Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 14, 2005

Contact: Eric Smith, Public Relations Assistant

(570) 893-7024; Public Relations Service Requests: PR WEB SITE

Aspiring educators:

Frederick Douglass scholars bring diverse expertise to LHU

WELCOME: Visiting Frederick Douglass scholars are welcomed at the president's house. Pictured are: Dr. Lestine Shedrick; Dr. Keith T. Miller, LHU president; Washella Turner; Albert Jones, assistant to the president and director of social equity; and Tina Lee.

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania is continuing to provide opportunities for minority educators looking to make in-roads as university teachers.

In its fifth year, the Frederick Douglass Scholars Program attracts minority educators to LHU who are looking for hands-on experience.

Albert Jones, assistant to the president and director of social equity, oversees the program and said that Frederick Douglass scholars stay at Lock Haven University for five weeks during the summer. Candidates accepted for the program are individuals from ethnic and gender backgrounds who have recently completed or are in the final stages of their doctoral coursework at universities around the country, he said.

“It is an opportunity that the university likes to give to aspiring college educators,” Jones said. “For a lot of them, it is their first teaching experience.”

The Frederick Douglass scholars teach summer LHU courses in their various disciplines. They are paired up with a departmental mentor, though they teach individually and are responsible for all classroom aspects such as instruction, testing and grading, Jones said.

“They go directly from doctoral student to being classroom teacher,” Jones said. “A lot of them rely on their mentors to help make them better educators.”

The scholars bring in a variety of expertise from around the country, he said.

“It is about relationship building and it allows us to open up our university to a diverse make-up of aspiring educators,” Jones said.

Dr. Keith T. Miller, LHU president, likes what the relationship does for the university.

“I think the fact that these professionals are here really adds to the breadth of our learning experience,” Miller said. “It enhances the experience not only for students, but for our faculty who get to work with these individuals.”

This summer, two scholars from Southern universities and one from the West Coast are teaching at LHU.

Washella Turner, a doctoral student at the University of Florida, is teaching Twentieth Century African American Literature.

“I wanted to get more experience because I was only required to teach two courses at the University of Florida,” Turner said.

LHU is a good size to learn interactive teaching, she said.

“Because this university is small, you get a chance to meet the students,” Turner said. “It is not as impersonal as a large research institution.”

Dr. Robert Myers, assistant professor of English at LHU, is Turner’s mentor.

“It is a great opportunity for us,” Myers said. “Not every faculty member wants to teach in the summer, and to get someone this talented is a great.”

Tina Lee, a doctoral student at the University of Southern Mississippi, is teaching "Introduction to Criminal Justice."

“It is a great experience to teach in a classroom,” Lee said. “Everything is going well and I like the fact that the classroom is small.”

Lee said she is enjoying the beauty of rural Pennsylvania.

“It is great to walk around and see the mountains,” she said. “I’m used to the South and it is good to get a chance to see the North and meet a lot of people.”

Having just finished up her doctorate in psychology at the University of San Fransisco, Dr. Lestine Shedrick is getting a unique teaching experience at LHU. Shedrick is teaching online courses in alternative education, part of LHU’s master’s degree program serving Philadelphia-area teachers.

“This is the first online course I’ve taught,” she said. “This is on the cutting edge.”

Though Shedrick was nervous about teaching online at first, once she understood the format, there were no problems.

“I interact a lot with the students,” Shedrick said. “I check the posts three times a day because some are working over the summer and some aren’t. I do this seven days a week.”

Shedrick said the experience goes beyond building a resume.

“This has just been wonderful,” she said. “It is what I’ve been waiting for all of my life.”

Jones credited several others with the success of the program.

The different departments express and interest in hosting a scholar, and without participation from the faculty, the program would not work, he said.

“It also is possible through the generous support of the provost’s office,” Jones said. “Dr. Zakir Hossain helped foster this as he served as interim provost this past year, and Dr. Kwesi Aggrey, our current provost, continues to provide a great deal of support.”

LHU’s Institute for International Studies also supports the scholars by giving them a place to stay, Jones said.

Alan Anderson, who is director of human resources and formerly served in Jones’ role at the university, was instrumental in initiating the program at LHU along with Dr. Roger Johnson, dean of the Lock Haven University College of Arts and Sciences, Jones said.

Anderson said the germ that started the program came from visiting a conference held by the Southern Regional Education Board, which is comprised of universities from 17 Southern states. LHU is now a regular visitor there, he said.

At the conference, the LHU is elbow-to-elbow with big schools like Virginia Tech, he said.

“And our display and what we have to offer is better than many other schools,” Anderson said.

Over 400 minority students attend the conference, he said.

“They are all graduate students who are out to learn,” Johnson added. “We get a chance to talk to them and they are not there casually. They are there to get information out of you and learn as much as they can.”

Both Anderson and Johnson credit LHU’s unionized members of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties with embracing the idea.

“The faculty really stepped up and provided these opportunities,” Anderson said.

“And Albert Jones is doing a great job in keeping it going,” Johnson noted.

Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the largest provider of higher education in the commonwealth. Its 14 universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. Nearly 375,000 system alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

###

Back to News Releases            LHU Main

* Note: This document is written in Associated Press style, which varies greatly from MLA, APA and standard English practices. Rules for capitalization, numerics, abbreviation and punctuation differ between Associated Press and other styles. Associated Press style is the preferred choice of Associated Press network newspapers, including local Lock Haven-area papers such as the Lock Haven Express and the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.