spring 2005
conference, which will be held at the Extension & Research Complex
throughout the day of March 2. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.
For more information on the Alcorn State University Spring 2005
Southwest Mississippi Writing Conference, contact Dr. Josephine
Posey, Dean of the School of Education and Psychology, at (601)
877- 6141; or Dr. Robert M. Butler, Chairman of the
Department of English and Associate Vice President for Academic
Affairs, at (601) 877-6401.
S c h o l a r s h i p Contest
E n t e r To W i n $ 1, 0 0 0
And An Opportunity to have
your work
Appear In The Pages of
VIBE Magazine
On Tuesday, March 8, 2005
The Stomping on the yard national step tour Will visit
alcorn
state university.
As
part of the step show tour registered undergraduate students in any
discipline are invited to participate in the “Stomping On The Yard”
(S.O.T.Y.) Scholarship Contest. Applicants must write a poem or
essay in (400 words or less) about an African American that best
exemplifies the qualities of a leader.
A winner will be
awarded a $1,000 scholarship during the “Stomping On The Yard”
Leadership Luncheon. At the conclusion of the tour, one scholarship
winner and his or her essay/poem will receive national
acknowledgement via the S.O.T.Y website and publication in VIBE
Magazine.
Rules
Essays and poems
must be the original, unpublished work of the student and only one
essay or poem per student may be submitted. All contestants must
obtain an entry form from the University’s Office of Student
Activities. Be sure to enclose the completed entry form with your
submission. Submissions must be sent by mail to:
Stomping On The Yard
Attention: Scholarship Contest
44 Wall Street, 12th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10005
All Submissions Must be Postmarked No Later Than Friday,
February 25, 2005.
The
essays and poems will be reviewed by a panel of S.O.T.Y. judges and
overseen by VIBE Magazine staff members. The judges are looking for
well thought out essays/poems, which do not stray from the topic.
Winners will be
notified by mail, phone and/or email a few days prior the step show.
Scholarships contest entry constitutes an assignment to the contest
sponsors of all copyrights. By entering the scholarship contest,
entrants grant further permission for the sponsors to publish all or
part of the submitted essay/poem and to use the entrant’s name and
photograph and to publicize the winning entries and the names of all
the final essays/poems all without royalty or other consideration.
